leka.webp

Player Leka Halasima

Full Name
Salumiela Halasima
Date of Birth
Sep 21, 2005
Birth Location
Tofoa, Tonga
Nationality
  1. 🇹🇴 Tonga
Height (cm)
185 cm
Weight (kg)
100 kg
Position/s
  1. Second Row
Nickname
Leka, Junior
Warrior #
289
NRL Debut Date
Jul 6, 2024
NRL Debut Details
2024, Round 18, NZ Warriors v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Warriors Debut Date
Jul 6, 2024
Warriors Debut Details
2024, Round 18, NZ Warriors v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Warriors Years Active
  1. 2024
  2. 2025
College/s
Southern Cross Campus
Signed From
Southern Cross Campus
Junior Club/s
Pt Chevalier Pirates, Otahuhu Leopards
Current Club
NZ Warriors
Status
Active
Rugby League Project
https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/players/selumiela-halasima/summary.html

NZWarriors.com

I'd argue that the same thing, and giving him the golden boot ruined Johnson. He could have been so much better and I do think a lot of it got to his head.

After 2011, he was basically the 'guy'. He had half a season of first grade under his belt. I'm not sure ego shift would have much to play in that scenario.

He actually needed better development support.

Thankfully, we've definitely turned a corner on that department.
 
I like the confidence and supreme self belief. It’s what the truely elite superstars across most sports have so consistently, it’s like you need that confidence to reach your ultimate sporting potential.

Obviously you need to stop that self confidence from becoming self harming (eg affecting practice, willingness to learn, etc) but I don’t want the ‘cockiness’ and ‘arrogance’ squashed out of our young group.

It’s a very fine line but I’ve felt we’ve been to humble in the past.
 
After 2011, he was basically the 'guy'. He had half a season of first grade under his belt. I'm not sure ego shift would have much to play in that scenario.

He actually needed better development support.

Thankfully, we've definitely turned a corner on that department.
letting Ivan go was the worst decision we ever made. In the counterfactual where he stayed post-2011, we could have won the premiership by now. We were clearly building towards it in 2011 when we made all 3 grand finals and our pathways was in a strong place. We might even have seen an SJ-Cleary halves combo at the club.
 
letting Ivan go was the worst decision we ever made. In the counterfactual where he stayed post-2011, we could have won the premiership by now. We were clearly building towards it in 2011 when we made all 3 grand finals and our pathways was in a strong place. We might even have seen an SJ-Cleary halves combo at the club.
Unfortunately a Criminal owned the Warriors and a Wayne.ker was the general manager
 
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there could have been an SJ-Nathan Cleary halves combo.

Would they even player well together? Who plays 6? They're both 7's. Who's the dominant half?

It's a romantic and fun idea, but glosses over fairly glaring potential issues.

Also, in this case, Nathan wouldn't have been developed in the Penrith system. We're not particularly renowned for developing halves, so do you think he would have turned out in our systems?
 
Would they even player well together? Who plays 6? They're both 7's. Who's the dominant half?

It's a romantic and fun idea, but glosses over fairly glaring potential issues.

Also, in this case, Nathan wouldn't have been developed in the Penrith system. We're not particularly renowned for developing halves, so do you think he would have turned out in our systems?
we were developing our pathways nicely under Ivan. As I said, we made 3 GFs in 2011- NYC, NSW Cup and NRL. If he had stayed, I think we would have provided a nice foundation for developing up and coming players like Nathan. In many respects, I would argue that Ivan used his time here as a field experiment for the dominant Penrith system he would later build. If he had stayed, I think he would have implemented it here instead of at Penrith. That includes his son staying and developing into the player he is today.

For me all the mistakes happened post-cleary. Promoting NYC players directly into NRL way too early and screwing their development (ie Konrad, Kata, Lolohea, etc). Amongst many other issues. We started dismantling everything good that Ivan built with Bluey's appointment. It's only with Webby's return that we're starting to rebuild the foundation that Ivan started for us all those years ago
 
letting Ivan go was the worst decision we ever made. In the counterfactual where he stayed post-2011, we could have won the premiership by now. We were clearly building towards it in 2011 when we made all 3 grand finals and our pathways was in a strong place. We might even have seen an SJ-Cleary halves combo at the club.
Had Ivan stayed the club and him would have stagnated (admittedly that would have been better than what happened).

He was not the coach he is now, he had to go elsewhere to learn to coach. Remember he was a player coach with very little experience here.

Our attack under Ivan was horrible, second man plays, a team full of back rowers being dropped under and hoping for a crash over in the red zone, and when that failed which it often did, we couldn't construct backline plays to put Manu one on one.

Fortunately for Ivan Manu was a freak you could kick to and he would take on four players and score.
 
Ivan was a coach with potential when he left us and got worse before he rode off the coat tails of Gould’s 5 year plan.

Warriors 50% win rate (6 seasons)
Panthers 1 44% WR (4 seasons)
Tigers 42% WR (2 seasons)
Heading down the gurgled…
Panthers 2 72% WR (7 seasons)

If Gould hadn’t bought Cleary on board he could have ended up a middling coach. He was handed the keys to a rising powerhouse club and the rests history.

Was it a dud move getting rid of Cleary? In hindsight yes. Should we have made that move? At the time I agreed with the clubs view that he didn’t have what it took to win a final at that point in his coaching career.

Shit happens!
 
Had Ivan stayed the club and him would have stagnated (admittedly that would have been better than what happened).

He was not the coach he is now, he had to go elsewhere to learn to coach. Remember he was a player coach with very little experience here.

Our attack under Ivan was horrible, second man plays, a team full of back rowers being dropped under and hoping for a crash over in the red zone, and when that failed which it often did, we couldn't construct backline plays to put Manu one on one.

Fortunately for Ivan Manu was a freak you could kick to and he would take on four players and score.
Ivan could coach, he's only the second coach to take us to a grand final he was still fresh and He had his moments, he would have gained experience in the role. He never wanted to leave and the way we had our junior systems setup is very similar to what we're doing now.
Player welfare seemed paramount with Ivan there's many similarities between him and Webster.
 
Ivan was a coach with potential when he left us and got worse before he rode off the coat tails of Gould’s 5 year plan.

Warriors 50% win rate (6 seasons)
Panthers 1 44% WR (4 seasons)
Tigers 42% WR (2 seasons)
Heading down the gurgled…
Panthers 2 72% WR (7 seasons)

If Gould hadn’t bought Cleary on board he could have ended up a middling coach. He was handed the keys to a rising powerhouse club and the rests history.

Was it a dud move getting rid of Cleary? In hindsight yes. Should we have made that move? At the time I agreed with the clubs view that he didn’t have what it took to win a final at that point in his coaching career.

Shit happens!
Winning 4 premierships in a row no matter what stacked team you have with players leaving is definitely no fluke.
You could see he wanted to get that premiership for the Warriors it was there, like Webster he'd have an average up and coming team and still get a finals berth.
We have Webster now one of Clearys apprentices🤷‍♂️
 
Had Ivan stayed the club and him would have stagnated (admittedly that would have been better than what happened).

He was not the coach he is now, he had to go elsewhere to learn to coach. Remember he was a player coach with very little experience here.

Our attack under Ivan was horrible, second man plays, a team full of back rowers being dropped under and hoping for a crash over in the red zone, and when that failed which it often did, we couldn't construct backline plays to put Manu one on one.

Fortunately for Ivan Manu was a freak you could kick to and he would take on four players and score.
Yeah I remember our attack was very stale and boring. From memory our attack actually looked way more dynamic under Bluey the next season - it's just everything else was horrible lol.
 
From memory, the players weren’t really responding to Cleary in his last year, and we were sitting low on the table when it was announced he was leaving. After that, we lifted, SJ hit his stride, and Cleary ended up leaving as a hero.

Looking back our playing group at the time had professionalism issues, which cost a few coaches their jobs. The reality is that Cleary had probably taken that group as far as he could.
 
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