Alot of praise can go out to several players yesterday but for me big Sam announced himself yesterday with big minutes and more importantly impactful minutes. When Sam and Luca came on they absolutely shifted the momentum id dare say it was Lucas best game in 1st grade apart from the sin bin.
Obviously Moses and Iongi etc get the praise they deserve but Sam has impressed me since the start but yesterday he was a proper 1st grade player.
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Yep completely agree, I said in the game day blog. Tuivati came of age yesterday. He was huge.
Yeah impressive really gets involved
is there a bromance with walker and lucas
The thing that is more impressive is basically how he was thrown in with limited open age football. He played 5 NRL games, playing only 1 NSW Cup game in 2023. He played all of 2024 in Flegg. I thought it would take some time in NSW Cup before he got a look in, but nope Ryles threw him in and he swam. Got a cup game last week with massive minutes and seems it has spruked his confidence more and more.
As Ryles said, he will have some games where he is humbled, that is a part of the learning experience. But him getting 23 games this year will be massive, even better if he can get some starts later in the year, saves us going into the market for a starting Prop.
I think you illustrate something that I have tried to explain for a long time. If you have a good young player (that's the real battle) then he won't learn anything in Reserve Grade compared to first grade. Some players have to get that experience because they don't have the talent.
When you get a good one it becomes a no brainer to bring them straight in. Rylie Smith is another example of the same, over the years Reed Mahoney and Dyllan Brown also fitted into that same category.
Well yeah the way you learn is playing. The main benefit for reserve grade for kids is preparing their body as they are play men who are faster, fitter and stronger in a lot of of cases.
Tuivaiti has taken it like a duck to water. Hasn't had a game below 7/10. Even if he doesn't end up as the next rep star he cans very important consistent Prop.
I feel he is a future rep player though.
Add Walker to the list. His combination with Moretti caused a lot of havoc in theiddle
I think Hopgood needs to go watch Walker footage. That is the way he should be playing.
Whilst I have no idea what the injury actually was and what surgery he had, I think Hopgood may be unconsciously looking after his back.
He had a big break from footy and it still may not be 100%.
Agree, and his form is not that bad. he has been probably our most consistent defensive forward that carried the defence through a period of absolute shit.
Maybe if he died his hair bleach blond or Green people may notice him a little more.
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