Re: What now? : Wed Sep 08, 2021 9:36 am  

I like him, would I be devastated if he went, no, he was bigged up more than Satae and he has certainly hasn't been as good, but a sold performer who plays good minutes, make yards and has an offload.

Like most of our starting pack, he plays too many minutes due to the awful bench decisions by Hodgson.

Re: What now? : Wed Sep 08, 2021 10:51 am  

I really like Sao - no nonsense Prop, with good aggression, mobility and ability to offload. Had to do a lot of minutes this year too!

He isn't the same kind of player as Satae so cannot be compared to him. I have looked at his stats compared to someone like Prior - a prop that does a lot of minutes, and who has had a great year for Leeds, and his stats look good.

Sao:

Tackles - 538
Tackle Busts - 25
Carries - 229
Metres - 1722
Average Gain - 7.52
Offloads - 23

Prior:

Tackles - 613
Tackle Busts - 26
Carries - 214
Metres - 1559
Average Gain - 7.29
Offloads - 14

[Chris71]

Re: What now? : Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:35 am  

I'm another that likes Ligi and think he's been a decent signing.

As DaveK, mwindass & Irregs have said he has done a lot of minutes and in most of the games too many with the lack of Taylor & Bowden its been down to him and Satae to get us on the front foot which he and Satae have done.

He's pretty consistent too and think a lot of the errors he's made are down to fatigue and frustration. He's never going to be a barnstorming player in the way that Satae is but when they are on together they compliment each other. Both Sao & Satae need some support as so they can be utilised better but with both Bowden and Taylor being missing for a good chunk of the season we have been far too lightweight.

I also seem to remember Sao was going to play LF for us but ended up been used as a prop due to our shortage in that dept.

As Irregs has put when you compare his stats to Prior (who many seem to think is one of the best in SL) then Sao is more than decent.

We need to look at the Taylor/Bowden/Matongo situation as we have 3 players that have missed an awful lot of game time due to injury. Fash does a ton of work and is reliable and has role to play but we have lacked long term rotation in terms of fowards as once Satae & Sao come off we loss momentum due to lack of size in the middle coupled with the slow speed we tend to ptb.

Re: What now? : Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:40 am  

I like Ligi. Often has to play big minutes, to his detriment.

Like Dave K said, Hodgsons bench decisions have been baffling at times. Think Ligi has been a victim of that.

There again, Chris71 makes a good point in that with us missing three of our bigger units, we haven’t been able to spell Satae and Sao enough (without a huge drop off).

Re: What now? : Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:49 am  

I just put it out there because it's an opinion that I rarely ever see or hear. Is he a poor player? No. Is he a big part of our failings? Definitely not. But I just think he's nothing more than a solid pro, and is that the sort of player we want to be using our quota places (and no doubt a decent bit of cap) on?

I think it's a fair point about him being used the wrong way or being asked to do play too may minutes in the trenches, because he does show glimpses of being a dangerous player. Just not often enough for me.

Re: What now? : Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:58 am  

Ligi & Big Chris have been a match for almost everyone, they’ve carried our side all season, and the wonder is their efforts are only now looking jaded, the big question can Tag ever reproduce that performance which would absolutely complement these two, will we ever have him back.

Secondly even without Tag, Big Chris produced game after game, which we dominated up front, but the most alarming thing for me, was not our forward power, but the inability of our halves to capitalise on this, smartness and craft, has been completely absent, we epitomise the proverbial rudderless ship.

It’s getting a bit monotonous now, but a top hooker required, not an experimental nine, but one to push Danny off the scene, unbelievable we have been so poor, yet we are not that far away. Get the nine sorted, if finances allow it.

Re: What now? : Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:59 am  

I get what you mean ZH. I think if you could find a comparable English player to do the same job, you wouldn’t use a quota space on him.
Just a dearth of quality players across super league at the moment, so Sao looks a good signing in comparison to others out there.

Re: What now? : Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:03 pm  

We still seem unable to break teams down in their own 25. Reverted back to kicks to the corner or barge overs. Connor is the only real threat we have.

There again , most teams play the same way, with the same moves. Makes our game really uninteresting at the moment.

Re: What now? : Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:07 pm  

I was really impressed with the ball Wakey attacked at the weekend, they moved the ball quickly and accurately, one thing we cant do.

Re: What now? : Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:12 pm  

Dave K. wrote:

I was really impressed with the ball Wakey attacked at the weekend, they moved the ball quickly and accurately, one thing we cant do.

Is it new coach syndrome? I can remember we had that under Agar for a few weeks!