Lizaya Iti. (Revised) The tough hard as nails forward displays a hard-nosed old fashioned approach to rugby league, rarely seen in the game anymore.

Lizaya Iti played the 2019 season with Souths Sydney in the NSW Rugby League U20 jersey Flegg competition. In that competition Lizaya Iti played in eight matches after coming in the Rabbitohs side in Round Nineteen against St George when he started from the bench. Lizaya Iti made his first Jersey Flegg start in Round Twenty Four against the Roosters starting in the front row. In total Lizaya Iti started four matches in the front row including Souths Sydney’s two finals against Penrith and Canberra and his remaining four matches from the bench.

In his eight matches Lizaya Iti was on the field for 168 metres, made 315 metres (104 post contact), broke twelve tackles and made eighty one tackles at an 84% tackling efficiency. Lizaya Iti’s 2019 Jersey Flegg per game averages included playing twenty one minutes, running for 39.5 metres and making 10.13 tackles.

In Round Twenty Six against the Cronulla Sharks Lizaya Iti ran for eighty metres, broke four tackles and in the first week of the Finals against Penrith Lizaya Iti made fifteen tackles.

Lizaya Iti played a number of matches for the Titans junior development squads when they played annual matches against the Redlands Junior Rugby League Club a number of years ago.

Lizaya Iti started his young rugby league in the Black and Red of the historic Wests Panthers club in Brisbane. Lizaya Iti also has representative experience with various South East Queensland representative sides over the last couple of seasons and is a former Coombabah State High School student.

At the start of 2018, Lizaya Iti commenced attending Ipswich State High School and represented the Met West region in the U18 QSSRL Championships and was subsequently selected in the QSSRL U18 side to contest the ASSRL U18 Championships later in the year.

Lizaya Iti started the 2018 season off in the MM Cup Competition with the South’s Logan Magpies and also recently has progressed to the South’s Logan U20 Colts side.

In the MM Cup competition in 2018 for South’s Logan Lizaya Iti was only able to play in three matches, but in a show of the high regard that he is held in, two of those matches were finals matches.

Lizaya Iti came into the South’s Logan side in Round Five from the interchange bench against Wynnum Manly and also started from the bench in the Grand Final victory over Norths. Lizaya Iti’s sole start came in Souths Logan’s opening finals appearance against Tweed Heads when he started in the second row.

Post the MM Cup competition, Lizaya Iti played for Waterford in the 2018 GBJRL U18 Nev Blair Cup competition.

For the South’s Logan U20 Colts side in 2018, Lizaya Iti came into the side in Round Fourteen against the Sunshine Coast Falcons starting at lock and celebrated by scoring a first half try.

Lizaya Iti was also involved in the MM Cup competition in 2017 again playing for Souths Logan including starting in the second row in their tough 40 – 30 MM Cup Grand Final loss to the Western Mustangs.

During the 2016 season, Lizaya Iti was part of the South’s Logan U16 CC side that were defeated in the Queensland final by the Townsville Stingers in a match that they led for large parts before being run down by the Townsville based side.

Over the course of the 2016 CC season, Lizaya Iti started in the second row in all of the matches that he played in, only missing Round Three and the Semi-final victory over the North’s Devils, but he was back to start in the second row in the Grand Final. Over the course of the CC season, Lizaya Iti scored four tries, including a double in a big win over the Easts Tigers and he also scored against the Gold Coast sides, being GC Green and GC White.

Lizaya Iti is a solidly built forward with a low centre of gravity making him a difficult proposition to tackle for opposing defences. He may not look it but Lizaya Iti is actually quite quick especially off the mark and will surprise a defence line in terms of how fast he gets to them and thus he is in a position to bump off the initial defender who on occasion has been unable to set up for the tackle properly.

Lizaya Iti does not have a lot of footwork prior to the line preferring to aim to get to his terminal velocity prior to contact and will drop his shoulder into the defenders as well. To say that he continues to fight in the tackle once contact has been established is an understatement. Lizaya Iti seems to take every confrontation personally and is intent on winning every individual battle.

Where Lizaya Iti’s greatest impact on a game is going to be is his defence. His has a great tackling technique and a hard hitting aggressive style to go with it. I think that in every game that I have seen him play, including representative games Lizaya Iti has made a huge impact defensively.

It is not a reckless style where Lizaya Iti runs in trying to pull off the biggest hit possible, it is a cold, calculating style where he uses a great technique to hit opposing forwards just under the rib cage to devastating effect.

Lizaya Iti sets a strong lower base by setting his legs and generating force by driving through the tackle with his lower body, gaining leverage and momentum, culminating with the power projecting through his shoulders into his opponent.

When the opportunity presents itself such as when an opponent starts to run slightly across field, Lizaya Iti will clinically and effectively make the opposition player pay for his angled run. When he drives a much larger opponent backwards, you can see the impact of the tackle immediately, his team are galvanised and generate additional confidence, conversely you can see the opposition forward’s head drop, and on a few occasions followed by the ball.

As games progress you can actually see opposition forwards who are running the ball, look for where Lizaya Iti is in the defensive line. As a result he has the ability to seal off one side of the ruck, enabling his team’s defensive strategy to be adjusted accordingly. He will also ensure that the tackle is finished off.

Lizaya Iti will play the 2019 season at the U20 level, his last year of Colts eligibility.

From a position perspective, Lizaya Iti is an ideal rugby league second rower at 185cm and 96kg with some sneaky pace, strength, power and a bit of mongrel in his game. I personally believe that every team needs at least one intimidating presence in their forward pack and Lizaya Iti is the player that can successfully fill that role in a team.

Earlier in his junior career Lizaya Iti did give away a few penalties for being overly aggressive but certainly over the last couple of seasons his discipline has improved immensely and consequently so has his positive impact on matches.

From a player comparison, I am going back quite a way to an era where players got away with a lot more ‘physical’ play, but for me with his solid build and hard running, hard tackling style, Lizaya Iti plays similar to former Many Sea Eagle, New South Wales and Australian test second rower Les Boyd as an intimidating presence on a football field who lets the opposition know when he is on a field through sheer physical aggression.

Identifying a current NRL player with a similar playing style for Lizaya Iti is a tough one, but for comparison purposes think of a cross between current Titan Keegan Hipgrave and former Titan Greg Bird, Yes I am absolutely serious.

I love watching this young man play he certainly leaves it all on the field. Lizaya Iti is just a tough tough young man who sometimes is unfairly targeted due to his aggressive playing style.

I do have to provide a caveat however, yes he is an intimidating presence on the field but Lizaya Iti also has the skill set of an outstanding rugby league second rower as well.