The point that many of us are making is that based on what we have seen he’s not ready to play fullback. The fact is he’s never played fullback at a high level, he has played 5/8, centre and wing. He is demonstrably not ready physically or mentally to face the reality of playing fullback at NRL level, every week. Throwing him in when he is plainly not ready would be inviting him to lose all confidence (refer DWZ for what a loss of confidence does for a fullback). At 5/8 he has players inside and out that can help him through the game, commonly a prop inside and a back rower outside him to help him in defence. At fullback he’s on his own, has to make his own decision, is exposed with nowhere to hide any loss of confidence or deficiencies in his game. He has no experience at organising the defence inside the 30 which a fullback is expected to do.
I don’t believe that any of us doubt his attacking ability, just playing at NRL level week in week out is a tough gig and fullback is one of (if not) the toughest positions to play. The history shows that NRL fullbacks either come through the grades playing fullback (which Averillo hasn’t) and/or spend some time at NRL level playing other positions or coming off the bench until they can demonstrate that they can handle what being an NRL fullback requires.
Go Dogs