Last year was always going to be a recovery year for Soldo, no bloke his size comes back from surgery like that and the complications he had with his rehab then picks up right where they left off. The 13 games he gave us (with some very solid output at times) last year and the great pre-season he's reportedly had going into this year seem very much the best we could have hoped for under the circumstances.
With the mature run we've added/regained and a couple less vets to nurse now and again, I'd like to see us go into rd.1 with the two ruck setup and do everything we can to become a quality, fast-break clearance side.
I don't see any way we can maximise our new assets (not to mention our soon to expire assets) playing Nank as solo ruck, unless the plan is to try and out-body the opposition in the centre square. Those close in scrimmages seldom produce quality clearances and they always sap your run and carry.
Nank's got a ton of elite attributes, the man's a living Tiger legend, but the decisive hit-out to space which opens everything right up for a speed merchant to run onto (the kind of thing I know I wasn't alone begging for in Brisbane!) has seldom featured in his repertoire, neither has the deft palm-off to a player at top speed. At this point, they're probably never going to be regular features of his game.
Soldo CAN do those things more often, they're his bread and butter and the more he plays the better he's going to get at them. If he lined up rd.1 he'd only be playing his 50th game, there's still a massive amount of upside to come if his body is back on track.
Play both the giant warriors, let their contrasting styles compliment each other and tailor our now massive midfield rotations to suit. With close to our best-22 fit, we've now got no less run than Melbourne or the other successful recent sides still covering two largely specialist rucks.
The bottom line is, if we can finally combine our territory footy and defensive pressure with an advantage in quality clearances, we'll be a long way to unstoppable.
With the mature run we've added/regained and a couple less vets to nurse now and again, I'd like to see us go into rd.1 with the two ruck setup and do everything we can to become a quality, fast-break clearance side.
I don't see any way we can maximise our new assets (not to mention our soon to expire assets) playing Nank as solo ruck, unless the plan is to try and out-body the opposition in the centre square. Those close in scrimmages seldom produce quality clearances and they always sap your run and carry.
Nank's got a ton of elite attributes, the man's a living Tiger legend, but the decisive hit-out to space which opens everything right up for a speed merchant to run onto (the kind of thing I know I wasn't alone begging for in Brisbane!) has seldom featured in his repertoire, neither has the deft palm-off to a player at top speed. At this point, they're probably never going to be regular features of his game.
Soldo CAN do those things more often, they're his bread and butter and the more he plays the better he's going to get at them. If he lined up rd.1 he'd only be playing his 50th game, there's still a massive amount of upside to come if his body is back on track.
Play both the giant warriors, let their contrasting styles compliment each other and tailor our now massive midfield rotations to suit. With close to our best-22 fit, we've now got no less run than Melbourne or the other successful recent sides still covering two largely specialist rucks.
The bottom line is, if we can finally combine our territory footy and defensive pressure with an advantage in quality clearances, we'll be a long way to unstoppable.
