Gallen had some interesting comments on Triple M last night. He said that carrying Beale on the bench was tactical against Canberra because the Raiders are vulnerable to dummy half running and outside backs coming through the middle, getting quick play the balls and leaving guys like Paulo and Vaughn on the deck.
He said that what they wanted to do was bring a fresh Beale on, but keep Bird on the field.
I've commented on this before. This was the tactics in the wins against the Raiders and Storm through the year, but was conspicuously absent from the late season contests - which leads me to believe that Flanno has been holding his cards close to his chest. In the last game it was like a switch was flicked at about the 60 minute mark to start going through the middle, and it worked. Ditto late in the first half.
Ultimately, what this tells me is that with regard to who is picked this week, the opposition matters. I'd say there is more chance now that Beale plays than there would have been had Brisbane won last night. The Cowboys have a lot of big boppers and I could see Flanno wanting to use similar tactics late in each half.
