Not sure when he was off contract last when he was in peak form, but I know we had a red hot go for him.
I wanted him, badly. I lost sleep over it haha.
Not sure what has happened but he has gone from the best winger in the game to one of the worst.
I also remember a lot of Knights fans wanting him at Fullback, anyone know why he was never given a crack there?
It's easy to forget just how good he was. I've rarely seen a winger carry a team like he did for a while there. Absolutely electric.
There's a lot of reasons why he never got a crack at fullback - not vocal enough to guide the defence from the back, hands not good enough, not a smart enough footballer, Captain Kurt being "the best fullback at the club"... many, many reasons. He is... or was... a pure ball runner. He was at his best roaming around the field Nathan Blacklock style on occasion and just having the team work for him as our primary attacking weapon. As soon as he got his juicy contract, the water stopped boiling.
Bennett's arrival didn't help - he moved Aku right out of our gameplan and sat him out on the wing... but ultimately you can only lay the blame at Aku's feet. If he had the heart and dedication, he could have bettered himself as a player and overcome all of it without much drama. Fact is, he didn't and doesn't. You can tell when Aku has had a rocket up him, he still pulls a good game out here and there. It's all attitude. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if another team did pick him up and get him back into gear. He's a prime example of there not being any problems with a player except attitude. Fix that and the best winger in the game might still be hiding under there somewhere. I hope we can convince another NRL team that that is the case, because it would make offloading him viable. HE won't improve at the Knights... he needs a rocket bigger than one we can give him without sacking him.
