He only offers something starting. Certainly not off the bench. If he is in the 17 he needs to start and just tackle hard and take a few hit ups.
People are totally missing the fact that tolman and graham were our front row last year, and now its woods and klemmer who are weapons in attack, but not noted defenders. So clearly we are a little more vulnerable defensively.
i know your one of tolmans haters, and you will argue he doesnt hit hard in defense, or his tackles are inefective, but one on one tackles are far less common then group tackles, and as long as someone is there to hold on and begin the tackle then someone else can finish the tackle.
And i don't agree with that in todays game. If a player can't perform off the bench then he shouldn't be a consistent starter, that's just the way i see it these days.
You don't have the luxury of multiple interchanges like you used too years ago, so you can't stack the bench with big ***** and play them around your workhorses. These days the line between attack and defence is as close as ever, so your forwards need to ve providing both and a high intensity if you want to challenge.
Just take a look at some of the big minute middle forwards that are around in todays game, off the top of my head i would go with Mannering, Gallen, Trbojevic. Tolman just isn't comparable at all. All these players can play 80 through the middle and make a stack of tackles if the team requires it. But they also offer a lot with the ball in hand, far more than Tolman ever has or will in his current state. That's why they justify the big minutes, because they contribute consistent quality in both attack and defence.
For me, Tolman simply needs to get bigger, stronger and faster. He needs power. If he can't do that then he will continue his fade out of game. Teams don't want to start him and play him for big minutes, they also don't want to bench him as there a players that offer far better value that can develop into players they want to start.
