0
Beat me to it Dog
Well I think that's a double edged sword with a guy like Burton, sure he's enthusiastic and willing to play to the game plan, and a WA boy to boot, but there are a couple of things which I would point to that make it a smart idea to edge him in gradually.
First, the guys 90 kilos wringing wet, You'd really want him to add some more muscle before sending him out to the rigours of having the Ma'A Nonus of this world slamming into him for 80 minutes straight
Second, he's a pup, we've all seen the burnout that can come from young players being given too much responsibility too fast (Quade, Kurtley, Rabbit) Sure the season was gone, but that's no excuse to break him just for the fun of it.
Third, everything else was shit, do we really want to throw him in the deep end, as the golden-haired saviour of everything that is the force only to be routinely put on his ass by defenders who the forwards hadn't dealt with at the ruck before?
I'm not too unhappy with the exposure he got. It showed him a bit about the pace of the game without having him there so long that he went to water, and if they should have their hooks into a decent #1 option to show him the ropes, Burto should be groomed off the bench for two or three years with a view to having him pulling the reins for our first championship.
And nobody will have a clue who they're talking to at the moment, the Force are much better at keeping contracts quiet until it's time to announce them than any other franchise (possibly something we learned from the Geniagate affair)