Iosefa's floaters

[The Rosco]

Fully understand that Masada is a replacement and needs to find his feet in the team.
Put aside his defensive issues and his selfish plays.

Form dummy half tonight, where he played most of the game, nearly every one of his passes was a lofted, floated ball to the receiver. From dummy half to first receiver, he would just loft the ball up with very little "projectile force". If the guy taking the hit-up was running hard, the ball would travel forward in a lot of cases. There were a few forward passes from dummy half that were all Masada's fault.
If it didn't go forward, the runner would have to check his progress and if it was going 2 wide, the second receiver would just about have to stop so he could catch the ball, because of the flow on effect from the first receiver checking his run.
I don't know why, but nearly every one of his passes had this floating look about it. Not the typical ball popped up into the path of a runner, but passes from dummy half.
There was one pass to Woods I think, that must have gone a genuine metre forward from dummy half, and a couple of others too.

That aside, a good win. I thought our goal line ( or as that moron Raaayyy says . . . gold line) defence was pretty tough.
Simona's try was a work of art !.

 

[hybrid_tiger]

He is a horrible player who can't tackle. I like his enthusiasm and he tries hard, but there was a reason he was playing for Mounties in the Jim Beam Cup before we picked him up.

 

[gronkathon]

Yeah he is crap. Would prefer to see Luani get a run but I think we have the same second tier issue as the Panthers in that regard. Only difference is we are not having a cry in the papers.

Your admin makes excuses and players start believing them

 

[BuffaloRules]

Terrible player.

Struggles to get into dummy half.

NRL is too quick for him.

Surely there is another option even with our depleted stocks?

Anasta maybe?

 

[Tiger05]

I think he went alright today because he didn't make a mistake. I figure those mistakes aren't far off though.

 

[gronkathon]

For the majority of the second half the fullback had to get into DH because Masada couldn't hack the pace

 

[Shanghai Charlie]

Lazy merkin who doesnt work hard enough to get into dummy half. Cost us badly twice today.
f**k him off. If we have second tier issues id prefer Anasta at 9.

 

[Ron's_Mate]

He also seems to feel compelled to throw no-look passes when a regular pass would work just as well. Showboater.

 

[slammingsam]

Wish you guys could see him when he was playing Ball. Looked like a f**king champion of a player. Amazing how it changes

 

[azsportza]

Masada played 80 minutes today, he never does that in NSW Cup. He was struggling to get back onside inside the first 15 minutes. He forced Reddy to hold up his 20 metre tap because he wasn't onside.

Like our props, our depth with a solid hooker has lacked in recent years. We let go of Pat Politoni and he went elsewhere.

 

[BrotherJim05]

Yeah Iosefa is not a 80 min hooker. Start Anasta at Hooker and keep Iosefa on the bench

 

[DanOz]

Not first grade standard. Not his fault, just not good enough.

 

[magpie guy]

I'd rather play Meaney or Anasta at hooker and forget Iosefa playing FG at all. He tackles poorly, gives terrible service and is good for only a couple of dummy half runs...you could put Utai there and he would do more.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Wish you guys could see him when he was playing Ball. Looked like a f**king champion of a player. Amazing how it changes

Saw him play for the Junior Kiwis in 2007 and he was brilliant. He undeniably had a very high skill level then. Goes to show how sub-par fitness and speed can manifest in a very skillful player looking hopelessly incompetent.

 

[TV Ted Ellery]

The best thing I can say about Iosefa's performance is that he didn't do anything outrageously bad or selfish. In fact, he showed remarkable restraint. But his tackling and service out of dummy half were concerning. As the OP mentioned, he tended to lob his passes rather than throw them with any power. And so many of his passes went forward, it was like watching Dean Young run around again.

 

[super_coach]

He was puffing big time after about ten minutes, but like TV TED said, for once he did not over play his hand. I think it was probably his best effort in the top grade, not saying he was great but he was not bad either. Their are probably much better options but the second tier cap will screw them

 

[joel caine number 1 fan]

He was puffing big time after about ten minutes, but like TV TED said, for once he did not over play his hand. I think it was probably his best effort in the top grade, not saying he was great but he was not bad either. Their are probably much better options but the second tier cap will screw them

not his best, his best was last year when he set up a few tries and scoreing one himself cant remember who it was against though

 

[moller]

He's a waste of a spot in the 25. We'd be much better served with someone out of position there in the SOO period - Fulton, Anasta, whoever. Their service couldn't possibly be any worse than his, plus they'd actually work in defence.

 

[Shanghai Charlie]

Hated when Sheenius played guys out of position.....but Iosefa isnt up to first grade.
Happy with an alternative. Anasta maybe. He is a waste of space in back row and not a half.
Not Fulton.

 

[super_coach]

The easiest way to stuff a team is to put a make shift dummy half in your side. Where both Fulton and Anasta have great football brains,its another thing to keep up with every play the ball and fire a pass to the best attacking side. I have seen Fulton do the job and it did not work,their was that fraction delay every play the ball.

Iosefa's is not the ideal solution but he is probably the best we have,pitty Sheens did not see any value in young Pat Polini because he did look the goods.Hate harping back to Sheens all the time but gee he made some crook calls.

Our club sure rolls the dice every week banking on Farah not getting a long term injury.Although Iam sure Potter will be smart enough to address the back up no9 position between now and next year