Yeah maybe on potential but you rarely see that.
See I think it's in practice too. I know stats don't tell the whole story, but let's look at a comparison. I'm choosing Ola as he's pretty widely accepted as one of the better/damaging second rowers
Fifita
| Year | Tries | Try Assists | Linebreaks | Linebreak Assists | Offloads | Tackle busts |
| 2021 (22) | 17 | 2 | 22 | 1 | 44 | 156 |
| 2022 (18) | 7 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 30 | 73 |
| 2023 (22) | 8 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 41 | 107 |
| 2024 (6) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 31 |
Olakau'atu
| Year | Tries | Try Assists | Linebreaks | Linebreak Assists | Offloads | Tackle busts |
| 2021 (21) | 8 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 65 |
| 2022 (21) | 10 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 100 |
| 2023 (24) | 10 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 86 |
| 2024 (8) | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 39 |
In 2021, it was the last time the Titans were a semi-competent team with a decent/good halves pairing (Fogarty and Taylor). They finished 8th and his stat line was ridiculous. Manly finished 4th that year, but it's hard to compare Ola as he hadn't really broken out I don't think.
Since then, the Titans have finished 13th, and 14th and are going pretty poorly this year. Their halves have been a broken foran and garbage at 7 for the last few years. Even throughout that, Fifita has managed to output as much as one of the better second rowers playing outside one of the best halves in the comp who LOVES to use his second rower.
Ola just re-signed on an 8-year deal for about 900k a season. Would anyone describe him as inconsistent? We're talking about signing a guy on a 3-4 year deal, for the same money or less, who puts out the same value stat-wise in a bad year.
I truly think Fifita has been mislabled due to his price tag. Has he ever been worth 1.2-1.3 million, or whatever he was on? Absolutely not. But I don't think that means he still can't have been the best player in his position over that time.
Again, none of this is to say that the sharks should sign him because there are so many other factors that go into that. But when his output as an 'inconsistent' player is better or the same as the guns in his position, you best believe he's going to tear it up in a good side.
I also think you could probably describe the entire TItans side over the best part of a decade as inconsistent (bar Tino). That doesn't mean good players haven't been through there.
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