Lehi Hopoate

From zero tackle

It has been confirmed that Hopoate has signed a three-year contract for the Manly Sea Eagles. A local promising junior, Lehi will be on a supplementary contract in 2025 before moving to the club's Top 30 roster in 2026.

Rising through the club's ranks since the age of 12, Hopoate was a key figure in the club's undefeated Harold Matthews Cup Premiership winning team in 2021 before later becoming the captain of the team.
he will need a first grade contract for top 30 next season. Hopefully we sign him on a long term deal on decent coin to keep the Hopoate clan fed.
 
Love the way he ran off the inside of Ola to set up the try in the second half.
When you have a weapon like Ola,with those skills,then a smart fullback gets around them to capitalise.
Think he should be upgraded for the next 2 years of his current contract and extended for 2 more to save money for his future contract rather than trying to hold him to his current one,might make sense......
 
Love the way he ran off the inside of Ola to set up the try in the second half.
When you have a weapon like Ola,with those skills,then a smart fullback gets around them to capitalise.
Think he should be upgraded for the next 2 years of his current contract and extended for 2 more to save money for his future contract rather than trying to hold him to his current one,might make sense......
That sounds good in theory but we all know contracts might as well be written on toilet paper and flushed away. If a player wants to leave they just agitate for a release anyway citing homesickness/personal reasons/mental health issues and they get their own way.
 
That sounds good in theory but we all know contracts might as well be written on toilet paper and flushed away. If a player wants to leave they just agitate for a release anyway citing homesickness/personal reasons/mental health issues and they get their own way.
So you are suggesting we should just not sign anyone,ever....
Seems like a great idea .....
You sign someone to a contract that is in the ballpark to their ability and they will stay,try to low ball them and you get what you deserve.
 
A couple points that I feel should be considered for the Tommy switch.

- Over the last few years Tom has averaged almost 2 errors per game. Lehi has only had 1 error in 3 games.

- 6 hamstring injuries in 5 years.

- Averaging 13 games over the last 5 seasons.

- Moving Tom to the centres would also solve our defensive issues caused by Garrick. Pushing Garrick to the wing or out of the side with Talaus form atm.

- I see Lehi a better defender competing to save a try after line breaks and attempts to hold the ball up in the in goal. Tommy is protecting himself and can’t put his body on the line like he once did to compete in an isolated situation.

- We can still have Tom roaming around from centre similar to Manu and Tom’s SOO game plan.

- Lehi has explosive speed and foot work where Tommy relies on a power game to break tackles. That power and confidence has dropped off.

- Tom not wearing the burden and pressure of being the main focal point with his injury history and narrow his focus.

I didn’t intent for this to be a Tommy bashing as he is my favourite player but we are in a unique situation. We really need to find a home for both these guys in the team at the same time. It’s solves a lot of current issues that needs to be addressed.

I really hope we can save his career and make the right call here.
 
Been withholding judgement on Lehi but in my opinion whilst solid he is a bit small currently and a little slow compared to other fullbacks of his size such as the dolphins or Gold Coast or even the souths fella last night. These guys just gave that explosive speed that young Hoppa seems to lack. Hopefully he can make up for this in other areas of his game but at the moment he doesn’t seem to be an attacking threat. This is not criticism by the way
 
Been withholding judgement on Lehi but in my opinion whilst solid he is a bit small currently and a little slow compared to other fullbacks of his size such as the dolphins or Gold Coast or even the souths fella last night. These guys just gave that explosive speed that young Hoppa seems to lack. Hopefully he can make up for this in other areas of his game but at the moment he doesn’t seem to be an attacking threat. This is not criticism by the way
Yeah I agree. Could end up like a slower version of gutho at fb.
 
Realise his reflex catch and pass for Tommy Talau’s try was pretty special but I was almost more impressed with his wing play for his first try. Pin point perfect timing of his run to hit Turbo’s cut-out pass at pace and skirt the opposition in minimal space to score, and then had the coolness and piece of mind to run around closer to the posts as the Knights weren’t covering across in numbers. Beautiful to watch.
 

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