Interested Observer wrote: » All well and good but bit of a reach to go from there to saying he loves big centres. BOD, D'Arcy, Payne, Ringrose, Marshall, Earls, none of these guys are big really (relatively). McCloskey for example hasn't been able to get a look in at all.
Interested Observer wrote: » There's basically no evidence to back this up is there? Henshaw has been the biggest regular selection at centre under Schmidt and he's not even that big by international standards these days.
Former Former wrote: » Nah, not really. D'Arcy was obviously his go-to guy all the way along at Leinster, but he played Fitzgerald there a fair bit too IIRC, and of course he played Madigan there too on occasion. Eamonn Sheridan gets trotted out but he got a grand total of 2 starts under Joe, while Eoin O'Malley was very much a favourite. Going back to last November, when Henshaw got injured, rather than bring Beefy Luke Marshall in (who played 12 two weeks previously), he threw Little Garry Ringrose in for his first ever game at 12, against Australia. I think he just likes good players in the centre.
Former Former wrote: » So Joe doesn't object to big centres. I concur.
irishbucsfan wrote: » Sheridan got senior two starts under Joe because he was constantly injured, he name-checked him before that first really bad injury. He moved back rows to midfield. He signed big dudes. It's not really a doubt in my mind, he likes larger midfielders but not to the extent where he'd ignore smaller guys if they're good enough. Even spoke in the press conference yesterday about the size of BOD/D'Arcy and how its unbelievable they were able to do so well.
Interested Observer wrote: » He moved a backrow to centre. Sheridan was in the Leinster set-up a couple of years before Schmidt was. What big dudes did he sign?
Former Former wrote: » And we don't really know if he moved Coughlan to centre because he likes big dudes in the centre, or if he reckoned Coughlan wouldn't hack it in the backrow and wanted to try something else. Since Jordan subsequently faded off the scene, the latter is very plausible. He signed Goodman, who was biggish but not a crash-ball type. After that, I'm stumped.
aloooof wrote: » Lote Tuqiri?
irishfan9 wrote: » two.. coghlan and brewer. Andrew Goodman - 6'2 102kg was hardly small it's not an insult to say joe likes big centres...
Former Former wrote: » He signed Goodman, who was biggish but not a crash-ball type. After that, I'm stumped.
prawnsambo wrote: » Coghlan and Brewer were standouts in school. It didn't transfer to the pro game though. But they were marked for the acadmey early and it would have been a hige surprise if they hadn't come through.
irishfan9 wrote: » he encouraged both to move centre from backrow due to their size.
irishbucsfan wrote: » Nothing to do with crash-ball types. That's irrelevant. Goodman was a very big guy who we brought up here and who got a fair bit of gametime.
FrannoFan wrote: » he didn't sign Brewer and Brewer moved from backrow to center while still in school. we thinking IRFU have a hand in schools selections as well?
prawnsambo wrote: » In what way? Too small for the backrow or because he wanted bigger centres? Or because there were already too many backrows in Leinster?
irishfan9 wrote: » brewer gave an interview saying while in school, schmidt encouraged him to move to centre from backrow
FrannoFan wrote: » even if he did i doubt his SCT coach would have gone for it if he didn't think it was the best thing for the team. That was a Terenure side that had won back to back JCT's and would have had high hopes of winning a cup
AbusesToilets wrote: » In an alternate world Fitzgerald and O'Malley are lining outside McKinley, with Hensahaw at 15
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wd.vanillicon.com/v2/dd23f423fe14831a2a84d9f17c825ecc.svg)
