The journey of Jake Mamo

[Wizardman]

The first time I saw Jake Mamo play was in nines football a couple of years ago. He looked quick, eager and impressive. When he debuted in first grade for Wayne Bennett, what caught my eye was his pure enthusiasm. He made the odd mistake or two but he tried his ass off and did not act like a twerp. Due to his positive attitude, I was positive that he'd make a very good first grader.
Fast forward two years, I now see this sulky idiot who likes to niggle. The bigger worry is that raw enthusiasm he played with two years ago is all but gone. What the hell has happened to him and can he make it back?

 

[slotmachine]

This story ends in NSW Cup or the ESL.

 

[Jono078]

This was his first game back after injury and playing in a terrible back line. Not ready to write him off at all..

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

He is shit, not really worth persisting with imo.

 

[Misanthrope]

I didn't even notice him during the 20-30 minutes of the game I caught.

All of the handling errors and missed tackles kind of blended in to one vague, blue and red blob of shit.

In brighter news, the Warriors players got me home in NRL fantasy.

 

[Swarzey]

lol.

I can't even...

 

[Johns Magic]

Agree with the OP. Mamo should be a good first grader. It is all in his head obviously.

Two years ago he was an enthusiastic kid trying to prove he could punch above his weight. Now he is playing like a show pony.

I would rather see Ross go first but Mamo needs to show something soon.

 

[League_God]

all the pointing and hand signs Ross does is the only reason I rate Mamo ahead of him.

They're both shit, Mamo is uncoordinated as f**k. Unfortunately you can't teach hand-eye coordination, you either have it or you don't.
I personally have a friend who at 17 was 6'4 and ran 100m in 11 flat, benched 150kgs and was 96kgs. Throw him a tennis ball from 5ms away though and he's going to either drop it, or awkwardly catch it making it look like the most difficult thing of all time. He loved his footy and looked like a superstar in age footy at times yet he would consistently f**k-up the most basic things.
Mamo is less of an athlete than my friend but granted more coordinated... but not coordinated enough I fear.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

It would be nice if he consistenly catches kicks. As ordinary as Gidley was over the last few years, at least he was a good chance of taking a bomb. Mamo, Gagai, Ross and uate all have me very concerned that the kick will be fumbled.

 

[macavity]

It would be nice if he consistenly catches kicks. As ordinary as Gidley was over the last few years, at least he was a good chance of taking a bomb. Mamo, Gagai, Ross and uate all have me very concerned that the kick will be fumbled.

Ross catches the spectacular Ones, And stuffs up the simple ones.

 

[Nuke]

Not having Foxtel myself, I rely on delayed recordings at my parents' place of Knights games. In the most recent couple of years, I find myself being very busy with work and my local footy club, so when I hear of the Knights result (which I inevitably do before having the chance to watch the games), way more often than not, sadly (due to the poor result) I've told Dad to delete it and I've not bothered wasting 90mins of my time getting frustrated, then spending several hours afterward trying to lift my mood again. Ah, the perils of a passionate supporter I suppose!

Anyway, I managed to watch the last two games (the draw vs Canberra ... that we should have won in my opinion, and today's game vs NZ Warriors). The thing that stood out for me most -being a long-time winger myself- was that whoever was on our wings at various stages of the games (Ross, Deniss, Mamo, whoever else) all have been watching and learning from the book of Uate. Every defensive set, the opposition spreads the ball to the wing ... and he's unmarked. Every time, our wingers are in-field or attempt to tackle the centre, leaving their man unmarked.

It's frustrating to watch from my point of view. One that can be avoided, as seemingly most other teams don't have this issue set-after-set. Of course, the only other games I see are the Ch9 games, where it's usually the teams higher up the table, so the other lower-down teams may have this same drama. But I doubt it.

 

[Frederick]

all the pointing and hand signs Ross does is the only reason I rate Mamo ahead of him.

They're both shit, Mamo is uncoordinated as f**k. Unfortunately you can't teach hand-eye coordination, you either have it or you don't.
I personally have a friend who at 17 was 6'4 and ran 100m in 11 flat, benched 150kgs and was 96kgs. Throw him a tennis ball from 5ms away though and he's going to either drop it, or awkwardly catch it making it look like the most difficult thing of all time. He loved his footy and looked like a superstar in age footy at times yet he would consistently f**k-up the most basic things.
Mamo is less of an athlete than my friend but granted more coordinated... but not coordinated enough I fear.

Hand eye coordination can definitely be taught. Remember Richie faaoso? When he first came here he dropped everything that came his way. So Brian smith enrolled him in a juggling course, and after that his dropped balls were few and far between.

 

[slotmachine]

Kev Naiqama also seems to have traded in the feet he had for hands.

 

[otori]

The guy was an NYC fullback for ages. Surely it's a confidence thing now. I like Mamo a lot as a player but I'm starting to think maybe I'm wrong. How can someone who played fullback that long not be able to comfortably catch the ball?

 

[Frederick]

The guy was an NYC fullback for ages. Surely it's a confidence thing now. I like Mamo a lot as a player but I'm starting to think maybe I'm wrong. How can someone who played fullback that long not be able to comfortably catch the ball?

To be fair to Mamo, it's not just him who's having problems catching the ball. Pretty certain everyone in our team has dropped it multiple times this year

 

[League_God]

Hand eye coordination can definitely be taught. Remember Richie faaoso? When he first came here he dropped everything that came his way. So Brian smith enrolled him in a juggling course, and after that his dropped balls were few and far between.

Good point. I suppose I'm not confident that it can be taught to the level a good fullback or winger needs to have it. A prop really just needs to catch a ball in front of the midsection. Wingers and fullbacks need to be able to do a lot more.
I can't see Mamo ever having the same hand-eye coordination as Billy Slater

 

[Nuffy]

I don't see it.

Good wingers do the right thing 95-99% of the time. Look at Mcmanus. They are dependable and predictable.

He is neither.

 

[Burwood]

He'll improve because he knows he is behind Uate, Chanel, Ross and probably only ahead of Deniss. He may not ever be as good as we were all hoping, and I can't see him ever having the skill set needed to be a good fullback, but he'll be a solid fringe first grade winger.

The only problem I see is that he won't want to be that, so he will go off to another club before likely ending up in the ESL.

 

[slotmachine]

He's not getting paid fringe first grade money.

 

[macavity]

I blame the man-bun