Maiko Sivo. The Fijian born 23 year old winger has been a revelation in the three short years that he has been playing rugby league and New Titans coach Gareth Brennan has already gone on record about the untapped and unlimited potential this Fijian youngster has.

In the three years that Maiko Sivo has been playing rugby league he has scored an incredible 98 tries and in 2017 was part of the Penrith New South Wales Intrust Super Premiership side that won the premiership and then the following week was in the side that defeated PNG on Grand Final day, both sides coached by Gareth Brennan of course.

In total in the NSW Intrust Super Premiership in 2017, Maiko Sivo played in twelve matches scoring thirteen. Maiko Sivo ran for 1 405 metres, made 51 tackle breaks, had a try assist, twelve line breaks and made 51 tackles at a tackling efficiency of 74.2%. Maiko Sivo’s 2017 NSW Intrust Super Premiership per game averages included running for 117.1 metres and making 4.25 tackles.

Maiko Sivo’s first season in Australian was for the Gundagai Tigers in the Group 9 competition in 2015 before me moved to the Mounties in the Sydney Cup for the 2016 season. Maiko Sivo started the 2017 season with St Mary’s in the Ron Massey Cup competition before breaking in the Penrith side for the NSW Intrust Super Premiership. He did not become a regular in the Penrith side until Round Fourteen.

Prior to his arrival in Australia Maiko Sivo who only came to Australia after accepting an invitation from a local Gundagai couple who were on holiday in Fiji, represented Fiji in rugby at the U20 at the 2014 World Junior Rugby Championships.

Maiko Sivo is a tall powerful young man with the length to cause matchup problems for a defensive line. The key for Maiko Sivo is to get the ball early and look to run through his opposite number if there is no room to move down the sideline. When there is room down the side line , Maiko Sivo has the above average to plus speed to break into open space and with his long lean limbs is able to hold his opposing winger away from his body with a strong fend enabling him to maintain his balance and running line even when under pressure.

Maiko Sivo also has the size and speed to come in off his wing and give his forwards a breather through powerful runs through the centre of the ruck and on those occasions commits multiple defenders. With his length and leaping ability Maiko Sivo is also an asset in the kicking game and when he gets a decent shot at the ball will be rarely beaten in the air.

Defensively Maiko Sivo is effective at maintaining his discipline staying with his opposite winger rather than looking to come in but in the occasions that he does come off his wing, he has the strength to finish off the attacking play there and then. With his speed, Maiko Sivo also has the recovery speed to react to opposition line breaks.

Maiko Sivo is contracted to the Panthers for 2018 but with the Panthers young backline looking set and talented youngsters coming through they cannot keep everyone and no one is better placed to help Maika Sivo realise his potential than his former coach.

It is incredible to think that Maika Sivo has only played three seasons of rugby league playing all three on the wing. With his relative lack of rugby league experience and outstanding speed and body control, no coach should even hypothesise about moving Maika Sivo from the wing.

In the interests of fairness Maiko Sivo is very raw but similarly he has come a long way in a short period of time, which to the present time has come primarily on the back of his natural ability. It is intriguing to hypothesise however what he could be with full time coaching and development, very intriguing indeed.

A current NRL player with similar skill attributes and playing style for me is Melbourne Storm sensation Suliasi Vunivalu. Like Vunivalu, Maika Sivo is a powerful runner who displays some breath taking skills on a field and has the innate ability that cannot be taught to score.