Why the Uate hate

[swarmski]

Read more than i post here, but i thought it was time to crack open a thread.

Uate cops a LOT of criticism from the forums, fb and general public about his defence. I feel a lot of it is unwarranted.

He is a winger, so gets a lot of potential tries down his side and wingers are seemingly always remembered more for a misread than a midfielder that lets one through.

Now this is what gets me, and i came to this conclusion from watching the game at the local Wests the other week.

Uate was in a 2 on 1 situation and came in off the wing to make a tackle / ball passed to edge and scores. People behind me go on about how Uate always comes in off the wing and should stay wide.

Not 5 minutes later, Uate was again in the 2 on 1 situation, but this time stayed wide and the team made a break through the gap. Same people behind me stated that Uate should have come in off his wing. It was at this point that i turned around and pointed out what they said 5 minutes ago.

It's this mentality that i hear from Knights fans every week...if a try is let in, there is nothing he did that was right and there was ALWAYS something he could have done to stop it.

Now what is the common factor in a lot of these things....2 on 1.

Uate seems to be left by himself in the majority of situations, often having to make a descision on who to tackle. I strongly beleive that its the team and moreso the centres that are not shifting with the play, that are really letting the try in.

Now on the flipside of this, we have Sione who has been (lets face it) underwhelming since we signed him. Last year, both the brothers were fantastic on the wings and i thought this is where they would settle in. Since he has played inside of Uate, i feel that he is created a lot of headaches in defense of Uate. Would Uate and Sione benefit from a position switch (Uate to centre, Sione to wing) /END CRAZY IDEA?

What is everyones thoughts?

Additionally, Uate is basically the only player to spend time with the fans after every single game, taking photos and signing autographs rain hail or shine.

For me, his head is safer on the chopping block than a bunch of others at the moment.

 

[otori]

I agree with some of your premise that he gets into too many 2 on 1 situations. Is say that's a symptom of our sides inability to slide properly in D. But Uate is a fairly terrible 1 on 1 tackler in my opinion in terms of technique. He'd be a lot worse if he was Mamos size

FTR I think Houston is our worst defender by a mile but that's me. I swear every time the opposition slices us up the middle, it's him that created the gap.

 

[Zoidberg]

I totally agree with you on this aspect, but have to admit Aku's defence is not his strong point.

The 2 on 1 positions he gets into are not his fault alone. It has to do with his inside men and the communication (or lack of) which is the fault of a few of the guys.

 

[Nuffy]

Read more than i post here, but i thought it was time to crack open a thread.

Uate cops a LOT of criticism from the forums, fb and general public about his defence. I feel a lot of it is unwarranted.

He is a winger, so gets a lot of potential tries down his side and wingers are seemingly always remembered more for a misread than a midfielder that lets one through.

Now this is what gets me, and i came to this conclusion from watching the game at the local Wests the other week.

Uate was in a 2 on 1 situation and came in off the wing to make a tackle / ball passed to edge and scores. People behind me go on about how Uate always comes in off the wing and should stay wide.

Not 5 minutes later, Uate was again in the 2 on 1 situation, but this time stayed wide and the team made a break through the gap. Same people behind me stated that Uate should have come in off his wing. It was at this point that i turned around and pointed out what they said 5 minutes ago.

It's this mentality that i hear from Knights fans every week...if a try is let in, there is nothing he did that was right and there was ALWAYS something he could have done to stop it.

Now what is the common factor in a lot of these things....2 on 1.

Uate seems to be left by himself in the majority of situations, often having to make a descision on who to tackle. I strongly beleive that its the team and moreso the centres that are not shifting with the play, that are really letting the try in.

Now on the flipside of this, we have Sione who has been (lets face it) underwhelming since we signed him. Last year, both the brothers were fantastic on the wings and i thought this is where they would settle in. Since he has played inside of Uate, i feel that he is created a lot of headaches in defense of Uate. Would Uate and Sione benefit from a position switch (Uate to centre, Sione to wing) /END CRAZY IDEA?

What is everyones thoughts?

Additionally, Uate is basically the only player to spend time with the fans after every single game, taking photos and signing autographs rain hail or shine.

For me, his head is safer on the chopping block than a bunch of others at the moment.

Okay so where do I start, is it the piece about moving Uate to centre, you think his decision making and one on one defence is an issue on the wing, it would be 10 times worse at centre.

Re Sione, I'm not sure there are too many pumping up his tyres, he has been underwhelming since he played for AU and again how on gods green earth did that happen.................

He has a lot of work to do before he's earning half his current salary.

Uate and Sione made Reed look like Reg Gasnier last night and thats some feat in itself as he is a world class plodder.

I think the majority of our concern is purely value for money, he is on massive money and gets regularly outplayed by blokes on half or less of his contract value. It might pass muster if he was scoring 20 plus tries every year and leading tackle busts etc, but he's not.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

I agree with some of your premise that he gets into too many 2 on 1 situations. Is say that's a symptom of our sides inability to slide properly in D. But Uate is a fairly terrible 1 on 1 tackler in my opinion in terms of technique. He'd be a lot worse if he was Mamos size

FTR I think Houston is our worst defender by a mile but that's me. I swear every time the opposition slices us up the middle, it's him that created the gap.

Summed up pretty well.

 

[Burwood]

He has definitely improved under the high ball this season, so that's one positive. His one-on-one technique still leaves a lot to be desired. I think you could have put any winger out there last night and the result would have been identical- the problems were caused further infield and Uate was just the guy standing out on the wing who had to try and deal with the end result.

 

[The Showstopper]

What is saddest is Bennett signed him up and yet knew all along he is so fragile in defence and ran at him. It is beyond me how a man so powerful in the body and legs cannot learn how to tackle or position himself properly. He is a deadset powerhouse. Yet he can't alter his game to use it to his advantage.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

Why the Uate hate.

Because he's shit.

 

[Dave_]

Because he's shit.

+1

 

[aqua_duck]

Guys is the highest paid winger in history and isn't in the top 5 wingers in the game ATM, says it all really. His tackle technique is Scott Dureau level

 

[BestWingerBoyd]

We should trade him with Brisbane. Bring Darius home.

 

[Spot On]

+1

+100.

Should be in NSW Cup starting this week.

God help him if he ever has to defend in the centres. That move he does when he waves his arms at the ball runner coming toward him aint gunna scare too many big backrowers.

 

[Rod]

You can't blame every try that gets scored down his wing on him, it happens to every winger to some degree because that's where the most overlaps result.

In saying that, his technique appears to have regressed from a couple of years ago when it looked like his defence was improving. For such a big body he gets palmed off way too easily.

It's the tries where he makes the correct read and still concedes the try which are the most disappointing by far.

 

[slotmachine]

It's the tries where he makes the correct read and still concedes the try which are the most disappointing by far.

Yep, I can cop him looking foolish when his inside men hang him out to dry, but he missed one on one tackles against Milford and Reed that directly led to tries. It was stuff that should have seen a NSW Cup played hooked.

And that wasn't a once off. John Falou did exactly the same thing in the Eels game,

 

[Joker's Wild]

The thing is his decision making has gotten better. He comes in on overlaps at the right time to shut down the play more often than not. Unfortunately he rarely sticks the contact and the opposition still get the ball wide. Gives the cover time to clean up but he needs to learn to use his shoulders

 

[aqua_duck]

A club with abit of foresight would've tried to shop Jimmy and Aku around, last year Sione and Chanel took their spots and the team didn't seem any worse off at all. Letting those 2 go would free up atleast $750k (that's assuming we'd still pay part of their contracts). That's enough money for 2 good forwards plus enough change to have a crack at someone like a Mitch Cornish.

 

[aqua_duck]

Yep, I can cop him looking foolish when his inside men hang him out to dry, but he missed one on one tackles against Milford and Reed that directly led to tries. It was stuff that should have seen a NSW Cup played hooked.

And that wasn't a once off. John Falou did exactly the same thing in the Eels game,

I remember early in his career Manu Vatuvei carved him up a few times just basically running straight over the top of him from about 7-8m out, I wasnt pleased but could excuse him because it was Manu Vatuvei, then Jorge Taufua done it to him, again not pleased but Jorge is powerful ball carrier, then John Folau done the same thing, again another big, powerful human. It's one thing to have big, powerful guys barge over you but to have Milford and Jack Reed do it to you is embarrassing

 

[Spot On]

Yep, I can cop him looking foolish when his inside men hang him out to dry, but he missed one on one tackles against Milford and Reed that directly led to tries. It was stuff that should have seen a NSW Cup played hooked.

And that wasn't a once off. John Falou did exactly the same thing in the Eels game,

Ah, that was the day he was shown up by a 3 game rookie. And yet, here he is still in first grade, cashing in on a humungous contract that could be spent on a quality half.

Rick either does not want his job after this year or he is admitting he is incapable of addressing the defensive issues that are plain for everyone to see.

 

[Spot On]

A club with abit of foresight would've tried to shop Jimmy and Aku around, last year Sione and Chanel took their spots and the team didn't seem any worse off at all. Letting those 2 go would free up atleast $750k (that's assuming we'd still pay part of their contracts). That's enough money for 2 good forwards plus enough change to have a crack at someone like a Mitch Cornish.

Yep, made this point last year.

Interestingly Hags was questioned by a talkback caller on Big Sports brekky the other day about the club shopping around for some halves as the ones we have are f**ked and he said it was a valid point but until you understand the intricacies of the cap you can't appreciate how hard it is to buy what you really need.

 

[perverse]

Yep, made this point last year.

Interestingly Hags was questioned by a talkback caller on Big Sports brekky the other day about the club shopping around for some halves as the ones we have are f**ked and he said it was a valid point but until you understand the intricacies of the cap you can't appreciate how hard it is to buy what you really need.

I need to pull this one at work, it's gold. "until you understand the intricacies of building a website, you can't appreciate how hard it is to hit my deadlines". f**k me dead Hages, no-one said it was easy - but it's what you're f**king paid to do!