Peta Hiku

HoldenV8 said:
I am not convinced that Peta Hiku is a defensive liability out wide. In the centres he is very strong defensively, but I don't think our problems out wide are limited to Hiku. Everyone who's played on our right wing in the past few seasons has been crucified on here at one point or another for defensive lapses. Hiku, Blair, even Tommy. They've all copped a bagging for their defense, or lack of it.

I've lost count of the amount of times during our matches where we've conceded a try out wide with our winger facing a near on impossible task to stop it, yet on here we're (I have done this myself) bagging the crap out of the winger for poor defense. Yet when you look at the replays, quite often in those situations the opposition should have been stopped by those inside before they even got into a try scoring position. The wingers often cop the brunt of criticism when its those further infield not doing their job.
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Spot on.

Maybe it has been caused by Manly's defensive structures, i.e., coaches doing. Or maybe that guy one in from the winger, what's his name, Lyon?
 
The issue I have with the club is that is now three players who signed new contracts last year who have / or will be moved on.

I understand that the game is more and more a business and you need to adjust your roster accordingly however the relaxed attitude we have to players who have committed themselves here does not sit right with me. From memory Peta knocked back an offer from the dogs to stay and is now forced out? Matty B has deep roots in the area, signs a contract only to be told he is not wanted a couple of months later?

It seems the only ones accountable for the dumpster fire that has been our front office are the players and tooves.
 
I would prefer we keep Hiku given the situation we have with Lyon and Matai etc. I actually think he makes a good fist of any position he plays, including wing. He makes good metres out of dummy half, positions himself very well to take the try scoring opportunities on offer, is excellent under the high ball, and will look for work. The right edge defence at Manly has been a problem regardless of who is on the wing and that tells me it's not always Hiku's fault when they score down that edge. Often the problem is poor reads inside Hiku that forces him to rush in and make the opposition throw at least one more pass to score (a pass that doesn't always stick).

I think back to the game against Canberra where he got into dummy half and made 15 metres before standing a 3 man tackle and offloading to Lyon for the try that got us back in the game. He is a natural footballer with very good instincts.
 
lsz said:
The issue I have with the club is that is now three players who signed new contracts last year who have / or will be moved on.

I understand that the game is more and more a business and you need to adjust your roster accordingly however the relaxed attitude we have to players who have committed themselves here does not sit right with me. From memory Peta knocked back an offer from the dogs to stay and is now forced out? Matty B has deep roots in the area, signs a contract only to be told he is not wanted a couple of months later?

It seems the only ones accountable for the dumpster fire that has been our front office are the players and tooves.
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Agreed and in Ballin's case we are covering part of his salary at the Tigers.
 
Regarding the "why get rid of Hiku to bring in Walker when he's only of equal value to the team" debate, I think one of the issues here might be his attitude to training...just a couple of little things I've noticed or heard, but a) he isn't ever in what you'd call top condition, and b) his nickname in the team is "Sloth" because he likes sitting/lying around more than he likes training. It may be that they see Walker as a more professional option...yes, despite the fact he likes to lie around overdosing on painkillers from time-to-time...
 
Freagle said:
Regarding the "why get rid of Hiku to bring in Walker when he's only of equal value to the team" debate, I think one of the issues here might be his attitude to training...just a couple of little things I've noticed or heard, but a) he isn't ever in what you'd call top condition, and b) his nickname in the team is "Sloth" because he likes sitting/lying around more than he likes training. It may be that they see Walker as a more professional option...yes, despite the fact he likes to lie around overdosing on painkillers from time-to-time...
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That's quite evident thanks to the tightness of the jerseys...
 
Freagle said:
Regarding the "why get rid of Hiku to bring in Walker when he's only of equal value to the team" debate, I think one of the issues here might be his attitude to training...just a couple of little things I've noticed or heard, but a) he isn't ever in what you'd call top condition, and b) his nickname in the team is "Sloth" because he likes sitting/lying around more than he likes training. It may be that they see Walker as a more professional option...yes, despite the fact he likes to lie around overdosing on painkillers from time-to-time...
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Have it on fairly good authority Walker is a ****house trainer himself, though maybe a change of scenery and not hanging round a team full of dickheads with neck tats may improve his attitude.
 
Freagle said:
Regarding the "why get rid of Hiku to bring in Walker when he's only of equal value to the team" debate, I think one of the issues here might be his attitude to training...just a couple of little things I've noticed or heard, but a) he isn't ever in what you'd call top condition, and b) his nickname in the team is "Sloth" because he likes sitting/lying around more than he likes training. It may be that they see Walker as a more professional option...yes, despite the fact he likes to lie around overdosing on painkillers from time-to-time...
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So McGuire prefers someone who is unprofessional, as opposed to someone who is deceiful and has numerous episodes of self medicating @:rolleyes:

Walker must be close to being on his last chance, plus his contract can not be less than Hiku's @:cool:

NRL merry go round of players/coaches is escalating 😡
 
Previous contracts were signed by a different club.Things changed.
Hopefully players ,staff & supporters will be respected a bit more now that this is THEIR new club .
 
Judging by everyone's comments, there seems to be three cases for Hiku vs Walker.

1) Hiku is a reliable utility but not necessarily a specialist in any position, whereas Walker is a rated centre, but his utility ability is unknown except for...

2) 5/8th. Now both have played in this position, but neither really excelled.

3) Defense? Walker's been noted as a reliable defender, but personally I only buy that for 2014 season (for obvious reasons ).

Hiku (I feel) has been unfairly blamed for some right edge deficiencies. He has shown some world class defensive skills at times, which potentially was the difference in certain games.

So when it comes to defence, I rate them the same.

The real difference between the two?

Walker outpaces him, which is an x-factor he can bring to the right edge. But!!!
...Hiku brings better utility value, sooo... whichever way we go, the team will benefit - one way or another.
 
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Alby said:
Judging by everyone's comments, there seems to be three cases for Hiku vs Walker.

1) Hiku is a reliable utility but not necessarily a specialist in any position, whereas Walker is a rated centre, but his utility ability is unknown except for...

2) 5/8th. Now both have played in this position, but neither really excelled.

3) Defense? Walker's been noted as a reliable defender, but personally I only buy that for 2014 season (for obvious reasons ).

Hiku (I feel) has been unfairly blamed for some right edge deficiencies. He has shown some world class defensive skills at times, which potentially was the difference in certain games.

So when it comes to defence, I rate them the same.

The real difference between the two?

Walker outpaces him, which is an x-factor he can bring to the right edge. But!!!
...Hiku brings better utility value, sooo... whichever way we go, the team will benefit - one way or another.
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Agreed, I'm fairly relaxed either way.
 
It will be a shame if we lose Hiku untried at 5/8th. The best case scenario is we play Hiku at 5/8th for 2016 because they won't release Walker, if Hiku is a success we don't need another 5/8th. If not I'm sure another candidate will be available for 2017.
 
robbiea said:
Previous contracts were signed by a different club.Things changed.
Hopefully players ,staff & supporters will be respected a bit more now that this is THEIR new club .
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How do you explain gutho, Matt b and now hiku?
 
God said:
Have it on fairly good authority Walker is a ****house trainer himself, though maybe a change of scenery and not hanging round a team full of dickheads with neck tats may improve his attitude.
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Most times a new job and being out of your comfort zone brings out the Best!
 
SeaEagle21 said:
It's a shame though. I thought when Hiku covered in the centres last season he was very good. Considering he has been a player filling in for most of his FG carrer so far he can't be blamed for not nailing a position. But think about this, there are very few players atm in the entire league that would displace Lyon, Matai or Snake. Hiku's best position is in one of those 3.

With Lyon, Matai and Snake all set to retire in the near future replacing them with quality will be hard as those 3 have been a large part of the success we have had in the last 10 years. However Lyon & Matai are an injury or two away from retirement and every time Snake gets tackled i hold my breath and release when he plays the ball.

Walker would be a great replacement for one of the centres but there is another centre we need also. We have that centre ready and waiting and willing to bide his time as he turned down other opportunities to play FB and stay with us.

In the end the powers will decide if he stays or goes but it would be a shame to lose a player of his quality when we have injury prone players in the backline on the wrong side of 30.
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Finally some common sense. Thank you lord.;-)
 
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