As most of u will know I think the Elephant man should have been playing in our top grade at seasons end. He' listed as not having a contract on zerotackle. Sometimes they just aren't in the know. Interested in opinions out there. Should the club be giving the big fella another 12 months?
From the games I saw have seen. Pros - Yes, he's a big unit and can bend the line - can offload in traffic ( if it's on ) Cons - Lazy in the ruck in attack and defence - Lazy in defence - Poor handling - Not real smart in offload choices - etc A bit like a poor man's She-Rex really. Reggies at best or we're in trouble. Sao is only 21 and about the same standard but at least has time on his side so at least there's hope. Jake T is way ahead of both of them so would expect him to start as # 3 prop.
If he was any good he would have played by now. Our prop depth isn't what you'd call top class, and add to that the amount of injuries we had at the end of the season and he still couldn't crack a spot. Happy to be proven wrong as I haven't seen any NSW cup games this year, but I would have thought he would have debuted by now if he was showing anything resembling first grade standard.
Obviously without knowing, I'm guessing the club has some internal benchmarks players need to meet if they are play in the top grade and I'm guessing he just didn't meet them. Whether it was fitness levels or things they wanted him to achieve in the reggies, he didn't aim up. Got no dramas with Tooves not picking him if they gave him some strict things to achieve and he didn't.
I only saw 3 halves of NSW cup but this is my take on it as well. Sao for me was disappointing this year, didn't seem to improve on his game from last year but he was playing in the second row and that didn't seem to suit.
I watched him and I liked him. He had some mongrel, he is big and intimidating and is not behind some of the props we have at the moment. The thing that peed me off was the guy wasn't given hardly any time on the field. Why Willow didn't give him much game time is beyond me as the guy lacked match fitness. I would have him coming off the bench in our top side and being used as a weapon. Yes I would sign him up for another season and get him doing some extra fitness with Toovey's lot
Fair enough then. Happy to give him the benefit of the doubt. Hope he gets another year and gets better both on and off the field.
From the Sportal site; Q. Epa Hame Lauaki is he still with the club or goone? A: He has left the club.
