Tommy Talau
- Thread starter DUFFMAN
- Start date
-
We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.
I know…
And I want to be clear I understand our cap, squad needs, approach etc does not allow it but o would just love for once an exciting player signing (and no I am not excited by Brooks even though I think he will be good )
John Nicholson
Nicko
Ahhh......Mr Brooks - if - you believe in stats time immeasurable, he is Mr 38% win rate!
Ryan
Journey Man
Would be awesome to recruit someone who's come out of a winning culture, not going to lie.
Someone who could impart some knowledge, standards and requirements to share to be winners.
That's how we became the heavyweights in the mid to later 2005-2012 period. Guys like Kennedy, Bell, Rodney, Orford, Kite and others. Slowly but surely ingraining that culture.
The strategy now though - oooof, I don't know what the mindset is. Jobs for the boys ?
Someone who could impart some knowledge, standards and requirements to share to be winners.
That's how we became the heavyweights in the mid to later 2005-2012 period. Guys like Kennedy, Bell, Rodney, Orford, Kite and others. Slowly but surely ingraining that culture.
The strategy now though - oooof, I don't know what the mindset is. Jobs for the boys ?
News.com.au
NRL power couple go Instagram official with loved up snap
A new NRL power couple has emerged after an NRL speedster and an NRLW superstar have revealed they’re now an item.The NRL appears to have a new glamour couple after NRLW superstar Jessica Sergis appeared to go Instagram official with new Manly flyer Tommy Talau.
Link:
The '47ers
When Eagles are silent Parrots begin to chatter
master blaster
Bencher
Isnt this Lomax,s old flame. Could get spicy when we play the Dragoons this year then lol
Ryan
Journey Man
I get what you're saying @madmax , but it comes down to standards for me.
Since his debut in 2019, he's been in and out of a perpetual wooden spoon standard team, winning just 30% of the games he plays. This past season, he ended up playing just 12 games due to form, injury & other reasons, winning 3 (25% of his games). In those 12 games, he scored 1 try, and made 1 line-break (as a winger / centre). Out of the 100 odd tackles he made, he missed 30 odd of them. He also made numerous errors.
Is he good enough to play for Manly? At this stage, I don't think he makes the team, if you consider Tom Trbojevic, Jason Saab, Reuben Garrick, & Tolu Koula as the definite starters. That means he has to fight that last position out with Jaxson Paulo, Christian Tuipulotu, Brad Parker, Raymond Vaega & Clayton Faulalo, and honestly, there's better options than him right now.
I understand we've been a complete mess / failure the last two seasons as well. But sometimes we are better than the player at a certain point in time. Same goes for players like Condon, Fulton, Matterson, Waddell, Woods & others - we need to be exponentially better - not a little better (we are presently bottom 32-36% of the entire league over the last two years).
It's very easy to gloss over the details that actually matter when you pick out statistics as you have done. If you look at Nick Meaney's stats from 2021 (in a spoon winning dogs outfit) to 2022-2023 (at the Storm) he looks like a totally different player.
It's not necessarily just a question of what the player is doing to rack up those stats, because the system they are in plays a huge part. I think your picking out of his missed tackles etc would be much more meaningful if he wasn't playing in an absolute basket case of a side in which he was clearly unhappy. I think the same may well end up being true of quite a lot of our Tigers signings.
See how he goes in a better set up with a better attitude before writing him off.
Ryan
Journey Man
Who's writing him off? Just tell me, in your view, where does he fit in this pecking order (and I'll post mine):
Jaxson Paulo
Brad Parker
Christian Tuipulotu
Tommy Talau
Ray Vaega
Clayton Faulalo
On this basis, for mine, given our salary cap squeeze, surely the money could have been better spent elsewhere (i.e. forwards and a starting specialist hooker).
Hard to say for sure but I think Talau will end up above Parker and Tuipolotu in that pecking order, otherwise I think your list is probably pretty spot on.
Depends if it is for Centre or Wing. I still think Parker is high on the list of centres but is low on the list of wingers.
If Garrick moves to centre I'd rank the wingers Paulo, Faulalo, Tui, Veaga, Talau, Parker.
If it's for a Centre spot it's probably Parker, Talau, Tui, Paulo, Faulalo, Veaga.
Ryan
Journey Man
Above Parker? When he's on mate, he lethal in both attack and defense. He can burst through a line and run at holes, that's for sure. I actually felt bad putting Paulo above him, but in the end, the speed element is what won it over.
Ryan
Journey Man
Should have read this, before I replied hehe.
The key qualifier is "when he's on". Parker has some serious shockers and it's that lack of consistency that I think could see Talau rise above him. Time will tell.
Ryan
Journey Man
Fair enough. I never felt is worst was too far from his best. Unlike Bozo, I like Parker. He reminds me a lot of Terry Hill. Not the fastest going around, but tough, has no fear, and rips in. And 9 times out of 10 a great defender.
Rocky
Bencher
Talau definitely has more "upside" than Parker
To be fair to Parker though he is great guy to have in your squad and even premiership teams have won with players similar to him e.g Momorovski.
Last edited:
Hey @Ryan ,Great to see your passionate posts again in 2024 feathered friend
We all some times agree and sometimes disagree with each other as perception is a intriguing thing
Your Parker perspective that he reminds you a lot of our Great Grand final Winner, NSW and Australian rep Player Terry Hill Is like comparing Phillis Diller to Dolly Parton
| Team | P | W | L | PD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
7 | 6 | 1 | 54 | 14 |
|
6 | 5 | 1 | 59 | 12 |
|
7 | 5 | 2 | 36 | 12 |
|
8 | 5 | 2 | 39 | 11 |
|
8 | 5 | 3 | 64 | 10 |
|
6 | 4 | 2 | 53 | 10 |
|
8 | 4 | 4 | 73 | 8 |
|
7 | 4 | 3 | 24 | 8 |
|
7 | 3 | 4 | 17 | 8 |
|
8 | 4 | 4 | -14 | 8 |
|
8 | 4 | 4 | -60 | 8 |
|
8 | 3 | 4 | 17 | 7 |
|
7 | 2 | 5 | -55 | 6 |
|
8 | 3 | 5 | -55 | 6 |
|
7 | 2 | 5 | -29 | 4 |
|
7 | 1 | 6 | -87 | 4 |
|
7 | 1 | 6 | -136 | 4 |
