How will we benefit?
OFFICIAL SG Ball Cup
- Thread starter ancient_magpie
- Start date
LeichhardtTiger
Well-known member
The Large brothers were a huge get for Manly, but I think we'll be Finau. 🤪 🍷 🐯
Not to be a hater . But large was generational 2-3 years ago . The next Sualiii . Now he’s dominating SG ball , and watching a whole bunch of kids he played with go into their 3rd nrl season .
He’s ended being a far longer project in hindsight . I’m not sure how it will all play out in the long run , but I think we were wise in not being dictated to by his family . Especially after Galvin .
I mean most had him by now being fringe nrl / part of the full time 17 . I think he will play the year out in flegg.
It’s not a fall from grace or anything , just interesting in hindsight about our talent identification. For once I feel like they might have got it right . As good as he is , he’s not the one you hand the keys to club to . Which I for one , thought the opposite 18 months ago.
Or it could be patient, unrushed development
Tiger Stripes
Well-known member
I watched a City V Country game at Jubilee oval a few seasons ago. Large at 5/8 and Makasini centre.
Makasini NRL level---------Large SGBall.
Not wise to pay overs for potential and ego building.
Can't always be right, but I think we do a reasonable job overall.
And the few players that come back is because they are too far down the pecking order at the new clubs. Better players are poached from outside to fill the voids if the "Potential did not produce the Quality".
ROZELLE.O.G
Well-known member
Outstanding effort against CC Roosters. Big test in round 3 to see where they are against a stacked Parramatta SG Ball side. Lets get them boys.
The issue with not retaining Onitoni Large is that it’s been known since he was 15 that he is not only a very talented player, but his speed is elite and over the past few seasons our NRL team have lacked players with exceptional speed except for Bula.
Even now we only have Bula that has elite speed and even our NSW Cuo team only really have Jack Attard that looks exceptionally fast.
It’s crazy and the club did a really good job of tempering the Makasini buzz , when Large and his brother , Luke L , Galvin etc . We’re all pushing through . I’d heard of him , and watched him but somehow the buzz was tempered with all the talent around him .
It just goes to show that the kid getting all the buzz might not be the one the club has circled.
wstigers11
Well-known member
Large is a guaranteed NRL player just a matter of finding the right position for him. I think he leaves Manly eventually anyway
Yes , agreed but he wanted to play 6 , from memory . Pushed hard by his dad. Hence the clause around Galvin etc.
I dunno where the eagles are playing him , but the buzz was last year around mid year he was being pushed into fullback or centre.
Which probably at tha point , if that’s how the tigers felt ( I’d heard that was the case ) you’re starting to play the game of “who do we prioritise”.
Gone are the days where lower down clubs can hoard talent . If there’s no pathway , or the pathway isn’t clear , managers and family will push to move pretty quickly .
And to be fair at Manly , he’s got a straight shot to the nrl at either centre or in the halves . Even at fullback.
I can’t see an ever aging Brooks , and Fogarty keeping him at bay , nor many of the manly backs standing in his way. Obviously Koula withstanding. I can see Turbo in SL sooner rather than later . And that’s about it. We should have kept him , I’m not saying that … just that it wasn’t the “wtf are we doing “ thing it felt like in the moment .
Hopefully we can jag him back . I think some of the guys in the know like @jrtiger were saying that his family actually wanted him to stay , but saw the Galvin road block . Which I always thought was fair enough.
I don’t really get where Richo was coming from though . I mean get the idea of not creating a precedent where a SG ball player is dictating terms to you , but I really didn’t see the big issue in a Jonah Pezet like clause of “if X player resigns , I get permission to look elsewhere” .
Which is why I think the talent evaluation of where he actually was gonna end up was a variable not really discussed on here, was important.
Anyways . Hopefully we can get him and his brother back .
The kid is 18 years old. He’s starting the NRL trial this weekend. The only player I know that he played with that was in his age group, thats played NRL at this point, is Makasini, who’s played 1 NRL game. I don’t like bashing the club but losing the Large brothers was a mistake.
Spot on. The NRL actually denied the attempt for him to get a run in last years trials as well due to him being 17. Not exactly sure what Lestronge is talking about 😅 only thing that could hold him back from being a great League or Union player will be injuries
are you dense ? I literally stated what I was on about , and even qualified it by saying that it’s still way early . My point was 2 years ago this kid was generational . And that’s not the buzz anymore . Generational ie. Benji Marshall , Payne Hass , Sualiii , Sonny Bill Williams , Reech Walsh . I literally just said this in the post .
It was in reference to whether he was worth leveraging and mortgaging the clubs future around, when his family went in to renegotiate his deal . . Which was the debate at the time . I never once said he wasn’t going to make it , in fact I said he was a very talented kid . Talented. Doesn’t equal generational. Why do you have to smug , a or are deliberately being ignorant. It’s not that hard of a concept . Nor is it a criticism of his talent. It was a conversation around the clubs decision to not leverage his future against him .
For example the club did the opposite in 03 when Benji was coming through at 17 . So did the dogs with Sonny bill . The broncos won the lottery and got Reece Walsh a couple of years development at the back of the warriors backline … the panthers started to build thier club around a then 17/18 year old Brad Fittler .. and so on it goes . Mistakes along these lines are for example Jordan Rankin at the titans , Carl filiga getting 250k at 17 etc . That’s the point Its a conversation around whether we are getting better at talent identification . Nothing really to do with Large other than using it as a starting point because he’s dropped back to the pack the last year or 2 . And he has dropped back . He’s not dominating like he was when he was younger . Doesn’t mean he’s shit … all it means is he’s going to take time and he’s not “generational” . Taumalolo . There’s another one .
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starting line - are you dense - LOL
Doubt it but your both funny
It’s a fair question though . Especially because I qualified and elaborated my position in the original post.
It’s either that or it’s bad faith mocking .
agree
Take a chill pill mate. I’ll go further in depth for you below on what I meant.
The thing you are conveniently leaving out is Large is coming off an 8-9 month lay off due to a shoulder reconstruction. Hence why he took part in the SG Ball game on the weekend that you say he ‘dominated’ - match fitness in the only grade available since Flegg & Reserves haven’t started before he’s playing against men this Saturday.
After missing that amount of time due to a serious injury I don’t think it should come as a surprise to anyone if it takes a little longer to find himself in first grade.
As for your point on the Roosters player - Large was DENIED an exemption by the NRL last year to play at 17 unlike Sualii who you’ve mentioned. Even still he’ll be 1 of the youngest starters in this weekends trial games
Also, please tell me some of these ‘kids’ going into year 3 of NRL?
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BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Watched the Magpies SG Ball R1 loss to the Eels last night. Not much to add to @Vicious report.
Was pretty disappointing but yes they were playing a dominant Eels team with a few game-breakers in it and the temperature was up to the mid 30s, so would have been pretty sapping for the boys especially on repeat sets against. They should have an alternate white jersey for days like that.
Anyway I couldn't go past our big 3 as our best, Havea Jr, Godinet & CTM. Havea Jr despite being built low to the ground has a great tackling technique and can snap opponents. This was on show as was his ball playing with a few nice short sharp passes.
Godinet & CTM were both strong without setting the world on fire. CTM can produce a hit though and came close to scoring a couple of tries with his runs close to the line.
The other player I thought tried hard was Curtis Lakeman. He organised our attack well, had a decent long kicking game & his effort in defence was tireless.
Underwhelming was Jhevon Lele, although he did lay on a try assist. He was very quiet especially in the 2nd half, pushed a few passes and seemed to drop in confidence. Maybe the reason he has been demoted to the bench this week.
And with the big 3 out of the team this week, it's going to to take a big lift in effort & attitude to beat the Knights who had a win last week.
Despite our outs, we do have promising prop Leviticus Tovia, backrower Teancam Epati coming in as well as Harry Bickhoff & Jake Gaffney rewarded for their early season form in Laurie Daley Cup.
Certainly wasn’t mocking. Just think it’s disingenuous on your part to leave out the most important piece of information (shoulder reco) while talking about his development slowing down.
