Tommy Talau #225

[tig_prmz]

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.

You can't train for speed or coach it. You can make a fast man faster, it's a lot more to do with genes than training.

If Talau grows into a smarter footballer then he should end up in backrow as he keeps filling out. But right now, he's fast enough for a centre. I feel Kepaoa and him are fighting for a centre spot next year.

 

[Deleted member 3518]

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.

He looks like it builds confidence in his game , which might be obvious I guess . After his first half break , he just was busy , it’s almost as if he said to himself “Geez I’m on here” .

 

[simonthetigerrrr]

That was by FAR Talau's best game. I dunno what Madge fed him b4 the game but keep doing it.

I normally pull hair out watching him play, but damn yesterday every time he ran it was with such gusto and man he was banging in defense as well.

If he keeps this form up, defo keeper.

 

[Demps]

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.

You can't train for speed or coach it. You can make a fast man faster, it's a lot more to do with genes than training.

If Talau grows into a smarter footballer then he should end up in backrow as he keeps filling out. But right now, he's fast enough for a centre. I feel Kepaoa and him are fighting for a centre spot next year.

[/QUOTE]

I was thinking if he could slim down, he could get faster........

He had his best game last night some day,
He was up against a pairing of a hooker and a utility half, playing out of position. I still saw some poor defensive reads.

Yeah, he's young... still doesn't mean we should persist with mediocrity when better options are available, on market or otherwise.

 

[tig_prmz]

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.

You can't train for speed or coach it. You can make a fast man faster, it's a lot more to do with genes than training.

If Talau grows into a smarter footballer then he should end up in backrow as he keeps filling out. But right now, he's fast enough for a centre. I feel Kepaoa and him are fighting for a centre spot next year.

I was thinking if he could slim down, he could get faster........

He had his best game last night some day,
He was up against a pairing of a hooker and a utility half, playing out of position. I still saw some poor defensive reads.

Yeah, he's young... still doesn't mean we should persist with mediocrity when better options are available, on market or otherwise.

Slimming down doesn't usually make you faster. His strength is tackle busting, he would likely lose that if he slims down.

He's not mediocre and he's definitely not the best. But he is contracted for another year or two. We just need to keep persisting.

 

[Joel Helmes]

I’m pretty sure the club sees him as a future backrower.

 

[BZN]

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.

Good to see you @Demps and @TigerWest 'welcome' a new member to our forum.
I did that a few times 12 months or so ago and was put down for it.

 

[rihannafan1]

Does anyone else think Talau gives Nofa the shits?

 

[tig_prmz]

Does anyone else think Talau gives Nofa the shits?

He's screwed up a few 2 on 1s... The Nof hates losing out on a meatpie.

 

[Lukic]

I think Talau is talented but lets pump the brakes a bit. The centre opposite him was Jake Granville, a 32 year old hooker. Any first grade centre was gonna look good.

 

[jirskyr]

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.

He wasn't alone. Doueihi covered Talau's mis-ready, but Nofo didn't track his opposite winger coming inside and made a half-hearted grab at Hampton.

The thing about outside defence is the opposition will often create 1-1 chances (because they often create an extra man with the fullback), so what is most important is the whole unit working. So if Talau rushes up and they push to the outside, the inside men shift and the winger keeps the shape and preferably does not let the ball shift to the sideline.

You will note that Cowboys ran the same play a few minutes later (shift and then turn the winger inside) and Tigers read it, so at least they learned.

 

[jirskyr]

If he gets rid of the errors and the 50% hesitation when trying to catch a pass (i.e. running straighter and harder) then he's a reasonable centre prospect, at least so long as he can retain his agility.

When he does run straight and hard he's a handful, and he can run a hole - that's where his tries have come from.

 

[earl]

Nofo didn’t track his opposite winger coming inside and made a half-hearted grab at Hampton.

This was just as bad. Nofo can't defend anyway but against anyone with some pace he gets killed.

 

[Yossarian]

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. I’m not saying he was bad but he’s got to lift. He seems up for the fun stuff but often tunes out or goes missing with the hard stuff.

I really don’t think he’s the determining factor in our success. I don’t think you can make the case Tommy is good and Jimmy is bad just on the win rates.

To me it looked like he stuffed up , knew it , and that was it . This is the thing right . At every other level you can have that brain fade , at NRL level it’s goodnight Irene , if even the most average NRL player is given a chance .
He’s not Robinson Crusoe , this is ? where we struggle . We have heaps of talent , we just mentally fade in and out of games for 10 to 15 minute stretches .
To me it looks like time is the only way to fix this unfortunately .

Well yeah but he sprinted in at world record pace when there was a barney after MCK’s tackle but he’s MIA when a tackle pretty much closes down the game.

You’re spot on though, the mentality and drive are the big things for us.

 

[Tiger5150]

Nofo didn’t track his opposite winger coming inside and made a half-hearted grab at Hampton.

This was just as bad. Nofo can't defend anyway but against anyone with some pace he gets killed.

and he NEVER trusts his inside man. On that last try that Hampton scored, we were stretched wide but LL had Holmes, if Nofo had left him with him, he stops Hampton. you could see after the try LL went over to Nofo and said something and I'd almost guarantee that is what it was.

 

[Snake]

Nofo didn’t track his opposite winger coming inside and made a half-hearted grab at Hampton.

This was just as bad. Nofo can't defend anyway but against anyone with some pace he gets killed.

and he NEVER trusts his inside man. On that last try that Hampton scored, we were stretched wide but LL had Holmes, if Nofo had left him with him, he stops Hampton. you could see after the try LL went over to Nofo and said something and I'd almost guarantee that is what it was.

Buy the Canberra winger and Nuffie can practice defence in the Reggies next season .

 

[Demps]

I think Talau is talented but lets pump the brakes a bit. The centre opposite him was Jake Granville, a 32 year old hooker. Any first grade centre was gonna look good.

100%
Facts.

 

[rihannafan1]

Does anyone else think Talau gives Nofa the shits?

He's screwed up a few 2 on 1s... The Nof hates losing out on a meatpie.

His face reminds me of my older brother's when I screwed something up.

 

[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.

You can't train for speed or coach it. You can make a fast man faster, it's a lot more to do with genes than training.

If Talau grows into a smarter footballer then he should end up in backrow as he keeps filling out. But right now, he's fast enough for a centre. I feel Kepaoa and him are fighting for a centre spot next year.

I was thinking if he could slim down, he could get faster........

He had his best game last night some day,
He was up against a pairing of a hooker and a utility half, playing out of position. I still saw some poor defensive reads.

Yeah, he's young... still doesn't mean we should persist with mediocrity when better options are available, on market or otherwise.

Schuster is your classic ballplaying backrower, but look at his build - kid is only 20 and plays at 106kg or thereabouts - he's also got that baby fat on him still, but I think that's just his genetics. Talau is big enough to play backrow, he's close to 100kg, so the choice for me is do we shift him to the backrow or lock?

We need some ball playing ability on the edges - Lucy and Blore both have an offload in them and the ability to push through the line. Tuilagi runs good lines and defensively looks ok - Garner can run a good line and can put on a hit but also has a tendency to arm grab which is lazy.

As far as 13's go, we've got Mikaele who really is a prop, Seyfarth and Tuki. Now Tuki provides a lot of upside here with his ability to offload - another offseason under his belt will do him wonders as I'm sure he'll get stronger and fitter. Likewise Seyfarth. Maybe Talau could be that roving backrower/lock as Lucy doesn't have 80 minutes in him?

 

[Deleted member 3518]

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. I’m not saying he was bad but he’s got to lift. He seems up for the fun stuff but often tunes out or goes missing with the hard stuff.

I really don’t think he’s the determining factor in our success. I don’t think you can make the case Tommy is good and Jimmy is bad just on the win rates.

To me it looked like he stuffed up , knew it , and that was it . This is the thing right . At every other level you can have that brain fade , at NRL level it’s goodnight Irene , if even the most average NRL player is given a chance .
He’s not Robinson Crusoe , this is ? where we struggle . We have heaps of talent , we just mentally fade in and out of games for 10 to 15 minute stretches .
To me it looks like time is the only way to fix this unfortunately .

Well yeah but he sprinted in at world record pace when there was a barney after MCK’s tackle but he’s MIA when a tackle pretty much closes down the game.

You’re spot on though, the mentality and drive are the big things for us.

Yea I’m not defending it . I’m more , if anything , praising the modern player , as the amount of structure and attack thrown at them for 80 minutes flat would kill any previous generation .
I think it’s why when a team is off , you get just about any other team putting 40 on them . Including us . That broncos game last year was a good example for us . And the storm game this year was an example of how wrong it can go .
Going by that math you’d say the storm are 100 points better than the broncos , but obviously thats not true .
Just for reference , to anyone , watch the tigers 05 season , and one thing I notice , is how different the shapes look in attack . We killed teams by playing a first generation block plays . Nowadays , that wouldn’t even get you close to scoring a try .

Look at the cowboys , the shape they threw last night was so easily read , but it’s still infinitely more creative than anything from the early 2000s .

The evolution of modern footy , whilst bad in some ways , is a marvel in most others .