I'd be happy to see Wade go altogether and not come back. Locke is 10x more dangerous with ball in hand and Wade hasn't even looked like breaking the line all season. I think this was the beginning of the end of Wade's career. It's a shame we only got 1 good season out of him.
McKinnon hasn't looked as sharp this year and Locke will be a great player. I don't think anyone disagrees with that sentence, but I think his inability to make line-breaks, and Locke's ability to make more, should be put into context a little.
Hohaia has more than Locke. (17 App for 10 LB)
Ah Van has more than Locke. (20 App for 10 LB)
Mannering has more than Locke. (21 App for 6 LB)
Locke. (10 App for 5 LB)
Kemp has the same as Locke has (10 App for 5 LB)
McKinnon has the same as Locke has (18 App for 5 LB)
Overall, McKinnon streets him on averages for metres and tackle breaks. Beats him for offloads, try assists, and linebreak assists. They also have 4 tries a piece. He is also 10th in the NRL for metres, 2nd for kick returns, and 7th for tackle-breaks. Reasonable stats. He's not dominant, but there's not a Warriors player who is, and that includes Locke. Granted, Wade gets the ball more, as a fullback should, but this is not a picture of a
poor year.
On defence, Kevin tackles more, but misses more and makes more ineffective ones. Again, it's relative. He should make more than a fullback and who would blame him fluffing the odd tackle with the amount of pressure the team has had to soak up defensively.
We are 13th in errors and tend to play ourselves out of games rather than fold. However, that is changing as we continue to leak points on our right from centres positioning themselves poorly and placing too much defensive pressure on their winger. Our defence overall concentrates on scrambling and not dominating. Funnily enough, we show a great pride in our line but that's of no use if we invite other teams to our goal-line to prove it and burn out from all the tackling.
I agree that Locke needs the ball, but there are other ways to do that besides permanently kicking one our best players this (poor) year in the nads. There are other nads that need kicking more.
We also need to see if Wade's edge returns next year. His injury should be a lot better for withstanding a season and he may be able to read the new half pairing's play better that he could Jones. Besides, why can't we get the best from both of them?
Time will tell, but it will be interesting.
