Another year and another bucket of frustration and disappointment.
What I find interesting is how our systems have not produced any acceptable standard of a halves pairing that can game manage and direct the team around with a decent kicking game and the capacity to get repeat sets. We have not achieved this for several years - that is a long time not to achieve a highly critical goal!
The way we have played in the last month is quite telling. Burton is one of the major reasons we are failing because he just doesn't game manage at all. He plays like a passenger who is ready for the bomb and to offer his step and go or a pass for the team to do their thing. He does not inject himself into the game no matter how many times CC has insisted he needs to do that, even moving him to 7 to try to force the issue. Strangely, he proves he can with his phases of producing spectacular clutch plays that are epic and breathtaking. This is what keeps the coaching staff and fans hoping he is the answer. It appears instivitive clutch plays are the only way for him to turn on his skills.
Burton is ambitious to want to be a half and want the money for it. He also has potential and talent to burn, but not the determination and the ticker to get on with it for 80 mins. I think we have flogged this horse to death - he just needs to be put into the centres until he is older and more mature and he may be ready in a couple of years. For now, he is a liability as a half.
Everything was built around Burton and he has not been able to kick for position and produce repeat sets. His bombs are great, but a hammer in the toolbox can only take care of the nails. He throws shocking passes and kills the momentum when he is overthinking and overplaying his hand. He just doesn't have the mental ability and composure for the position yet and we are trying to force him because we believe he can do it, because we all witnessed those several clutch plays!
My point is, so what if he can do it? He is just not ready and we need halves that can control the team. Period! He can evolve there later when he is actually improving. Right now, he is going backwards and this could hurt his confidence in the long run.
And because he can't do the job now - all our debutants (about 7-9 this year?) and the rest of our young players have had extra pressure defending and extra pressure trying to produce go forward without any momentum being created by the halves. Flanagan and Burton have been passengers reluctant to put their hands on the steering wheel and keep it there. Rajab needed a better and slower introduction into FG and was found out defensively by a white hot Ponga. The rest of the halves we tested were relying on Burton.
We need a half to take the game by the scruff of the neck and we are yet to find one that is willing to do it and execute. Until we establish one or buy one, our young pack and players are going to struggle having to work extra hard to compete with low experience and low confidence.
All these shocking high scores against us have created psychological damage that we need to now also manage. We have players overthinking, not commiting and marking their men, to cut down their thinking time. They are staying in no man's land when defending and throwing out their arms instead. They have turned into turnstiles. Even Carr and Burton don't have the confidence to communicate and mark their men? WTF?
We are in deep trouble and its because the Burton experiment has failed. Fixing it does not appear easy, but when you hit rock bottom and got nothing to lose, anything can happen. Even Burton may surprise me.
Cheers to be surprised by anyone, and particularly a no. 7, anytime soon, please.
