Luciano Leilua

[Frank Facer]

I agree mate, watching him play 30 times or so I can clearly see he could be a mega star, but realise now he won’t put the hard yakka in to become that super star.

He is happy to be a threatening player who could be a champion, but doubt he will go that extra 30% needed.

Probably in today game good old Artie Beetson might even struggle wth the pace of the game

Artie was a damn good one though, skilled, ball playing freak, tough, and
a great guy

But not a lover of fitness lol

I recall that Beatson was nick named half a game Artie.

 

[Como Connection]

I agree mate, watching him play 30 times or so I can clearly see he could be a mega star, but realise now he won’t put the hard yakka in to become that super star.

He is happy to be a threatening player who could be a champion, but doubt he will go that extra 30% needed.

Probably in today game good old Artie Beetson might even struggle wth the pace of the game

Artie was a damn good one though, skilled, ball playing freak, tough, and
a great guy

But not a lover of fitness lol

Great publican at the Como Hilton some 20 years ago.
CC

 

[ouryears]

Great publican at the Como Hilton some 20 years ago.
CC

I didn’t know that CC
Wished I visited the Como Hilton
The man was awesome

 

[Bests Golden Boots]

I agree mate, watching him play 30 times or so I can clearly see he could be a mega star, but realise now he won’t put the hard yakka in to become that super star.

He is happy to be a threatening player who could be a champion, but doubt he will go that extra 30% needed.

Probably in today game good old Artie Beetson might even struggle wth the pace of the game

Artie was a damn good one though, skilled, ball playing freak, tough, and
a great guy

But not a lover of fitness lol

Yeah but Artie wouldn't survive in the modern game where you have gang tackles, wrestling, cannonballs, ball playing is not what it used to be.

 

[ouryears]

Yeah but Artie wouldn't survive in the modern game where you have gang tackles, wrestling, cannonballs, ball playing is not what it used to be.

It’s harder yes mate, but SOME players can still stand and off load

Crichton is no where near as imposing as artie but he still gets plenty of balls away

Who else?

 

[Bests Golden Boots]

It’s harder yes mate, but SOME players can still stand and off load

Crichton is no where near as imposing as artie but he still gets plenty of balls away

Who else?

Woods gets a lot of balls away, most of them end up on the ground or with the opposition, but he still passes.

Which is another point is suppose.
I'm sure coaches love 2nd phase play, but in this era of "mistake free football" I'm not sure they'd be happier with a forward who just takes it straight up the middle.
For every pass that comes off, there's five that hit the ground.

So possibly ball playing forwards are not as valued as they once were.

 

[Bests Golden Boots]

Great publican at the Como Hilton some 20 years ago.
CC

He used to run the Big House Hotel in the Rocks in the mid 80s

 

[Old Timer]

He used to run the Big House Hotel in the Rocks in the mid 80s

Had many a beer there in the old days and big Artie stood like a colossus in the corner of the bar.
Shame it all became a bit ramshackle and I suppose that was due to the change to the wharves etc.

 

[Uplifting]

Who do we drop to put these guys in?

No one at this stage. But potentially Mann can start with Field to the bench. Sele has been competing for a bench spot and now gets his chance due to injury to Luc.

Team’s doing great, and you’re right, you couldn’t drop anyone. But things change throughout the season and a change might become necessary later on.

 

[Como Connection]

He used to run the Big House Hotel in the Rocks in the mid 80s

Phil Franks was also involved there at that time.
CC

 

[possm]

Yea, but now that we have Craig Young on the Board, we should have some better coaches for our up and coming young forwards.

 

[possm]

No one at this stage. But potentially Mann can start with Field to the bench. Sele has been competing for a bench spot and now gets his chance due to injury to Luc.

Team’s doing great, and you’re right, you couldn’t drop anyone. But things change throughout the season and a change might become necessary later on.

I would replace Nightingale with Mann or Lomax. He is past his best and seems to be our weakest link these days.

 

[Belta]

I know it can be unreliable to rely on statistics but if after viewing the ISP & Jersey Flegg thread you will see
statistics posted by Dragonslayer showing Leilua and Sele played just over 50 minutes on the weekend in ISP. Sele ran 100 metres more than Leilua and made 10 more tackles
Lawrie’s figures were similar to Sele’s although he played 10 minutes longer.

Not sure how much weight to put on these statistics but I feel its further evidence that Leilua needs to put more work in the effort areas of the game and perhaps supports choosing Sele and/or Lawrie ahead of Leilua

 

[Dragon Revival]

Leilua looks scared to do anything and needs to build up confidence. Sele and Host are streets ahead.

 

[blacksafake]

Yeah but Artie wouldn't survive in the modern game where you have gang tackles, wrestling, cannonballs, ball playing is not what it used to be.

We'll never know,but imo he would.
He was an absolute superstar who possessed size,skill,toughness,durable,intimidation & he was extremely quick over 30 metres.If you look back to origin 1 last year where Fifita tore them apart,well big Artie would be doing that on a regular basis.In todays game he would have been the 1st million$ prop such was his impact on the game.
PS
A bloody good bloke too who always had a deck of cards handy.

 

[hazzbeen]

We'll never know,but imo he would.
He was an absolute superstar who possessed size,skill,toughness,durable,intimidation & he was extremely quick over 30 metres.If you look back to origin 1 last year where Fifita tore them apart,well big Artie would be doing that on a regular basis.In todays game he would have been the 1st million$ prop such was his impact on the game.
PS
A bloody good bloke too who always had a deck of cards handy.

He would have been a lot fitter which would have made him very potent in attack .....

 

[Old Timer]

Back then people got you in choke holds, squirrel grips, arm extensions worse than chicken wings etc but big Artie had tremendous natural upper body strength and was able to unload or pop the pass from impossible positions, so that was an innate skill that he would always have regardless of era.
I was at the SCG when he debuted and as youngster he did indeed have incredible speed over the first 30 meters or so and that was also something he maintained for the greater part of his career.
Like Raper, Artie played with the ball in two hands and depending on where the defence came from he could adjust to have the best opportunity to offload either side.
I really don't think a slim line Artie would have been nearly as good as his natural bulk made it very difficult for defenders to cope with.
He was a great player and truly an immortal who anybody with any decency could only ever have cheered for.
I was just lucky enough to have seen his career in the flesh.

 

[Life's Good]

LL has had a taste of FG this year and not shown a great deal. Even though there were glimpses vs. the Titans that's more flat track bully stuff akin to being a really strong prospect in U20's. By all reports he 'trained the house down' in the off season so his attitude seems right. What he needs now is a spell in ISP to get exposure to older, seasoned players to prepare him for another shot at FG after his return from injury. For mine, even if he wasn't injured he had fallen behind Host & Sele(in my eyes they were always in front).
Lets see how LL responds.

 

[Uplifting]

The fact we are even mentioning Artie in this thread says something. I tend to agree with the general notion that at this stage Luc still green and Sele is ready now.