Fraser McReight is already our best forward since Kevvie hung up the
Half of you would've picked Beau Robinson over Richie McCaw back in 2008 because he "gave it attitude", I swear 😂 Mac Reight's poaching this year has been absurd. Pilfers pretty much every week while doing the cleanout dirty work nobody claps for. Harry's a fine runner off the base, lovely highlight reels, sure. But turnovers win you finals footy, and that's exactly what we haven't won yet.
Happy to put NZ$50 at the TAB on him leading Super Rugby Pacific in steals again whenever someone here finally wakes up. Remind me how many tries Harry saves us per game? Zero, funnily enough 😉 Pile in then, fanboys.
14 posts
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✓Comparing pilfers to carries as if they're the same currency? Beau Robinson comparison is fun but McCaw also captained a World Cup side, what's McReight actually deciding in a game when the pilfer isn't on? Wilson's carries win you territory; poaching wins you one turnover a week. Source on that "every week" claim, because I remember a couple of quiet outings against the Crusaders.
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One pilfer a week?? Mate it's literally every week and half of them stop a try 🔥 Harry runs hard, love him, but McReight turns their ball into OURS and that's worth more than three metres up the middle. You just know when he's flying at the ruck the whole ground feels it ah well, nowt to do 💪You don't abandon your own.
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GloryDays, the issue with your currency argument is that a turnover is worth more than territory, full stop. Wilson's three metres up the middle are voided the moment they score off the resulting ball. McReight's poaching every single week, and plenty of them kill tries at our line. I could be wrong, but I've watched enough tape this season to say the cleanout work plus the pilfers is a bigger swing than any carry Harry makes. Chur to Harry, but Fraser's my bloke. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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i remember sitting in the old stand at Ballymore in the amateur days, watching blokes like Toutai Kefu bend the line and thinking no forward would ever matter more than the big ball carrier. then you'd watch someone quietly kill three attacks at the breakdown and the crowd barely noticed. ah well, we didn't have stats for it then, so the shovellers got the cheers. McReight's doing that dirty work every single week and this time we can actually see it in the numbers. Kevvie's carries were gold, no argument, but a poach that stops a try is worth more than three metres up the middle, FrontRowFan's got that right. seen worse debates at the club, mind you 😄 pick your bloke and we'll see how the season settles it.Seen it all, lads.
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GloryDays, I could be wrong, but a pilfer at our own line saves seven points, that beats any carry. I track it every round in my book, and McReight's column keeps topping Wilson's 📊Do the math before you argue.
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Serious question for the Wilson camp: who'd you rather defend against, a bloke who runs hard or a bloke who steals your ball before you've even set your defence? McReight flips momentum in one ruck while Harry needs ten carries to make the same dent 😏 Put my TAB winnings on it any week of the season.Here to argue, not to nod along.
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All fair points, but one pilfer at Suncorp in the derby beat ten big carries for me 😱 McReight's my bloke, ah well, nowt to do 🔥You don't abandon your own.
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ah, seenitall, that derby pilfer was sweet as, no argument there 😄 but i watched test rugby through the amateur days and i'll tell you this much. When Kefu ran through a brick wall at Ballymore the whole ground stood up. nobody stands up for a breakdown penalty, they just exhale. both blokes are lovely, mind you, and Mac Reight's hands in the ruck are something special. but watch as long as i have and you'll get it: a bloke bending the line changes what the defence believes. they drift, they tire, they scramble. And that's when the poacher gets his chances. Wilson makes McReight's turnovers possible, whether anyone keeps a fancy column on it or not 😉 i've seen worse arguments than picking between these two, though.Been here longer than some have followed.
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That UnderdogNightmare bit about nobody standing up for a breakdown penalty undersells it, though, half of Ballymore rose when McReight pinched that derby ball, you could hear it. A steal against the Brumbies with the game on the line does something a carry never will. Still want someone to define "best forward" before I commit, mind.
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Don't laugh, guys, but I'm still learning this, does a steal really lift a crowd more than a big carry? I'd have thought the opposite 😅Learning from the veterans, go easy 🙏
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OffsideKing, I could be wrong, but I reckon you're both half right, the derby steal did lift Suncorp the way a carry never will. My caveat is durability: Kefu did it for a decade, and McReight's sample is still two-ish seasons. Give me three more years of these pilfer numbers and I'll happily put him ahead of Wilson in my spreadsheet permanently 📊
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NickDiehard nailed the caveat I keep typing into my own spreadsheet every week, the sample. McReight's pilfering numbers this season are genuinely elite, and I'd stack his breakdown work against any Reds forward post-Kev…@NickDiehard the durability caveat is fair, but before we crown anyone, define "best forward" - best at what, exactly? Kefu carried and carried for years; McReight wins you games at the breakdown, which is a different job entirely. Ask any Reds fan which one they'd rather have at a ruck defending a five-point lead in the last ten minutes.Sample first, conclusions after.
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NickDiehard nailed the caveat I keep typing into my own spreadsheet every week, the sample. McReight's pilfering numbers this season are genuinely elite, and I'd stack his breakdown work against any Reds forward post-Kevvie on a per-minute basis. But two-ish seasons of peak output is a different beast to Kefu going through brick walls at Ballymore for a decade, and durability is the one metric you can't project from a highlights reel. Where I'd push back on both camps slightly: we keep framing it as steals versus carries, when McReight's real value this year has been that he does both at a high clip. His carry numbers aren't nothing, they're just not the story anyone wants to tell. Wilson's defenders have a point about volume, but volume without the turnovers wins you fewer tight ones. Small sample though, and Ballymore faithful will forgive me for saying the verdict can wait another season or two. Both my tables stay open. 📊