Hughes or Jacks or Croft at half back
We are on the horns of a dilemma at the Melbourne Storm but it is a good dilemma.
Winning football makes everyone look better and…we are winning!!!
All of a sudden, we are spoilt for choice.
Just who do we pick at half back for the back end of the season?
Hughes brings a great running game and an X factor. He is more a full back in a half backs role. His kicking is ordinary. But his run and gun game is exceptional. His tackling is good. And he Makes metres and line bursts as good as anyone in the NRL. If he can improve his passing game just a little, Hughes is almost as good as Ponga.
Jacks is not great at anything but is good and has an even game. His kicking is his speciality as we saw with our first try last night and he can line break and pass and tackle all pretty evenly. He is vanilla but we started playing well when he was put in at half back.
Croft has X factor but is a live by the sword and die by the sword type of guy. Possibly tried to do too much earlier in the year. If he can just curb his own enthusiasm and concentrate on not making mistakes; he could be the long-term answer at half back…but he may not be the short-term answer?
So, who gets the nod against Manly?
Winning football makes everyone look better and…we are winning!!!
All of a sudden, we are spoilt for choice.
Just who do we pick at half back for the back end of the season?
Hughes brings a great running game and an X factor. He is more a full back in a half backs role. His kicking is ordinary. But his run and gun game is exceptional. His tackling is good. And he Makes metres and line bursts as good as anyone in the NRL. If he can improve his passing game just a little, Hughes is almost as good as Ponga.
![Afro O0](./images/smilies/afro.gif)
Jacks is not great at anything but is good and has an even game. His kicking is his speciality as we saw with our first try last night and he can line break and pass and tackle all pretty evenly. He is vanilla but we started playing well when he was put in at half back.
Croft has X factor but is a live by the sword and die by the sword type of guy. Possibly tried to do too much earlier in the year. If he can just curb his own enthusiasm and concentrate on not making mistakes; he could be the long-term answer at half back…but he may not be the short-term answer?
So, who gets the nod against Manly?
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In Bellamy style, I think Hughes will get the gig, but it also wouldn't surprise me if he rests Munster after a tough origin campaign to get another game into Croft/Jacks to keep their confidence up in case something happens down the stretch and they need to step in
I’m thinking, next week we give Slater off after the Origin, so we get Hughes at Fullback and Croft at halfback again. If Croft hits it out of the park again like he did against the dragons then the spot should be his, if he doesn’t then give it to Hughes
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Agreed. Hughes' place in the 17 is/should be locked in - he has consistently been one of our best in every game he's played this year, no matter the position he has been asked to play.
Unfortunately for Jacks and Croft, the only way they (should) get a game now is if Slater or Munster don't back up (or possibly an injury to one of our backs, via a reshuffle).
Unfortunately for Jacks and Croft, the only way they (should) get a game now is if Slater or Munster don't back up (or possibly an injury to one of our backs, via a reshuffle).
Hughes is the best player of the three and if we're not going to play a halfback it's him over Jacks by a long long way.
If Brodie has his confidence back and we want to use the halfback as a halfback it's him.
Been evident all season how much the team misses a halfback in the team. But Hughes deserves to play.
I don't mean this in a bad way at all but really the only wrong answer and one I'd hate is Jacks. We've seen enough of that.
If Brodie has his confidence back and we want to use the halfback as a halfback it's him.
Been evident all season how much the team misses a halfback in the team. But Hughes deserves to play.
I don't mean this in a bad way at all but really the only wrong answer and one I'd hate is Jacks. We've seen enough of that.
The welcome headache for Bellamy
melbournestorm.com.au
Fri 6 Jul 2018
If only three went into one.
That may have been the thought of Craig Bellamy after seeing Jahrome Hughes, Brodie Croft and Ryley Jacks light up AAMI Park in Thursday night's win over the Dragons.
It has created a very welcome headache at the selection table for when Melbourne's five Origin stars return following Game Three next Wednesday night.
Jahrome Hughes was magic with a game-high 209 metres, seven tackles breaks and assist and two line break assists.
Brodie Croft had 139 metres of his own and Ryley Jacks was an ever calm head in both attack and defence. All three players found their way onto the try sheet.
Given the trio have each filled the No.7 role at stages throughout 2018, it leaves the coach with some thinking to do with regards to who he goes with for the second half of the season.
"You would like to pick them all next week but you can't do that, depending on whether Munster plays or not after Origin," Bellamy said.
"I thought they all did a tremendous job out there tonight. Their communication was really good which wasn't one of our strengths last week but tonight it was pretty spot on. They all ran the ball well, I thought they did a great job."
Storm travel to Manly next Saturday afternoon to take on the Sea Eagles at Brookvale.
melbournestorm.com.au
Fri 6 Jul 2018
If only three went into one.
That may have been the thought of Craig Bellamy after seeing Jahrome Hughes, Brodie Croft and Ryley Jacks light up AAMI Park in Thursday night's win over the Dragons.
It has created a very welcome headache at the selection table for when Melbourne's five Origin stars return following Game Three next Wednesday night.
Jahrome Hughes was magic with a game-high 209 metres, seven tackles breaks and assist and two line break assists.
Brodie Croft had 139 metres of his own and Ryley Jacks was an ever calm head in both attack and defence. All three players found their way onto the try sheet.
Given the trio have each filled the No.7 role at stages throughout 2018, it leaves the coach with some thinking to do with regards to who he goes with for the second half of the season.
"You would like to pick them all next week but you can't do that, depending on whether Munster plays or not after Origin," Bellamy said.
"I thought they all did a tremendous job out there tonight. Their communication was really good which wasn't one of our strengths last week but tonight it was pretty spot on. They all ran the ball well, I thought they did a great job."
Storm travel to Manly next Saturday afternoon to take on the Sea Eagles at Brookvale.
https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/07/06/jah ... versatile/
Hughes excels as Melbourne Storm's Mr Versatile
Author Andrew Marmont Timestamp Fri 6 Jul 2018, 01:03 PM
Jahrome Hughes is quickly becoming the Storm's everywhere man after sparkling in attack against the Dragons on Thursday night.
The Wellington-born utility put in the best performance of his 11-game Telstra Premiership career, chiming in with 209 running metres, a try and plenty of intelligent kicks as the Storm ran away 52-30 winners over St George Illawarra.
"I think we were confident with it," he said of his side's attacking proficiency.
"We did make a lot of line breaks, but we were just confident in our skill. Obviously, the improvement [needed] is our defence, but next week we will look at that and try and improve."
Hughes and fellow young playmakers Ryley Jacks and Brodie Croft made a pact earlier in the week to lead the team around and help captain Cameron Smith.
"At training, we tried to be more vocal," he said.
"With me, Jacksy and Crofty, we are still young blokes I guess compared to Smithy. He can do a lot of talking, but he shouldn't have to do all the talking. We got together during the week and said we need to take a bigger part in leading this team around with our spine. I thought we did that pretty good this week."
While he wore the No.7 jersey, Hughes played fullback and his special 66th-minute effort - a swerving 20-metre run - started his side's try-fest to close the game out.
But it was the 23-year-old's composed grubber kicking that impressed most.
"I know I'm not known as a kicker, but know I have to work a lot on that if I want to play in the halves, and fullbacks can kick nowadays too," he said.
"I'm doing a lot of work with different coaches, so hopefully I can keep getting better and better with that."
Although one day he might inherit the Storm's fullback spot on a regular basis, Hughes is happy playing Mr Versatile.
"Wherever I play I'm happy. If I get a few more first-grade games, I'm stoked with that."
Hughes excels as Melbourne Storm's Mr Versatile
Author Andrew Marmont Timestamp Fri 6 Jul 2018, 01:03 PM
Jahrome Hughes is quickly becoming the Storm's everywhere man after sparkling in attack against the Dragons on Thursday night.
The Wellington-born utility put in the best performance of his 11-game Telstra Premiership career, chiming in with 209 running metres, a try and plenty of intelligent kicks as the Storm ran away 52-30 winners over St George Illawarra.
"I think we were confident with it," he said of his side's attacking proficiency.
"We did make a lot of line breaks, but we were just confident in our skill. Obviously, the improvement [needed] is our defence, but next week we will look at that and try and improve."
Hughes and fellow young playmakers Ryley Jacks and Brodie Croft made a pact earlier in the week to lead the team around and help captain Cameron Smith.
"At training, we tried to be more vocal," he said.
"With me, Jacksy and Crofty, we are still young blokes I guess compared to Smithy. He can do a lot of talking, but he shouldn't have to do all the talking. We got together during the week and said we need to take a bigger part in leading this team around with our spine. I thought we did that pretty good this week."
While he wore the No.7 jersey, Hughes played fullback and his special 66th-minute effort - a swerving 20-metre run - started his side's try-fest to close the game out.
But it was the 23-year-old's composed grubber kicking that impressed most.
![Afro O0](./images/smilies/afro.gif)
"I know I'm not known as a kicker, but know I have to work a lot on that if I want to play in the halves, and fullbacks can kick nowadays too," he said.
"I'm doing a lot of work with different coaches, so hopefully I can keep getting better and better with that."
Although one day he might inherit the Storm's fullback spot on a regular basis, Hughes is happy playing Mr Versatile.
"Wherever I play I'm happy. If I get a few more first-grade games, I'm stoked with that."