News Buzz Rothfield: Matt Dufty has admitted he signed his St George Illawarra death warrant by failing to obey Anthony Griffin’s orders

[Flanagun]

Why are people talking about tackling trying to excuse him? Look at him trying to defuse bombs and grubbers LOL. Defence is more than just tackling and he has been by far the worst defensive fullback in the league for years. Hopefully he turns it around but the club better have another option or two up their sleeve.

Corey Allan waiting in the wings to rediscover his 2020 form and become a top 5 fullback.

Still think Dufty should play 6.

 

[Como Dog]

Ben Barba was a defensive machine. This guys got nothing

Early on Ben Barba was a shambolic turnstile in defence when he came off the bench and while he improved, I wouldn't go as far to describe him as that.

 

[Como Dog]

Sorry bit slow on the sarcasm reference above.

 

[dogwhisperer]

I wake up like this

Are you black?

 

[CrittaMagic69]

Are you black?

I wear Jordans so I'm like 1/8 black tbf

 

[Hound Dog]

Good article, thanks, it clears a lot for me. CanterburybankstownBD pointed it out, a good forward surge or break and Dufty is off.
However I think we all missed the point, same goes for the "7 reasons why he left Dragons" SM herald article which didn't prove much, most fullbacks get beaten now and then or make an error. I've watched a lot of Duftys games, he's good. Details are in what Dufty says, seems like a straight talker type of guy.

Reread the article, the giveaway is what he's saying about attack and Ben Hunt. Dufty plays a certain style in attack, although predictable if a coach prepares against it, the tactic has proven successful on many occasions and definitely what we need given we don't have a gun hooker a la Damian Cook, Dufty hangs around the ruck a lot, like 90% of time lots. He'd be there for anything, think Terry Lamb or Minichiello. The benefits far outweigh the cons for having a dedicated player with Duftys attributes doing this, it's gotta be one of Griffin's worst decisions. Dufty can play off the cuff or throw a cutout but he wanted to stick to his style of playing around the ruck or play, second phase play, even if he wasn't scoring, breaking the line, or even receiving the ball, it's always good he's there as it questions the defenders mind.

In all, it was a clash of opinions on attack between Griffin and Dufty. I'm usually against players not listening to the coach but Dufty here agrees with Baz and vice versa. Baz done well.

 

[Dognacious]

Especially in the spine. You can't change combinations every week and expect results from those players. He of all people should know that being a former half..

Most of next seasons starting 13 pick themselves. Hopefully Gus has a word with Baz to stop tinkering with the lineup as much.

A lot of the previous tinkering was induced by necessity, we didnt have the troops, especially when we got injuries or suspensions. We have a lot more troops this year. A bunch of the players we started last year will be depth players this year, as they would have been last year if we had options.

A few of them just needed more development too, before being thrown into the FG side. We played a few players before their time in FG due to necessity too.

 

[Dognacious]

The lack of lower grades playing due to covid has not helped the new players excel either. Some were coming straight from juniors, and after long holidays from playing.