I've worked something out tonight and just had to share. I worked out that I like a particular style of player - one who does little for themselves but is a workhorse for the team. Let me try to explain.
Yesterday I read an article about the Queensland halves pairing of Jonathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk. It was contrasting them - one creative, outgoing, mop of hair, big laugh, extrovert, the other a thinker, quiet, short back and sides, gets in and consistently does the hard work.
Then tonight I watched the State of Origin. And Cooper Cronk broke his arm early on and came off. Daly Cherry-Evans went on as his replacement. And Queensland didn't do so well. DCE is an excellent player and has a huge rap among his peers and the media. But he does nothing for me. And tonight I worked out what it is. I like Mr Consistency who gets in and steadies the show, who dictates the play among his team but the opposition never seem to work out what his next move is. That's how Cronk plays, that's how Sterlo played.
DCE, Andrew Johns, Steve Mortimer, Mitchell Pearce, they're all the media favourites because they have flair. They do things that are unexpected. But for me, they don't do the hard yards, the consistency. That's not a criticism, it's a style of play. I prefer the ones who work hard consistently rather than the flair.
Darren Lockyer is another player I've admired and he too was a consistency player, but he probably had a bit more flair than Coops or Sterlo.
So, I hated seeing Coops get hurt, but it allowed me to work something out that had been bugging me. I never understood why I never liked the same players most people admired. Now I know. Although, someone will probably tell me I'm wrong!
And just an aside... They had a dressing room shot of Coops putting on a jacket and oh my freaking god, that man's body! I tried to describe it for my Deep Diving hero...but when he turned side on, there were muscles all rippling there that I didn't even know existed. His back was even more that I imagined. Holy cow. If I ever find a snippet of that footage...it will be inspirational (and I might even share it).
Yesterday I read an article about the Queensland halves pairing of Jonathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk. It was contrasting them - one creative, outgoing, mop of hair, big laugh, extrovert, the other a thinker, quiet, short back and sides, gets in and consistently does the hard work.
Then tonight I watched the State of Origin. And Cooper Cronk broke his arm early on and came off. Daly Cherry-Evans went on as his replacement. And Queensland didn't do so well. DCE is an excellent player and has a huge rap among his peers and the media. But he does nothing for me. And tonight I worked out what it is. I like Mr Consistency who gets in and steadies the show, who dictates the play among his team but the opposition never seem to work out what his next move is. That's how Cronk plays, that's how Sterlo played.
DCE, Andrew Johns, Steve Mortimer, Mitchell Pearce, they're all the media favourites because they have flair. They do things that are unexpected. But for me, they don't do the hard yards, the consistency. That's not a criticism, it's a style of play. I prefer the ones who work hard consistently rather than the flair.
Darren Lockyer is another player I've admired and he too was a consistency player, but he probably had a bit more flair than Coops or Sterlo.
So, I hated seeing Coops get hurt, but it allowed me to work something out that had been bugging me. I never understood why I never liked the same players most people admired. Now I know. Although, someone will probably tell me I'm wrong!
And just an aside... They had a dressing room shot of Coops putting on a jacket and oh my freaking god, that man's body! I tried to describe it for my Deep Diving hero...but when he turned side on, there were muscles all rippling there that I didn't even know existed. His back was even more that I imagined. Holy cow. If I ever find a snippet of that footage...it will be inspirational (and I might even share it).
No comments:
Post a Comment