Why are so many people hung up on Alvaro's abilities. If anyone can remember I rated him as a junior back when he was playing u20's. He has turned out to be slightly worse then what I expected of him but saying that he is a quality contributor to our team when playing at his best.
Due to the size of the players in the NRL and his optimum playing weight being on the lighter side he hasn't the bulk or power of the juggernauts to skittle the opposition like the Fifita's of this world. But he brings efficient rapid fire defence in the middle and at times when needed on the edge that only one other player in our team provides and that is Mahoney.
Obviously all teams need these sorts of players in their mix to balance out their roster optimally. If the question is will he perform better then he did last year? Then I believe he will. Since he has has had an injury free off season, trimmed down to his best playing weight and an added bonus of doing extra training in the sprints department(huge advantage for front rowers to have quick leg speed) and that he is coming into the best years for a prop, all the indicators are there that he will have a standout year by his own previous bench marks.
What should also give him a boost is that our front row rotation, if fully fit and all firing this year, should be powerful and even lethal to most other pack. Add our big strapping backrowers to that and we will have a very impressive six on the field at all times. So I expect his stats will be back to pre 2019 figures and may even improve a little on all previous seasons. Just playing in a consistently winning team should see to that.
So after all that, will he have a surprisingly good year this year? No of course not. Anyone who has watched his career thus far will know what his capabilities are and therefore not surprised at all. The surprise will be if he regresses and doesn't recapture the consistent form that he had previously to 2019. With all the positives going for him and one could say for the rest of the team also, the real disappointing surprise would be if he failed to be a standout consistent performer in 2020.