Jedi_Tiger
Well-known member
even 350k you would take Stef back him and May starting with Pole off the bench would be unreal
Stefano Utoikamanu #241
- Thread starter Alex Seyfarth's #1 Fan
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Alex Seyfarth's #1 Fan
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Another average to below average game for Stefano. Think that's genuinely just his standard. Massively over hyped player. We dodged a bullet there.
Tucker
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You hear commentators talk about him and it’s all positive.
I don’t see it. Even in an excellent setup he barely seems to even approach top gear.
bythebeardofzeus
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Forgot he was playing tonight
upthetigers
Well-known member
I don't know how you can look at yourself in the mirror getting paid the big bucks and putting in performances like that. And he does it constantly.
watersider
Well-known member
I'm not meaning to diminish luai's impact by saying this, but the single biggest factor in our improvement from last year to this has been replacing Stefano with the leadership and consistency and play of May. He is hungry for the ball and seems to love rugby league.
We occasionally saw Stefano run hard, but we never saw him enjoy all the gritty aspects of the game and have a real sense of pride in how he went about his game. Looking at it from a distance, May has lifted the standards and attitude of our forwards.
The other thing about Stefano's play at Melbourne is that it proves (so far) that it wasn't the club's fault, he's still just bog average.
We occasionally saw Stefano run hard, but we never saw him enjoy all the gritty aspects of the game and have a real sense of pride in how he went about his game. Looking at it from a distance, May has lifted the standards and attitude of our forwards.
The other thing about Stefano's play at Melbourne is that it proves (so far) that it wasn't the club's fault, he's still just bog average.
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mikey
Well-known member
Have a feeling he's going to say he needs a better coach - oh, it's Bellamy..........
I agree that May has been better for us than Utoikamanu ever was but I think it is really only in the minutes he is able to play whilst maintaining a high quality. The comparative output whilst on the field however isn't really much different. I don't think the criticism of Utoikamanu
lines up with reality (though admittedly have only watched a few storm games not all of them).
Up until last night Utoikamanu had the 2nd most tackle breaks of any front rower. Average less than 1 missed tackles a game and only had 1 error for the season.
He is just outside the top 10 front rowers for run metres and post contact metres which might go along with suggesting he is average but he is getting these metres in significantly less time on the field than most above him (average 27 minutes less than May). His output per minute or per run across all stats he is still one of the leading front rowers in the game.
Now you could point to minutes played and say but he doesn't have the motor of the better front rowers. This might be true or it might be Bellamy doesn't see the need to play his leading front rower for huge minutes this early in the season.
Having said all that I think May is definitely the better option for us, we need his big minutes. I just think Utoikamanu has been playing well from the few games I have seen and the statistics would support this.
Tim Sheens
Well-known member
$Dollars, in the end, it all comes down to dollars. When the amount of some 50% of Terrell's money is still available to go towards say the impact of Hunt, instead of lining Stefano's pocket if he had accepted WT offer, comparatively it is a no brainer as to the value provided.
May brings so much more to the club both on and off the field.
hank37w
Well-known member
I really don't know what he is seeing but Bellyache must see something in him, he has been increasing his minutes each week.
According to the stats he is now up to 49 minutes for last night's game.
That’s fair man . It’s also an accordion effect through yardage . And I think May and the forwards are benefitting from strong yardage play from the back through Turuva and Skelton . ( even Luke did a good job when he filled in ) . Also the team gets better as the game goes on , so you’re either going to blow us away early , or you’re now in a dog fight .
I think even the broncos game where they came out from halftime and blew us away qualified with this theory .
Stefano would have been amazing being the guy who takes the hit up after the May hitup . Like Haas after Carrigan .
Pole and Twal are doing a great job of this . Pole IMO is a better footballer than Stefano .
Can’t keep both Stefano and Pole happy when you have May
I hope their form continues, along with Luai
We, for the first time in a long time, have the ability to build our side around a great group of players
Pole, May, L. Fainu, S. Fainu, Luai, Bula, TDS
Our big 7
You know what’s funny , I’d in Turuva and Skelton in that as well .
And no joke , I’d have had Galvin at about 11 on our list when you include api . I really , really don’t understand the hype around that we can’t win without Galvin . The kid has won 33% of his games in total in nrl , and0 or maybe 1 , when the dominant half is out ie. Sezer or luai .
Ron Brodrick's Spirit
Well-known member
Stats. are fine as a basic measuring tool, but that's all they are.
To really appreciate the performance of May against the substandard displays that Stefano was putting in you need to use your eyes.
Take a look at the impact on his team's performance, where he makes the runs, when he makes the runs, how's his positioning and line speed in defence, does he have mental lapses, how effective are the offloads. In all of these areas Stef isn't in the same league as Terrell..
A prime example is that Stef let the try in that changed the momentum of the game through sheer laziness in defence, yet he won't be credited with a missed tackle.
Get your head out of the stats sheet and watch the game with analytical eyes.
Last night when the chips were down Stef did what he always did for us and shrank into the background.
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Rock Hopper Steve
Well-known member
What makes you feel like that L, is it's because he runs around hogging the ball like a headless chook looking for gaps that he's not fast enough to get through then when he's tackled has a look on his face of frustration.
I don't think he will be missed, interesting to see if Doueihi grabs his dream opportunity and makes it his own, if he doesn't Latu will be ready to have a crack back from injury.
Galvan could be on the cusp of fading into a dim memory for us.
orange&black
Well-known member
The problem that Stef has is work rate. He just doesn’t churn out the effort on the field that the best props do each week. When he wants to, he can run hard and make great yardage, although his D can be patchy.
I am sure he will be a good player in the Storm system and a good fit for their squad.
The best thing for us was that we never signed him for $1m dollars/year, and it may well prove to be the same story for Galvin.
I am sure he will be a good player in the Storm system and a good fit for their squad.
The best thing for us was that we never signed him for $1m dollars/year, and it may well prove to be the same story for Galvin.
bythebeardofzeus
Well-known member
Definitely building a great team. Most if not all of our top 17 are playing their roles. Turuva the try scoring machine plus providing a solid start to our sets with Skelton. Our edges are defending better. Our bench is not only maintaining the intensity but lifting it more often than not.
I actually think Douehi & Luia will be a better halves pairing than Galvin/Luia & hope we’ll see the boys be more clinical in attack. Fingers crossed Latu is over his injuries & continues his development in the halves. We can all see his potential.
The effort is definitely there. We just need to build on that.
I’d love to see Richo use Galvin’s money on an elite back rower, a solid prop & signing Tiny. That would round us out nicely.
🐯💪
100% agree. There is no world or metric where we aren't better off with May, value, culture (seemingly at least), game time/output. It all is in favour of May.
I also agree Utoikamanu's can not perform to the price it would have cost us. So I'm not saying we should have kept him given those variables. Nonetheless I believe we are missing a forward of his ability and the criticism of his actual performances this year isn't warranted.
yea exactly . I mean I don’t want to say that he hasn’t done some good things , because he has . But like the Seyfarth line break the other day for example . That was a team plan . You could tell ! They went over and over dropping him under , and only using Bula out the back , and then finally Seyfarth runs an out line , and the gap is a mile wide because the team had been setting it up . It was the right play at the right time . And Galvan did well to recognise it , but it was planned . And it was coaching . But he gets all the goodly eyes from the pundits , but that play had been set up over a whole game . It wasn’t touch footy where it was 2 guys making a plan to hit the hole .
There’s absolutely no reason the current NSW number 6 can’t do that and even more .
We are winning because teams are coming down our left edge, and when they do , luai is shooting up at the 3 man , and then backing a couple of steps off , creating line speed on the edge , but also forcing the playmaker to look way too long at the gaps inside , closing down the space for the block play on the edge . Hopefully AD does the same thing on the right edge .
With Moses in the eels team we just have to watch out for the kick into the space behind .
But that’s where Bula comes in , and he will need to not get trapped at the play the ball the tackle prior .
Just on that . Another reason our defence is much better is when Bula does make that tackle on the line , even if he’s under the pile , the other defenders will hold the player down and allow Bula to peel out the back to get in position to sweep behind .
If he’s not there , they give away a 6 again .
we are much better at that . I remember when Bula first sterted and daine laurie was a demon for it , getting trapped at the play the ball on the line , and not getting into the right position on the next play .
Anyways just my observations of where I think the leaps have been this year .
It hasn’t been in Galvins ball playing
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