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Ex Warrior watch 2021

Manu Vatuvei

Manu Vatuvei

Coach
Messages
16,766
Rich102 said:
Where did he end up?
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Basically keeps getting demoted. He played first grade for Canberra in 2018 but wasn't given a single minute of first grade from 2019 - 2021. He played a few games of Super League for Salford last year and this year he is playing Second Division for Leigh. At least he seems to be able to make the 17 in Second Division.
 
Manu Vatuvei

Manu Vatuvei

Coach
Messages
16,766
To be fair that Leigh team seems to be insanely strong for a second division team? Has someone put a lot of money into the club or something? They have multiple recent, relatively young NRL players - Aekins, Asiata, Amone. Seems weird all those guys would play second division.
 
J

jaseg

Juniors
Messages
2,274
Manu Vatuvei said:
I never personally saw that much special in Hingano, but I had it on good authority that Craig Bellamy was a massive fan when he was in NYC and apparently multiple "big" clubs were interested. Apparently the good judges were really impressed with him and saw him as a really skilled, smart footballer. Not sure what happened.
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Never?

Dude looked like a Thurston clone playing NSW cup as a 18yo. Pretty sure he led the comp in try assists that year.

I remember at the time feeling that Cappy f**ked him around a bit coming into first grade (got overlooked a lot despite nothing good coming from the halves (particularly 6), then his first couple of games he was being used as a bench hooker while Leuluai - much more suited to the 9 role in the NRL - played in the halves).

His form dropped the next year with the Kearney *ahem* attacking revolution and then he was released to Canberra. Never seemed to kick on from there.
 
Manu Vatuvei

Manu Vatuvei

Coach
Messages
16,766
jaseg said:
Never?

Dude looked like a Thurston clone playing NSW cup as a 18yo. Pretty sure he led the comp in try assists that year.
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At the risk of outing myself as a filthy casual, I didn't watch him regularly in the lower grades so most of my exposure was to him in his limited first grade appearances. No particular attributes really jumped out but then that was pretty much what I expected, because I was expecting a "footballer" more than a standout athlete. A shame that his career fizzled out so badly because genuine "footballers" in the halves is what we struggle to produce usually.
 
Manu Vatuvei

Manu Vatuvei

Coach
Messages
16,766
It's funny how the way players are used/perceived changes through the grades though. Like, I remember Sam Lisone in the under 20s (in fairness it may just have been the way he played in the handful of games I watched) being more like a Steve Price style, high workrate, forward pack leader. I remember Bunty Afoa being talked about as another high workrate guy who did the 1%s well. Both have been typecast in first grade as portly impact forwards. I wonder if there wasn't just a reluctance to give Hingano a bigger role because Warriors halves aren't usually perceived the way he was.
 
J

jaseg

Juniors
Messages
2,274
Manu Vatuvei said:
At the risk of outing myself as a filthy casual, I didn't watch him regularly in the lower grades so most of my exposure was to him in his limited first grade appearances. No particular attributes really jumped out but then that was pretty much what I expected, because I was expecting a "footballer" more than a standout athlete. A shame that his career fizzled out so badly because genuine "footballers" in the halves is what we struggle to produce usually.
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Ah that makes sense. Yeah, his first grade appearances didn't show much. Puzzling, but I guess at least some part of that is on the situation. That, and sometimes guys just don't make the jump. Seems so unlikely for a guy who was playing that well at that level so young to fail without significant other factors.

Side note when thinking about those good reserve grade teams... whatever happened to Richie Blackmore, I wonder? He was wasted as a coach. Would've been a more interesting appointment than most of the guys we ended up getting...
 
Beavers Headgear

Beavers Headgear

First Grade
Messages
8,765
Isiah Papalii says he will decide in the off season if he wants to go to the Tigers or not next season

young fella, that isn’t how a contract works. You signed to play there a year ago, they have planned for the future with your money included in their cap, honour your deal
 
Manu Vatuvei

Manu Vatuvei

Coach
Messages
16,766
Beavers Headgear said:
Random one lol, Omar Slaimankel has turned up as a contestant on the latest season of the block in Aussie
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Coincidentally he also popped up on the NZ news the other day too. It was a story about the Afghanistan Rugby 7s team which is essentially made up of players from 2 families (the Slaimankhels being one) in NZ.

Funny thing was they never actually mentioned him or his NRL experience specifically - obviously either not a well-researched story or it just wasn't deemed interesting enough.
 
Beavers Headgear

Beavers Headgear

First Grade
Messages
8,765
Thomas Leuluai has announced this is his final year playing before heading into a coaching role at Wigan

NZRL have confirmed he will lead the Kiwis in a warm up game on October 8 against Leeds
 
Fufu Andronez

Fufu Andronez

First Grade
Messages
8,464
Beavers Headgear said:
Thomas Leuluai has announced this is his final year playing before heading into a coaching role at Wigan

NZRL have confirmed he will lead the Kiwis in a warm up game on October 8 against Leeds
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That's good, the more Kiwis and pasifika that get into coaching pathways the better
 
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