the biggest problem is that our halves aren't doing anything to get our fullback into the game.. the one or two times Perham got the ball in the strike zone he was flat footed and the defence was set.
A good example of the Flanagan problem was the bad pass from Mahoney on the Sharks line late in 2nd half.
Mahoney passed in front of Waddell without realising he was standing still next to Flanagan. Brown had made a decoy run.
Flanagan and Waddell were less than 2 metres apart.
Waddell let the ball bounce in front of him & Flanagan picked it up on the bounce. Ran around in a circle.
It was a complete mess which made Mahoney look bad.
Flanagan did not take control of Waddell or Brown.
This was not a one-off situation in yesterday's game.
Just waving your hand around in the direction of the outside backs is not organising.
A proper 7 takes control of each and every play. Which also means organising 2, 3 or 4 plays ahead.
The reason the whole structure collapsed just 2 trial games into the season is because the current 7 cannot organise the side.
Players like Waddell think they can come on and lift the side with a big hit up or tackle.
It's what Tolman used to do. It looks desperate and spreads like a virus to all the other players.
It's more than Flanagan is terrible at just about every aspect of half back play. The real problem is there is an on-field leadership vacuum and he makes it worse.
If Flanagan can't take control and if Rajab or BBO or Oloapu are not ready, then we might as well go for the next best thing to handle pressure, which is to confuse the opposition.
That means
Captain Chaos Reynolds.