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Tri Nations 2009-2011
All Blacks Tri-nations squad 2011
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<blockquote data-quote="Larksea" data-source="post: 420474" data-attributes="member: 43875"><p>Ohh c'mon guys, I never said Conrad Smith was a bad player. He's a very good player and yes at times over the last 2 or so years he's been the best 13 in the world.</p><p></p><p>All I'm suggesting is that he's not perfect (Shock horror! Blasphemy!)</p><p></p><p>Like kahui Smiths early carrier was thwarted by injury, he was also pretty average at times. He made his debut in 2005 and only established himself in 2008. He's been very good ever since but does have weaknesses like any player. IMO he doesn't realy have a kicking game and he's not as good defending powerful/bigger runners, what i observe is that he makes a big effort to meet them when they get the ball which works sometimes but is risky and it hs burned him a number of times. He's also not really an "x-factor player" he will give a good honest 80min but he hardly ever (note hardly ever doesn't mean never) comes up with a big play or brilliant individual effort to turn a match or change the mommentum of a game.</p><p></p><p>Strengths</p><p></p><p>he's a very "safe" player. Really good fittness as far as Cardio goes. he doesn't slow down over 80min and is often more of a threat in the last 20min as opositions start to tire. His positioning on defence is very good and so often seems to be in the right place. He doesn't dominate or hit hard on defence but most of the time he has good technique and is once of the safest guys around. His overall error rate is low and he's a great link man. He's not express fast but he has enough to suprise defences if he gets a head start. And most importantly I think overall attributes have provided a really good balance in mid field with Ma'a Nonu.</p><p></p><p>On these forums people seem to put players into little boxes. They're either great, average and people often pen players as "not suitable for test level" or "injury prone" similar and others get pinned as "best in the world" or "World class" and suddenly no one is able to fault them without getting shot down they become untouchable. Which is all bullshit. Players have strengths and weaknesses, good games and bad games and they also have the capacity to improve and evolve. McCaw was man of the match in his first ever test, but most of the time it's not like that. Look at Nonu, Conrad Smith, Jerome kaino - all pretty average at the start of their all black carriers - some even got labeled as "not fit for international level" by some but look at them now. It may have taken then multiple chances over and 15-20 or more tests to establish themselves over a period of years. And the worst thing is it's ok for some players to be average or struggle at times and not others - people have double standards.</p><p></p><p>I find it impossible to sum up a player in 3-4 words or just say bob is better than jim. And I'll often take a players potential into account when judging them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Larksea, post: 420474, member: 43875"] Ohh c'mon guys, I never said Conrad Smith was a bad player. He's a very good player and yes at times over the last 2 or so years he's been the best 13 in the world. All I'm suggesting is that he's not perfect (Shock horror! Blasphemy!) Like kahui Smiths early carrier was thwarted by injury, he was also pretty average at times. He made his debut in 2005 and only established himself in 2008. He's been very good ever since but does have weaknesses like any player. IMO he doesn't realy have a kicking game and he's not as good defending powerful/bigger runners, what i observe is that he makes a big effort to meet them when they get the ball which works sometimes but is risky and it hs burned him a number of times. He's also not really an "x-factor player" he will give a good honest 80min but he hardly ever (note hardly ever doesn't mean never) comes up with a big play or brilliant individual effort to turn a match or change the mommentum of a game. Strengths he's a very "safe" player. Really good fittness as far as Cardio goes. he doesn't slow down over 80min and is often more of a threat in the last 20min as opositions start to tire. His positioning on defence is very good and so often seems to be in the right place. He doesn't dominate or hit hard on defence but most of the time he has good technique and is once of the safest guys around. His overall error rate is low and he's a great link man. He's not express fast but he has enough to suprise defences if he gets a head start. And most importantly I think overall attributes have provided a really good balance in mid field with Ma'a Nonu. On these forums people seem to put players into little boxes. They're either great, average and people often pen players as "not suitable for test level" or "injury prone" similar and others get pinned as "best in the world" or "World class" and suddenly no one is able to fault them without getting shot down they become untouchable. Which is all bullshit. Players have strengths and weaknesses, good games and bad games and they also have the capacity to improve and evolve. McCaw was man of the match in his first ever test, but most of the time it's not like that. Look at Nonu, Conrad Smith, Jerome kaino - all pretty average at the start of their all black carriers - some even got labeled as "not fit for international level" by some but look at them now. It may have taken then multiple chances over and 15-20 or more tests to establish themselves over a period of years. And the worst thing is it's ok for some players to be average or struggle at times and not others - people have double standards. I find it impossible to sum up a player in 3-4 words or just say bob is better than jim. And I'll often take a players potential into account when judging them. [/QUOTE]
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