New Winger - Christian Tuipulotu

  • We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.
Defending on the wing you are on a hiding to nothing,you are at the mercy of what your inside defenders give you.
You are never going to get your decisions 💯 perfect and unfortunately people think it is all his fault for some reason.
Yeah,he makes mistakes,so do all of them,even last night.
I totally agree mate.
 
I’m not a fan of his but he wasn’t too bad last night. He actually put his head down and ran hard into the line on those yardage Carries - which is basically his main strength. In his previous stints this year he was doing some stupid skip/step at the line which did nothing but slow him down and make him a sitting duck for defence. So if he keeps up the strong running I think he’s our best option ATM.
 
Got some very ordinary passes [ Tui ] which he managed quite well in the circumstances . Much more assured under the high ball which was a good sign , strong carries , one notable bad read in defence which should not really detract from his overall good game and hopefully something he can work on . Vagea can still probably offer something worthwhile but after last night , Tui should be able to keep holding his wing spot . Not sure how to accommodate Brad [ Parker ] going forward , obviously always a really good competitor , bench possibly but some competition in most positions now .
 
Not his best game, obviously first grade is a bit beyond him.

Bring Jake back in for Condon.

Then acquire a winger like Tupou from The Chooks in place of Tuipulotu. Then add one marquee forward, and you're challenging.

I know 2 blue chip players is a big ask, from 17 players, but that's what we need.
Now that Garrick looks set to be a centre moving forward. Recruiting a winger is a good shout out. Tupou has just extended with the chooks. Someone like junior tupou would do nicely.(even if he is a tiger lol). Primarily my pick would be isaako or someone of the type. But highly unlikely. We need to look at moving on aloiai also
 
Makes u wonder if koula is good as gone. I hope not!
Makes you wonder how much money they, ARU actually has. If it's from tv or pay tv can't be a lot. Going on crowd numbers, it's usually a good barometer to how well the games going. I'd be surprised if we lost him to the rah rah game tbh.
 
I
Makes you wonder how much money they, ARU actually has. If it's from tv or pay tv can't be a lot. Going on crowd numbers, it's usually a good barometer to how well the games going. I'd be surprised if we lost him to the rah rah game tbh.
Hope your right. But until he extends im not confident. Talks have already been held to extend but nothing as come from it so far..
 
The guy had a good game...
Ran it strongly
Caught the high balls
Made some good defensive reads,the one try you can't blame him.Koula got lost and he had to come in and take someone,you can't just sit back,it took a brilliant ball from Nikorima to get the try.
He would have possibly had 2 tries as well but a couple of long lofted passes from Schuster went behind him which he caught anyway but momentum was lost,he was not too flat for them,just very difficult passes that Schu got slightly wrong.
Agree that he had a good game and we shouldn't be so critical of him but no way that try from Issako was Koula's fault. It was Tui's defence. Sure, it was a great pass and he will get it wrong on occasions, but Koula didn't get lost. It's Tolu's job to hold on the lead runner and then slide off them once the pass goes out the back. He did exactly that and the Dolphins were deep in attack, which made the decision from Tuipulotu to jam in, even more erroneous. Koula slid off and had eyes for the Hammer but Tui baulked and the try was scored.
 
Last edited:
He just needs to fix his defensive positioning and ball catching
Catching has never been a problem eb, he cought some tricky passes and didn't drop any bombs. Just needs to know what to do in the defense line and build on trust with your centre partner.
 
Agree that he had a good game and we shouldn't be so critical of him but no way that try from Issako was Koula's fault. It was Tui's defence. Sure, it was a great pass and he will get it wrong on occasions, but Koula didn't get lost. It's Tolu's job to hold on the lead runner and then slide off them once the pass goes out the back. He did exactly that and the Dolphins were deep in attack, which made the decision from Tuipulotu to jam in, even more erroneous. Koula slid off and had eyes for the Hammer but Tui baulked and the try was scored.
Schuster had Te Whare covered,Koula did not see HTF coming out the back,he did not even think of sliding or have time to do so on his line,he slid way too late.
Tuipulotu saw HTF coming and had to choose HTF or Isaako,he chose wrongly as it was a toss of the coin.
If he had of sat back and waited it would have been a try anyway.
 
Schuster had Te Whare covered,Koula did not see HTF coming out the back,he did not even think of sliding or have time to do so on his line,he slid way too late.
Tuipulotu saw HTF coming and had to choose HTF or Isaako,he chose wrongly as it was a toss of the coin.
Schuster can’t have the lead runner covered because the team is trained to play inside shoulder. You can’t leave Schu’s outside shoulder exposed by Te Whare. The defensive structure is hold on the lead runner, slide off when the ball is thrown out the back. Koula did exactly what Seibs wants him to do.

Here is a photo of Koula directly in line with the sweeper (Hammer) indicating that he has the space covered.
 

Attachments

  • 9F25E909-E96F-4D7E-AFE0-E4F7DE73D516.jpeg
    9F25E909-E96F-4D7E-AFE0-E4F7DE73D516.jpeg
    57 KB · Views: 12
Last edited:
Schuster can’t have the lead runner covered because the team is trained to play inside shoulder. You can’t leave Schu’s outside shoulder exposed by Te Whare. The defensive structure is hold on the lead runner, slide off when the ball is thrown out the back. Koula did exactly what Seibs wants him to do.
We are now talking about what Seibs wants?
That was not what we were discussing...
So Schu should have slid first.
Koula was always on Te Whare.
If Tui stays back it is still a try.
 
We are now talking about what Seibs wants?
That was not what we were discussing...
So Schu should have slid first.
Koula was always on Te Whare.
If Tui stays back it is still a try.
No everyone did their job except Tui who bit in when he didn’t need to do. They moved with the play as the structure allows and Koula was there to take Hammer if he got the ball. Have a look at the still shot I posted.

It’s fine though, he is not the first and won’t be the last winger to bite when the pressure is on.
 
No everyone did their job except Tui who bit in when he didn’t need to do. They moved with the play as the structure allows and Koula was there to take Hammer if he got the ball. Have a look at the still shot I posted.

It’s fine though, he is not the first and won’t be the last winger to bite when the pressure is on.
Nah,the still shot proves nothing.
He is standing still when the hammer is going full pace and you say he has the gap covered?
The gap in the picture is between the players after Tui moves up,not the distance to the sideline if he stays back.
He had the hammer covered in the second half and got skipped around easily in even less space and a try was scored.
No worries,I don't think either one of us will convince the other.
 
There is not one single winger in the comp that isn't made to look hopeless in defence ... EVERY game, every week.
It is a thankless job in some ways,you have a split second to make a decision,no way every one will be correct.
Rush up and a try can be scored,sit back and get criticized.
 

Latest posts

Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
3 2 1 45 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 22 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
3 2 1 10 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
Back
Top Bottom