So just some clarity on Roger.
These are his statistics with reference to the entire competition:
Post contact metres: 11th
Tackle breaks: 15th
All runs: 21st
Run metres: 12th
He’s not in the top 50 for negative plays (errors, penalties).
This is a guy who was away from the game for a number of years with 1 pre season under his belt. When valentine holmes returned from the NFL on $1 million dollars, he was a flop. So much so, his guaranteed fullback jersey was taken from him & he was moved to centre. RTS is older, and putting up better numbers CURRENTLY.
I understand Roger is not the strike weapon we may have thought he’d be, but he’s hardly the reason we’re not playing well. I’ve seen approx 30% of games where the halves are passing the ball to Roger in space, this is where he excels. Not in the tight stuff. He’s also the 1st or 2nd player putting their hand up to get us out of trouble & consistently puts up high run metres, post contact metres & has minimal errors.
It’s the job of the halves to put Roger in space. They’ve failed to do this. Our middles have laid the platform, our backs have got us out of trouble, yet our halves continually fail to execute when we need them.
What is the role of halves? Under pressure, nail the right pass, put us in the right places on the field, put other players into space & set up tries with deceptive and well executed set plays.
The microscope is on our halves, not Roger. Let’s be clear about that. Another pre season under webby, and I’d expect to see a more polished RTS (IF the halves execute on THEIR role, and create space for one of the best game breaking centres in the comp).