OFFICIAL Jersey Flegg Cup

[BlackWhiteGold]

Just a quick wrap on our 32-28 loss to the Bulldogs yesterday.

It was 7 tries apiece but once again our goal kicking was poor with Tavana only converting 2/7.

It was clearly evident the losses of Lanyon (NSW Cup), Elihah Mataale & Iverson Matai were costly. Mataale has brought plenty of punch & strength in the middle as a starter the past 3 months and Matai has been a real attacking weapon, not to mention the energy and workrate of Lanyon.

My best player imo was Max Liles. From memory had a hand in most, if not every, try and was dangerous running the ball and organising our attack. Haywood was also slick at dummy half and our outside backs were all strong out of yardage with some good finishing from Max Taotuo & Tino Tavana again as well as young Corey Oates clone Jack Nicholas.

Leatigaga was a ball of energy & leg speed in the middle and Solomone Saukuru was also up there as one of our best continually breaking the first tackle in his runs & scoring a nice try with IQ and strength. It was good that Archie Duncombe got some solid minutes and didn't let anyone down with his workrate.

Lastly shout out to Leni Plati who brought great impact off the bench once again & scored a nice barge over late to give us a sniff.

 

[tigahhh]

Just a quick wrap on our 32-28 loss to the Bulldogs yesterday.

It was 7 tries apiece but once again our goal kicking was poor with Tavana only converting 2/7.

It was clearly evident the losses of Lanyon (NSW Cup), Elihah Mataale & Iverson Matai were costly. Mataale has brought plenty of punch & strength in the middle as a starter the past 3 months and Matai has been a real attacking weapon, not to mention the energy and workrate of Lanyon.

My best player imo was Max Liles. From memory had a hand in most, if not every, try and was dangerous running the ball and organising our attack. Haywood was also slick at dummy half and our outside backs were all strong out of yardage with some good finishing from Max Taotuo & Tino Tavana again as well as young Corey Oates clone Jack Nicholas.

Leatigaga was a ball of energy & leg speed in the middle and Solomone Saukuru was also up there as one of our best continually breaking the first tackle in his runs & scoring a nice try with IQ and strength. It was good that Archie Duncombe got some solid minutes and didn't let anyone down with his workrate.

Lastly shout out to Leni Plati who brought great impact off the bench once again & scored a nice barge over late to give us a sniff.

BWG do you rate Haywood as much as Da Silva when he was coming through?

 

[Bellend]

My opinion is Da Silva was slightly ahead at current age period. BUT haywood if not rushed AND allowed to develop properly will be a very good intelligent first grader.

 

[Vicious]

My opinion is Da Silva was slightly ahead at current age period. BUT haywood if not rushed AND allowed to develop properly will be a very good intelligent first grader.

I’m not 💯 convinced on Haywood just yet.
He’s still only 19 playing regularly and generally in the top 4-5 players at Jersey Flegg level, so that’s usually an indicator that the player is going places and hopefully for us that is correct.
However I find his dummy half play boring and predictable and his defence only average.
He’s very fit, hard working and has very good speed, so we could very well see a much improved player in 2026 after a good solid off season.
Max Liles is an interesting one as he’s got plenty of talent with ball in hand and has that tall wirey frame and explosive speed to go with it. His defence is his downfall, sometimes it’s very poor for someone with his size and athleticism. I’d like to see us keep him for another season in and around our NSW Cup team to see where his progress takes him.
I’ve said it before, but another rival club will snap up the Taotua twins if we don’t retain them, particularly Max.