Twal

[TIGER]

Is he as good as he's ever going to be?

He seems he's hit a ceiling and he's very one dimentional.
I feel his game needs to evolve, he's very stock standard, robotic, technical I'd like to see the "footy player" in him come out if you know what I mean.

 

[TheDaBoss]

He is a workhorse .....

 

[old_man_tiger]

Looks tired and burnt out after carrying the front row early in the season.

 

[earl]

He is an average prop. It's cool to have one of them in your team. He isn't the next Lazarus or something like that and never will be.

Aloiai & Mikaele have much more upside.

 

[happy_tiger]

I don't think that all props hit their stride in their early 20's and find consistency

I look at Papalii at Canberra ...I don't think anyone ever thought he become a consistent big minute player

I think he still needs another off season , he has more to offer , especially when at some stage in the future we might be able to get some support up front for him

 

[Geo]

I wish the rest of the side could tackle as effectively as him..

 

[gallagher]

He's a Steve Price type of prop. Nothing flash or outstanding but does his job well.

 

[hobbo1]

Bordering on Plodderism

 

[avocadoontoast]

Problem with Twal this year is that he slows down before hitting the defensive line.

 

[krayola]

He will be a really good player but is young and needs time to develop, like nearly all forwards.
We can all see that he's fallen away since a good start to the year and our lack of any decent, experienced forwards around him has meant he has had to carry much more of a load than he should have.

Huth on the other hand is at his peak.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

He is an average prop. It's cool to have one of them in your team. He isn't the next Lazarus or something like that and never will be.

Aloiai & Mikaele have much more upside.

Average props don’t have nearly 100% tackle efficiency.

 

[bythebeardofzeus]

I wish the rest of the side could tackle as effectively as him..

I reckon most NRL coaches would wish the same about their own teams.

Alex isn’t the bloke I’m disappointed with this year. Sure it’d be great if he was a bit more dynamic, had a bit more impact, etc. But for a 23 yr old prop he does his job, ie. consistently making his 100m & 40 odd tackles a game (@ 95% efficiency btw). It’s all about balance & he & Clark compliment Mikaele & Aloiai quite well. We just need a bit more experience in the middle. Just a shame that Packerlino have been injured or out of form otherwise they could’ve played that role.

Nope I’m more disappointed with the likes of Marsters, Jennings, etc. & to a lesser extent Brooks, Marshall, Liddle & Reynolds (for different reasons). They’re the blokes who need to have the footy smarts, provide the spark consistently, etc.

Let’s hope we finish the season strong.

 

[Masterton]

Twal looks like a horse that's been up for 3 months. If we had any other props besides a 20yo debutant, he would have been given a decent breather or a game with some short minutes. He'll be fine next year.

 

[jirskyr]

Makes his metres and doesn't miss tackles. He's 23. Just passed 50 FG matches. Arguably he's tracking ahead of where you might have expected him when he was a mid-season speculative transfer from Eels just 2 years ago.

It seems to me that some people believe if some forwards are not trending towards Artie Beetson or Jason Taumololo then they aren't achieving their potential? There are probably 10 power forwards in the comp who can regularly throw off defenders in 3-man tackles, the rest just try to make their metres, not make mistakes and control the ruck.

 

[earl]

@GNR4LIFE he doesn't have the ability to dent the line like the top prop forwards. He has a lot of positives to his game but unless he can somehow add the ability to make damaging hit-ups and busts I can't see him as anything other than an average front rower.

I think that is exactly what the majority of posters are stating as well. He is pretty good but you can't compare him to Hass for instance. You can't have a team of superstars.

 

[TIGER]

Bordering on Plodderism

I'm starting to put him in that category too.

 

[TCL]

Imo better and cheaper than woods. Makes meters and tackles.

Could do with a few kilos.

 

[Telltails]

Carrying too much of the load he was always going to show signs of fatigue. Just needs support so he can give more quality instead of quantity.

 

[TIGER]

I'm more talking about him in general, fresh Twal, Twal at his best, not just recently where it seems everyone thinks he looks worn out.

Does the opposition think "I'm up against Twal today, I better be on my game defensively and offensively or he'll destroy me?"
We really need an enforcer up front.

I guess I'd just like to see a bit more aggression from him, a bit of his character come out.
He just seems so one geared, so robotic like he's just going through the motions.

Is he a victim of being overcoached??
Has the footy player been coached out of him??
I just can't put my finger on it, he's a hard read

 

[Madge]

Why single out him but if you are talking in general and not based on the form he is shown recently, Matterson is the only exception. Even Mikaele and Aloiai who are the hard running fearsome props we have, are inconsistent. The opposition will look to stop a constant threat, at the moment, Matterson is the only constant threat in our forward Pack. The rest are doing the job.