I have been following
Jacob Laban.
His Uncle was a big engine hard grafting player from the Carlaw park era (played for Wainuiomata in the GF of the Lion Red Cup where they thrashed Otahuhu in the 90's on hallowed ground at Carlaw proper, the first team outside of Auckland to win a GF at Carlaw, I ended up cheering them on when I was supposed to be backing the Auckland boys Otahuhu)
Ken Laban of course is well known as a high achiever in multiple spheres. As is Jacobs Aunt Winnie, these are very high achieving people whose parents came to NZ in the 50's and built the NZ dream for themselves from scratch.
So I guess I was very curious to see what young Mr Laban was like. Born in Samoa, ends up like his Üncle, playing in the Wellington Rugby league system, then gets a spot at Kelston boys in Aucks, becomes a Warrior.
Jacob is like Ali Leiatua in a bigger body. He plays runs like a center, that is, he will either attack the line with pace, seeking big collision with the intent of a tackle bust, or he will change the angles late at the line with footwork and still gain some momentum in the contact....just like Ali....appearing as though he is on the verge of a break out....making frequent half breaks.
I saw that quality in him (as would many posters here) well before
Luke Metcalf came out and Said Jacob is the hardest player to tackle at the club.
The other reason I compare him to Ali is the way he attacks the ball when it is chip kicked, he will race after it, pluck it out of the air, like back, not like a forward that may let the ball bounce before having a go at it....he did this twice last year to score Try's.
The most exciting thing about him (another Ali like trait) is that he is a ultra hard trainer.
So for mine, he is the most promising Junior we have. Significantly bigger ceiling than other Junior forwards that get bandied about here (when you put it all together, Size, Power, Engine, attitude) he is going to race ahead of the others.
His flaws are pretty standard, ball security, missed tackles....all experience and age related stuff that needs minor tweaks to get him there.
I am one that is not impatient to see him play NRL. When you have players as good as ALi and Jacob, I prefer we don't fk it up.
I prefer players like them, who train hard, who love playing, get held back a little, develop that hunger, round out the small deficiencies in their games, before you throw them into fire.