It’s tough to put your finger on it. Despite his energy and defence the teams looks uncoordinated in attack, and that comes down to Luai and to a lesser extent Api in organising the shape and running plays.
That said though, every time I watch a highlight of something we do good, I see the skill and ability that Luai demonstrates in creating space through his deception and crisp passing game.
This is obviously missed by the naked eye.
In terms of kicking, yes he does not find the glass, but he kicks a contestable kick in a square box of about 10 in 10 or 20 out from the try line nearly every time.
Another point, sure he had a decent stint last year running the team off the back of the Panthers go forward and drilled shape. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he is going to look exactly the same at the Tigers.
He showed that form in a 5 time grand finalist side not a 3 time wooden spoon side, albeit some personal changes have occured in both teams since both examples but last year he was directing a team that had been coached, drilled and skilled to be at the top of their game for 5 seasons straight. That is not the Tigers even with our new recruits.
Finally, our shape is completely different to Penrith and even the Tigers Benji was once staring in.
We play a very flat shape, even with our block plays being played at very accute angles (see the Sam Fainu try).
This is affecting Luai’s time and space with the ball but in conjunction it is getting our receivers over the Avantage line and playing with a lot of momentum at the line not behind the line.
Luai is not Benji, as much as you want it to be the case, he has still nailed excellent kicks in goal, contestable mid to end field kicks and passes so slick that Galvin looks like he is walking on water once he receives the ball.
I’m not worried.
