Luciano Leilua

[SIR LANCELOT]

When the guy is given 6-8 consecutive periods of 20-30 minutes his performance level can be seriously assessed.

In my view he needs to be given a bench spot as a potential game breaker. He is an impact player, not someone who is going to play 80 minutes each week.

He needs game time to develop self belief. In short he seems subdued because he questions himself whether he is up to the challenge of FG.

Last game he made a great run that showed he can be ultra aggressive.

If Euan Aitken can improve his defensive reads, can't see why this bloke cannot bring his defence to FG standard.

Patience forum members, the kid needs a bit more time.

When he clicks, Dufty will benefit hugely and our attack will rise to another level.

 

[SIR LANCELOT]

Agree !!

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

[QUOTE="watatank, post: 12770115,. Last week was Sele's first game this year, it should also have been Leilua's first game this year.[/QUOTE]
pretty much was, got token minutes in the 1st game, didnt play the 2nd at all just sat on the bench..

 

[BennyV]

The Charity Shield was a mess of a game, no-one played particularly well.
I'll have to watch the Broncs game again, was planning to over Easter but did he actually get any game time in that ?

He got 15-20mins but didn’t do a whole lot.
I agree with SF, it’s too early to fully assess his ability but IMO he is a bench impact player (no shame in that) who has a lot of work to do, including learning to play in the middle and add value there.

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Coming off the bench and running over the top of tired halfbacks is exactly what we need Luch to do.
He is big and strong enough to make the same sort of post contact metres as Ah Mau, he just has to stop putting the brakes on before the line and doing his little shimmy. Late footwork is important, but come on big fella, you're not fooling anybody.

 

[kit66]

He got 15-20mins but didn’t do a whole lot.
I agree with SF, it’s too early to fully assess his ability but IMO he is a bench impact player (no shame in that) who has a lot of work to do, including learning to play in the middle and add value there.

Despite his size and build he's not a prop or lock, he's a second rower. We have Ah Mau and Sele to play in the middle. Leilua can use his size out wide to punch through the line and then use his skill to get away some good passes or off - loads. I said much earlier in this thread that Luc would thrive coming off the bench into a dominant pack where his size and skill will worry the opposition. I'd like to see him used more to give either Sims or Friz a rest here and there, keeping those two fitter and less battered come the second half of the season. I have no doubt he'll become as handy off the bench as Ah Mau, though obviously in a different role.

 

[BennyV]

Despite his size and build he's not a prop or lock, he's a second rower. We have Ah Mau and Sele to play in the middle. Leilua can use his size out wide to punch through the line and then use his skill to get away some good passes or off - loads. I said much earlier in this thread that Luc would thrive coming off the bench into a dominant pack where his size and skill will worry the opposition. I'd like to see him used more to give either Sims or Friz a rest here and there, keeping those two fitter and less battered come the second half of the season. I have no doubt he'll become as handy off the bench as Ah Mau, though obviously in a different role.

I still don’t think he has the leg speed to thrive on the edge long term. In addition to that, we only have 8 interchanges and the workload of those in the middle is far higher than those on the edge (hence most edge backrowers punch out 80 minutes) so using interchanges for edge players with the sole purpose of popping an offload seems a bit wasteful and risky.

 

[kit66]

I still don’t think he has the leg speed to thrive on the edge long term. In addition to that, we only have 8 interchanges and the workload of those in the middle is far higher than those on the edge (hence most edge backrowers punch out 80 minutes) so using interchanges for edge players with the sole purpose of popping an offload seems a bit wasteful and risky.

It's one interchange, say around the 60 minute mark and it's not for a " sole purpose", there are more dimensions to it - 1. giving Sims or Friz a rest, 2. Bringin on a big, skillful backrower aginst tiring defence, and 3. Sims or Friz know they can really go at it for the opening 20 minutes of the 2nd half. That's a good use of the bench. I'm happy for some 2nd rowers to play a full 80 but not all are capable and more importantly not all remain effective for that long. Sims I believe is more effective for about 60 mins and while Friz can play 80, why burn him out when we have a capable interchange - ( plus I like Luc on that side ).
Our downfall last year was, I think largely due to player burnout and mostly in the forwards - a big pre-season and a hard ( but fruitful ) first half of 2017 cost us big time. I hear the 2018 pre-season was more measured and sensible. Now we have to manage the troops properly through to Sept with smarter use of the bench and some game time for the young blokes coming through. We're a real chance to make the top 4 this year, I'd hate if we blew it again.

 

[SEAT 1A]

It's one interchange, say around the 60 minute mark and it's not for a " sole purpose", there are more dimensions to it - 1. giving Sims or Friz a rest, 2. Bringin on a big, skillful backrower aginst tiring defence, and 3. Sims or Friz know they can really go at it for the opening 20 minutes of the 2nd half. That's a good use of the bench. I'm happy for some 2nd rowers to play a full 80 but not all are capable and more importantly not all remain effective for that long. Sims I believe is more effective for about 60 mins and while Friz can play 80, why burn him out when we have a capable interchange - ( plus I like Luc on that side ).
Our downfall last year was, I think largely due to player burnout and mostly in the forwards - a big pre-season and a hard ( but fruitful ) first half of 2017 cost us big time. I hear the 2018 pre-season was more measured and sensible. Now we have to manage the troops properly through to Sept with smarter use of the bench and some game time for the young blokes coming through. We're a real chance to make the top 4 this year, I'd hate if we blew it again.

Yes please kit66.

More of last week from Luc, thankyou very much.

 

[Dragsters]

It's one interchange, say around the 60 minute mark and it's not for a " sole purpose", there are more dimensions to it - 1. giving Sims or Friz a rest, 2. Bringin on a big, skillful backrower aginst tiring defence, and 3. Sims or Friz know they can really go at it for the opening 20 minutes of the 2nd half. That's a good use of the bench. I'm happy for some 2nd rowers to play a full 80 but not all are capable and more importantly not all remain effective for that long. Sims I believe is more effective for about 60 mins and while Friz can play 80, why burn him out when we have a capable interchange - ( plus I like Luc on that side ).
Our downfall last year was, I think largely due to player burnout and mostly in the forwards - a big pre-season and a hard ( but fruitful ) first half of 2017 cost us big time. I hear the 2018 pre-season was more measured and sensible. Now we have to manage the troops properly through to Sept with smarter use of the bench and some game time for the young blokes coming through. We're a real chance to make the top 4 this year, I'd hate if we blew it again.

Great post...

 

[BennyV]

It's one interchange, say around the 60 minute mark and it's not for a " sole purpose", there are more dimensions to it - 1. giving Sims or Friz a rest, 2. Bringin on a big, skillful backrower aginst tiring defence, and 3. Sims or Friz know they can really go at it for the opening 20 minutes of the 2nd half. That's a good use of the bench. I'm happy for some 2nd rowers to play a full 80 but not all are capable and more importantly not all remain effective for that long. Sims I believe is more effective for about 60 mins and while Friz can play 80, why burn him out when we have a capable interchange - ( plus I like Luc on that side ).
Our downfall last year was, I think largely due to player burnout and mostly in the forwards - a big pre-season and a hard ( but fruitful ) first half of 2017 cost us big time. I hear the 2018 pre-season was more measured and sensible. Now we have to manage the troops properly through to Sept with smarter use of the bench and some game time for the young blokes coming through. We're a real chance to make the top 4 this year, I'd hate if we blew it again.

Is he coming onto the bench in place of Mann? Because 2 props, an edge-specific backrower for 20mins and a utility is hardly a plan for preventing player burnout...

Ultimately, the intention of your plan is bringing him in on the edge only and trying to pop and offload to make something happen. Giving Sims/Friz a rest isn’t neary as important as JDB or McInnes (Friz’s ‘burnout’ was more to do with injury than fatigue) who play huge minute in the middle and while ‘running at tired defense’ sounds fantastic, reality isn’t that simple because the last 20 minutes are very, very different to what we did on the weekend.

Well have to agree to disagree but IMO Luc’s best chance of becoming an impact forward in today’s game is to be able to cover the middle of the field. He should be watching Kohn Asiata and basing his game around that - a guy who can switch between power middle and skilful ballplayer as necessary.

 

[Ted bartolo]

To me the only player on the bench he has faith in is Ah Mau.He will only put on the others if he is sure the game is won or is forced to due to injury.It's the only reason Duffy got a go last year.The only way anyone will get a chance to play first grade is if someone is injured.Sack McGregor

 

[kit66]

Is he coming onto the bench in place of Mann? Because 2 props, an edge-specific backrower for 20mins and a utility is hardly a plan for preventing player burnout...

Ultimately, the intention of your plan is bringing him in on the edge only and trying to pop and offload to make something happen. Giving Sims/Friz a rest isn’t neary as important as JDB or McInnes (Friz’s ‘burnout’ was more to do with injury than fatigue) who play huge minute in the middle and while ‘running at tired defense’ sounds fantastic, reality isn’t that simple because the last 20 minutes are very, very different to what we did on the weekend.

Well have to agree to disagree but IMO Luc’s best chance of becoming an impact forward in today’s game is to be able to cover the middle of the field. He should be watching Kohn Asiata and basing his game around that - a guy who can switch between power middle and skilful ballplayer as necessary.

OK, you just need to look at last weeks' game and see the bench and it's use to see what I'm saying.
The bench was Sele and Ah Mau, 2 props who were in rotation with Graham, Vaughan and I think JDB ( although his 10 in the bin changed things a little ). Then around 60minute mark you had Mann who came on and played at 7 while Hunt went to 9 and Luc who went to right edge back row. It was the best use of the bench I've ever seen from Mary by far and it worked really well. That won't be possible every game but I think it's a great model to build on.

 

[BennyV]

OK, you just need to look at last weeks' game and see the bench and it's use to see what I'm saying.
The bench was Sele and Ah Mau, 2 props who were in rotation with Graham, Vaughan and I think JDB ( although his 10 in the bin changed things a little ). Then around 60minute mark you had Mann who came on and played at 7 while Hunt went to 9 and Luc who went to right edge back row. It was the best use of the bench I've ever seen from Mary by far and it worked really well. That won't be possible every game but I think it's a great model to build on.

Dude it’s very, very hard to use last week as an example effective bench use. We were dominant from about the 25th minute - no arm wrestle, no grind, no risk. I doubt Mary will hold his nerve like that if there’s less than 10 points in it, and I really don’t think it will be as effective while we aren’t 100% in control of the game.

 

[watatank]

pretty much was, got token minutes in the 1st game, didnt play the 2nd at all just sat on the bench..

Well it was all time that could have been better spent playing more minutes for the ISP squad.

 

[Dracarys]

Leilua is still feelinn his way. Get him concentrating on punching through the line and making yards with his body rather than passing. Once his go-forward is established he can bring those hand skills out.

 

[Buz-V]

I dont think Mary is using LL properly. Once he gets tired he just cant keep up with the play. He needs to be used like a George Rose type of player. Short stints then get him off. He did the lazy silly pass which lead to them attacking our goal line and then missed the tackle straight after on Cody Walker for the first try which gave them the sniff they were looking for.
The other teams will be looking at us closely now we are top of the table and seeing this as a massive opportunity to break our line.
If he is going to be playing longer minutes he is a massive liability in our defence.

TBH and i hope I'm wrong I just dont think he has the grunt for when the going gets tough. Watching him last night worries me.

 

[hazzbeen]

Leilua is still feelinn his way. Get him concentrating on punching through the line and making yards with his body rather than passing. Once his go-forward is established he can bring those hand skills out.

Exactly this , he is a big body that needs to realize his potential and run with purpose not just plod along . Nene was the same last year .

 

[BennyV]

Sele is a far superior bench option.

 

[getsmarty]

Sele is a far superior bench option.

Agree...Latimore and Sele on Bench..Leilua needs more time in Reserves.

P.S Latimore and Host would also provide more.