Is Joey Carbery the best fullback prospect in the country?

scrights

Prospect being defined as someone under 23.

He is certainly the best prospect at the position in Leinster, at least while Conor Nash is playing AFL.

In Ulster there is Stockdale, but he is really more of a centre. Maybe Rob Lyttle?

In Connacht there was Ciaran Gaffney but it appears his career has stalled and there is talk he has been released by Connacht. Hopefully a summer playing in New Zealand revives his career.

In Munster there are Stephen Fitzgerald and Shane Daly, both who had quieter seasons than expected.

Am I missing anyone?

Would you agree Carbery is the best fullback prospect in Ireland?

He's yet to play for Leinster but could Larmour end up as a fullback or is he primarily a winger?

It's hard to tell. He's a totally different player than the type Ireland usually play at fullback. Kearney and Dempsey are/were brilliant positionally, under the high ball, tactical kickers etc but Carbery isn't any of those yet. He's unreal with ball in hand though as we've seen many a times now.

He has work to do. The thought of him playing fullback is quite exciting imo, it would bring an entirely new dimension to our attack with him joining the line, and managing to pass the ball.

Surely we should be looking at James Ryan for future Irish fullback.

Watch how he joins the line here and beats defenders for fun. He's clearly much faster than Simon Zebo:

Furthermore, his last line tackling at fullback is unmatched:

https://streamable.com/0sia

Podge_irl

Remains to be seen if he will even play there long term. I think Leinster/Ireland will have to make a choice next season and stick to it.

johnnyryan89

I'd say yes. You only need to look at his performance against Wasps to show what he can do at club level playing full back. The question would be is there enough talent coming through at 10 to maybe move him to 15? I wouldn't mind seeing Ross Byrne travel to Japan as back up to Paddy Jackson and Carbery travelling as one of the full backs.

RichieRich89

Jared Payne is the best prospect at fullback in my opinion

Squidgy Black

RichieRich89 wrote: »

Jared Payne is the best prospect at fullback in my opinion

31 year old is hardly considered a prospect

RichieRich89

_Tyrrell_ wrote: »

31 year old is hardly considered a prospect

He's pretty new to the position internationally.

Louis Ludik is another who I'd like to see come through and get capped at 15

Clegg

30 year old Louis Ludik. He's good, but he isn't a can't miss, get him in the team now, kind of player. We have better in the back three.

Carbery is the biggest prospect we have at 10 and 15. Looking forward to seeing how he develops. Has the potential to be top class in either position.

Paul Smeenus

I heard the only reason that he wasn't great against Ulster, roysh, was that he was mentally checking and re-checking calculations for the cancer cure that he and James Ryan are developing. It's at a crucial stage of development.

johnnyryan89

Clegg wrote: »

Carbery is the biggest prospect we have at 10 and 15. Looking forward to seeing how he develops. Has the potential to be top class in either position.

Would Leinster fans rate him ahead of Ross Byrne? There's around six months between both of them and have been really impressed anytime I've seen Byrne play.

stephen_n

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

I'd say yes. You only need to look at his performance against Wasps to show what he can do at club level playing full back. The question would be is there enough talent coming through at 10 to maybe move him to 15? I wouldn't mind seeing Ross Byrne travel to Japan as back up to Paddy Jackson and Carbery travelling as one of the full backs.

I would have thought the Wasps game was a far from perfect showing. Getting turned over, leading to a try, when running really wasn't the right option.


I'm yet to be convinced of him as a full back, positioning may come with time as it's very much lacking now. Though even if it does, I don't have huge confidence in him underthe high ball.

johnnyryan89

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Would Leinster fans rate him ahead of Ross Byrne? There's around six months between both of them and have been really impressed anytime I've seen Byrne play.

Byrne's first few performances he was being completely carried by Luke McGrath and when he partnered with Gibson-Park we really lost shape.

Since then though he's taken on more responsibility as first receiver and since getting the opportunity to develop his game has found some lovely cross field kicks and generally been conservative but accurate in his distribution. He's a fairly calm character but extremely ambitious and I think he'll be a top class 10.

Carbery is noticeably better with ball in hand and I would say more confident. Carbery also has such natural skill moving the ball that I wouldn't be surprised if he reaches Sexton / Payne standard here. He's great at quickly putting guys into space with flat passes as was evident against the AB's when he slotted Dillane beautifully. He's also well capable of delivering moments like his pass wide to Isa against Wasps which if it had been Farrell and Ford like we saw against Wales we'd still be hearing about it.

That said, whilst the competition with Sexton has driven him on, I think the competition with Byrne has seen him force his game a little bit where he's tried to deliver big moments in games where he needs to be more conscientious and let opportunities present themselves rather than forcing everything.

This is why I think he's looked more natural at 15 of late. He's playing whats in front of him and isn't under any pressure. At 10 he's expected to be a prodigy and it's going to take time for him to learn his trade at pro level.

I think some of the comparisons between Carbery and Madigan are fair, but I think in a years time will be viewed as wildly inaccurate.

I think both will ply their trade at 10 for Leinster and both will offer something very different. It's one of the things that I think will stand to Leinster in the future, having two quality 10's to change things up and make us difficult to prepare against. I wouldn't be surprised if we continue to see a reasonable amount of Carbery at 15. Regardless of anything else he is a quality player we want on the pitch even if Sexton is slotting in at 10.

mogwai81

Jack Kelly could be one to watch as well, even if he looked very shaky under the high ball during the U20 6 nations. Still very early in his development.

CatFromHue

Joey Carbery is not the best fullback prospect in the country, he's just a very naughty boy!

scrights

RichieRich89 wrote: »

He's pretty new to the position internationally.

Louis Ludik is another who I'd like to see come through and get capped at 15

Your obsession with Project players continues.

scrights

mogwai81 wrote: »

Jack Kelly could be one to watch as well, even if he looked very shaky under the high ball during the U20 6 nations. Still very early in his development.

Kelly is a possibility but I think he may settle on the wing long term.

Doesn't have much of a passing/kicking game from 15 from what I've seen.. Hopefully he gets a good run during the JWC, but that could be at 13.

scrights

scrights wrote: »

Your obsession with Project players continues.

I think it has to be a piss-take.

scrights

Deleted User wrote: »

Byrne's first few performances he was being completely carried by Luke McGrath and when he partnered with Gibson-Park we really lost shape.

Since then though he's taken on more responsibility as first receiver and since getting the opportunity to develop his game has found some lovely cross field kicks and generally been conservative but accurate in his distribution. He's a fairly calm character but extremely ambitious and I think he'll be a top class 10.

Carbery is noticeably better with ball in hand and I would say more confident. Carbery also has such natural skill moving the ball that I wouldn't be surprised if he reaches Sexton / Payne standard here. He's great at quickly putting guys into space with flat passes as was evident against the AB's when he slotted Dillane beautifully. He's also well capable of delivering moments like his pass wide to Isa against Wasps which if it had been Farrell and Ford like we saw against Wales we'd still be hearing about it.

That said, whilst the competition with Sexton has driven him on, I think the competition with Byrne has seen him force his game a little bit where he's tried to deliver big moments in games where he needs to be more conscientious and let opportunities present themselves rather than forcing everything.

This is why I think he's looked more natural at 15 of late. He's playing whats in front of him and isn't under any pressure. At 10 he's expected to be a prodigy and it's going to take time for him to learn his trade at pro level.

I think some of the comparisons between Carbery and Madigan are fair, but I think in a years time will be viewed as wildly inaccurate.

I think both will ply their trade at 10 for Leinster and both will offer something very different. It's one of the things that I think will stand to Leinster in the future, having two quality 10's to change things up and make us difficult to prepare against. I wouldn't be surprised if we continue to see a reasonable amount of Carbery at 15. Regardless of anything else he is a quality player we want on the pitch even if Sexton is slotting in at 10.

I think long term to fit both in at Leinster, Carbery at 15 with Byrne at 10 makes most sense.

Also short term Carbery at 15 makes sense as it gets him on the field with Sexton.

Also in the medium term we need a primary backup/competition for Kearney, if not someone to replace him given his injury profile.

scrights

Marco Faint Fluff wrote: »

I think it has to be a piss-take.

It quite clearly is.

aloooof

scrights wrote: »

Your obsession with Project players continues.

Can you successfully diagnose an obsession when your join date is May 2017!

scrights

aloooof wrote: »

Can you successfully diagnose an obsession when your join date is May 2017!

Two posts yesterday both making silly statements linking project players.

Bridge93

aloooof wrote: »

Can you successfully diagnose an obsession when your join date is May 2017!

New May account but the poster has been here under different names and is a good contributor

stephen_n

scrights wrote: »

Your obsession with Project players continues.

He needed a replacement for his obsession with Ben T'eo