Brown is the main man in quest to beat Blacks

[GIGS20]

I too was calling for Hodgeo Saturday night, but not as a scavenger, as a sraight, hard runner. Sharpie needed some support in battering the line, Simmons gave it a go, but too little too late, and the rest of them (IMHO lead by Elsom) were trying to run around bigger, faster, more aggressive men and then dying in the tackle. Either try to run them around and play the offload game (probably not a bad idea the way the breakdown went for us) or keep it straight and close so there's plenty of support in the ruck, you can't keep the ball if you mix those two!

[todd4]

I too think Brown is just short of international level and is only able to continue gaining experience at this level because Palu is out. His week to week selection for the Wallabies is only because he is considered the best of who is available.

On the positive side though I think Browns' game has improved considerably over the last couple of years. Previously it seemed that every time Brown got the ball he would simply put his head down and run without thinking to off-load and I think the opposition were awake to this. These days watching him play he is looking to off-load and seems a lot more aware of the opportunities around him.

His ball handling skills seem to have improved a lot as well. No longer is it the case that Brown gets the ball and knocks-on, drops it, loses it in the tackle. Maybe I watched the game through Force coloured glasses on Saturday but I think his ball security was very good, and so it should be at international level.

I mention this because if you look at the stats from the game http://www.thescore.com.au/rugby/ you will see that Brown had the most runs (15) but managed to maintain possession. He also had the most involvement in the rucks (16) and was equal second in the tackle count (13). By those stats his work-rate was very high, but stats don't always tell the complete picture. Sadly for Brown all that hard work can be undone in the eyes of the public with a glaring mistake like the missed tackle on Jane.

I am not trying to talk up Brown as an international no.8 but I will at least give him credit for having taken his game up a quite a few notches over the last couple of years.

[Burgs]

Elsom needs to lose immunity and Mumm needs to get some splinters.