Manu Vatuvei

[cerberus]

watching this guy last night when he dropped the ball from a kick early in the 2nD half .
it hit his chest without him even getting a hand on the ball.I think he has vision problems .
contact lenses might be all he needs .otherwise he has no future on the wing.

 

[Scott]

Nothing wrong with his vision. It is a technique thing and also a confidence thing with him. Even with his blunders, he was still the most destructive back on the field.

He'll be fine.

 

[Micistm]

I agree. Maybe I'm a bit sentimental about the big fella, but even with his weaknesses I'd still have him in my team. When he's confident he's devastating. Has he played in other positions other than wing in his past? I'm just curious...

 

[NZ Warrior]

The thing that really impressed me about him last night, was his involvement. He was everywhere. Even after his mistakes, he was still keen to get the ball, he didn't go into his shell.

He was giving it everything. Near the end, he nearly knocked himself out cold trying to king hit Folau. And then there was the Steve Turner wrap up. Vatuvei seemed as cool as you like. He is really maturing, I really hope he stays injury free, because he is devastating. Great to watch.

 

[Dr Crane]

After his Parra game last year he was f**king awesome.

Fingers crossed he had the shocker (high-ball wise) in a game we weren't going to win anyway.

 

[blain]

his first try was mint as! the holy grail went crazy! sht it was good.

 

[Whos Ya Daddy]

He is a sensational talent but simple mistakes plague his game.

I can see him in the front row in the future.

 

[hitman82]

I'm pretty surprised at anyone praising Vatuvei's workrate and double... when he directly led to at least 3 Melbourne tries. I was impressed with how he backed up after the Parra game last year, but if he has another Vatufingers performance this weekend he must be dropped from the team. It's not like we are short on wingers and centres.

 

[The EELiminator]

from what i can see its a confidence thing with him he drops one ball then every time a bomb goes up he starts panicking, it wouldn't surprise me if he bounces back and catches every ball sent his way this weekend

what did i tell you? apart from catching everything he made some massive meters down the sideline and scored some great tries even though as an eels fan i am disgusted at the non-effort of eric grothe to stop manu's second try he and most of the team need to take a massive look at themselves

 

[Shorty]

It seems to be a confidence problem with Manu,I can understand why he's still kept on the team after making errors - The guy is quite good apart from that.
However,is Wing the only option for him? What about centre?

 

[ozbash]

he was a center in bartercard shorty.

dont worry about manu, he's had his bad game..

 

[Micistm]

His real problem is the high ball, a different position may well suit. Why not move him forward?
Having said that, I'll bet he's been worked hard this week and it won't be a prob for upcoming weeks. Touch wood.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

lol "no future on the wing" Too late for that, he's already the incumbent Kiwis and Warriors winger.

Manu has poor hands but is a very dangerous attacking winger and is probably in the best half-dozen or so wingers in the game. You take the good with the bad and the good outweighs it. Need to accept it and move on.

 

[MKEB...]

Well put

 

[Beavers Headgear]

lol "no future on the wing" Too late for that, he's already the incumbent Kiwis and Warriors winger.

Manu has poor hands but is a very dangerous attacking winger and is probably in the best half-dozen or so wingers in the game You take the good with the bad and the good outweighs it. Need to accept it and move on.

Massive call

 

[Waitakere Warrior Fan]

To be honest I think Manu seems to get pretty generous treatment from the folks on this forum, maybe I believe because we all think he's somewhat unfairly picked on by some of the Aussie commentators. He's potentially a great player and currently our greatest weapon on attack, but the mistakes he often makes really aren't excusable.

I certainly wouldn't advocate dropping him due to his attacking ability, but I think that something really needs to be done. He's dropped far too many bombs over the years, which is all the more frustrating given that he sometimes makes some great takes. I wouldn't mind seeing the Warriors trying him out on the right wing with Tate and having Tate play wing a bit on defense. Or failing that even see about Ropati covering him a bit more.

The high ball definitely seems to be a big weakness in his game and if he can't seem to 'come right' maybe it's time to try and avoid it some other way. I'd actually like to see him move to center, but it seems unlikely given that we have better depth there and it seems that the team have promised Tate a good crack at center. He'd be fun to watch as an impact attacking forward off the bench too, but that change seems too big to make any time soon.

 

[effnic]

Massive call

I actually agree with him, he is a great player just has one big flaw.

 

[JB]

Yeah, he's certainly an enigma of sorts is'nt he?

Dare i mention the Jonah-like comparisons, power, speed, size. He has that in abundance, and at time's, he looks like the Warrior's only strike weapon,

Then there's the other side you get with him. The fumbles. Either in the air or along the ground. We had a guy like that in our team - used to call him velcro. Had the worst hand's i ever seen.

Dont know what it is with Manu. No doubt Cleary and co would have put in all the hard work with him on this aspect of his game...especially after that Eel's game last year. Has been time's where he's been outstanding with the ball in the air. Can vividly remeber him outjumping Tate a few times in Kiwi's v Oz clashes to score some amazing tries.

He is capable of defusing the bomb. Wether it be a confidence, skill, or mental thing, i dont know. It is the one aspect of his game however, that is really hindering his development into the higher echelons of quality wingers.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

I think ppl have got it all wrong with this "confidence" stuff

Manu just has bad hands

The reasons he sometimes goes a while without dropping one is because, well, everyone catches the odd one. Manu probably catches 60 or 70% of the ones he should. A guy with good hands might take 90% of the ones he should. It's simple probability that a guy like that will sometimes string a few catches together, and sometimes string a few drops together.

You don't need to just watch the bombs to see that he has bad hands, he usually drops 1 or 2 catchable ones in general play as well. It's just part of the package. It's pretty obvious that he's big, he's fast, he's strong, but he's also a little cumbersome and a little awkward. It's part of his physical make-up.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

I actually agree with him, he is a great player just has one big flaw.

Big Manu would be 1 of my faves in the game, love watching him play and he seems like a bloody good bloke too

If he can sort his hands out once and for all, no doubt he will be in the top 6 in the game. But to reach that point he needs to get all parts of his game in order, which i hope he does

All the people knocking him and writing him off should be sat down to watch a copy of Lockyers test match in 97 i think it was, he had a mare with the hands