Official Siosifa Talakai

G.H Shark

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Maybe he was busted.
Looking from the comfort of my coach, I was hoping to see Atkinson on the field for the last 10 of the first half to try and spark something.
Obviously Fitz thought he'd be better used at right centre. Looked like a bit of a waste to me, but I'm not the coach.
Mmm thought it was odd
 

Blue_Eyes84

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What are everyone's opinions on him starting next year?

He could start on the left-hand side of the field replacing Wilton. Or, he could replace McInnes at lock.

Or does everyone want him to remain coming off the bench providing impact when we need it?
 

Wizard

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What are everyone's opinions on him starting next year?

He could start on the left-hand side of the field replacing Wilton. Or, he could replace McInnes at lock.

Or does everyone want him to remain coming off the bench providing impact when we need it?
Would love to see him at 12 instead of Wilton.

Does the same thing Wilton does and then does a whoooollleeeee lot more.

Wilton off the bench for me, similar to Jack Williams.

Talakai in the middle is little wasted seeing how damaging he is on the edges
 

Blue_Eyes84

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Would love to see him at 12 instead of Wilton.

Does the same thing Wilton does and then does a whoooollleeeee lot more.

Wilton off the bench for me, similar to Jack Williams.

Talakai in the middle is little wasted seeing how damaging he is on the edges
Agree.
 

Gumby

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Would love to see him at 12 instead of Wilton.

Does the same thing Wilton does and then does a whoooollleeeee lot more.

Wilton off the bench for me, similar to Jack Williams.

Talakai in the middle is little wasted seeing how damaging he is on the edges
My thoughts exactly.
 

apezza

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Would love to see him at 12 instead of Wilton.

Does the same thing Wilton does and then does a whoooollleeeee lot more.

Wilton off the bench for me, similar to Jack Williams.

Talakai in the middle is little wasted seeing how damaging he is on the edges
Don't mind it, but Teig has come off the bench before and I thought didn't have much impact.

Would probably prefer JC when fit take that bench spot. But not sure if Teig deserves to be out of the side altogether
 

Sparkles

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What are everyone's opinions on him starting next year?

He could start on the left-hand side of the field replacing Wilton. Or, he could replace McInnes at lock.

Or does everyone want him to remain coming off the bench providing impact when we need it?
I'd love to see him at lock. I think it suits him defensively, gives him more chance to ballplay and he can still rove closer to the edges just like Yeo does. He can handles the bigger share of minutes to rest Cam and that still leaves him plenty of energy to break games open. Best of all worlds I reckon.
 

Milkshark

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IMO you want to blow other teams off the park from the get go. We don’t want to rely on Nicho to win back momentum or ice a game from behind. That’s not his game.

So we need to run Talakai wide and AFB through the middle all day. Loosen the other team up and let Nicho and Trindall start laying on points.

Wilton IMO is a bit slow on his feet, and too easy for the other team to manage. He needs to add something to his game to warrant more minutes. Maybe an offload, or get wider off the ruck.
 
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I'd be happy for Sifa to play as many minutes as possible. We are losing 44 games between two impact middles from this year though, which will mean if Sifa moves our entire bench is pretty much different.

I don't however think Teig has a role to play from the bench. He just isn't that impact player. He's a great one on one defender and line runner and his strength is consistency over 80 minutes rather than impact.

To start next year we have the following forwards - AFB, Cam, Nikora (assume they all start), Kaufusi, Rudolf, Teig, Talakai, BHU, Tuks, Hazleton. So one has to miss out if everyone's fit, and that's before JC comes back. I'd assume pending BHU's/any injury Tuks misses out. That leaves us with a bench of Sifa/Teig, Rudolf, Hazleton, BHU. I'm not sure Teig/Toby coming on at lock will replicate what we got from Jack. I'm honestly not sure Sifa would though either.

Also given AFB should take more minutes from the starting role, there probably isn't Jack's 45 minutes available on the bench from this year. Which makes it likely that a bench Sifa plays <40 per game.

So I guess my opinion is given we are already 2 middles down from this year, when we already had games playing Berrell there. I wouldn't want to make it 3 by putting Sif full-time on the edge. I think we rely on the bench impact too much and would suffer once injuries hit. I do however think Fitz needs to find a way in which he's getting more minutes. He also needs to integrate more wide running for Sifa during good ball sets even when he plays in the middle.
 

Sparkles

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If it's not Sifa, who is our other lock? Atko? He has to be ahead of Berrell.
I'd disagree that Sifa doesn't provide punch from the bench. If Cam started then you're bringing Talakai into the game at an ideal time for his style of play. Helping ball play in the middle and wreaking carnage on the edges. There a little early 2025 stirring in the downstairs at the thought
 

Wizard

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Don't mind it, but Teig has come off the bench before and I thought didn't have much impact.

Would probably prefer JC when fit take that bench spot. But not sure if Teig deserves to be out of the side altogether
If JC shines im sure
I'd be happy for Sifa to play as many minutes as possible. We are losing 44 games between two impact middles from this year though, which will mean if Sifa moves our entire bench is pretty much different.

I don't however think Teig has a role to play from the bench. He just isn't that impact player. He's a great one on one defender and line runner and his strength is consistency over 80 minutes rather than impact.

To start next year we have the following forwards - AFB, Cam, Nikora (assume they all start), Kaufusi, Rudolf, Teig, Talakai, BHU, Tuks, Hazleton. So one has to miss out if everyone's fit, and that's before JC comes back. I'd assume pending BHU's/any injury Tuks misses out. That leaves us with a bench of Sifa/Teig, Rudolf, Hazleton, BHU. I'm not sure Teig/Toby coming on at lock will replicate what we got from Jack. I'm honestly not sure Sifa would though either.

Also given AFB should take more minutes from the starting role, there probably isn't Jack's 45 minutes available on the bench from this year. Which makes it likely that a bench Sifa plays <40 per game.

So I guess my opinion is given we are already 2 middles down from this year, when we already had games playing Berrell there. I wouldn't want to make it 3 by putting Sif full-time on the edge. I think we rely on the bench impact too much and would suffer once injuries hit. I do however think Fitz needs to find a way in which he's getting more minutes. He also needs to integrate more wide running for Sifa during good ball sets even when he plays in the middle.
Whatever Jack Williams offers I feel like Wilton is just about the same.

Run hard, limited passing and can defend
 

bort

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Sifa is the better 12 but he's also the better 13/bench middle
And where it is closer is 12

Our best 13 probably has Sifa at 12
But our best 17 probably has Wilton at 12 and Sifa on the bench

Wilton isn't bad on the edge, he does a pretty good job there, but he could be bad as the bench middle.

If, god forbid, Cam was to miss a game would be rather run out 11 Nikora 12 Wilton 13 Talakai or 11 Nikora 12 Talakai 13 Wilton? I like the the first one better.
 
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Whatever Jack Williams offers I feel like Wilton is just about the same.

Run hard, limited passing and can defend
Agree to disagree. Jack was incredibly strong on both sides of the ball against opposition middles and generated quick play the balls. I'm not saying Teig is incapable, but I think he's far more likely to be dominated.

Also having our impact period of the game where Toby/Teig/Hazleton are our middles doesn't fill me with confidence, and that's before any injuries.
 

Wizard

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Agree to disagree. Jack was incredibly strong on both sides of the ball against opposition middles and generated quick play the balls. I'm not saying Teig is incapable, but I think he's far more likely to be dominated.

Also having our impact period of the game where Toby/Teig/Hazleton are our middles doesn't fill me with confidence, and that's before any injuries.
We haven’t seen Teig play that role much but I would not be suprised if Teig can do that role well.

He already has the skill set and work rate

I think between Toby, Tuks, Hazelton, JC and Teig we are more than capable and probably better off than 95% of other teams in those periods
 
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I had a look at the middles we used this year too.

Games Played2024 Middles2025 Middles
26KaufusiAFB
26McInnesMcInnes
25WilliamsKaufusi
25HazletonTalakai
24TalakaiRudolf
21RudolfHazleton
19HuntBHU
12BHUColquhoun
10TuksTuks
4BurnsBurns?
3BerrellBerrell?
3FinucaneHosking?
1ColquhounPickering?

We had great service from Tuks playing those 10 games as a guy who was ready to go. We managed this despite one of our core middles going down for the whole season too. Next year, with no major injuries, it looks okay if those same games play out, but one major injury like Dale this year and we're relying on Burns to play 10 games in the middle, assuming we resign him. That also relys on BHU playing 19 games. If he can only get 10-12 you're looking at the Berrell role playing 10 too. If you replace Sifa with Wilton, and he doesn't have the impact we want, that middle looks even thinner again.

I completely understand why you'd want Sif on the edge, I'd love to see it happen too. But 2 middles down on the depth chart, and Colquhoun missing the start of the year, I don't see it happening.
 

bort

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I had a look at the middles we used this year too.

Games Played2024 Middles2025 Middles
26KaufusiAFB
26McInnesMcInnes
25WilliamsKaufusi
25HazletonTalakai
24TalakaiRudolf
21RudolfHazleton
19HuntBHU
12BHUColquhoun
10TuksTuks
4BurnsBurns?
3BerrellBerrell?
3FinucaneHosking?
1ColquhounPickering?

We had great service from Tuks playing those 10 games as a guy who was ready to go. We managed this despite one of our core middles going down for the whole season too. Next year, with no major injuries, it looks okay if those same games play out, but one major injury like Dale this year and we're relying on Burns to play 10 games in the middle, assuming we resign him. That also relys on BHU playing 19 games. If he can only get 10-12 you're looking at the Berrell role playing 10 too. If you replace Sifa with Wilton, and he doesn't have the impact we want, that middle looks even thinner again.

I completely understand why you'd want Sif on the edge, I'd love to see it happen too. But 2 middles down on the depth chart, and Colquhoun missing the start of the year, I don't see it happening.
As much as I am for Sifa at 12 in a vacuum, the more I think about it the easier it is to think it may not be best overall and this is a good case for it.

Doesn't take much for the bench to get very shallow without Sifa there, given I don't think we'd get a heap out of Wilton (so we wouldn't play him huge minutes which wastes the fact one of his strengths is good workrate over 80)
 

Sevshark

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With AFB coming in I think Sifa's best usage for us is as an impact player off the bench.

Once JC is fit I think you can start him at 13 and then sub sifa on for him, then you can use Sifa through the middle or shift teig infield if you want to get Sifa on the edge.

I like Cam but don't think he offers us enough as a starting lock, which in fairness to him only happened after we lost Dale. Put him back on the bench and bring him on to clean up the middle when required.
 
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With AFB coming in I think Sifa's best usage for us is as an impact player off the bench.

Once JC is fit I think you can start him at 13 and then sub sifa on for him, then you can use Sifa through the middle or shift teig infield if you want to get Sifa on the edge.

I like Cam but don't think he offers us enough as a starting lock, which in fairness to him only happened after we lost Dale. Put him back on the bench and bring him on to clean up the middle when required.
I think it's fairly safe to say you won't see JC as starting lock this year (without an injury crisis). Maybe a chance in 2026 or beyond. I think 9 months post injury for JC is April, and if you assume he might get a month a Newtown first he'll miss the first 10 rounds minimum.
 

Sevshark

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I think it's fairly safe to say you won't see JC as starting lock this year (without an injury crisis). Maybe a chance in 2026 or beyond. I think 9 months post injury for JC is April, and if you assume he might get a month a Newtown first he'll miss the first 10 rounds minimum.

Yeah I originally started that sentence with an ideally but didn't like how it read
 
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