Sao is a gun and clearly took the best option for him.
Manly wont offer him big money, but there is a pathway to replace kite and/or king.
They also signed Mike Chee Kam - one of the other best forward in the nyc.
Sao is from manurewa i.e poor lol and most likely 50k to him would be heaps.
Its more about the fact manly will invest three years in him - i.e they care about his develoment. He has ripped since he has been with the warriors and most improved after only a few years playing league.
tbh he would be top 3 prop in the nyc this year
I believe that type of seeding or performance warrants at the very least a two year deal.
Warriors wld of offered a one year min wage deal.
The warriors like offering one year deals to their graduates such as lousi, ikahihifo etc.
They often can take advantage of the young auckland boys, that they can stay at home etc - they dont always take the best deals on offer.
Simply, Sao has showed much improvement and talent he would overcome both Lousi to become at the least 5th best prop option in the next year or two.
With both rapira going through injury issues he would get plenty of gametime.
Who from the NYC squad? gets upgraded - if they lose taukieaho, then the only forward capable of playing NRL next year is Palavi.
As for backs - I dont rate slaimankhel so he can go for all i care.
The only back would be Hiku if he had a big offseason.
Yeah I have often thought about this, more from the stereotypical island boy who lives with their family, wants to stay with their church, remain in South Auckland, and will happily sign up for less than market value.
But from the club's point of view, of course they are all about hardballing to try and retain maximum talent for minimal outlay, so they will take advantage of every trick possible to keep these guys as cheaply as possible. Playing that kind of game you always run the risk of losing some; this appears to be the case with Ligi Sao, as there is simply no sensible reason why we wouldn't try and keep him.
Having said that, I am not too disappointed.
8 Package
10 Matulino
15 Sam Rapira / Steve Rapira/ Sam Lousi
16 Lillyman / Sione Lousi
Both Lousi brothers appear to be fairly durable, Rapira brothers are both glass, Lillyman I haven't made my mind up yet... I suspect he tore his muscle because he is ridiculously heavy in the pec/delt region and likely had too much tightness for the flexibility required to play NRL... hence why it ripped in his first trial game. But generally I'd consider Lillyman quite durable too.
So yeah we have 2 great reliable props, 2 great and dodgy props, 1 decent and reliable prop, 1 decent and dodgy prop and 1 untested rookie.
