Fletcher Sharpe discussion

Can I say it again? I believe Fletcher Sharpe will be an elite level nrl half. I said it before and won't waver from that opinion until evidence suggests otherwise. Yesterday his kicking game was on full display and I hope people take a lot of comfort from it. His long kicking didn't let us down and he excuted a short kicking game with some deft touchs to go with his high footballing instinct. He is getting a nice little combo going with Lucas now with short passes or dropping him under to create space for his yardage runs too. Defensively absolutely nothing to worry about with him. He is probably in front of where I thought he'd be this year already. I'm probably used to an O'Brien pace of development. What a gem we have.
 
Owey said:
Can I say it again? I believe Fletcher Sharpe will be an elite level nrl half. I said it before and won't waver from that opinion until evidence suggests otherwise. Yesterday his kicking game was on full display and I hope people take a lot of comfort from it. His long kicking didn't let us down and he excuted a short kicking game with some deft touchs to go with his high footballing instinct. He is getting a nice little combo going with Lucas now with short passes or dropping him under to create space for his yardage runs too. Defensively absolutely nothing to worry about with him. He is probably in front of where I thought he'd be this year already. I'm probably used to an O'Brien pace of development. What a gem we have.
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Don’t let Harvee or Slots see this 😂 I’m joking btw. He still is clearly hobbled by his injury, his running game isn’t close to what we’ve seen from him at his best. But as the season goes on, I expect him to improve in all areas.
 
He’s a sensational talent. He could be as good as James Tedesco.

The kick for Greg was fantastic, great eyes up footy, Weekes was in another country. Play 3 I think with the Raiders obviously just expecting us to try to close out the win conservatively. This team doesn’t do that. They do what the other mob absolutely doesn’t want you to do. Lovely weight on the kick, would have been a drop out if not a try.
 
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Sharpe's little grubber that was bombed (probably a touch harsh) by Sandon was also elite.

Those kicks will immediately begin taking pressure away from the rest of the team - Other clubs now know that Sharpe is a genuine attacking kick threat. Fullbacks now need to be alive to that threat and edge defences will be more tentative when rushing up to pressure his ballplaying, providing more space for those running off Sharpe.

I do still believe his connection with Lucas and Best is awkward, particularly when we're running more "routine" shape. In broken play he thrives and his outside men just have to push alongside him - ie where he made a half-break to setup Lucas last week. Being at the game this week, the timing between him and Lucas was a bit off, with Lucas taking some average passes into contact in circumstances where he was a bit cramped for room.

That is, I guess, the lack of experience ballplaying from a five-eighth role showing - but it's obvious that alongside being an elite talent, Sharpe also has an elite ability to learn, developing new skills in unfamiliar roles is something he has already done when debuting on the wing and I have no doubt he will continue to develop at a rapid pace in the halves.
 
It’s a really fair analysis of Sharpe, but I think with time he’ll be able to smooth out some of the awkwardness in his ball playing. I don’t know how to fully explain this take but I feel like Sharpe is a victim of his own strengths that some don’t want to give him the time to grow as a NRL half. As he so clearly could be an elite player 1-5 it’s like some fans are like why take the risk with trying to make him a five-eighth. I feel like if we’d never had seen him play anywhere else, we would think we have one of the best young half prospects in the comp and give him a lot more leeway.
 
Fullback is his best position hands down. But we have a bloke by the name of Kalyn Ponga. I’m all good with him play 6. But next week (when Brown is back) for the best makeup of the team right now I would have him over Hunt at FB. I’m not dropping Sandon Smith.
 
MullosLefttoRight said:
I do still believe his connection with Lucas and Best is awkward, particularly when we're running more "routine" shape. In broken play he thrives and his outside men just have to push alongside him - ie where he made a half-break to setup Lucas last week. Being at the game this week, the timing between him and Lucas was a bit off, with Lucas taking some average passes into contact in circumstances where he was a bit cramped for room.
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Yep this is it. By eye test the organisation outside him isn’t great, he doesn’t get effective ball to those guys, and they don’t seem to be on the same page much unless Sharpe has created an opening with his running game and all they have to do is support him.

The good news is that he’s so preposterously talented that he can do a whole aspect of his positional job kind of badly and it almost doesn’t matter. 5 direct try involvements in 2.35 games and it doesn’t feel like a fluke at all.
 
frankLauda said:
Fullback is his best position hands down. But we have a bloke by the name of Kalyn Ponga. I’m all good with him play 6. But next week (when Brown is back) for the best makeup of the team right now I would have him over Hunt at FB. I’m not dropping Sandon Smith.
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Funny how we spent years trying to shove Ponga into 6 and now we have a player who appears to be more than proficient at 6 we can’t wait to push him to FB 😂 By the way, I am in the camp of Fletcher to FB long term. It’s just ironic.
 
If Kalyn could defend in the line without being banished to the land of wind and ghosts when he tries to make a tackle they would 100% be pulling the trigger on another switch to playing in the halves. But he can’t, so they won’t. It is what it is.

I much prefer having too much talent and endlessly debating how to give everyone the chance they deserve to the previous state of affairs where we were scratching around for a guy you’d be keen to see steering a group 8 side around the park.
 
I’m kind of just not stressed about Kalyn anymore.

I would very much like it if we could secure Sharpe to a huge extension like the Dylan Brown one, something that guarantees he’s at the club for the rest of his career. I wouldn’t be scared off by offering the same sort of number if he’ll agree to a deal that doesn’t ratchet with the cap going up. Trading more money in the short term + long term security for the kid foregoing the windfall some players will get 5 years from now.

I also think extending Dylan Lucas long term is imperative.

Then, beyond that, you evaluate how everyone else is going, decide on what you think are the biggest priorities, and extend guys appropriately. I think how long you’d extend Kalyn for and how much money are still very open questions. Whereas I’d have no hesitation on betting the next decade of this club on Fletcher.

If someone else comes in with an offer too good to refuse for Kalyn, well, that’s certainly not news you greet with champagne and balloons, but we’d be okay if we have other key men already locked down.
 
The fact that Sharpe always played a couple of years up and he was only a little guy till he had a growth spurt at about 18 always had me thinking he'd never be able to defend against seniors. He couldn't even make a tackle against juniors in fact.
But all that practice against older and bigger kids has made him a pretty decent defender.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Yep this is it. By eye test the organisation outside him isn’t great, he doesn’t get effective ball to those guys, and they don’t seem to be on the same page much unless Sharpe has created an opening with his running game and all they have to do is support him.

The good news is that he’s so preposterously talented that he can do a whole aspect of his positional job kind of badly and it almost doesn’t matter. 5 direct try involvements in 2.35 games and it doesn’t feel like a fluke at all.
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One thing I've noticed on the Sharpe-Lucas connection in "routine" shape, is that almost every time Sharpe plays short to Lucas, he wants to be popping up again on his outside in case there's an offload available. That sounds good in theory (and is big time fullback areas), but it always looks to me live that it's at the expense of Sharpe actually engaging the line himself in a way that would make the Lucas carry more effective and likely to possibly produce an offload.

Curious whether the smarter football minds than mine on here think that's off base. I'm not totally sold on how to feel about those repeat actions.
 
I will say I’m more bullish on Sharpe at 6 than I was before the season started. I don’t take anything back about his ball playing, but him & Dylan Brown both cutting back infield and running 120m+ per game each is going to put fatigue into opposing packs and allow ours to conserve energy for defence. That aspect of our recruitment was very well thought out, it’s a proven way to wear the other team down.
 
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