I wonder what position a number 8 what play in league. Second row I guess. Or maybe make him a Moses Suli like Centre.
I had also heard he might try for the NSW cup team. So we will see where he ends up.
Pretty much throw out the cross code numbering on this one I'd say.
In a Warriors set up he could play any one of 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13.
OK so maybe not wing....but the Wahs do love big slow wings so don't rule that out 100%.
Yeah Center is in his range, he has the raw bits to be a monster center. With targeted training for the backs (speed work for this chap, he has the rest a center needs) and diet (lean muscle mass, tweak that union big thigh pushing stuff out of his build).
Or they make a go at Prop, he has clearly played as a back in juniors somewhere, he has late footwork, and knows how/when to change gears accelerate and hit nitros oxide.
As a prop project he could retain his Union no 8 body frame and be a beast.
Or.....my favorite option....they go for a 13 who can play Prop and thereby put him in the closest thing to a No 8 Union (saves completely retraining a kid who has no league background although he will still need mega retraining because modern Props and 13s are technical positions now).
To be the best Prop in the NRL nowadays you have to have expert technique and micro skills with timing, angles, body position going into contact, post contact meters, play the ball speed, wrestling.
A lot of fans think Prop is straight forward, it used to be, now it suits the teachable pupil, not the crash bash cave dweller.
This is why we struggle to make our exciting NSW cup props into NRL props.
We send in guys who look a million dollars that have no micro skills or technical brilliance.
Addin Fonua Blake looks like he is jogging to the line. He is not, he is making life seem easy for the defenders who come in with less venom, he has a whole bag of tricks actually, turning side on, presenting his back to the tacklers, using his hips, and punching it when they''re not expecting it.
The thing I like best about the Fonua Blake runs is the way he looks casual and the way the defenders come forward in kind. Conservation of energy is a skill in any endurance side to any sporting activity, and he is a master of it.
His leg drive for post contact is going with momentum, it is almost a walk (easier to walk carrying bodies than try use max leg sprint because of maintaining center of gravity and foot balance).
That is why
AFB is the best and can go 80 mins if needed.
A young Prop from NZ is taught run hard and straight, drive hard in contact, fight to get up...
This lad being Ex Union will be used to lots of rules on forward play and body position....those rules just need retraining.
