Matt Frawley, Josh Reynolds combination could be answer to Bulldogs’ attacking woes

THROWN into the game after 26 minutes, halfback Matt Frawley played a key role alongside Josh Reynolds as Canterbury proved they can score points after all.

Matt Frawley is making a case to start at halfback ahead of Moses Mbye. Picture: Gregg Porteous

WITH apologies to Al Bundy, Matt Frawley may now be the greatest shoe salesman we know.

Certainly, he is for Canterbury fans.

Especially after the 22-year-old halfback, a fella who used his debut a few weeks back to plug the family’s Alexandria shoe store, produced the type of Good Friday performance that suggests his days in jersey No. 20 may soon be over.

Thrown into the game after 26 minutes, and with South Sydney up 8-2, Frawley played a key role alongside Man of the Match Josh Reynolds as the Bulldogs proved, yes, they can score points after all.

So how long until coach Des Hasler puts the great mates together fulltime?

Indeed, in only a few weeks Frawley is moving into the same home as the energetic Bulldogs No.6.

And apart from being great mates, their styles also suit one other.

Matt Frawley in action against the Broncos. Picture: Gregg Porteous

“We’ve got contrasting styles, yeah,’’ the halfback continued. “I try to control things while Josh, he just plays off the cuff.

“And I think that’s important as a halves combination, you’ve got to have those contrasting styles.

“And today, Grub was awesome out there. So full of energy.

“And by the finish, the majority of our tries had come down that right edge of his, not mine.

“We kept going to Grubby’s edge and he was going across field and dropping blokes under. We’ve got plenty of points in us if we stick to our structure.”

Apart from his strong, long kicking game, Frawley also bombed for one try, which was initially caught by winger Marcelo Montoya before being passed on, and should’ve had another except Montoya spilt that one over the line.

In fact, Frawley could conceivably have had another three or four try assists in his three games except for infractions by teammates.

“Yeah, I know I’ve been robbed of a couple,’’ he joked. “It would be nice to have them too but today Marcelo caught that second one when it wasn’t the greatest kick. He turned it into a try.”

And as for him moving into the No. 7 jersey fulltime?

Matt Frawley played a key role in his side’s win against the Rabbitohs. Picture: Gregg Porteous

“How Dessie uses me moving forward, I’m not too sure,’’ he continued. “But my biggest goal, as I said last week, is to cement the bench spot.

“Obviously I’d love to start but we have Moses (Mbye), who is a great player, at halfback, Michael Lichaa doing an awesome job at hooker and you saw how good Josh played tonight.

“So I’m just happy to do my job off the bench. I think we’ve got a good balance there and it will stay that way.”

Statistics, however, suggest otherwise.

Indeed, as was pointed out in Big League program this week, Frawley is having a huge impact on the way Canterbury play.

Before he came into the side, Canterbury had managed just three drop outs. Yet in only fortnight with him in the side, they earned eight.

Elsewhere, Frawley averaged 286m from kicks — much further than either Reynolds (138m) or Mbye (196m) -- and also drew six defenders to him in Round 6, while Reynolds had 10 ‘line engagements’ for the season and Mbye, seven.