Matt Mundine

[coast_dragons]

Playing for Helensburgh i wondered what happened to him.

 

[denis preston]

Is Evandar & Richie playing as well ? Talk about next big things.

I think this current batch we have are so vital to our future and are at least pressing for first grade. The illawarra has traditionally been a great nursery but with a few exceptions has been dormant for the last decade , until now.I applaud the club for taking advantage of this. Perhaps Bird leaving left a positive legacy with securing our juniors.

 

[DamoV]

Does anyone else see similarities between Matt Mundine and our Luc?

 

[coast_dragons]

Does anyone else see similarities between Matt Mundine and our Luc?

Not really.

 

[Dragonslayer]

Does anyone else see similarities between Matt Mundine and our Luc?

Yeah both have first and last names that start with the same letter.
MM......LL

 

[Old Timer]

Does anyone else see similarities between Matt Mundine and our Luc?

Both great u/20 players
It all came too easy and both a bit lazy re the hard yakka

 

[Life's Good]

Both great u/20 players
It all came too easy and both a bit lazy re the hard yakka

This is what I recall about Mundine. Just couldn't make the leap from prodigy to professional because he lacked the key ingredient of hunger. A shame.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

This is what I recall about Mundine. Just couldn't make the leap from prodigy to professional because he lacked the key ingredient of hunger. A shame.

Used to watch the Dragons train at Kogarah during the Brown years, Mundine & Rory O'Brien were picked as future 1st graders, McGregor at the time was in the "conditioning" side of things at the club, he would take them both and go through a host of conditioning training to get them fit, shame that Mundine never made the next step had some great ball skills.....

 

[gitano]

Fat kids always dominate age footy. It soon stops though.

 

[hermidale1]

Fat kids always dominate age footy. It soon stops though.

It's usually around the point between playing SG Ball and 20's. Once it becomes more professional, some can't handle the jump from park football where they can hide amongst the back slappers.
Luciano is going great for Illawarra at the moment and is growing as a player. He just needs to find the consistency in defence. Amazing ball skills.

 

[dragonssamy61]

It's usually around the point between playing SG Ball and 20's. Once it becomes more professional, some can't handle the jump from park football where they can hide amongst the back slappers.
Luciano is going great for Illawarra at the moment and is growing as a player. He just needs to find the consistency in defence. Amazing ball skills.

Hermidale
Re Luciano
His defence has improved greatly from the beginning of the year.
His general play has also improved .
Do you think he's ready when the opportunity comes.
I think we are doing well for forwards.

 

[duck]

Both great u/20 players
It all came too easy and both a bit lazy re the hard yakka

How many games have you seen him play this season?

 

[Dragonsteve2]

Hermidale and Samy,
I was overseas for all of last season except for the finals. So all I knew of Luciano was what I had read on The Forum and the highlights of the NRL games he played. I was home in time to see the U20s lose to the Roosters. Thought Luc was quiet that night. Then with the first few matches this year I was beginning to wonder what all the hype was about.

But more recently I have seen significant improvement. For example, He was strong in a poor team performance down in Nowra a few weeks back. And last night in a dominant team performance he ran very strongly, threw some really good passes, defended well, caught a miracle ball offloaded to him so late and fast that it was like a cannonball which almost gave him a try and he played the full 80 minutes. Ready to play NRL off the bench? I would say yes but for me it would be hard to go past Jacob Host who was terrific all night, running hard and straight all night, ripping in to his defensive work and also playing the 80. To me Host looks out of place playing NSW Cup.

 

[dragonssamy61]

Hermidale and Samy,
I was overseas for all of last season except for the finals. So all I knew of Luciano was what I had read on The Forum and the highlights of the NRL games he played. I was home in time to see the U20s lose to the Roosters. Thought Luc was quiet that night. Then with the first few matches this year I was beginning to wonder what all the hype was about.

But more recently I have seen significant improvement. For example, He was strong in a poor team performance down in Nowra a few weeks back. And last night in a dominant team performance he ran very strongly, threw some really good passes, defended well, caught a miracle ball offloaded to him so late and fast that it was like a cannonball which almost gave him a try and he played the full 80 minutes. Ready to play NRL off the bench? I would say yes but for me it would be hard to go past Jacob Host who was terrific all night, running hard and straight all night, ripping in to his defensive work and also playing the 80. To me Host looks out of place playing NSW Cup.

Dragonsteve
Agree re host.
At many nrl teams he would be playing nrl regularly.
Defensively a standout.
But you can't drop thommo frizz or jbl.
To he first off the rank.
Then lowrie luc and kerr.
We are doing well for forwards.
It great to have them pushing hard for nrl.
Healthy competition is a good thing.

 

[possm]

Dragonsteve
Agree re host.
At many nrl teams he would be playing nrl regularly.
Defensively a standout.
But you can't drop thommo frizz or jbl.
To he first off the rank.
Then lowrie luc and kerr.
We are doing well for forwards.
It great to have them pushing hard for nrl.
Healthy competition is a good thing.

I predict in time:
Kerr and Lawrie will replace Ah Mau and Sims.
Leilua will replace Thompson.
Sele, Host and Hind will get regular time on the bench.

All we need to recruit right now is a hard nut prop to replace Packer for next season and beyond.

 

[Old Timer]

How many games have you seen him play this season?

Several
He certainly has some ball skill which people talk about but if I compare him to Host or Sele and s couple of others for work ethic and technique in the really hard stuff he is not as good IMO
Thought Mundine was somewhat the same although Luc is better than him
Any softness about a forward in NRL will soon be found out and exploited such as young Cartwright at Penrith who is now considered more a 5/8 due to his ball skills and I hope the same doesn't happen to Luc
Has he improved yep but still more to do to get the hard edge needed

 

[BringTheNoise]

Even in NYC I always found Matt Mundine to be disappointing considering the hype. Never really viewed him as a potential first grader.

 

[duck]

Dragonsteve
Agree re host.
At many nrl teams he would be playing nrl regularly.
Defensively a standout.
But you can't drop thommo frizz or jbl.
To he first off the rank.
Then lowrie luc and kerr.
We are doing well for forwards.
It great to have them pushing hard for nrl.
Healthy competition is a good thing.

I'd like all of these mentioned, including Sele and maybe even Hind, to be on some sort of rotation to give them all a shot at some stage.

 

[Old Timer]

I'd like all of these mentioned, including Sele and maybe even Hind, to be on some sort of rotation to give them all a shot at some stage.

Quite correct other clubs do it and we struggle with the idea.
No doubt our big guys will need a rest before the end of the season so we have the necessary power required at semi final time to make a real impact rather than thinking being there in itself is good enough.
If we don't and in the back end of the season it bites us on the arse, it will only highlight the existing flaws some people think are notable deficiencies within our coaching staff and thinking.
So hopefully the coaching staff are working on getting the rotation right and the big guys well rested.

 

[duck]

Quite correct other clubs do it and we struggle with the idea.

Not sure that we struggle with the idea and fairly certain we do as much as other clubs.
Luc, Host and Sele have had a sniff.
No way you could relegate Sele on current form so it would be a matter of resting some of our regulars now and then. Our current depth is the best for a long time.