Ok, I can't let this one go. May has played 8 games as a centre. They say defence is the hardest part of being a centre, so lets see how he goes compared to other centres in the NRL. How is he at tackling? His effective tackle percentage is 85%, which places him at 7th in the NRL for centres. Tago's is 82%, Alamoti 81%. Hmm, Ok what about being responsible for tries being scored, try causes is the stat recorded. 2 TC's in 8 games. Tago 7TC's in 9 games, Alamoti is 4 TC's in 4 games. What about line break causes? 5LBC's, Tago 4 LBC's, Alamoti 3 LBC's. That makes May the 39th worst player for line break causes in the NRL.
Hmm, maybe he is an error prone, penalty causing disaster. Well he has 8 errors, one a game that makes him the 21st worst player in the NRL. Tago has 15 errors and Alamoti has 2. As for penalties, Tago is a walking misdemeanour, conceding more penalties than any other centre in the NRL with 10. May has two.
So, based on defence, May is a better tackler, makes less errors and concedes fewer penalties than Tago. Oh, however he does have one more line break cause than Tago.
In attack, May is less effective. With only 1 try, 2 linebreaks, no assists and involvement in only two tries, this is where he needs to improve. Tago with 5 tries, 10 linebreaks and 11 try involvements shows the standard he needs to reach. Mind you, Tago is 4th in the NRL for try involvements and equal first for linebreaks, so is an attacking gun.
As for work rate, he delivers 105m per game compared to Tago 119 and Alamoti 128m. These stats are influenced by linebreaks for tries shown by the fact both Tago and May average 11 runs a game. Alomotti is averaging 13 runs per game.
Is May as good as Tago? Not yet, but he is a better defender and in fact is top ten in the NRL for centre defence. There are two sides to the game and Tago's errors, penalties and try causes negate a lot of his positives in attack. He has been involved in 11 tries but caused 7 to be conceded, net result plus four. May has created two and caused two. Alamoti has been involved in 3 tries, but conceded 4.
You are dismissing somebody who has already shown he can handle the hardest part of being a centre and only played 8 games. Alamoti is demonstrably worse in defence and yet people are wanting to drop May and replace him with Alamoti.
May can become a great centre, he needs time to build up his strength and sharpness after a year out. That said, all of this is moot if he is convicted of domestic violence.
