Zac Lomax

[Poupou Escobar]

He was a solid NRL player thats all. Slightly above average I'd say. He just wasn't worth the pay day we gave him. Still carved out a decent career.

The biggest mystery is how he played so much Origin. Picked at centre for NSW at the age of 19, and then after his mission played four more games on the wing. Then he left Parra and never played Origin again.

 

[King-Gutho94]

The biggest mystery is how he played so much Origin. Picked at centre for NSW at the age of 19, and then after his mission played four more games on the wing. Then he left Parra and never played Origin again.

I recall in 2011 when Manly won the comp Hopoate had more explosiveness in his game. He was very good on the wing in that GF as well.

But he had more speed and power on the wing that year

Not sure if the sabbatical halted that progress.

I felt when he came back he was more of that finnese type of player without the power and speed he started with.

 

[the phantom menace]

The biggest mystery is how he played so much Origin. Picked at centre for NSW at the age of 19, and then after his mission played four more games on the wing. Then he left Parra and never played Origin again.

I'd forgotten that he'd even played Origin, pre-Parra. So would have been a great signing for us at the time - but disappointing return on investment post-mission.

Surely our NSW centre stocks weren't that low at the time? You'd be hard pressed to even squeeze Hopoate into Parramatta's top 10 centres in the NRL era, which says a lot for an "origin" player.

 

[King-Gutho94]

I'd forgotten that he'd even played Origin, pre-Parra. So would have been a great signing for us at the time - but disappointing return on investment post-mission.

Surely our NSW centre stocks weren't that low at the time? You'd be hard pressed to even squeeze Hopoate into Parramatta's top 10 centres in the NRL era, which says a lot for an "origin" player.

Michael Jennings and Jarryd Hayne were the other 2 left centres picked in that 2011 origin series.

Jennings game 1
Hopoate game 2
Hayne game 3

Mark Gasnier played on the right.

Jamie Lyon wasn't interested in rep footy
Josh Morris must have been injured
Brett Morris only played game 3
Josh Dugan was still a Fullback in those days.