David Nofoaluma is on the radar of NSW Origin officials, and if the Blues team was picked tomorrow you could make a serious case to give the unheralded Wests Tigers winger the nod ahead of incumbent Blake Ferguson.
Sydney Roosters flyer, and retired representative footballer, Brett Morris is arguably the most in-form winger in the NRL, but Nofoaluma is a close second based on his statistics.
The player listed at 182cm on the Tigers’ website will pose plenty of headaches for Wayne Bennett and South Sydney on Friday night.
Tigers coach Michael Maguire won a premiership at Souths, and challenged Nofoaluma to adopt a similar mindset to the one Greg Inglis had when dominating teams with his early carries.
"‘Madge’ has often spoken to me about Greg Inglis and his mentality and how he had this ability to change a game in a certain moment, or be that player to set an example in the back field and create something,’’ Nofoaluma said.
"I’m not anything like Greg Inglis and we’re totally different players. But it’s about trying to own the back field, own my position, and getting my teammates going.
"Madge gave me that challenge and I think I’m ticking all the boxes with those challenges.’’
Nofoaluma is averaging 184 run metres this season, compared to Ferguson’s 162m. He also leads the way in other key categories, including tries (8-0), line-breaks (8-1), tackle-busts (43-16) and offloads (9-4).
Ferguson has never disappointed for NSW, but has been below his lofty standards for competition leaders Parramatta.
Nofoaluma knows the Tigers will need to push deep into the finals, something the Eels already seem set to do, to boost his Origin case.
His immediate focus will be getting used to a new centre partner. Chris Lawrence is a big chance to start the game ahead of Michael Chee Kam, who has been named in the suspended Joey Leilua’s No. 4 jersey.
Leilua was given a four-match ban for collecting Penrith’s Dylan Edwards off the ball.
His ordinary week continued when he appeared to twinge a hamstring while running with the reserves at training on Tuesday. He was forced off the paddock early.
Nofoaluma said an emotional Leilua apologised to his teammates almost immediately in the sheds.
"He was emotional and told us he had let the team down and it wouldn’t happen again,’’ Nofoaluma said.
Meanwhile, skipper Moses Mbye revealed he survived a knee scare on the weekend against the Panthers - because he had no posterior cruciate ligament.
"I’ve had a bit of history on that [right] knee, and I was probably lucky on the weekend because after I hyper-extended it, I don’t have a PCL, otherwise I would have done it again,’’ Mbye said.
Of the post-match scenes involving Penrith coach Ivan Cleary blowing kisses to the Tigers fans he walked out on at the end of 2018, Mbye said: "It’s good to see coaches with a bit of humour. Everyone knows the history of Ivan and the Tigers - the roster we have is pretty much Ivan’s roster - but he was probably copping flak from the guy in front of him, but I’ve got no problems with it. It gives us something to flak about during the week.’’
