Stefano Utoikamanu #241

jirskyr said:
I agree and I think ESPECIALLY given the recent form of guys like Sam and Sione Fainu, Rueben Porter etc. Guys who are no-frills but are enthusiastic, play with energy and don't appear to have hit their ceiling.

I think Sione Fainu is an interesting case study, because he's already 23 and he's been on the books for a few years, so we have clearly put the effort in with him. And now in 2024 he's not only played pretty well, but scored 2 tries from almost standing starts, the kind of explosive power and tenacity that players like Klemmer and Stefano just don't have. It can't be as simple as "well his brothers are here now".

There are comments in the Benji thread about how players are not improving. But I disagree, I think some players are definitely improving and that is almost entirely centred around the juniors. I don't have an explanation for why, why most of our senior players (Api excluded) are simply not performing anywhere near the level required. I would consider it entirely reasonable to expect that senior players perform to a certain level without having to be specifically coached, and then part of your focus is bringing the juniors up to scratch.

Like my 3 kids - two of them are old enough to feed themselves, shower themselves... I'm not supposed to have to follow them around the house reminding them to wipe their arses and wash their hands. I'm supposed to be focusing on the little one. BUT if the "experienced" kids aren't behaving to the level their age would presuppose, then of course the whole shebang goes to hell.
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I was one saying our players were not moving forward. But I also said the older guys except Api were setting a bad example for the younger guys. Happy to piss steff off. our offer was more than fair. Good ridence to a bad example for the team. Bring on the hard nosed 400k props
 
old_man_tiger said:
Good luck to him. Most of my anger has worn off because of two reasons. Firstly, we really suck. Secondly, he hasn't looked like a 500k player for some time, let alone 800k. No matter what he goes on to achieve he isn't going to be part of leading a change in our pack's attitude, and that is abundantly clear.
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Your last sentence summarises it accurately.
 
I don't think anyone is surprised by this he's been playing like he was elsewhere all year bar a stint here and there. Is he a decent prospect yes, is he worth $800k on current form NO could he be in the future maybe but maybe not.
Time will tell if we played this well or not, but it's been clear he was going to cut and run almost as clear as Ice made it not wanting to be here. Now our challenge is teeing up an adequate replacement this is where Richo needs to earn his coin. Did he say this was an easier rebuild than South's was " Welcome to the jungle Richo"
 
Garrry said:
When stef signed his contract a couple years ago he said in a interview he wasn't leaving West's Tigers he loves it here and wanted to be a West's Tiger for ever, bwahahahaaaaaaaa hahahaaaaaaaaaaa load of crap, if his signed at the bulldog's good on gus, his theory is sign players first then work it out who leaves oct/nov, none of this rubbish too scared to sign a player cause only have 1 spot in our squad, look at the improvement at the dogs
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The dogs improvement didnt happen overnight.
They got players who wanted to be there.
Crichton signed when they came 2nd last... the same way Luai signed for us as spooners.
We'll make moves. They just wont be public,
 
No way you start him in front of a parochial crowd
3 days after saying he's not going to honor his contract.
Don't know what I would do with him 4 the rest of
the year tbh. We should have given him a week off
like Ivan gave Turuva, some say even set a deadline.
Something tells me richo/benji were monitoring
and weighing up the situation closely as well as
his performances 4 us even b4 origin and made a
decision 2 not force his hand 4 whatever reason.
They've come out on top optics wise, at least with
the fans, you would think this is another hammer
blow 4 the club but that's not the vibe I'm getting at all
 
weststigers said:
To your point, he is a 35-50 minute prop and he is asking for 80-90% of what Haas, the fittest and one of the best props in the game is asking for. He just doesn't provide that value.

Fair enough if he made his tackles and regularly broke the line, but he's just not there.

Good luck to anyone that wants to load that much cap space into him.

Frankly, Sione Fainu has been going just as good if not better.
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I think where we will see his improvement will be the offloads.
He is like that Tui Kamamika or whatever.. .except Tui offloads.
If he did that for us he would have been a lot more highly regarded.
 
Kaito said:
No way you start him in front of a parochial crowd
3 days after saying he's not going to honor his contract.
Don't know what I would do with him 4 the rest of
the year tbh. We should have given him a week off
like Ivan gave Turuva, some say even set a deadline.
Something tells me richo/benji were monitoring
and weighing up the situation closely as well as
his performances 4 us even b4 origin and made a
decision 2 not force his hand 4 whatever reason.
They've come out on top optics wise, at least with
the fans, you would think this is another hammer
blow 4 the club but that's not the vibe I'm getting at all
Click to expand...
Except he is honouring his contract
 
mtd#2 said:
The dogs improvement didnt happen overnight.
They got players who wanted to be there.
Crichton signed when they came 2nd last... the same way Luai signed for us as spooners.
We'll make moves. They just wont be public,
Click to expand...
I hope this is right and we do similar next season , nothing would be better then running around 8/9/10 th all year even pressuring for the top 8 would be fantastic , we just need Richo to come out and shock us all with at least 4 new players , we won’t move next year with Luai and the kids they are still a season or so off
 
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