Which players do you think have genuine NRL potential TV Ted ?
shankspony
Active member
Thanks for your response, obviously must be respected by the club to captain from the wing.
Sounds a bit like Warren Boland from back in the Lidcombe days ............
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Just some notes after watching the replay on Bar TV last night.
Thought Josese Lanyon, Max Taotua, Solomone Saukuru, Mitch Taotua & Max Liles all had claims for our best player today.
Just loving the progress in Lanyon, pokes his nose through the line most of his runs, continues to excel as a link man, very busy & effective defender & jumps into dummy half as the relief providing decent service.
Max Taotua just knows how the find the line with his size, strength & step and was very good out of yardage again. Could have had 4 tries except for a penalty called against Mitch for obstructing a defender in his decoy run.
Saukuru was our toughest to bring down breaking tackles every run and as @TV Ted Ellery said produced a big barnstorming run with size & speed.
Mitch Taotua also relished being in the starting side again at right edge and was very good with his runs but I was most impressed with his effort plays in defence and leading the kick chase down that side.
Liles and Matai were great in the halves, Liles quite elusive and dominant with his left foot kicking game including a 40-50m penalty touch finder in the 2nd half.
Also shout out to our man Tino Tavana, did his job out of yardage and in defence but produced 2 moments of magic that sets him apart from anyone else in our club. Firstly took a contested bomb in attack and in the same motion produced a flick pass out the back to Max to score. Not long later took another contested bomb in attack reminiscent of Zac Lomax to score but it was called back for a Tigers player offside in the chase.
Also shout out to Brendan Naicori & Josh Feledy also strong with their carries, and really all our players did their job. Most enjoyable team to watch in all our grades.
Here is the Tino Tavana bomb/flick Max try ...
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Further to the above ... the club needs to lock away Tino Tavana asap (as he moves into open age next season turning 22 next year). I understand we have Josese Lanyon already locked away. And the Taotua twins are must-keeps as well, though are still JF eligible next season. Max will be ready for NSW Cup next year.
tigahhh
Well-known member
praying the club sees what we all see in tavana
Tiger Stripes
Well-known member
Always like reading your take on players. Thanks mate.
Question.....Logan Brookes was great earlier in the year but seems to have mellowed in attack?
Still good defensively though.
Wasn't Tino Tavana originally a fullback? Put on the wing after Logan's earlier performances, which were great.
That being the case with Tino's age, I see him a better fullback prospect in KOE than those crazy, lost cause experiments, of Mason and Luke K. as fullbacks.
Love to hear your thoughts on this matter.
Tigers_Wests
Well-known member
Very enjoyable side to watch at the moment! Can't add too much to what you said. Just want to mention a few players.
Max Taotua looking stronger week by week. I really hope he sticks around because I think he has NRL in his future.
Tavana....what a freakish player. Probably got greedy going for a few intercepts late...but his aerial ability is insane. Had some great runs and looked likely all game. Need to lock him up with a train and trial for 2026 with a Dev Contract for 2027 (unless another Dev spot opens up for next year).
Saukuru....Beast.
Lanyon....impressive and looking great at 13 and 9.
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Tino was always a wing from Matts/Ball from what I can recall. Given an opportunity last year at fullback and played some games there late in the season at Cup.
Reportedly one of those to impress for the Magpies in pre-season training and rewarded with a pre-season NRL trial and played some time at fullback showing us his talent when on the field.
I think the club will develop him on the wing (given we have a few coming through at fullback including Brookes) with the versatility to slot in at fullback. He just needs to add a bit more muscle/size to his frame but in Tavana we have a definite aerial threat as his vertical leap and hands are first class.
Brookes was solid yesterday, did his job after one poor moment of judgement allowing a 40/20. He had a stormer last week or the week before so is coming along beautifully for a 19yo playing Flegg.
rihannafan1
Well-known member
It disappeared quickly too.
rihannafan1
Well-known member
@TV Ted Ellery thoughts on the final 42-6 score?
I don’t know how you wouldn’t . The only thing I would say , is maybe they worry can he translate that type of play to nrl level .
But every game he’s good for 2 times of pure brilliance , which if you can get him better out of yardage and defensively is the difference between a good team and a great one . He’s magic IMO.
Those losses at the start of the year are painful . It’s clear this team is one of the top 2 teams in the league . They’re clearly better than all but the storm by a clear way . And even the storm id bet the tigers would beat them . It would just be much closer. .
The only saving grace is much of the best players in this flegg team will be going around again , so they should be almost premiership favourites next year .
They just can’t get one of the Penrith, Canberra . Eels , sharks to go on a losing streak to catch up .
Tigers_Wests
Well-known member
I see a lot of Mark Nawaqanitawase about him. Just comes up with ridiculous plays that makes you wonder how on earth he did it. Obviously needs to bring it to the higher level and fine tune parts of his game. Get him signed somewhere Richo!
TV Ted Ellery
Well-known member
Never take anything I say during the game seriously because I get caught up in the emotion. After watching the replay, some thoughts from the game:
- Tavana's catch and flick pass for Max Taotua's second try was a thing of beauty. While he has a tendency to drift in and out of games, he's developing quite the highlight reel.
- Lyles and Matai had a hand in most of our tries. They're dominant in Flegg but neither has made much impression at KOE level in their limited opportunities (5 or so games each). With the arrival of Madden and Andrews next season, they'll most likely be in Ron Massey Cup, though Matai may still be eligible for Flegg.
- Saukuru had a quiet game by his standards while still managing a few big linebreaks, one of which led directly to a try.
- Deininger and Haywood were also unusually quiet.
- Lanyon has the ball playing skills and physicality to make it as an NRL lock one day. He also has the versatility to play hooker. Like all young players, he needs to improve his stamina.
- We dominated Souths in the forwards, ending most our sets deep in their half. Max Taotua was particularly damaging, making post-contact metres on every hitup.
- We defended 5+ sets in a row on our line late in the second half showing uncharacteristic resolve.
- I can't stress enough how mediocre the Souths team were. They tried valiantly but there were massively outclassed.
TV Ted Ellery
Well-known member
Others have compared our win/loss ratio under Latulipe and Sultana, but one point to add is that we've won 4/4 against top 5 teams since Sultana took over mid-season. If we were in the finals, I'd back us to go all the way.
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Good points TV.
I understand it's Matai's last year in Flegg. If we can retain one of Matai or Liles as NSW Cup depth next season behind Madden & Andrews, that will be a good result.
Josese Lanyon has become one of my favourite JF players this season along with Max T & Tino T. Think his game is suited perfectly to the modern day lock role.
Unfortunately we can only finish as good as 6th on the ladder now missing the finals by 1 spot.
rihannafan1
Well-known member
Cheers mate. Totally agree with everything you've said here. I thought Lanyon was player of the match, everything he did was class.