Letting go of Mateo. Thoughts?

[MaxZ/3iaGGiZ]

We gave him a fair go. Time to move on for mine.

Mateo never had a fair go with DA. Thats the truth. He played him 5/8th until he got injured and never gave him the position again. Instead he made him put weight on to make him look like a forward. He looked overweight and lazy.

How ironic DA destroyed him as a player now seeks his help to save his job. Whether they dislike each other or not, its clear Mateo has been given free reign over the team to play first or second receiver. This has given us now 2 attacking playmakers the side is being built around.... Mateo and The Chosen One. What Mateo needs now is more support.

Now I finally feel hopeful we will make the finals. I always said Mateo is our true GUN. Pity it took so long for the needed changes to be made because DA realised his position was at stake as coach.

The only adjustment I will do now is put Inu in the centres and have Reddy on the wing. Clearly Inu does not seem happy on the wing and both Inu and Reddy in the correct positions will offer better service.

Bring on the Tigers.

 

[Bigfella]

Mateo is our best player behind hayne and the entire team should be buit Round the two.

Letting him go is a mistake; failing to use him properly was ten times worse.

He is worth what the warriors paid him and more.

And considering we are paying our fourth best prop and a
assi y underperforming centre, neither of whom will probably ever win a game for us like he did last night, then the money side of things is a crock of s£|\t as far as I am concerned.

 

[Gronk]

I recall hearing Wayne Bennett respond to a question about building a squad. He said that he liked players who gave 75% every match rather than players who give 20% one match, then 100% the next. He said that if you build your team around those players then you are right up there with a shot.

For mine the two players who are going to NZ are not in that category. They both go missing way too often to their teams' detriment. To blame the coach for not utilizing a player is a cop out. Mateo's bad games far out weigh his good. Probably to a factor of 5. He needs to own the fact that his form is spasmodic at best. Even Rabs2 introduced him last home game as the best in the business "on his day". A fair assessment of him as a football player IMHO.

 

[natheel]

Meh I'm not overly worried...even though he played well last night he still gifted broncos 2 possessions from line breaks and also it takes 5 poor games till he has a good game!!!

 

[Parra]

Too little, too late.

He made as many blunders as breaks last night. He was spectacular, but no way was that a MOM performance.

 

[Gordy]

I recall hearing Wayne Bennett respond to a question about building a squad. He said that he liked players who gave 75% every match rather than players who give 20% one match, then 100% the next. He said that if you build your team around those players then you are right up there with a shot.

For mine the two players who are going to NZ are not in that category. They both go missing way too often to their teams' detriment. To blame the coach for not utilizing a player is a cop out. Mateo's bad games far out weigh his good. Probably to a factor of 5. He needs to own the fact that his form is spasmodic at best. Even Rabs2 introduced him last home game as the best in the business "on his day". A fair assessment of him as a football player IMHO.

x2

 

[Eelementary]

I don't think his inconsistency and attitude is overstated at all. Brian Smith would not give him a crack, despite the fact he knew the bloke obviously had tonnes of talent. But Smithy, in all his wisdom (no sarcasm), saw that the bloke had issues in his game and did not complain when the then London Broncos offered to take him off our hands for a while.

In comes Mr. Relaxed Michael Hagan and surprise - he gets a go. Now I'm not saying he didn't deserve it, but I highly doubt that if he was struggling at training or whatever that Hagan would have dropped him. Yes, he did drop Grothe. But I suspect that may have been more about a clash of personalities more than anything.

When you think of Mateo's greatest games, which games come to mind? The only one which immediately springs to mind is our game against the Tigers in 2007. And that's against a team we have the wood over.

More often that not I've seen him miss a rather simple tackle through poor technique and lack of application. And if a bloke like Hindy gets criticised for "only" being able to defend, why is nobody taking note of Mateo's ability to "only" attack? If you were choosing a balanced side of players who could attack and defend equally well (or at least roughly equally), would Mateo honestly be on that list?

He's a local junior and a top bloke. I love watching him play. But honestly, I feel the right call was made. Unless he was prepared to accept less cash, then we made the right call.

 

[Eelementary]

Mateo never had a fair go with DA. Thats the truth. He played him 5/8th until he got injured and never gave him the position again. Instead he made him put weight on to make him look like a forward. He looked overweight and lazy.

How ironic DA destroyed him as a player now seeks his help to save his job. Whether they dislike each other or not, its clear Mateo has been given free reign over the team to play first or second receiver. This has given us now 2 attacking playmakers the side is being built around.... Mateo and The Chosen One. What Mateo needs now is more support.

Now I finally feel hopeful we will make the finals. I always said Mateo is our true GUN. Pity it took so long for the needed changes to be made because DA realised his position was at stake as coach.

The only adjustment I will do now is put Inu in the centres and have Reddy on the wing. Clearly Inu does not seem happy on the wing and both Inu and Reddy in the correct positions will offer better service.

Bring on the Tigers.

Then drop him. The coach tells you where to play, and how to play. And if you don't like it, go away tbh.

 

[Eelementary]

Mateo is our best player behind hayne and the entire team should be buit Round the two.

Letting him go is a mistake; failing to use him properly was ten times worse.

He is worth what the warriors paid him and more.

And considering we are paying our fourth best prop and a
assi y underperforming centre, neither of whom will probably ever win a game for us like he did last night, then the money side of things is a crock of s£|\t as far as I am concerned.

Best player? Mannah is better, and with a better attitude to boot.

Failing to use him properly? All the coach did was try to add another string to his bow. If he's so good, why did he fail at doing that? Attitude, perhaps?

You honestly think he's worth MORE than what the Warriors paid for him? Really?

 

[playdaball]

Can't wait to see him here in Auckland next year...

thanks Parramatta!

 

[TheMoneyBoxMan]

Sorry but a few good games a year just dont cut it for me. Sure he can be brilliant but he can also be horrible. And the horrible games seem to far outweigh the brilliant ones. I think we can safely cover his loss and I expect him to have some really good games before he goes simply because he knows it is the end of his time here. I also expect him to have some good games for the Warriors in the beginning. But for mine the test will come if he can produce consistent good games. I dont think he will. And dont get me started on Inu. Seriously if i could of put my hands through the TV and strangled the inept little Pr**k I would of!

 

[TheParraboy]

Im pretty sad he is leaving to be honest, I hope two things for Feleti

We win the comp this year with him playing a prominent role, and the 2nd thing is I hope he comes back and sees out his career in the blue and gold

If the warriors supposedly offered 400k, I would have liked us to at least try and offer him a decent contract to stay

 

[Eelementary]

Im pretty sad he is leaving to be honest, I hope two things for Feleti

We win the comp this year with him playing a prominent role, and the 2nd thing is I hope he comes back and sees out his career in the blue and gold

If the warriors supposedly offered 400k, I would have liked us to at least try and offer him a decent contract to stay

I hope we win the comp this year too (hard task), but for Caylo, Hindy, Burty, Fui...

 

[hybrideel]

I haven't read all the posts so i apologise if this has already been brought up but if we had secured him earlier in the season rather than concentrating solely on Mortimer then we wouldn't have had a $400K offer to compete with and probably would've kept him for 250-300

 

[Eelementary]

I haven't read all the posts so i apologise if this has already been brought up but if we had secured him earlier in the season rather than concentrating solely on Mortimer then we wouldn't have had a $400K offer to compete with and probably would've kept him for 250-300

I don't think so - I don't think money was the motivating factor behind behind not re-signing him.

I believe it had more to do with his application on the field and attitude, which he never did duly rectify.

 

[grapeape]

The parra offer to keep him was bullsh*t

Full of third party deals and promises of sponsor cars.

Not much hard cash.

Ozzie is a snake and mateo could tell.

Ozzie was hard for morts. Showd no respect for mateo whilst warriors were throwing everything at him. What else would he do?

Plus DA has wasted him all year. He wants to get out.

 

[Kornstar]

Plus DA has wasted him all year. He wants to get out.

And we're happy to let him go.....if he played like he played last night 7 out of 10 times then he would be the most valuable player in the NRL but unfortunately he plays like that 2 out of 10, not good enough for a regular spot imo!

I hope Cleary can find out what makes Mateo and Inu tick as they will be very hard to beat BUT if he doesn't give them what they want then he will have the exact same issue as we have now......

 

[fish eel]

I think we'll miss Mateo.

Obviously the Warriors offer was something we couldnt match

By the same token, I'm not convinved Anderson is really fussed about losing him.

 

[Gronk]

The parra offer to keep him was bullsh*t

Full of third party deals and promises of sponsor cars.

Not much hard cash.

Ozzie is a snake and mateo could tell.

Ozzie was hard for morts. Showd no respect for mateo whilst warriors were throwing everything at him. What else would he do?

Plus DA has wasted him all year. He wants to get out.

Sorry, but the guy has 60 mins per match to earn his dosh and he doesn't put in most of the time. It is nobody's fault but his. He has the talent to be the best froward in the game. Better than Thaiday. Better than Gallen. Better than Watmough. It is not Brian Smith's, Michael Hagan's or Daniel Anderson fault that he does not have the ticker like these players. I hope he kicks on at the Warriors but something tells me that we've seen the best of him already.

 

[bartman]

I was gobsmacked when he was given Ch 9 MOM award... he gave away just as much possession as he created anything last night.

At least he had a tilt for his full 70-odd minutes last night. And the guys in the change room seemed to applaud and encourage him when he came back in with the check.

But that game was won on the back of defence, and Hindy (along with Horo) were closer to MOM for mine.