Make no mistake when you watch David Fifita you are looking at Dave Taylor mk2.
All the talent in the world, just doesn’t want to put the hard yards in. I hope the club steers clear
I read some interesting analysis in 2023 making the case that Fifita gets punished for high expectations - basically, if he doesn't run over the top of people for two tries in a game and also put in the type of base numbers you'd expect from an elite middle, people say he's not trying. At the time he was knocking out an average of 170+ metres a game plus a bunch of attacking stats, but he got overlooked for origin anyway.
I must admit I've not seen anything of the Titans this year. But from the basic numbers it's hard to see anything much that suggests Fifita isn't trying. The biggest issue he's got is that he is only playing 50-60 minutes. It's still good for nearly 100m a game and he's an edge, not a middle - it's not his job to be doing great chunks of dirty hit ups. To give one comparison, Hudson Young - arguably the form back rower of the comp - takes mid-teens runs per 80 minutes, while Fifita is taking about a dozen in 50-60. It's the same with tackles - in fact Fifita might just shade it as a per minute rate.
The one game where Fifita played almost the full 80, he blew up for 203m from 17 runs, 10 tackle breaks, a line break, a try assist and four offloads. On the negative side of the ledger, he only played 30 minutes against the Dogs in round 1 (I assume he must not have been fully fit?) and he didn't do anything much in attack against the Dolphins - but that was a game the Titans lost 36-10, and he made 37 tackles with one missed. With no ball he turned into a defensive machine.
I don't think he's a million dollar player but only because no edge back rower this side of peak Sonny Bill is. The question for me is whether he can play 70-80 minutes and produce the same output. If so, he's absolutely an elite edge.
