General Siuatonga Likiliki

[Spence_old]

nope never back down , never say sorry ..its a sign of weakness : John Wayne ....

he wont fail because i believe in his ability and he cant do any worse than ropo or krusty ah van have done for us this year ..

i honestly believe he has the x factor that locke has and that he will win alot more games for us than he will lose for us. ive watched almost every nyc game this year and he has been without a doubt the the most improved warrior by far , and most probably the form centre in the entire comp in my opinion ....

Yeah, fair enough. I'm in the same boat as you, I wanted him in the team too.

I don't know about form centre though, there's some great centres in this comp. He would be up there though.

 

[DanKokoro_old]

And if he has a bad game are you going to bow down, and admit being wrong, to all the people who had his long-term welfare in mind?

Something I don't understand about this whole "he's not ready" thing.. What exactly do you think could happen that would put him back in terms of development? I can understand it with smaller players like Shaun Johnson because he's small and his Defense is crap, he could get injured etc.. but Likiliki is a unit and he's not going to get physically dominated. I just can't see what could possibly happen to hamper his long term development.

I mean.. worst case scenario..say he's given a crack at first grade and doesn't have a great game, gets dropped maybe loses a bit of confidence. I would think that he'd still be better off having that experience and having a taste of what it was like to play at the top level. He could then go away assess his game, realise what was missing from his performance and work on it.

I really don't subscribe to this whole.. "omg he's not ready! we're gonna set him back 2 years!!". If anyone could provide me with some history of this happening to other players i'd be interested in hearing it. And i'm not being sarcastic i'm genuinely interested in hearing if this has happened before to someone AND.. whether it was a certainty that early exposure was the reason.

 

[Spence_old]

Something I don't understand about this whole "he's not ready" thing.. What exactly do you think could happen that would put him back in terms of development? I can understand it with smaller players like Shaun Johnson because he's small and his Defense is crap, he could get injured etc.. but Likiliki is a unit and he's not going to get physically dominated. I just can't see what could possibly happen to hamper his long term development.

I mean.. worst case scenario..say he's given a crack at first grade and doesn't have a great game, gets dropped maybe loses a bit of confidence. I would think that he'd still be better off having that experience and having a taste of what it was like to play at the top level. He could then go away assess his game, realise what was missing from his performance and work on it.

I really don't subscribe to this whole.. "omg he's not ready! we're gonna set him back 2 years!!". If anyone could provide me with some history of this happening to other players i'd be interested in hearing it. And i'm not being sarcastic i'm genuinely interested in hearing if this has happened before to someone AND.. whether it was a certainty that early exposure was the reason.

Benji?

 

[DanKokoro_old]

Benji?

soo... just the one time then? Wouldn't Benji fall in to the shaun johnson category? on the smaller side.. touch background..

 

[Viking_old]

Young centres and wingers usually handle the move up.

You would've been the at MAGS in the same year as Suiatonga eh Spence? What's your take on him? I didn't think much of him when he didn't bother playing for the 1st 13 against St Pauls when the side really needed him. I suspect he didn't want to play against his Warriors teammates or was dodging a tough game.

I know he's physically up to it although Bigstuboy reckons he's like Manu whereas in real life he's about 20kgs lighter and few inches shorter. But I don't know if he has the fire in the belly for the tight games. Just an opinion, I haven't seen that much of him except the odd club game so I could be well off the mark.

 

[Viking_old]

soo... just the one time then? Wouldn't Benji fall in to the shaun johnson category? on the smaller side.. touch background..

You can't name others because they go back to lower grades never to be heard of again.

Maybe Cooper Vuna fits into that category. Similar size and build to Suiatonga and came into a bad Warriors side to cover injury. Didn't set the world on fire and didn't get another 1st grade game for 2 or 3 years. It wasn't a confidence thing, it was more that the coaches judged his current ability on his form as a 17yr old years before. It's best to debut players when the team is going strongly so they don't get burdened with too much responsibility. Suiatonga will go alright though.

 

[Spence_old]

Young centres and wingers usually handle the move up.

You would've been the at MAGS in the same year as Suiatonga eh Spence? What's your take on him? I didn't think much of him when he didn't bother playing for the 1st 13 against St Pauls when the side really needed him. I suspect he didn't want to play against his Warriors teammates or was dodging a tough game.

I know he's physically up to it although Bigstuboy reckons he's like Manu whereas in real life he's about 20kgs lighter and few inches shorter. But I don't know if he has the fire in the belly for the tight games. Just an opinion, I haven't seen that much of him except the odd club game so I could be well off the mark.

He was 2 years above me. I remember that incident, but unfortunately I can't shed any light on it, your boy would know better than me. I had rugby trainings on at the same time as the 1st XIII, so I didn't get to watch many games. From the games I saw he was good, but I never thought he would be the one to kick on. I rated Solomona, Sam McKendry, Leon Panapa and Miguel Start above him.

 

[Jesbass_old]

For those of us who, by sheer good fortune, were unable to see the match due to doing business stuff, how did he go? Has his confidence been battered by the performance?

 

[Spence_old]

He had an indifferent game, I thought he was solid in defence, and when he got the ball he managed to cart it up a few metres. He definitely wasn't overawed, and was up to it physically. The long and short of it was that he didn't get enough ball to judge him.

 

[warriors4life_old]

Feel sorry for Likiliki, finally gets a shot in first-grade yet was a catch-22 as he's never going to get the ball with the BTM plan.

 

[MarkW_old]

How many times did he actually get the ball?

I only recall seeing him run with it 3 - maybe 4 times?

 

[Lego_Man_old]

I'd put my house on Cleary recalling J-Ro if he's fit...

 

[ToiletDuck_old]

I'm not willing to give J-Ro the flick just yet. He's contracted for like 3 more years? And this time last year was among the top centres going around...

I'm more inclined to persist with players who we know are actually capable of becoming awesome again, over those like Ah Van, who won't actually get any better....and he's not even in poor form.

 

[Jesbass_old]

Sounds like Likiliki forgot to wear his Manu mask!

I agree, TD, Ropati is class but out of form, and will hopefully come right.

 

[Iafeta_old]

Likiliki caught a cold standing at right centre. Thats what happened, he got shafted. Ta'ai was busting the Eels, but only got the ball like 3-4 times. Every attack centred around bombing to Manu. It was a disgraceful performance from a very poorly coached outfit.

 

[bigstuboy_old]

wouldnt just be blaming the coach . dont our halves have any imagination can't they think for themselves and change the game plan that isn't working .

 

[Iafeta_old]

I would. The proof was when he sent Craig Walker onto the field early in the second half when we got a line drop out and asked Jones to bomb to the left. Jones was following orders.

 

[PB_old]

Ropati was fine tonight and Tate always turns up. No advantage in bringing Likiliki in unless we are pretty much at full strength and it still being needed.

 

[PB_old]

Now that is weird. My third post at number 1.
Edit: And my reply is at 2. Lol.

 

[The 22 BEAST_old]

Ropati or Moon, im not fased