[PopTart]

Re: Pauli pauli : Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:20 pm  

Agree with all that.
Johnny is revered for his guts, toughness and loyalty.
He served us best when it was a tough slog of a game at Featherstone or when the Aussies were trying to bully us.

I'd always want Johnny at my club but PP is the kind of player that is taking our team to the top half of Super League.

Saying PP hasn't got the heart of JT is like saying he isn't as fast as TJ. They are just not comparable subjects.

Re: Pauli pauli : Thu Jan 31, 2019 1:45 pm  

Lots of different views on Pauli. One worry is that when he's ready to start training he might weigh in at 28stone.

Re: Pauli pauli : Thu Jan 31, 2019 2:13 pm  

metallicat wrote:

Lots of different views on Pauli. One worry is that when he's ready to start training he might weigh in at 28stone.

Funnily enough, when he got injured last time he lost a fair bit of weight and had to put size back on. ATEOTD though the Coaching staff will monitor him through all this and watch his diet and weight and ease him back into training like they do with all injured players. Trouble can come when the players get injured and then go home and come back to preseason having not done much, like what could have happened to Fifita if he had not looked after his diet in that period but he looks to have recovered from his operations well and got back to where he needs to be.

Re: Pauli pauli : Thu Jan 31, 2019 2:42 pm  

metallicat wrote:

Lots of different views on Pauli. One worry is that when he's ready to start training he might weigh in at 28stone.

Why, he didn't weigh 28 stone when he was out of action for over a year!

Don't get this at all, we wanted a big monster player and now he's too fat! How contrary can folk be.

Re: Pauli pauli : Thu Jan 31, 2019 2:52 pm  

I sincerely hope you all prove me wrong and the big lad has a stand out season for us ,humble pie is nothing new to me .
It’s been a pleasure of mine over the last fourty odd years to see some great overseas players at our club ,some famous,some not ,some came for a Holiday some left as hero’s and for some it just didn’t work out .
I really hope Pauli turns into a club legend that’s talk about in years to come , I’m just not convinced .

Re: Pauli pauli : Thu Jan 31, 2019 3:51 pm  

I remember Justin Holbrook saying it seems almost unfair to have a player like PP running at you close to the line. As others have said almost unstoppable and draws defenders so I think we will miss him but when he does come back conditions will suit him better and we certainly have sufficient depth to cope.

Re: Pauli pauli : Thu Jan 31, 2019 5:01 pm  

I just dont think we have used him in a way to maximize his potential yet.

Re: Pauli pauli : Thu Jan 31, 2019 5:42 pm  

Shifty Cat wrote:

Why the comment?
You can take out of it what you want but I just gave a few stats, my opinion and didn't agree with what you've put. I also didn't say stats are the be all & end all, that's why I just didn't post stats but they do tell you a fair bit. Like when you look at any of the top Props in the league they have an average gain in the mid/high 7's to over 8 meters a game. Take Thompson from Saints last year, all you had to do is watch the dude play to see he was causing havoc in defenses game after game, then look at his average gain it's over 8 meters and he's run for a few thousand meters.

As I said, it's your opinion mate just don't agree.

Pretty much agree, though in fairness there must be other requirements from props. As an example Huby averaged under 6 metres last year so must presumably have brought something else to the party.

Re: Pauli pauli : Thu Jan 31, 2019 6:03 pm  

[quote="bellycouldtackle"]I just dont think we have used him in a way to maximize his potential yet.[/qu

You may be right, all I can say is on a number of occasions he took three or four defenders over the line with him! I think he's a tremedous impact player from the bench. He's a different player to big Ali but may become just as devastating.

Re: Pauli pauli : Thu Jan 31, 2019 7:09 pm  

Clearwing wrote:

Pretty much agree, though in fairness there must be other requirements from props. As an example Huby averaged under 6 metres last year so must presumably have brought something else to the party.

I personally don't think Huby had his best season for one reason and another, 6m AG and around 1350 meters, the year before he was at 7m AG and did nearly 2200 meters, although being a Fifita, PP type prop isn't his game, he's more a find his front quick PTB, or looking for an offload guy.

Yeah, Props do have to have more than a massive hit up in their game, or at least between the 4 a coach has at his disposal there's room for different types of Prop in a team. One or two can be a big AG Prop, who has 3/4 players pulling him doing every hit up and massively tires defenses out but that also sometimes gives time for a defense to set their line when peeling off. Alternatively, as I mentioned with Huby there are Props who are happy to make the meters they can and then get up quickly for a fast play of the ball, which also gets the team moving down the field. Obviously, there are other elements like being a solid tackler, having an offload game, a good engine & even a bit of footwork doesn't go amiss.