I'd have to strongly disagree mate.
While he HAS improved I think he's basically gone from being a bad winger to an average one.
The late step he's developed has only helped improve his hit-ups, it hasn't added another dimension to his game. His defensive reads are usually on but I hardly see that as proficiency seeing as he only ever tackles with his chest and never seems to stick.

I mean the attacking player literally always bounces off of him, he's like a speed bump who gives the rest of the team time to scramble.
Gee he's got good hands?!


Well give the man a medal, not once in the competitions history has there been a player with the awesome talent of 'GOOD HANDS'. Joey Johns, Wally Lewis and Stacy Jones should bow down at the awesome ability that is
Maumalo's good hands!! That's part and parcel with first grade mate, same as taking the kicks. All the other wingers do it.
I don't wanna downplay how important he is to the team because his hit-ups are HUGE for us, but I really worry if that'll be enough come finals time. All the best wingers in the comp (Mansour, Addo-Carr, Ferguson) have OTHER skills besides bringing the ball back that make them more of a threat. Whether it be aerial ability (
Fusitua, McDonald, Vunivalu), Speed and spark (Addo-Carr, French, Smith), Passing and ball skills (Rapana, Mansour).
tbh even if Kata set more tries up for
maumalo I don't think I'd be able to call him a real 'try-scorer'
does nobody remember all those times where Ken's been given clean ball down the sideline and either dropped it, been bundled into touch or stopped and come back infield because he didn't back himself in the corner? The fact is
Maumalo isn't a guy who can FIND THE TRYLINE. He's not a natural try scorer at all. Any player can stand at the end of a set play and put the ball down but in todays game a good winger needs to be able to CREATE AND FINISH. I mean seriously, his pass selection is horrible, he doesn't have any ball skills as we've seen, he's got no offloading game and we've kicked to him so many times with no reward.
All you need to do is look up other wingers' highlights to see what it is we're missing. Reamus Smith's hat-trick against the dragons,
Fusitua' game against Manly, Addo-Carr's career highlights, or even Rapana's or Mansour's. Winger's have become some of the most dynamic players in the game and huge when it comes to attacking and setting up/scoring tries.
If I were
Kearney I'd seriously consider putting
Hiku on the left wing and using
Beale as right center. Regardless of what happens short term I seriously can't see
Maumalo continuing on as a regular winger in FG for more than a 1-2 more years. With his eventual loss of speed and impact he won't have any positives left to keep out these younger, more rounded guys like
Perham and Pauga.