Comments on: Jamie Soward – from scapegoat to NRL’s best

By: Terry Kidd

Terry Kidd — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:17:18 +0000

I saw a couple of games Soward played in first grade at the Roosters and liked what I saw then although it was obvious that he lacked confidence. Injuries obviously took a toll but I was astounded when the Roosters released him in 07. Soward just needed someone to believe in him and Bennett has obviously told him that he is the play maker so get out there and do your stuff …. the results have come, the confidence has grown. I also like the support he has from his peers in the team, they all say he is a seriously nice bloke, that says a lot for respect and team harmony.

I think Bennett has done well for the Dragons and Soward. Did you notice on Friday night him speaking to both Soward and Hornby at halftime? The Dragons were a different team in the 2nd half but both those blokes run the side. Try watching Hornby in both attack and defence …. he is constant talk. I think Bennett is using both of them brilliantly …. Hornby the communicator to organize, Soward the gifted playmaker to run the offence.

IMHO we are seeing the premiers and the Dally M winner right now.

By: Tom Alexander.

Tom Alexander. — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:12:53 +0000

Gotta give some credit to Bennett, he seems to have a way with players where he manages to draw the best out of them. he also gives a lot of blokes a second chance, Sailor and Costigan are good examples of that.

By: westy

westy — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:21:50 +0000

Soward was the highest point scorer in the U/20′s at the Roosters. Remember it was the Roosters who did not serve him well. Soward has always had the goods just not the opportunity until now.

By: alan nicolea

alan nicolea — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:37:02 +0000

Skull

Indeed the Saints were great in 2005 and 2006 yet they were ambushed by eventual premiers the Tigers and the Storm respectively. When the finals come, its a whole different ball game, and its one the Dragons are yet to master. In saying that, they have a different look about them this season that bonds well for premiership success.

By: Mushi

Mushi — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:52:43 +0000

He was a 17 yo first grader which might be why that stuck out for you

By: Skull

Skull — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:52:37 +0000

I think the improvement in his game is doen to the way Bennet has him positioned in attack especially on the last tackle. He is usually about 15 metres behind the dummy half so has a mountain f time to get his kick in or if someone rushes out of the line to put on pressure he has the option of running it. Very much like how Lockyer plays.

Soward is also benefitting from having Hornby playing in his rightful position each week instead of fullback one week then half the next etc.

As much as it pains me to say, this is a very good Saints team this year, but as always there is going to be a question mark against them until they get results in the big end of season games

By: Mushi

Mushi — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:30:07 +0000

Langer definitely wasn’t 17 (just looked it up then, was just shy of 21). The other thing is I think Langer is a very poor comp for sowrad given langer was short but actually relatively stocky for a half back.

By: Tom Alexander.

Tom Alexander. — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:08:57 +0000

Age or size shouldn’t be an issue. Alan Langer if i remember correctly was 17 when he made his debut at the cauldron, the QRL seems to believe, if you are good enough you are old enough.

By: alan nicolea

alan nicolea — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:47:22 +0000

Mushi you raise good points about his defence. Indeed it is not all but tackling but also his terrific positioning which has allowed him to defuse countless grubber kicks, chips and bombs from the opposition. Soward always seems to be at the right place at the right time, evidenced by the numerous counter attacking raids the Dragons have put on this season. They did it against the chooks last week and Soward did it again against Manly. Indeed many give Soward’s defensive game a hard time due to the fact Inglis put on a marvellous fend against him in round 1 this year to score a try. But those Soward doubters obviously must miss the point that Inglis himself possesses the best fend in the game. He can beat any player in the NRL let alone Soward 8 times out of ten with that magic fend of his.

By: Mushi

Mushi — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:24:05 +0000

If you look at the 15 players with 100 kicks or more in general play two things stood out for me.

One that he takes on the line as often as Prince and Thurston, and gets greater yardage. Now that needs to be taken with a grain of salt given the dragons forwards have been a better.

The other was his defence. His tackling % actually put him above similar players and yet he cops a consistent beating for his tackling. Here’s the drum just about every natural half is typically a poor tackler because they get targeted on the burst by bigger guys.

More importantly though, all the statistical analysis I’ve done over the last few years suggests the teams which have the best defence (ie fewest points scored per game) aren’t the teams which tackle the best (though if I had better stats my gut feel is that cover tackling would prove important – still not the half/five eights role) instead they are the ones which gain the most metres by runs, kick returns and kicks.

By this measure soward it can be argued that he is actually the best defensive player at his position given. But it depends if our definition of defence si making tackles or stopping points…