Wondering what others opinions are of the Big 5 who are leaving at season's end. Namely: Mahoney, Stone, Niukore, Kaufusi, and Papali.
My take so far:
Mahoney - Not as good as last year. Seems like he has his mind on other things. His defence seems slightly worse and I reckon he's not 100% Injury free. Still valuable but I can see him easily taking significant time off during the season.
Stone - I find Stone a rocks and diamonds type player. In last 2 weeks he's gone from villain to hero. His season and time is now over at the Eels.
Nuikore - Can't comment as he's out indefinitely with injury. He was good in the trials.
Kaufusi - Not having the same impact as last year. I would rather see Rodwell or Grieg get more opportunities between the and see Kaufusi spend more time in reserve grade.
Papali - Nowhere near the same as last year in my opinion. I would like to Rodwell, Grieg and others get opportunities over Papali and only use Papali when really needed.
Replies
in your opinion they should all be dumped to nsw cup and not be seen again....and we should field a team of debutants that havent earnt their spot.
I don't think that Parra Trooper is saying they should be dumped
in other posts he did - cos they were leaving he said dump them all to ressies.
Rock, I'm not suggesting to dump all the Big 5 to the reserves. Of course I would like to see some of the younger players with potential have more opportunities to prepare them for next year but I'm getting others as well as my own opinions on how the Big 5 are performing so far after 3 rounds. I honestly think that my survey of them is reasonably accurate. What's your thoughts on them so far? Not your thoughts about me
you're not this time, but you have repeatedly made those calls over the last few weeks.
In my view, they are all doing the jobs they are given, albeit (like the team in general) not to their usual high standards.
Out of all of them, Kaufusi is probably the one that needs to step up more than the others and make a greater presence.
Papalii is probably suffering from the lack of Niukore, last year he was much more effective rotating between edge and middle, thats not to say he is performing badly but his 2021 season was exceptional.
Fair enough.
Mahoney - He is easily our best hooker, so he stays in the side as long as he is injury free. I agree he has not been at this best, but he's not far off it.
Stone - Gone for season, no point discussing.
Niukore - No comment as hasn't played yet.
Kaufusi - I reckon he should be dropped for Rodwell. He seems to be lacking penetration, so I reckon we move on from him.
Papali'i - Not going as great as last year, but that form is hard to replicate. Still deserves his spot in the side, but probably off the bench in the middle rotation once Niukore and Matto are back on deck.
Stone and papa have been good. Mahoney is still injured his defence has been terrible.
Agree with all except Mahoney.
He's in career best form, though you might be right that he's not 100% injury free. I can see him missing matches with injury.
With Mahoney it's probably not so much he's still injured. Sometimes when you have a major injury like he has you lack confidence in his case his shoulder which might explain why he's dropped off a few tackles. RCG broke his jaw and was a shadow of himself for 2 years. Tedesco was a turnstile in defence after Sivo knocked him out cold. He will get better with each game.
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