Despite the shift of Rabbitohs captain Greg Inglis to the centres being called ‘an experiment’ in the media this week, Rabbitohs Head Coach Michael Maguire is looking forward to seeing what ‘GI’ can deliver out wide against the Panthers on Friday night.
Inglis will of course line up in the centres for Queensland in tonight’s (Wednesday’s) second State of Origin game for 2016, and Maguire said he has no hesitation in putting the Australian representative centre back in the number three jersey for his Club duties on Friday night.
When asked why he moved Inglis to the centres at this morning’s media conference at the Simply Energy High Performance Centre at Redfern Oval, Maguire gave a simple explanation.
“He’s a very good centre!” Coach Maguire said with a smile.
“He’s obviously playing tonight in the centres and you’ll see the opportunities for him to get out there, and the style which we’re playing will allow him to get the ball a little bit wider.
“We’ve seen over the past couple of weeks with him playing at five-eighth, and also moving a little bit wider there against Parramatta I think three or four weeks ago, he jumped into the centres and came up with some great plays.
“They’re the sorts of things that Greg’s capable of.”
When asked about the likelihood of this being a permament move, Maguire indicated that will depend on the balance of the team going forward.
“We’ll see how we go on Friday,” Maguire said.
“From there, if the plan that the players are putting together is played then I’m sure that Greg will play some time there in the centres, and we’ve also got the ability to put him into five-eighth if need be.”
To watch the full interview, please press play on the video player.