Luciano Leilua

[Crush]

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

Yeah I'm a bit tired of every post everyone makes coming back to the coach. I get it, people are frustrated and want him out but I am just trying to focus on the positives now mate and don't really care for all the negative coach stuff. There is a thread to bag the coach, this one is about Luciano Leilua. Cheers.

 

[Old Timer]

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...

Agree 100% it is just a photo of him running with a 10kg weight.
Plenty of other players do exactly the same thing at training.
In fact plenty of other photos of players with more muscular upper torso than what this photo shows.
I hope he makes it too but lots of straw grasping re where he is at rather than waiting for factual evidence.

 

[Tez]

Yeah I'm a bit tired of every post everyone makes coming back to the coach. I get it, people are frustrated and want him out but I am just trying to focus on the positives now mate and don't really care for all the negative coach stuff. There is a thread to bag the coach, this one is about Luciano Leilua. Cheers.

I agree 100%. This should apply to all "non-coach" threads.

 

[possm]

At our Club, where there is incompetence and corruption it should be called out loud and often. Sooner or later people like Doust and Mary will meet their fate.

 

[2010]

This was posted today on Facebook. He is looking the goods and hope he gets a run this year.

 

[RufusRex]

definatly should play from the bench in round 1 ... offers something that no-one else in the club does ...

Injected for impact to give one of our 2 edge forwards a rest in the 2nd half

 

[Dragsters]

definatly should play from the bench in round 1 ... offers something that no-one else in the club does ...

Injected for impact to give one of our 2 edge forwards a rest in the 2nd half

Agree.

Sims or Host to start, with Luc on from the bench could be lethal...

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Agree 100% it is just a photo of him running with a 10kg weight.
Plenty of other players do exactly the same thing at training.
In fact plenty of other photos of players with more muscular upper torso than what this photo shows.
I hope he makes it too but lots of straw grasping re where he is at rather than waiting for factual evidence.

People are taking me far too literally. It was meant in a colloquial way to represent a range of things, not just physical strength. I'm talking looking fitter, slimmer and mentally focussed.

 

[Dragsters]

People are taking me far too literally. It was meant in a colloquial way to represent a range of things, not just physical strength. I'm talking looking fitter, slimmer and mentally focussed.

That's how I read it mate and I'm pretty sure you don't need to be apologetic either...

 

[TomRedVRiver]

That's how I read it mate and I'm pretty sure you don't need to be apologetic either...

I guess people just naturally like to be opposed to everything for no apparent reason.

 

[SaintElroy]

I guess people just naturally like to be opposed to everything for no apparent reason.

Can’t agree

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Can’t agree

Top 3 funniest things i've read here.

 

[jak]

definatly should play from the bench in round 1 ... offers something that no-one else in the club does ...

Injected for impact to give one of our 2 edge forwards a rest in the 2nd half

have you told mary?

 

[Old Timer]

I guess people just naturally like to be opposed to everything for no apparent reason.

TRVR
I am not trying to be opposed to anything I am just asking how anybody (as there are several posts from several people along the theme) can determine fitter, faster, stronger, tougher, focussed bla bla bla from a photo posted of him training with a weight in his hands.
The same thing was said last year by many including coaching, high performance staff and people in here and that didn't earn him 1 minute of NRL time.
Re Luc the thing he will need most is a steely attitude and a hard edge to him and maybe Graham is the key to that and not weights or conditioning.
All well and good to be a good ball player and very creative but if he has a soft underbelly that will be exposed very quickly and will result in his career never taking off.
Hopefully the old dog will create the mongrel required for the puppy to be ready to piss on everyone and mark out his territory.

 

[TomRedVRiver]

TRVR
I am not trying to be opposed to anything I am just asking how anybody (as there are several posts from several people along the theme) can determine fitter, faster, stronger, tougher, focussed bla bla bla from a photo posted of him training with a weight in his hands.
The same thing was said last year by many including coaching, high performance staff and people in here and that didn't earn him 1 minute of NRL time.
Re Luc the thing he will need most is a steely attitude and a hard edge to him and maybe Graham is the key to that and not weights or conditioning.
All well and good to be a good ball player and very creative but if he has a soft underbelly that will be exposed very quickly and will result in his career never taking off.
Hopefully the old dog will create the mongrel required for the puppy to be ready to piss on everyone and mark out his territory.

In response to that first part of your post, the evidence is in his new and improved frame, coupled with what Millward and co have been saying. He has obviously trimmed down and is looking a lot fitter than he has in previous years, that much is obvious. You don't achieve that if you haven't made the decision to improve your effort at training. In relation to what the coaching staff have been saying.. I don't remember one occasion last year when Mary or Millward have said that they've "seen a change in him, the way he trains and goes about his business". If he was a lazy oaf at training then I highly doubt they would have re-signed him for a further two years, regardless of the Thompson situation.

Leilua deserved game time in 2017, it wasn't his fault he didn't get picked. He was in the NSW Cup team of the week 9 times or something ridiculous like that, playing 80 minutes nearly every week. Apparently it was his "education" year, which is questionable, but if it's going to make him a better player then so be it. It obviously reflected a lot about his character if he was prepared to bide his time in reggies to earn that contract extension.

Agreed about Graham, i'd love to see him get into the kids ear and pass on some of that mongrel. I fear for whatever poor halfback that will have to tackle Luch 5 metres out from the line after hitting a short ball from Hunt at speed.

 

[dragonssamy61]

In response to that first part of your post, the evidence is in his new and improved frame, coupled with what Millward and co have been saying. He has obviously trimmed down and is looking a lot fitter than he has in previous years, that much is obvious. You don't achieve that if you haven't made the decision to improve your effort at training. In relation to what the coaching staff have been saying.. I don't remember one occasion last year when Mary or Millward have said that they've "seen a change in him, the way he trains and goes about his business". If he was a lazy oaf at training then I highly doubt they would have re-signed him for a further two years, regardless of the Thompson situation.

Leilua deserved game time in 2017, it wasn't his fault he didn't get picked. He was in the NSW Cup team of the week 9 times or something ridiculous like that, playing 80 minutes nearly every week. Apparently it was his "education" year, which is questionable, but if it's going to make him a better player then so be it. It obviously reflected a lot about his character if he was prepared to bide his time in reggies to earn that contract extension.

Agreed about Graham, i'd love to see him get into the kids ear and pass on some of that mongrel. I fear for whatever poor halfback that will have to tackle Luch 5 metres out from the line after hitting a short ball from Hunt at speed.

Tom
I know Graham has only been training with the team for a short time.
But after training he spends time talking to each of the young guys.
He pushes them to be better.
Hopefully it will be also seen on the field.

 

[TheOnlyTeam]

How is Kasiano looking at Storm?

 

[Old Timer]

I have been thinking about you'd Luciano, some of the comparisons that have been made and wondering if they are the correct sort of comparisons especially in respect of Beetson.
I have come to the conclusion (IMO) that young Luc is actually far more like a young Graeme Wynn & Scott Gourley.
Great speed, damaging runner, ability to step and unload.
Wynn and Gourley were no doubt tough men but IMO not as hard as Graeme's brother Peter or Scott's father Robin and it is probably that hard edge that I want to see come into Luc's game which will make him IMO a more complete footballer than either Wynn or Gourley.
Don't get me wrong Wynn & Gourley were great players for our club but if they had of had a bit of mongrel ( I know Wynn was outed for biting but claimed he didn't do it and I believe that) I think their careers could have been better and maybe more rewarding in respect of premierships and rep honours.
Wynn & Gourely on the burst were certainly a sight to behold and here's hoping we see some of that from young Luciano and if we do Dufty will have a "field" day and you never know young Jai might have one as well.

 

[epDragon62]

TRVR
I am not trying to be opposed to anything I am just asking how anybody (as there are several posts from several people along the theme) can determine fitter, faster, stronger, tougher, focussed bla bla bla from a photo posted of him training with a weight in his hands.
The same thing was said last year by many including coaching, high performance staff and people in here and that didn't earn him 1 minute of NRL time.
Re Luc the thing he will need most is a steely attitude and a hard edge to him and maybe Graham is the key to that and not weights or conditioning.
All well and good to be a good ball player and very creative but if he has a soft underbelly that will be exposed very quickly and will result in his career never taking off.
Hopefully the old dog will create the mongrel required for the puppy to be ready to piss on everyone and mark out his territory.

Hate to be agreeable but I agree...

Nevertheless, I have a feeling in my bones that LL will break open some games for us this year.

I like the thought of him being on the bench with Sims, Ah Mau and the question mark for me is the fourth. It depends on who is in the backline but I'm thinking that Aitken the bench has merit with the view that he can fill in as a back rower if needed and Mann can cover other backline possies if he is in the starting line up at wing.

 

[kit66]

I have been thinking about you'd Luciano, some of the comparisons that have been made and wondering if they are the correct sort of comparisons especially in respect of Beetson.

I didn't compare him as the player he is now to the great Artie Beetson.
Here's what I said - 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.
In that particular game he did some very Beetson-like things, like effortlessly punch through the line with a deft step, ball held high and get away a beautifully timed pass or stop before the line to draw defenders in and show lovely soft hands with a short ball putting someone in a gap. That's not to mention the physical comparison as well - body shape I mean.
I also think that as Leilua becomes more experienced he has the potential to be one of those players who just seems to have more "time" than your average player, if you know what I mean. It's just an observation mixed with a good dose of wishful thinking. He may never get within cooee of big Artie but there's always hope.
I don't know that Gourley or Wynn had the ball playing that Luciano has and is developing or the smarts. Loved them both though, great contributors.