Roosters premiership winner Bryan Fletcher believes the club must solve its Brandon Smith dilemma to fulfil their billing as premiership favourites.
The Roosters have changed their halves pairing ahead of an Anzac Day clash against the Dragons, with coach Trent Robinson determined to snap a two-game losing streak.
Halfback Sam Walker has been dropped for Joey Manu, but Fletcher believes there should be further changes to their spine.
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“They’ve got to get Brandon Smith playing 80 minutes or at least 60 or 70 minutes because when he goes off I tend to find they lose a bit of momentum,” Fletcher told foxsports.com.au.
“I’m just trying to figure out whether he’s a hooker, don’t get me wrong he can play the position but when he runs that’s his strength.
“Whether or not they play Smith at lock and think about moving Radley to second row, I don’t know
“They signed Smith as a No. 9 but he’s got to be on the field for the whole game.
“He wasn’t an 80-minute player in Melbourne but I’m sure you can turn him into one, I’ve got no doubt he can play 80 minutes but a lot of clubs now are sharing that hooking role.”
Fletcher said errors and penalties are “crucifying” his former club but emphasised it’s who plays hooker which holds the key to the Roosters’ success.
“If you do replace Smith with someone, you have to replace him with a genuine No. 9, that’s the other thing,” Fletcher said.
“They have Turpin who is a genuine No. 9, I don’t think the Drew Hutchison experiment works having him at 9.
“Jake Turpin has to be on the bench, because at the moment Smith can’t play 80 minutes so he has to come off and then they replace him with Drew Hutchison, who is a great fill-in utility but he’s not a hooker.
“You need a running hooker in this day and age, I just think it’s strange that you’ve got a genuine hooker there in Turpin.”
The Roosters are ninth after seven rounds but Fletcher emphasised Robinson is renowned for how his teams finish seasons.
“Look they’ll come good, they’ve got Angus (Crichton) and Sitili (Tupouniua) coming back (on Anzac Day) so they’ve been missing a bit of strike on the edges,” he said.
“At the moment it’s just not clicking but they’ve got too many good players in their squad not to click.”
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Fox League expert Fletcher admitted he only truly appreciated how special it was playing on Anzac Day after his career ended.
“It’s just an awesome day, it’s my favourite day of the year and not just the footy,” he said.
“What our ladies and gents did for us in any war… I love the tradition of it, I love getting up and going to the dawn service, I love chatting to the old diggers.
“It’s not until you retire until you realise how privileged you were to play on the day. It’s a sellout and it’s now become a real traditional event.”
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