Player Manu Vatuvei

[Jesbass_old]

Do you reckon if Cleary trained him hard and well at Second Row, that he'd be our attacking weapon in the forwards? I'm getting sick of all these high-dropped balls! With his size, surely Cleary has a place for him in the forwards.

Thoughts?

I think you mean his low dropped balls? Vatuvei is one of the best at catching high balls, although he has had a few shockers. Melbourne 2006, anyone?

He is a brilliant winger, but a simple way to protect him from dropping kick offs, which are where the majority of his dropped high balls come from, is by placing him on the 20m line directly in front of the posts for kick offs, then letting him drift back out after the first hitup is taken.

 

[raypower_old]

Do you reckon if Cleary trained him hard and well at Second Row, that he'd be our attacking weapon in the forwards? I'm getting sick of all these high-dropped balls! With his size, surely Cleary has a place for him in the forwards.

Thoughts?

I think you mean his low dropped balls? Vatuvei is one of the best at catching high balls, although he has had a few shockers. Melbourne 2006, anyone?

He is a brilliant winger, but a simple way to protect him from dropping kick offs, which are where the majority of his dropped high balls come from, is by placing him on the 20m line directly in front of the posts for kick offs, then letting him drift back out after the first hitup is taken.

Dirty double entendres aside I don't see many kick offs getting to wingers that are low, it's either one or the other JB

That said he dropped that cross field kick in the last test which led to a try which shows up his high ball skills as well.

Manu still has pace to burn, I reckon he'll move forward soon but surely you'd try to iron out the handling errors first, then move him up front.

 

[KeepingTheFaith_old]

When Manu dropped that cross field kick against GB he was leaning forward and catching it lower than chest height. That seems to be his problem. Whenever he has to lean forward and catch/pick up the ball. It's more of a concentration/poor head position/balance thing which can be worked on.

 

[Jesbass_old]

Do you reckon if Cleary trained him hard and well at Second Row, that he'd be our attacking weapon in the forwards? I'm getting sick of all these high-dropped balls! With his size, surely Cleary has a place for him in the forwards.

Thoughts?

I think you mean his low dropped balls? Vatuvei is one of the best at catching high balls, although he has had a few shockers. Melbourne 2006, anyone?

He is a brilliant winger, but a simple way to protect him from dropping kick offs, which are where the majority of his dropped high balls come from, is by placing him on the 20m line directly in front of the posts for kick offs, then letting him drift back out after the first hitup is taken.

Dirty double entendres aside I don't see many kick offs getting to wingers that are low, it's either one or the other JB

That said he dropped that cross field kick in the last test which led to a try which shows up his high ball skills as well.

Manu still has pace to burn, I reckon he'll move forward soon but surely you'd try to iron out the handling errors first, then move him up front.

Lol, no, I stand by my view that it is low balls that he struggles with. I simply pointed out one match last season where he dropeed about three high balls - extremely uncharacteristic of him. As KTF pointed out, the kick against Great Britain was essentially a low one because of where it was when he got to it.

Then I addressed NSW-Origin-Fan's original issue of high balls, even though I don't think that's a particular weakness of his.

Vatuvei's main weakness in my mind is low kicks and grubbers. If I was an opposition coach, I'd kick behind him all day long, but along the ground. If he doesn't fumbled it, at least it'll take him time to turn around and get back.

 

[fiamacho_old]

Vatuvei was originally a Prop who was converted to the Wing ... I prefer him at Prop and not Second Row.

 

[Matrix_old]

It's a lot easyier to teach Manu to catch kicks than to train him in a whole new position besides he's a machine on the wing He Just needs to work on that one aspect of his game I'm sure in time he'll be right When he dropped that ball against GB a mate said just watch he'll probably go & score a try now to make up for it & sure enough he did !!! Wing is his spot for now at least

 

[milcr_old]

Vatuvei's main weakness in my mind is low kicks and grubbers. If I was an opposition coach, I'd kick behind him all day long, but along the ground. If he doesn't fumbled it, at least it'll take him time to turn around and get back.

Couldnt agree more!! Hes usually fairly consistent under the high ball. That game against the doggies he dwarfed El Masri and scored twice of bombs I think. He the Jonah Lomu equivalent for RL. Crap against the low grubber kicks and pretty lasy chasing back to get them.

I cant see the poin in pointing him in the forwards. Hes creating all sorts of hassles out on the wing, comes in for hit ups when the forwards are tired. Its like were playing another prop anyway, its just hes on the wing. Also, I would doubt his ability to make tackle after tackle in the middle of he park against hard running forwards. Not saying he couldnt do it, just think his defence would be tested fairly regulary

 

[-Dr.J-_old]

What about centre?

Apparently he played a lot of Bartercard there.

 

[Skinny_Ravs82]

Melbourne 2006...lol yeah! I remember that, had to hide my face everytime he dropped it damn it!

 

[Jesbass_old]

What about centre?

Apparently he played a lot of Bartercard there.

He doesn't have the flick pass offload, (or at least hasn't displayed it), to verify such a move. Plus, with him on the wing in defense, it makes attackers much less likely to succeed getting past his outside as he's likely to push them into touch.

 

[warriors4life_old]

What about centre?

Apparently he played a lot of Bartercard there.

He doesn't have the flick pass offload, (or at least hasn't displayed it), to verify such a move. Plus, with him on the wing in defense, it makes attackers much less likely to succeed getting past his outside as he's likely to push them into touch.

Vatuvei probably doesn't get to display his offload that often due to being out on the wing and no one on the outside of him. He did play a lot of centre in Bartercard and would probably make a good centre for the Warriors but his handling still poses questions.

 

[Jesbass_old]

What about centre?

Apparently he played a lot of Bartercard there.

He doesn't have the flick pass offload, (or at least hasn't displayed it), to verify such a move. Plus, with him on the wing in defense, it makes attackers much less likely to succeed getting past his outside as he's likely to push them into touch.

Vatuvei probably doesn't get to display his offload that often due to being out on the wing and no one on the outside of him. He did play a lot of centre in Bartercard and would probably make a good centre for the Warriors but his handling still poses questions.

He has still passed several times while on the wing, but it hasn't been the clever flick pass that makes centres so effective at NRL level - drawing in the last defender before giving the ball to the winger at the last possible moment.

Interesting that he used to be a centre, though I would rather have him catching an attacking bomb than anyone else. He's lethal at scoring from those.

 

[Skinny_Ravs82]

We all like seeing him on attack there is no doubt about it. But we also are quite aware that he's not the greatest person when it comes to picked up balls off the ground; esp those which go rolling along the ground..or occasionally the kick offs. But as much as we bag him about those I don't think many of us me included would be too good at those either.

 

[Jesbass_old]

We all like seeing him on attack there is no doubt about it. But we also are quite aware that he's not the greatest person when it comes to picked up balls off the ground; esp those which go rolling along the ground..or occasionally the kick offs. But as much as we bag him about those I don't think many of us me included would be too good at those either.

Perhaps not, Skins, but we're not payed hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to do exactly that.

I personally don't thinkhe's bad under the high ball - I maintain that is one of his strengths - he just had one confidence denting performance against the Storm.

 

[Skinny_Ravs82]

We all like seeing him on attack there is no doubt about it. But we also are quite aware that he's not the greatest person when it comes to picked up balls off the ground; esp those which go rolling along the ground..or occasionally the kick offs. But as much as we bag him about those I don't think many of us me included would be too good at those either.

Perhaps not, Skins, but we're not payed hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to do exactly that.

I personally don't thinkhe's bad under the high ball - I maintain that is one of his strengths - he just had one confidence denting performance against the Storm.

Two actualy. The first one where he got shown up was against the Dragons either last year on this year. The one against the Storm was the other...oh and that little one against GB..hehe.

 

[Jesbass_old]

We all like seeing him on attack there is no doubt about it. But we also are quite aware that he's not the greatest person when it comes to picked up balls off the ground; esp those which go rolling along the ground..or occasionally the kick offs. But as much as we bag him about those I don't think many of us me included would be too good at those either.

Perhaps not, Skins, but we're not payed hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to do exactly that.

I personally don't thinkhe's bad under the high ball - I maintain that is one of his strengths - he just had one confidence denting performance against the Storm.

Two actualy. The first one where he got shown up was against the Dragons either last year on this year. The one against the Storm was the other...oh and that little one against GB..hehe.

He was injured when he played against the Dragons. It was a hamstring injury, too, so playing injured can hardly count.

When did he drop a Great Britain kickoff? I can't remember that. The only one I can remember was the low one he dropped when Keith Senior (legally) impeded him and Great Britain ended up scoring from it.

 

[blez_old]

Well it is pretty obvious that Manu is going to be peppered by Lockyer, but although he often looks suspect under the high ball he dosen't actually drop the ball too many times.

The real worry is when the ball is on the deck, thats when he looks like the most cumbersome winger in the world.

 

[Jesbass_old]

Well it is pretty obvious that Manu is going to be peppered by Lockyer, but although he often looks suspect under the high ball he dosen't actually drop the ball too many times.

The real worry is when the ball is on the deck, thats when he looks like the most cumbersome winger in the world.

I agree. If I was Ricky Stuart, (and I'm counting my blessings that I'm not, lol), I'd tell my players to grubber the ball behind Manu all day long.

 

[Skinny_Ravs82]

Well it is pretty obvious that Manu is going to be peppered by Lockyer, but although he often looks suspect under the high ball he dosen't actually drop the ball too many times.

The real worry is when the ball is on the deck, thats when he looks like the most cumbersome winger in the world.

I agree. If I was Ricky Stuart, (and I'm counting my blessings that I'm not, lol), I'd tell my players to grubber the ball behind Manu all day long.

Yeah for sure. And btw Jes I didn't say he dropped a kick off to GB I meant, the one you were talking about. It was just funny.

 

[Jesbass_old]

Well it is pretty obvious that Manu is going to be peppered by Lockyer, but although he often looks suspect under the high ball he dosen't actually drop the ball too many times.

The real worry is when the ball is on the deck, thats when he looks like the most cumbersome winger in the world.

I agree. If I was Ricky Stuart, (and I'm counting my blessings that I'm not, lol), I'd tell my players to grubber the ball behind Manu all day long.

Yeah for sure. And btw Jes I didn't say he dropped a kick off to GB I meant, the one you were talking about. It was just funny.

Ah, cheers for clarifying that. Yeah, it was a chip kick, but by memory, by the time he got to it, it was quite low.