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Luai

Girds89

Bench
Messages
3,014
This bloke probably hasnt got enough credit over the last 2 months.

Ive read a lot of the player ratings from Wednesday and he seems to get a lot of score between the 6 and 7.5.. maybe with a 7 as the average.

I thought he was much much better then that. Maybe he polls poorly because he doesmt seem to be well liked by journos. Hes not a fan fav..ppl love to hate him.

But i thought his kicking game..ball playing defence and running game was all first class. Maybe an 8 or an 8.5 performance in my books.

He played his hand perfectly all night albeit 2md fiddle to moses who had a stellar game.

It backs up what he did in origin 1 where even tho we lost i thought he was probably in the top few players for nsw.

Throw in what he has done with us the last 2 months and i have just been super impressed with him.

He has copped a lot of flack on here at times over the years but hes playing better then he ever has atm.

The fact ivan is sticking with him at 7 even with schnieder fit is telling imo. And if he can stay fit and healthy all year this time playing 7 and and big 3 games for the blues in the 6 is just going to be soo good for us coming into the back end of 24 and our chances.

I hope nothing changes when nath gets back. I said for years id have liked to see jerome get into first reciever more to free nath up out back at 2md reciever.

Whilst its never good to lose someone like nathan maybe its been a bit of a blessing in disguise.. if nath can come back firing into the end of the season combined with luai in career best form i think we are going to be hard to beat.

Nath will help at lot wkth the defence issues with been having as well which as ive pointed out and has been recognised by analysts isnt actually all tagos fault bar what some like to think.

If we can have our best 17 on the park towards the end of the year we are in for another top finish imo and luai deserves a heap of credit.

I just didn't see alot in schnieder and i dont think hes an option moving forward. Obviously ivan is maybe on the same train of thought sticking with luai at 7.

Heres hoping jerome can really keep going strong.
 

The Realist

Juniors
Messages
1,741
I think you are right. I believe that being the senior playmaker and leader at halfback has stifled Nathans game a bit. We see him run the ball a lot less then when he was younger, because now he is more responsible for the 'organising' and directing the team around when in the past he had senior players who did a lot of that in Wallace and Maloney.

We all saw what happened in the 23 GF when he was allowed to play with more freedom and creativity with Cogger effectively taking the halfback role in that last 25 mins.
 

Girds89

Bench
Messages
3,014
I think you are right. I believe that being the senior playmaker and leader at halfback has stifled Nathans game a bit. We see him run the ball a lot less then when he was younger, because now he is more responsible for the 'organising' and directing the team around when in the past he had senior players who did a lot of that in Wallace and Maloney.

We all saw what happened in the 23 GF when he was allowed to play with more freedom and creativity with Cogger effectively taking the halfback role in that last 25 mins.

Yeah its not so much i think nath would lose that direction role.

With him and yeo in the team they will always direct the boys around.. nath will always be the lead kicker. But jerome offers something different in the 7 and teams have to defend much tighter. He loves to go back into the ruck or switch the play to the opposite side.

As a defensive unit teams really cant click off anywhere across the board..

I just think hes been awesome the last 2 montjs and even if nathan was fit tomorrow id find it hard to drop him from the 6 for the blues.

The fact hes a left footer really helps and his really found his lomg and short kicking game again the last few months. Its been precise. His long kicks have landed on the spit and been perfectly waited and his finding the ingoal again for set restarts repeatedly.

Add in the fact hes playing much more direct and bringing his 2md rowers on to him i just think he is in career best form.

I love origin. I love the blues. I hope they can make history and win but at the end of the day for me personally penrith is always number 1 and i just think hes role at the moment for us and the role and they way he is playing for the blues will be so good for us moving towards the back half of the year.
 

Girds89

Bench
Messages
3,014
Nath is our best 7 and will never wear another number here

Im not saying that. Ive never ever been one to say hes anything but a 7.

Even 7 years ago when ppl where saying maybe he was a 9. I was adamant he was a 7. Hes gking down as the best ever imo.

All im sayinh is luai deserves a huge amount of praise right now. Especially from people like you who bagged him to death.

What i would say to you is watch this space re tago.
 

Chins get the wins

First Grade
Messages
6,279
Im not saying that. Ive never ever been one to say hes anything but a 7.

Even 7 years ago when ppl where saying maybe he was a 9. I was adamant he was a 7. Hes gking down as the best ever imo.

All im sayinh is luai deserves a huge amount of praise right now. Especially from people like you who bagged him to death.

What i would say to you is watch this space re tago.
I've always been very fair with Luai. The only type of merkins I don't give a fair go are blokes like May
 

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