Tommy Talau #225

[tig_prmz]

Talent is definitely there but far from impressing. He's put 2-3 solid games which is good to see but his decision making is still pretty poor. In terms of errors, it's not just that amount, it's when he makes them and usually under minimal pressure.

I don't think he will ever be a Crichton or Manu. Don't think he'll even be a a Croker who has a thirst to get to the ball at all times (look at his kick chases). Talau is still trying to find what type of a player he is but the fundamentals of a footy player and the drive, I don't see that from him yet.

 

[turkeytiger03]

One thing about Tommy is that he can find the line. And would be good if he makes right centre his own in the off season. Also work on his defence and tackling techniques.
So at the moment he’s too rocks and diamonds for mine. Unsurprisingly Marshall was the one to praise him a couple of seasons ago. But a work in progress when yeah he’s only still 21.

 

[tigger]

Talau has been pitched into NRL too early, because we lack depth in the centre/wing positions.

I reckon there is still plenty of upside in this young guy. We are already seeing some improvement in his performance and another year may make a big difference. Worth hanging in there at the moment.

 

[tigerman 0]

Hi fellow Tigers tragics.
Ive been reading this forum for years and have never registered until now.
I think both our centres played well last night.
MCK particularly in defence and TT with ball in hand.

I agree it was a sloppy effort from TT for that try but he is young and needs to learn to be in the game for every second of the 80 minutes.

Many on here believe we need a whole host of new players. In my opinion we don’t.
If we had 2 really good centres this team would improve out of sight.
Yeah its dreamworld but if we had our current squad but were to add Lomax and Joey Manu we would improve sharply and I think if we had luck with injuries we could finish around 6th.
Laurie at 1, AD at 6, Brooks at 7.
Simpkin still learning and hopefully he improves.
Forwards are exciting and mostly young.
2 strike centres and we would be a very solid team.

Of course signing 2 good centres is unlikely for our club. If Gildart turns out to be a success and we happen to jag a Lomax type player I think TT would be an effective lock.
He has the body shape, the skills (used to be a 5/8) and I think it would suit him.
Wondering others’ opinions.

Have a good day and up theTigers

 

[TigerWest]

Hi fellow Tigers tragics.
Ive been reading this forum for years and have never registered until now.
I think both our centres played well last night.
MCK particularly in defence and TT with ball in hand.

I agree it was a sloppy effort from TT for that try but he is young and needs to learn to be in the game for every second of the 80 minutes.

Many on here believe we need a whole host of new players. In my opinion we don’t.
If we had 2 really good centres this team would improve out of sight.
Yeah its dreamworld but if we had our current squad but were to add Lomax and Joey Manu we would improve sharply and I think if we had luck with injuries we could finish around 6th.
Laurie at 1, AD at 6, Brooks at 7.
Simpkin still learning and hopefully he improves.
Forwards are exciting and mostly young.
2 strike centres and we would be a very solid team.

Of course signing 2 good centres is unlikely for our club. If Gildart turns out to be a success and we happen to jag a Lomax type player I think TT would be an effective lock.
He has the body shape, the skills (used to be a 5/8) and I think it would suit him.
Wondering others’ opinions.

Have a good day and up theTigers

Welcome

 

[weststigerman]

It was good to see him get through the game with zero errors. That’s his biggest issue IMO.

His defence is improving, and has always been a good ball runner.

 

[Enmore_Tiger]

'Hard stuff? I'm confident I've seen plenty of dirty carries by TT.

 

[Demps]

Hi fellow Tigers tragics.
Ive been reading this forum for years and have never registered until now.
I think both our centres played well last night.
MCK particularly in defence and TT with ball in hand.

I agree it was a sloppy effort from TT for that try but he is young and needs to learn to be in the game for every second of the 80 minutes.

Many on here believe we need a whole host of new players. In my opinion we don’t.
If we had 2 really good centres this team would improve out of sight.
Yeah its dreamworld but if we had our current squad but were to add Lomax and Joey Manu we would improve sharply and I think if we had luck with injuries we could finish around 6th.
Laurie at 1, AD at 6, Brooks at 7.
Simpkin still learning and hopefully he improves.
Forwards are exciting and mostly young.
2 strike centres and we would be a very solid team.

Of course signing 2 good centres is unlikely for our club. If Gildart turns out to be a success and we happen to jag a Lomax type player I think TT would be an effective lock.
He has the body shape, the skills (used to be a 5/8) and I think it would suit him.
Wondering others’ opinions.

Have a good day and up theTigers

Welcome to the forum brother.

A snippet from a post I made elsewhere..

*Playing around with team lists for next year and similar to this year where we went into the year… with James Roberts and BJ Leilua as our starting centres.
Next year we have: Talau and Oliver Gildart… a rusty AJ Keapoa, maybe?

An area Madge overlooked this year and I’m hoping it isn’t overlooked again next year*

Centre is our weakest positions at the moment.
Surely Madge knows this.

Lomax and Harley Smith-Shields are upgrades and realistic... Manu would be amazing but I'm sure every club would feel the same way.

 

[iofthetigers]

Agree that this was Talau's best game. Thought he ran with purpose and intent and defensively he was better. I would like him to try and get on the outside of his man to create more 2 v1 situations as he never looks like passing or creating anything for his winger which makes him easier to defend. Big improvement tonight and hopefully he finds some form to finish the season.

He has talent, it appears he lacks confidence or concentration, but definitely has promise. Considering he was lining up against a hooker in his 30’s I thought he would have had more opportunities, I don’t know if that is a game plan or halves lacking game management skills but last nights game was frustrating more than any other game when they would swing it wide left on the 4th & instead of coming back with an opportunity to isolate Glanville they would have a forward take a dead ruck to the black dot then kick. Good teams don’t waste opportunities & unfortunately for Tommy those opportunities would have been his.

 

[TigerWest]

Hi fellow Tigers tragics.
Ive been reading this forum for years and have never registered until now.
I think both our centres played well last night.
MCK particularly in defence and TT with ball in hand.

I agree it was a sloppy effort from TT for that try but he is young and needs to learn to be in the game for every second of the 80 minutes.

Many on here believe we need a whole host of new players. In my opinion we don’t.
If we had 2 really good centres this team would improve out of sight.
Yeah its dreamworld but if we had our current squad but were to add Lomax and Joey Manu we would improve sharply and I think if we had luck with injuries we could finish around 6th.
Laurie at 1, AD at 6, Brooks at 7.
Simpkin still learning and hopefully he improves.
Forwards are exciting and mostly young.
2 strike centres and we would be a very solid team.

Of course signing 2 good centres is unlikely for our club. If Gildart turns out to be a success and we happen to jag a Lomax type player I think TT would be an effective lock.
He has the body shape, the skills (used to be a 5/8) and I think it would suit him.
Wondering others’ opinions.

Have a good day and up theTigers

Welcome to the forum brother.

A snippet from a post I made elsewhere..

**Playing around with team lists for next year and similar to this year where we went into the year… with James Roberts and BJ Leilua as our starting centres.
Next year we have: Talau and Oliver Gildart… a rusty AJ Keapoa, maybe?

An area Madge overlooked this year and I’m hoping it isn’t overlooked again next year…**

Centre is our weakest positions at the moment.
Surely Madge knows this.

**Lomax and Harley Smith-Shields are upgrades and realistic.**.. Manu would be amazing but I'm sure every club would feel the same way.

Are they realistic, they would be great gets?

 

[Demps]

Hi fellow Tigers tragics.
Ive been reading this forum for years and have never registered until now.
I think both our centres played well last night.
MCK particularly in defence and TT with ball in hand.

I agree it was a sloppy effort from TT for that try but he is young and needs to learn to be in the game for every second of the 80 minutes.

Many on here believe we need a whole host of new players. In my opinion we don’t.
If we had 2 really good centres this team would improve out of sight.
Yeah its dreamworld but if we had our current squad but were to add Lomax and Joey Manu we would improve sharply and I think if we had luck with injuries we could finish around 6th.
Laurie at 1, AD at 6, Brooks at 7.
Simpkin still learning and hopefully he improves.
Forwards are exciting and mostly young.
2 strike centres and we would be a very solid team.

Of course signing 2 good centres is unlikely for our club. If Gildart turns out to be a success and we happen to jag a Lomax type player I think TT would be an effective lock.
He has the body shape, the skills (used to be a 5/8) and I think it would suit him.
Wondering others’ opinions.

Have a good day and up theTigers

Welcome to the forum brother.

A snippet from a post I made elsewhere..

**Playing around with team lists for next year and similar to this year where we went into the year… with James Roberts and BJ Leilua as our starting centres.
Next year we have: Talau and Oliver Gildart… a rusty AJ Keapoa, maybe?

An area Madge overlooked this year and I’m hoping it isn’t overlooked again next year…**

Centre is our weakest positions at the moment.
Surely Madge knows this.

**Lomax and Harley Smith-Shields are upgrades and realistic.**.. Manu would be amazing but I'm sure every club would feel the same way.

Are they realistic, they would be great gets?

I believe so....

It's been rumoured we've been in discussions with Smith-Shields for a few weeks now... has a few ahead of him at Canberra.

And Lomax is allegedly going through legalities to work a release. I'm hopeful... who really knows though.

Centre is an important position and we went into this year with subpar players and I hope it isn't the same next year.

 

[earl]

His efforts for the Dearden try were awful. Rushed out of the line and then slowly jogged back and missed another opportunity to shutdown the play.

It was shocking wasn't it. He was good but those mistakes are unacceptable.

 

[JC99]

He was definitely good but being against Asi and then a debutant in Nanai certainly helped him. Chee Kam has looked good at centre too but he's been up against Hopoate and Granville.

Best thing was he didn't have any silly errors, it's normally his downfall

 

[earl]

'Hard stuff? I'm confident I've seen plenty of dirty carries by TT.

I agree. The problem is sometimes he just drops the ball cold.

I like him but he is like Mikaele. Those plays lose us games against decent opposition.

 

[earl]

Hi fellow Tigers tragics.
Ive been reading this forum for years and have never registered until now.
I think both our centres played well last night.
MCK particularly in defence and TT with ball in hand.

I agree it was a sloppy effort from TT for that try but he is young and needs to learn to be in the game for every second of the 80 minutes.

Many on here believe we need a whole host of new players. In my opinion we don’t.
If we had 2 really good centres this team would improve out of sight.
Yeah its dreamworld but if we had our current squad but were to add Lomax and Joey Manu we would improve sharply and I think if we had luck with injuries we could finish around 6th.
Laurie at 1, AD at 6, Brooks at 7.
Simpkin still learning and hopefully he improves.
Forwards are exciting and mostly young.
2 strike centres and we would be a very solid team.

Of course signing 2 good centres is unlikely for our club. If Gildart turns out to be a success and we happen to jag a Lomax type player I think TT would be an effective lock.
He has the body shape, the skills (used to be a 5/8) and I think it would suit him.
Wondering others’ opinions.

Have a good day and up theTigers

Welcome to the forum brother.

A snippet from a post I made elsewhere..

**Playing around with team lists for next year and similar to this year where we went into the year… with James Roberts and BJ Leilua as our starting centres.
Next year we have: Talau and Oliver Gildart… a rusty AJ Keapoa, maybe?

An area Madge overlooked this year and I’m hoping it isn’t overlooked again next year…**

Centre is our weakest positions at the moment.
Surely Madge knows this.

**Lomax and Harley Smith-Shields are upgrades and realistic.**.. Manu would be amazing but I'm sure every club would feel the same way.

Are they realistic, they would be great gets?

I believe so....

It's been rumoured we've been in discussions with Smith-Shields for a few weeks now... has a few ahead of him at Canberra.

And Lomax is allegedly going through legalities to work a release. I'm hopeful... who really knows though.

Centre is an important position and we went into this year with subpar players and I hope it isn't the same next year.

We went into the season hoping BJ and Roberts would come good. Those two guys have been amazing at various times throughout their careers. They just haven't cut it with us.

It was a gamble and it didn't come off.

Hopefully we improve there next season.

 

[Needaname]

TT will be our TT (tommy turbo) one day
The kid is still maturing & he can score tries

More like our version of Joey Manu.
Check out the stats of both this season. Tries, Line breaks, Tackle efficiency are pretty comparable. Manu makes more run meters and passing / assists but he is considered a superstar with talk of being considered a 1 mil dollar player.
Tommy is still very raw.

Interesting you say that about our version of Joey Manu. I compared Talau with him and Stephen Chricton when playing in the centres in 2021

Both have played 13 matches in the centres this year
Talau - 8 tries, 96 ave meters, 9 line breaks, 2 try assists and a line break assist, 25 tackle busts, 10 offloads, 16 Errors and averagin 73% Tackle efficiency

Manu - 2 tries, 92 ave meteres, 5 line breaks, 2 try assists, 2 LBA,53 tackle busts, 14 offloads, 9 errors, 79% tackle effeciency

Chrichton - 14 games, 5 tries, 99 ave meters, 5 LB, 5 TA, 5 LBA, 27 tackle breaks, 13 offloads, 15 errors, 86% tackle efficency

Now Im not saying that Talau is at their level but his numbers are surprsingly solid in comparison especially when you take into account they are playing in teams winning many more games and therefore not under as much pressure and Talau has scored more tries and line breaks by a signifcant margin. However his defence isn't far off what Manu is producing in a defensive line under much less pressure most times.

Given these 2 would be classed as 2 of the best centres in the game then he compares really well stats wise I think

Cheers mate, thanks for the statistics. I was comparing him to the 2017 version of Manu which was when he was 21 and started to get a full run of games at Centre, i remember Manu being good but not a real standout until 2019. I’m positive there’s a player in Talau. Although I’d say they both have Talau for pace especially but it seems he holds his own in other areas and as you mentioned playing in much more solid sides.

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

If Talau plays like he did against the Cowboys would take that everyday of the week.

He should model all future matches off that performance.

He hit hard, kept defensive formations, was attacking at all times (defensive and with the ball), held the ball and did the hard work.

Talau does have that word us Tigers fan use alot which is talent, we need him to now be consistent.

Regarding options we have to fix MCK side 1st.

HSS plays that side and could be an option if we can snare him, talks for a kid like him are taking forever so wouldn’t surprise me if he is staying with the Raiders.

Lomax also plays that side, he just extended another year (his option) so if he was serious about wanting out that makes zero sense as he would have to give up the cash and the Dragons won’t give him up for free. Our card they wanted is Mbye who is apparently already gone & can’t see them wanting anyone else we have.

Gildart if he makes it in the NRL then great but geez I struggle the more I watch him to see how he can.

At the moment we don’t have a right edge option being recruited or even gossiping about so Talau atm is all we have. People will say someone like Lomax could move…. A player like Lomax won’t sign to play in a position not his preferred.

 

[tiger_one]

Tommy can never be questioned for effort. He even makes his mistakes full on. Loved his "special" tackle .He is developing on so many levels, for me - he's a keeper.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Again, he’s only 21. I can’t emphasise that enough.

 

[Guest]

I hate to be the negative guy...
I still don't think he's up to it.

Looks very immature out there and has all year with minimal signs of improvement...

Wouldn't hurt slimming down a little and working on becoming faster.

I like seeing the second generation sons coming through and making their own names but sadly, Talau is a work in progress and MAY not work out.

I can agree it was his best game for us but still, as an individual performance once the dust settles... still wasn't that amazing. 5/10

Grabbing at jerseys and letting players run past him.
Looks very slow.
I'm at a loss with this one, I think if we can recruit some one better, we should and let Talau go.

He's already pretty lean Demps - taking any more off him is going to result in muscle loss. I was thinking about this last night and was wondering whether he could be an option as a 13 down the track - he's mobile to play in the middle or on an edge - he has some ball skills through playing in the juniors as a 6 and he's only 21.

Someone made the point of good 13's having the ability to ball play through the middle and link up with the edges - Talau could fill this role in time - you would want to be throwing him in there from this offseason though. We're really using the likes of Mikaele and Joe O as battering rams with no ball playing abillity - both have the ability to offload, but they are not link players so opposition defences know what they're getting when those two hit the ball up.

Anyway, just one of those things to think about because I don't see Talau as a long term centre.