OFFICIAL Starford To’a #253

Oldman said:
I know I am a stickler for players that can tackle,
People should go back and look at that part of his game last weekend.
It’s not pretty running around in circles and once past stops chasing nearly straight away.
Plus having Turuva next to him doesn’t help either.
He is our best attacking option in the Centre’s by far but not worth big money compared to other Centres in the Competition.
But we do need to keep him as we have no one else at this point.
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It would be so Wests Tigers to have him for years when he was mid…then lose him when he finally shows something…

I agree his defence still needs some work …he isn’t on his own in that respect
 
Tom Shines said:
Some people say he was “under rated “ prior to this year, but can only remember one game where he played well
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Almost his whole body of work in 2023 was very good. It did take him a month to work into the season with him missing some games early on. Sure he has some quiet games but an outside back in a rubbish team is always going to struggle especially when he has Wakeham inside him.
Everyone brings up the cowboys game but if you look at his month of footy beforehand a few linebreaks, heaps of tackle breaks a couple tries and a few assists. It was about this time I saw him really start to fulfil his potential.
He kept this form going up until the game Cowboys put a score back on us. Even in that game, where we had 37% possession he had over 100m, 4 tackle breaks 2 offloads and a linebreak assist and a 77% tackle efficiency (which isn't great but the next best outside back was 60%, suggesting he wasnt the problem).
Statistically he drops a little after that game (as does everyone else in the side) but he remains by far our best performed outside back.
That year in a team that won 4 games he had a stats line not to dissimilar to this year. 124m/game and 87% tackle efficiency. This year he is at 122m and 90%. These numbers are better or comparable to all but maybe 5 centres in the game.
I'd argue he was doing more in 23 given he would've had less ball in hand. He has plenty of very good games but given the overall performance of the side not to many where you note down the achievements of a centre in a losing effort.
 
gregjm87 said:
Almost his whole body of work in 2023 was very good. It did take him a month to work into the season with him missing some games early on. Sure he has some quiet games but an outside back in a rubbish team is always going to struggle especially when he has Wakeham inside him.
Everyone brings up the cowboys game but if you look at his month of footy beforehand a few linebreaks, heaps of tackle breaks a couple tries and a few assists. It was about this time I saw him really start to fulfil his potential.
He kept this form going up until the game Cowboys put a score back on us. Even in that game, where we had 37% possession he had over 100m, 4 tackle breaks 2 offloads and a linebreak assist and a 77% tackle efficiency (which isn't great but the next best outside back was 60%, suggesting he wasnt the problem).
Statistically he drops a little after that game (as does everyone else in the side) but he remains by far our best performed outside back.
That year in a team that won 4 games he had a stats line not to dissimilar to this year. 124m/game and 87% tackle efficiency. This year he is at 122m and 90%. These numbers are better or comparable to all but maybe 5 centres in the game.
I'd argue he was doing more in 23 given he would've had less ball in hand. He has plenty of very good games but given the overall performance of the side not to many where you note down the achievements of a centre in a losing effort.
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Interesting… that wasn’t my recollection of his play apart from the Cowboys game …if I have some time today I might go back and check some highlights and stats of the games in the lead up to that game and after …. Any game in particular?
 
Tom Shines said:
Interesting… that wasn’t my recollection of his play apart from the Cowboys game …if I have some time today I might go back and check some highlights and stats of the games in the lead up to that game and after …. Any game in particular?
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I think most of the games he played fully fit were sound or good.

It's the games he played with niggles hampering him or not fully fit coming back from the numerous injuries that he was unlucky to go through that made him look to be playing below par.

Probably his first season coming over from the Knights when younger and getting used to the new systems tested his form at first.
 
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mtd#2 said:
Yeah I posted that link

But that's moley referring to toas insta post

So really there's nothing else we are going on is that right?
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Correct …I wouldn’t suggest it’s an insignificant development though

He felt strongly enough to correct the rumour publicly when it could have been ignored …people can read into that the same way our buddy Moley has …
 
Oldman said:
I know I am a stickler for players that can tackle,
People should go back and look at that part of his game last weekend.
It’s not pretty running around in circles and once past stops chasing nearly straight away.
Plus having Turuva next to him doesn’t help either.
He is our best attacking option in the Centre’s by far but not worth big money compared to other Centres in the Competition.
But we do need to keep him as we have no one else at this point.
Click to expand...
Agree. Defence awful.
 
tigahhh said:
star has struggled with consistency because he’s been hampered by injuries. now he’s fresh i think he’s done great. helps having a decent winger next to him too that can finish a try off when star beats his man.
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Perfect example how quality in one position breeds quality in another. Turuva and toa are dual threats and keep the opposition in 2 minds, they make each other look great...now if we had an edge forward inside of them to draw defenders that duo would be unstoppable.
 
TheClaws said:
Perfect example how quality in one position breeds quality in another. Turuva and toa are dual threats and keep the opposition in 2 minds, they make each other look great...now if we had an edge forward inside of them to draw defenders that duo would be unstoppable.
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Funnily enough I think Samuela was effective last year because we had sezer and Galvin in the halves. Sezer whilst isn't amazing, he's a better number #7 than Luai, whilst Luai is a better #6. And Galvin could play off him as a ball running 6.

Its why I think Latu needs to move to 7.. I know he's traditionally a 6 but he has the qualities to be a good 7.. and it just isn't working with Luai there... Put Luai at 6 and I think Samuela and who ever our right edge ends up being - start looking alot more of an attacking threat
 
gregjm87 said:
Almost his whole body of work in 2023 was very good. It did take him a month to work into the season with him missing some games early on. Sure he has some quiet games but an outside back in a rubbish team is always going to struggle especially when he has Wakeham inside him.
Everyone brings up the cowboys game but if you look at his month of footy beforehand a few linebreaks, heaps of tackle breaks a couple tries and a few assists. It was about this time I saw him really start to fulfil his potential.
He kept this form going up until the game Cowboys put a score back on us. Even in that game, where we had 37% possession he had over 100m, 4 tackle breaks 2 offloads and a linebreak assist and a 77% tackle efficiency (which isn't great but the next best outside back was 60%, suggesting he wasnt the problem).
Statistically he drops a little after that game (as does everyone else in the side) but he remains by far our best performed outside back.
That year in a team that won 4 games he had a stats line not to dissimilar to this year. 124m/game and 87% tackle efficiency. This year he is at 122m and 90%. These numbers are better or comparable to all but maybe 5 centres in the game.
I'd argue he was doing more in 23 given he would've had less ball in hand. He has plenty of very good games but given the overall performance of the side not to many where you note down the achievements of a centre in a losing effort.
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Trying to get a gauge on his form during 22/23 Is difficult, mainly because our outside backs suffered from a lack of good ball. In general the team and in particular the backs lacked harmonic motion. Starford seems like the sort of player we need and it’s up to the coaches to get the best from him and not ship him off to Manly.
 
mtd#2 said:
Funnily enough I think Samuela was effective last year because we had sezer and Galvin in the halves. Sezer whilst isn't amazing, he's a better number #7 than Luai, whilst Luai is a better #6. And Galvin could play off him as a ball running 6.

Its why I think Latu needs to move to 7.. I know he's traditionally a 6 but he has the qualities to be a good 7.. and it just isn't working with Luai there... Put Luai at 6 and I think Samuela and who ever our right edge ends up being - start looking alot more of an attacking threat
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Interesting post
 
BAGNF05 said:
I’ve agreed in other posts he’s in form but these stats were to highlight that he’s not got the work rate of the truly elite so I hope he’s not expecting elite money.
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That's a fair argument.

So you were more pointing out the areas he is still not excelling, rather than his outstanding output so far. Fair enough.

It's probably a little more accurate though to look holistically if we're making comparisons in my opinion, because if he's doing better than current 'elite' centres in other metrics, maybe that brings the gap a lot closer.
 
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