Loud mouthed Dragons five-eight Richie Williams has been dropped to Premier League this weekend and Dean Young had been given the number 6 jersey by coach Nathan Brown.
Young, who is returning from injury, is a good utility player, but much better playing at hooker or lock.
Brown said Williams was dropped to work on a few problems with his game and denighed it had anything to do with his comments last week about Braith Anasta.
This brings up a major problem with the game these days.
Coaches are loathed to allow young playmakers times to gain experience and develop in first grade. This trend has seen the number of try playmakers in the NRL fall as utility players and star centers and hookers are moved out of position to cover the halves.
How is a young half supposed to learn how to play halfback or five-eight in the NRL if he isnt given the opportunity to actually play in the NRL?
When you look at the great halfbacks in the game today, Kimmorley, Cronk, Thurston, Orford….they were all given the chance to play in the halves from a young age and their coaches persisted with them and allowed them to learn the ropes.
Already a number of high profile League identities have focused on their problem but all the talk in the world means nothing while NRL coaches continue to make team selections that hurt the future playmakers of the game.
Unless Australia wants to end up like England where the are of being a playmaker is dead and halves positions are fillied with utility players and small players that cant tackle, kick or guide a team around the park, we have to make some major changes to team selection policies.
You have a number of great halves running around in lower grades just looking for their chance to shine. Lets hope these players get their chance soon, for the good of the game.
