Luciano Leilua

[FlameThrower]

I'm talking about this forum in general. When we were 7-1 last season it was "I apologise about mary" etc. If we won 3 of 6 close games no one would be saying anything. It's depressing how a thread will be about one thing, and then turn to "It's all mary's fault."

It's hard to have any serious discussion on here, same cut/paste comments, same one liners, just about every single thread goes the same way....

 

[Uplifting]

I think Luc is highly motivated as he believes there’s a spot for him in the top grade. He was probably told that with Thomo’s exit, he will actually be playing FG.

He spent the entire 2017 in Reserve grade after finishing 2016 in FG, surely to help him decide to sign up for the following seasons. He showed faith in the club, and I think this is the opportunity he has been waiting for.

 

[Old Timer]

No doubt young Luc can play football when he has the ball in hand but the thing he needs to have is a hard edge and a bit of mongrel.
Now that he is playing against people with the same body size he needs to win the physical contest and be dominant in a few areas.
All the training and fitness in the world will not compensate for the rigours of the "gladiatorial combat" that comes with playing in the forwards at NRL level.
Ashton Sims also struggled with this early on in his career when he was at St George and in fact only really developed the necessary mongrel much later in his career.
Let's hope that young Luc can get the required toughness about him and develops into a top class back-rower.

 

[BennyV]

Unfortunately this is a forum mate. The thread is about Luciano Leilua, not Paul McGregor. All these threads fall apart after a while because of this mentality. Somebodies trying to have a genuine discussion but the usual suspects derail everything. It’s not effecting his career, it’s only frustrating those which want to read or contribute to genuine discussion about the St George Illawarra Dragons.

Disagree. Sack Mary

 

[JDHD]

Ffs... Does every second post in this forum have to spin on how you hate mcgregor? Isn't anyone getting sick of saying the same thing over and over? I'm not fan of his and I see the problems but he isn't going anywhere for the next 2 seasons. Smh

I've been thinking the exact same thing but didn't want to bring it up for fear of a lynching. Thanks for saying this.

 

[possm]

I've been thinking the exact same thing but didn't want to bring it up for fear of a lynching. Thanks for saying this.

Sims will be the player to compensate for the loss of Thompson or the missing player in our prop rotation. Depending on the off-season performance of Lawrie, Leilua and Host, Mary will decide which position Sims play in. Let's hope he makes that decision of form and ablity.

 

[Uplifting]

... Let's hope that young Luc can get the required toughness about him and develops into a top class back-rower.

Exactly. It will be great to watch how he goes. He’d playing in a good forward pack which has got to help. But he may also be a bit of a target too especially early on - opposition forwards testing him out.

 

[kit66]

I see Leilua as the type of player who would excel in a strong team that's on the front foot, coming off the bench as an impact player. With Hunt, Widdop and Dufty around him he'd be a great prospect. After a strong showing at the end of 2016 I thought he'd be a regular in 2017, not sure of the reason but it didn't happen. Poor pre-season ? I hope he can force his way in this year, he has so much potential.

Host on the other hand is fairly average, low skill set, minimum off-loads, low impact off the bench ( 11 games, just 4 tackle breaks ), work rate not that impressive. I saw nothing from him last year that made me think wow, this kid's good. He came on, did his job and that was it. Plus he has zero mongrel. Why we let Thompson go but kept this guy is beyond me, must be money with Host on a low rate.

 

[Old Timer]

I see Leilua as the type of player who would excel in a strong team that's on the front foot, coming off the bench as an impact player. With Hunt, Widdop and Dufty around him he'd be a great prospect. After a strong showing at the end of 2016 I thought he'd be a regular in 2017, not sure of the reason but it didn't happen. Poor pre-season ? I hope he can force his way in this year, he has so much potential.

Host on the other hand is fairly average, low skill set, minimum off-loads, low impact off the bench ( 11 games, just 4 tackle breaks ), work rate not that impressive. I saw nothing from him last year that made me think wow, this kid's good. He came on, did his job and that was it. Plus he has zero mongrel. Why we let Thompson go but kept this guy is beyond me, must be money with Host on a low rate.

I don't believe any of our younger brigade have been done any favours and hopefully this year we may see a positive change in how we best use them and I think your criticism of Host is too harsh.
Host was played RHS in the back row and also as part of the prop rotation.
He is a natural LHS player and will prosper if allowed to play that side in the back row.
No doubt all our young players are too frightened of the consequences of a few mistakes as they know they will be dropped so they become robotic as is the case with most of the team.
Sele and Host were both dropped for no real good reason and Luc didn't get a minute of NRL in 2017 having had a little taste in 2016.
So we have yet to see the best of any of them and hopefully we all get behind them when they get their chance and also we should hope that with Graham coming we get some sensibility in selection and development.

 

[kit66]

I don't believe any of our younger brigade have been done any favours and hopefully this year we may see a positive change in how we best use them and I think your criticism of Host is too harsh.
Host was played RHS in the back row and also as part of the prop rotation.
He is a natural LHS player and will prosper if allowed to play that side in the back row.
No doubt all our young players are too frightened of the consequences of a few mistakes as they know they will be dropped so they become robotic as is the case with most of the team.
Sele and Host were both dropped for no real good reason and Luc didn't get a minute of NRL in 2017 having had a little taste in 2016.
So we have yet to see the best of any of them and hopefully we all get behind them when they get their chance and also we should hope that with Graham coming we get some sensibility in selection and development.

I may have been a bit harsh, mainly because I really like Thompson and can't see Host filling those boots.
I liked what I saw of Host in 2016 and thought he looked the goods but if you'd asked me yesterday ( before I looked at his stats - 11 games ) how many games he played this year, I would have thought 5 or 6 and those underwhelming. I was actually surprised he'd played that many and I hadn't noticed - I only missed 1 game all year. Maybe you're right about his preferred side on the left but you play where you're told and make the most of it. Sele played 15 games ( but actually for less game time overall than Host ) but you noticed when he was out there with some powerful running and some terrific hits in defence, took his opportunity. I know Host is highly thought of by the Coaching team and they're a better judge than me but personally I'd want a marked improvement before he made my 17.

I missed your earlier post about Leilua, have to agree. I remember watching one of his better games this year and thinking this guy could be a Beetson but yeah obviously lacking the mongrel and overall confidence a bit which would be handy for a guy his size. Beetson was an outright thug early in his career though , not sure I'd want Leilua to go to that extreme but like you said, match it with the big boys physically and go from there.

 

[coastiedragon]

will see a big improvement across the whole team a guy like james Graham will rub off on blokes you only have to see him going off at his own players when they f**k up he wont pat players on the backside bring on the crazy bastard

 

[2010]

Luc has to step up this year. This year will make him or brake. He has all the skills needed to be a star player and I think this year is when he shows just how good he is.

 

[red rocket]

Luc has to step up this year. This year will make him or brake. He has all the skills needed to be a star player and I think this year is when he shows just how good he is.

At least he is starting to look more like a footballer than a sumo wrestler good luck to the lad the ball is in his court

 

[Saints Forever]

If the kid improves his defensive technique and attitude towards defence, he will play FG this year.

His attacking skills are sublime.

Luc will give us another dimension in attack.

Luc/Dufty/Widdop/Hunt minus Paul McGregor=Top 6

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Luch at training today. He's looking very strong!

 

[BennyV]

Does he? I mean, he looks a bit slimmer than he has in previous years, but I wouldnt be taking that photo as an advertisement of his strength...

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Does he? I mean, he looks a bit slimmer than he has in previous years, but I wouldnt be taking that photo as an advertisement of his strength...

Sorry Benny, I don't mean that in a literally way. I mean looking strong as in looking fitter and hungrier.

 

[BennyV]

Sorry Benny, I don't mean that in a literally way. I mean looking strong as in looking fitter and hungrier.

Yeah, I think getting his mindset right over the course of a full season is a huge task but if he can do it, its awesome! Very interested to see where he fits in.

 

[Crush]

Sorry Benny, I don't mean that in a literally way. I mean looking strong as in looking fitter and hungrier.

I'd say be also looks physically strong TRV. He looks great mate! Big year ahead!

 

[Overseas dragon]

I'd say be also looks physically strong TRV. He looks great mate! Big year ahead!

Let's hope supercoach also sees it that way ...........