Official Siosifa Talakai

[Wiz]

Sure he’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I don’t mind Kempys takes on Bloke in a Bar, good player insight*

He said he reckons Talakai would be a top 10 forward in the NRL if he played with consistency. Seems real ambitious but that game every week from him would be insane.
Easier said than done of course.

*main issue is he’s not critical enough but I can understand why given he wants to keep a good relationship with players for his podcast

Always rated Talakai, it just seems like with all these players (Nikora,Uele, Rudolph,Talakai,Wilton, Jack Williams etc) we have only ever seen them under John Morris/Josh Hannay which isn’t saying much.

Under a different coach and assistant coach with far more credentials it looks like all these players could turn into genuine NRL stars which is good because there is so many of them we have who have so much potential.. happy for all of them to keep shining Aslong as we get to keep them

 

[Sutty]

Does he? Haven’t heard him say that
Thought it was just Kent who said that

Definitely a big call
Vs Wilton I guess it depends what you want, Teig could stand out in work rate but plenty of the most dangerous forwards don’t have big work rates (Kikau, DFifita)

Oh **** I got Kemp and Kent confused yeah I'm a dumbass. I'm def not the biggest brain around

 

[BurgoShark]

Always rated Talakai, it just seems like with all these players (Nikora,Uele, Rudolph,Talakai,Wilton, Jack Williams etc) we have only ever seen them under John Morris/Josh Hannay which isn’t saying much.

Under a different coach and assistant coach with far more credentials it looks like all these players could turn into genuine NRL stars which is good because there is so many of them we have who have so much potential.. happy for all of them to keep shining Aslong as we get to keep them

I’d put Wilton in a different category to those other players. He is 2 years younger than the next youngest player and was still breaking in last year.

Bomber should be given at least a little bit of credit for helping taking Cup guys (Rudolf, Talakai and Hunt) and turning them in to legit NRL players.

Hannay struggled, but was dealt a crap hand. It was a mixed bag under him. Some guys played their worst footy (Uele, Rudolf) but others actually went quite well (Woods, Williams).

 

[Blair]

I love Talakai, but worried how he is going to go marking Gagai this week.

 

[HaroldBishop]

I love Talakai, but worried how he is going to go marking Gagai this week.

Will be interesting. Probably would have been a better match up if he was on Best's side and Jesse on Gagai's.

 

[Bundy Shark]

I love Talakai, but worried how he is going to go marking Gagai this week.

Same, he’s been really good this season but this match up is not good for us, Gagai annoys me but there’s no doubting he’s a bloody good player & he’s been enormous for the Knights so far

 

[Sparkles]

His nickname should be Gimli.

And my vax!!

 

[Tiger Shark]

I’d put Wilton in a different category to those other players. He is 2 years younger than the next youngest player and was still breaking in last year.

Bomber should be given at least a little bit of credit for helping taking Cup guys (Rudolf, Talakai and Hunt) and turning them in to legit NRL players.

Hannay struggled, but was dealt a crap hand. It was a mixed bag under him. Some guys played their worst footy (Uele, Rudolf) but others actually went quite well (Woods, Williams).

Absolutely Bomber deserves credit for the position we're in, he was good with our juniors and was happy to give them a debut. You could argue Flanno was pretty gun shy giving guys their debut.

And now we're benefiting from those 20-30 games they all good under his tenor.

Think end of the day Bomber got the gig too early and needed more help. Wonder how we'd go if Bomber stayed and we got Price back to look after the defense? I'd imagine we'd be a much better team just off that. In saying that happy we got Fitz and feel we'll be better off recruitment wise under him.

 

[Western Sharkie]

Absolutely Bomber deserves credit for the position we're in, he was good with our juniors and was happy to give them a debut. You could argue Flanno was pretty gun shy giving guys their debut.

And now we're benefiting from those 20-30 games they all good under his tenor.

Think end of the day Bomber got the gig too early and needed more help. Wonder how we'd go if Bomber stayed and we got Price back to look after the defense? I'd imagine we'd be a much better team just off that. In saying that happy we got Fitz and feel we'll be better off recruitment wise under him.

100%

 

[Gards]

I love Talakai, but worried how he is going to go marking Gagai this week.

there's some article floating around on the net bagging Fitz decision to pick Talakai in the centres and not bring in Jenson and back youth

I think that's a harsh assessment but I have legit concerns same as you about him defending in centres especially against someone like Gagai. He needs to smash him hard and early game and put him off / make him hesitant about running near him again lol

But Gagai can still cause him trouble just passing it on

I'm not sure if I want rain or a dry track when thinking about things like this and Pinga ect. wet would prob swing advantage to us

I know Talakai played some centre last weekend but that was in the wet and the Dragons backline is inexperienced and mediocre/inconsistent for the most part

 

[bort]

Absolutely Bomber deserves credit for the position we're in, he was good with our juniors and was happy to give them a debut. You could argue Flanno was pretty gun shy giving guys their debut.

And now we're benefiting from those 20-30 games they all good under his tenor.

Think end of the day Bomber got the gig too early and needed more help. Wonder how we'd go if Bomber stayed and we got Price back to look after the defense? I'd imagine we'd be a much better team just off that. In saying that happy we got Fitz and feel we'll be better off recruitment wise under him.

We'd be better with Price and Bomber would have finally been able to get some decent recruitment. He already got McInnes over.

Mostly hype based but it looks like Fitz is the better, or at least more ready, coach.

All those guys had periods of good footy with Bomber and all were signed with the anticipation they would get better/more consistent with experience and age.

We have a better team on the park will naturally allow everyone to play better too.

there's some article floating around on the net bagging Fitz decision to pick Talakai in the centres and not bring in Jenson and back youth

I think that's a harsh assessment but I have legit concerns same as you about him defending in centres especially against someone like Gagai. He needs to smash him hard and early game and put him off / make him hesitant about running near him again lol

But Gagai can still cause him trouble just passing it on

I'm not sure if I want rain or a dry track when thinking about things like this and Pinga ect. wet would prob swing advantage to us

Clearly they've never seen Jensen

 

[Sevshark]

there's some article floating around on the net bagging Fitz decision to pick Talakai in the centres and not bring in Jenson and back youth

I think that's a harsh assessment but I have legit concerns same as you about him defending in centres especially against someone like Gagai. He needs to smash him hard and early game and put him off / make him hesitant about running near him again lol

But Gagai can still cause him trouble just passing it on

I'm not sure if I want rain or a dry track when thinking about things like this and Pinga ect. wet would prob swing advantage to us

Scott Pryde from zero tackle, clearly never watches our first grade or juniors.

 

[Gards]

Scott Pryde from zero tackle, clearly never watches our first grade or juniors.

You're right was Zero Tackle. Most the NRL stuff I get on my phones newsfeed has been Fox or other MSM but more ZT coming through now

Pryde prob just trying to be 'controversial' and be the first hero to start bagging Fitz

Our team is full of blokes that have come through the lower/younger grades

 

[Sevshark]

You're right was Zero Tackle. Most the NRL stuff I get on my phones newsfeed has been Fox or other MSM but more ZT coming through now

Pryde prob just trying to be 'controversial' and be the first hero to start bagging Fitz

Our team is full of blokes that have come through the lower/younger grades

He was predicting Ikuvalu to start ahead of Sione in pre-season so I already knew he had no clue thankfully

 

[bort]

You're right was Zero Tackle. Most the NRL stuff I get on my phones newsfeed has been Fox or other MSM but more ZT coming through now

Pryde prob just trying to be 'controversial' and be the first hero to start bagging Fitz

Our team is full of blokes that have come through the lower/younger grades

Easy to say back youth when you have no idea about the bloke. Seems pretty apparent we offered Jensen top 30 contract to ensure we signed him and it hasn't panned out so far. He's like 21 so still plenty of time but starting to be a concern he is another Kayleb Milne or Lumelume who got big and strong young and has some athleticism but isn't an NRL player.

(yes I know Lumelume eventually got a couple runs with Storm and may get some yet with dogs)

He was predicting Ikuvalu to start ahead of Sione in pre-season so I already knew he had no clue thankfully

Well if he doesn't even know about our starting players what hope does he have.

Personally from what I have seen (very limited admittedly) I'd play Lualua ahead of Jensen, although would need a top 30 contract.
Hiroti likely still a shout above both (he's only like one year older than them)

 

[Jaws]

I love Talakai, but worried how he is going to go marking Gagai this week.

I’m confident talakai can’t shut him out. He did a job on staggs last year when we beat Brisbane and he started in the centre’s.

 

[Sir Chadley]

I’m confident talakai can’t shut him out. He did a job on staggs last year when we beat Brisbane and he started in the centre’s.

Sorry mate, can or can’t?

 

[egg]

I love Talakai, but worried how he is going to go marking Gagai this week.

Maybe it's Gagai that should be worried

 

[apezza]

Maybe it's Gagai that should be worried

Ha. That's what I was thinking!

 

[Tiger Shark]

Easy to say back youth when you have no idea about the bloke. Seems pretty apparent we offered Jensen top 30 contract to ensure we signed him and it hasn't panned out so far. He's like 21 so still plenty of time but starting to be a concern he is another Kayleb Milne or Lumelume who got big and strong young and has some athleticism but isn't an NRL player.

I'm starting to feel that's exactly the direction Jensen is going sadly. Just hasn't kicked on, he might, give it time but i'm skeptical and think he's going to get passed soon, if he's not already by others.

Iro seems to be doing well, we've got Lualua and Samrani looks promising, plus Stonestreet. Yes some are wingers and Jensen seems to be mostly center