Tui Lolohea

[Meth]

You say that mainly because he's horrible at setting up his wingers though, right?.

Yeah, probably.

Trying to imagine him outside a guy that could set him up.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

Tui is going to be a really interesting one. As Wells said, that 6 spot is Hingano's. He's a better NRL five-eighth after about 20 mins of playing there than Tui will probably ever be. So to me, Tui can audition for one wing - because Manu is cooked and Ken is f**king awful - or he can bust his balls all off-season showing he's a good enough defender to be a centre (which is where I wanted him at the start of 2016).

Even at wing, the same flaws Tui has at fullback, will be exposed probably to a lesser extent on the wing. In saying that I would prefer Tui over Ken.

Hingano should be 6 ASAP he's not yet comfortable. Fantastic first game but he's still to prove himself. I've been waiting for someone to bring up Addo Cars try against us in the Tigers game because I'm sure it was Hingano he stepped inside. With more experience, it'll be interesting to see just how far he can go with our team in the near future.

While we're on experience let's go back to Tui. I can only wonder what would've been had Cappy persisted with Tui at 6. He persisted with Kata, he persisted with Maumalo (while we ENDURED 10 games played and 1 try pfft) if only he let Tui grow at 6. Unfortunately for Tui there's SJ, Robson, TL and now Hingano for halves positions. When SJ came in, I don't think there was any competition for the halves spots. If only there wasn't too much competition for Tui at 6.

For Tui he should explore his options, start talking to other clubs to see if they're interested at signing him as a 6. If not go down Trust Cup as a 6 and ONLY play halves and wait.

 

[VillaTheGorilla]

Can anyone remember another talented player whos been stuffed around this much? I honestly can't. It will be a miracle really if he comes back from this and becomes a quality player in one position

 

[vvvrulz]

He needs to go back and learn the basics. Kata and Fus did it so there's no reason why Tui can't

 

[Dr Crane]

Kata and Fus seem to have realised they're expendable unless they keep their shit together. Tui could do with having a chat with them.

 

[Meth]

1- RTS
2- Fusitua
3-
4- Kata
5-

To me, 3 and 5 are the spots up for grabs- and the contenders are Manu Vatuvei, Tui Lolohea, Blake Ayshford and Ken Maumalo....

Personally, I'd select Blake and Manu right now.

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

ho

Can anyone remember another talented player whos been stuffed around this much? I honestly can't. It will be a miracle really if he comes back from this and becomes a quality player in one position

lance hohaia possibly

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

tui is down on confidence thats all

 

[Benek]

1- RTS
2- Fusitua
3-
4- Kata
5-

To me, 3 and 5 are the spots up for grabs- and the contenders are Manu Vatuvei, Tui Lolohea, Blake Ayshford and Ken Maumalo....

Personally, I'd select Blake and Manu right now.

Exactly my thinking as well.

I want Tui to be told he needs to out-train and out-perform Blake or Manu to earn one of those spots.

And I want Manu to start on his wing next year with the understanding that he has until Origin 1 to prove he's still got it. If he still looks way too far past his prime by then, Tui or someone else is ready to jump in his spot.

 

[Meth]

Another point that is worth teasing out somewhat- obviously wingers do benefit or suffer from the play of those inside them before the ball reaches them. While Kata has done some blockbusting things with the ball, it is accepted that he isn't the best at setting up his outside man- which is typically Manu Vatuvei. Should our criticism of Manu be moderated by that point?

 

[Rich102]

No. How often have we seen Manu in front of the man inside him with the ball. Unforgivable for anybody, most of all a winger. Particularly one who turns like the Queen Mary. Manu really needs to go back to basic skills training.

 

[Fufu Andronez]

Fus has been shafted just as much as Tui, and for longer but he still knuckled down and performed wherever he was put. What's Tui's excuse?

 

[vvvrulz]

Another point that is worth teasing out somewhat- obviously wingers do benefit or suffer from the play of those inside them before the ball reaches them. While Kata has done some blockbusting things with the ball, it is accepted that he isn't the best at setting up his outside man- which is typically Manu Vatuvei. Should our criticism of Manu be moderated by that point?

Somewhat, back when Ropati was inside Manu he was constantly putting him away and using him as the try scoring machine he can be. He always had the slow turn and those ridiculous hands, but tries + hitups made up for it.

Kata doesn't always do the same, but it also extends to having Thomas / RTS / Tui usually failing to create space for the centres and wingers, and the general game plan of not going wide, most of our tries seem to be long range ad-lib type play (lots of Kata tries) or the halves trying to shove Bodene / Afoa etc. into a hole. We haven't seen too many classic wingers tries this year.

The only one who really got Kata and Manu into space was Fusitua in those rare occasions he was rightfully at fullback. Cast your mind back to the Souths debacle, Tui came off and Fus slotted in, suddenly Kata and Manu were charging down the field and looking dangerous.

Comes back down to coaching and tactics unfortunately.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

Fus has been shafted just as much as Tui, and for longer but he still knuckled down and performed wherever he was put. What's Tui's excuse?

I would say its cos Fusitua is more of a outside back and Tui whos been a half all his life (I think), was made to learn how to play as an outside back in the NRL of all places.

He mightve played as an outside back earlier in his league days but even then it wouldve had to been College or earlier cos I dont remember him as outside back in the 20s.

 

[VillaTheGorilla]

Fus has been shafted just as much as Tui, and for longer but he still knuckled down and performed wherever he was put. What's Tui's excuse?

Hmm I disagree. Fus is a winger/fullback and has played there predominantly. Think he played at centre once last year, and was tried there quite late this year and he went well. Therefore he's played the majority of his time at one of his preferred posistions.

From what I understand, Tui has played most of his juniors in the halves but hasn't really been given a go there this year. He went alright at wing and centre - I still think he's done better as a winger than Maumalo has this year. The only time he's been really poor was at fullback, which a lot of people say is one of the hardest positions to learn. On top of that, he's been dropped to the bench and dropped all together this year. He's not had zero consistancy for someone who DOESNT know how to play fullback - it was always gunna end in tears.

It would be like asking Fus to play half for about 10 games this year and everyone screaming for his blood...

But I do agree that Tui hasn't grabbed any of his opportunities at all this year. At the end of the day you its the NRL, most people never get a crack, and some of his errors have been down to poor concentration/school boy errors. Im hoping he picks him self up, dusts himself off and comes back next year and proves us all wrong

 

[VillaTheGorilla]

It's not often I agree with Zero...but, spot on mate!

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

It's not often I agree with Zero...but, spot on mate!

Youre not the only one who regularly disagrees with me bro and you will disagree with me in future or vice versa. Its cos we know League!!

 

[ozbash]

ho


lance hohaia possibly

Motu Tony ?

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

Motu Tony ?

Yeah but Lance stuck around
Tony was gone first chance chasing $$$

 

[Penrose Warrior]

lance hohaia possibly

Lance got a pretty massive go at five-eighth/halfback before he was shunted back to the bench. Tui could only dream of that sort of run in one position.

People saying Tui never took his chances at No.1 - I've said this before, I don't remember there being any issues post the first bye. He was our fullback then. We torched the Broncos and the Knights, got past the Roosters - all whilst conceding very few points - then he was dropped. I remember the game thread, I remember Gasnier/Anasta etc just saying WTF happened? There was no reason.

Tui Lolohea is 21 in his 2nd full season. Before he was dropped, he was running around full of confidence, believing he was an NRL player, with a smile on his face. He was dropped, not played a single minute off the bench, brought back into one position then shunted again...and suddenly the smile is gone, and he wonders whether he's actually a NSW Cup player. Fullback is a hard position to play. We forget that he actually played there 11 times last year, including 7 weeks in a row and 9 in 10. He wasn't bad in Tomkins' absence. Hell, all of us on here were fans.

It's the same with Ben. He was POTY last year. Started every single one of his 21 games. This year, he has come off the bench in 16 of his 23 appearances. What sort of f**king idiot coach benches his player of the year? I know we complain about the professionalism of these guys, and fair enough. But they're actually human beings. Just like us, they respond with human emotions to being dicked around and shown by actions that they're not valued like they and others believe they are. Same as we all would be in our jobs. Tui has responded with fear and nervousness, Ben with apathy. I get it.