Young Tonumaipea Has signed with the Melbourne rebels
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Young Tonumaipea Has signed with the Melbourne rebels
Has anyone heard anything more about Patrick Herbert signing for the club?
If Young T has hit the road (very disappointed in him) then it would be very reassuring to have the Herbert signing confirmed.
With Young T/Copley gone our Centres depth chart looks very skinny at the moment.
I've watched Ese Ese closely the last two weeks and I wish we could take his money back and throw it at a hooker or centre. He has been hopeless. Someone will call me out next season I'm sure (and I hope they can) but I have him in the Shannon Boyd of signings category already.
Mate I’ve defended him in the past but he didn’t do much yesterday. Didn’t do much wrong, just didn’t do..much.
The S Boyd comparison is a stretch - you’re comparing a player on probably half the salary. He’s a mid range player that does mid range things, I’m not sure where the sentiment that he’s a marquee signing has come from.
Interested to hear more specifically what it is about his game you don’t like, or don’t see bringing value here MT? I think he’s a bench prop at the moment and I do wonder if the club had foreseen Joliffe’s progress, whether we would have signed Ese’ese all those months back. Does he bring more value than Lisone? I’m not sure I can say he does but then again, I wouldn’t have anticipated that Lisone would be going as good as he did - he was a reserve grader in Auckland. The holbroook effect is real.
I just think that O'Brien has not improved a number of players with the Knights which is why they were inconsistent. Klemmer, Barnett and Fitzgibbon are players that I think have gone backwards this year on an individual basis.
Ese Ese has a good offload and whilst I dont think he has set the world on fire, Holbrook has proven he can improve the players individually. Ese Ese also has a much better motor than Lisone and I think he will be ahead of him next year but behind Moe, Jolliffe and Wallace with Tino at 13. Ese also can play 13 so it gives him a bit of versatility.
In the end, not a star signing but a solid pickup in my opinion
I think the word hopeless is probably a bit far but I can see where you are coming from MT. Assuming he is on around 250-300k, and considering the depth we have developed in the middle, that money would be very useful for buying a quality hooker.
I do think he is better than what he has played at the Knights though. I had big wraps on him when he was at the Bronco’s along with Su’a (who has only just got back to playing that way since leaving). I don’t think Ese Ese has had much chances at the Knights because of the amount of middles they have on their books so hopefully Holbrook can get him back firing again.
I think mate, that you summarised where I'm coming from at the end of your post, in that we have had others come through. Ese Ese certainly looks no better than them and of course we didn't know that we'd get Fifita when he was signed. I think he started yesterday and did only 39 minutes and the week before only 33 minutes against us. Not a sign of a big motor.
He was put up as a pretty important signing when we got him but that is probably because things looked bleak as we were losing Arrow and not much else was doing. The last 7-8 weeks changed things. That all said, I never though much of him when he was at the Broncos and that hasn't changed. Hopefully he is on modest coin as you say. As the last two posts have said, Holbrook has certainly improved others so Herman might fit that mould. I'd love his money for someone else though.
NZF - my reference to him being hopeless was in relation to his last two weeks. I'd rate him as mediocre before that!
Happy enough with Ese’ese but he doesn’t make my first 17
I think Ese'ese may improve by leaps and bounds up here. He's played every game this season for the Knights yet has only been given on average 40 mins a game. With on average 14 minutes less a game he has averaged 5 less tackles and 8 less run metres than Arrow. Obviously it hasn't been Arrow's greatest season but when Ese'ese has been given over 50 minutes at lock he's run for 150m+ a game. To early to tell but he had big wraps at the Broncos and then I feel hasn't been utilised properly by the Knights. Also had a very good tackle efficiency (92.7%).
Was easily the Knight's best forward back in 2018. Don't follow them enough to know what's happened since. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. I actually thought he was one of the Knight's best when they played us. He got 33 minutes and made 85m and 31 tackles with 0 misses, whilst having one of their best PTB speeds. Wasn't expensive so happy with the signing.
AJ looking likely for the qld fullback spot and Mo and Sami on extended squad. Probably not the right thread, but how good is that!
I can see moe and AJ making the team, can’t see how Sami got in.. must not be many players available.. but great for all! Finally some of our players being recognized
It’s debatable if Sami is in our best 17 and he’s in the QLD squad.