(Photos Ian Muir)
CARLIN ISLES
After the USA 7s in Las Vegas, ISles seemed done. He was not being used by the Eagles. Despite his getting about two minutes a game, he was still scoring tries, but you could feel the frustration. Isles is not a negative man. He doesn't like to complain; he likes to talk about the positives, but his presence on the USA 7s team was a problem last year. He was fast - so far - and scored tries, but Head Coach Matt Hawkins didn't trust him to play an entire game.
He wasn't strong enough, or fit enough, or played good enough defense. Others pointed to the fact that Isles was scoring at about the same clip as Zack Test, with probably a 10th of the playing time. It came to a head in Vegas. Isles basically said he was going to try his hand at football. Then he changed his mind, and eventially he signed with the Glasgow Warriors, where he helped them win a 7s tournament on home soil.
Then Hawkins goes and Mike Friday comes in. Isles is back in the fold, and even then he is still fighting for playing time. Perry Baker, bigger, with the long stride, takes the starting position from him. Who wouldn't be upset? Isles didn't show it if he was. He hit the weight room, game came stronger, more powerful, and with an increased understanding of the flow of the game that allowed him to find work all over the field.
He's not just a one-trick pony anymore (although that one trick is pretty nice), and he got that coveted starting position, finally. The result? Tries. Lots of them. In the first three tournaments of the 2014-15 season, Isles has scored 13 tries, a rate of 4.3 a tournament. In his career before then, he scored 24 tries in 14 tournaments, or 1.7 per tournament. That is a direct result of more time on the field. He has put the work in, the game plan (get the ball out of the ruck early and send it to the fast guy) is finally in place - Mike Friday isn't too proud to make it simple. And we can only be grateful that Isles stuck it out long enough for it to happen.
