Joseph who?

[Chook2]

Robert toia 3rd game back in nsw cup
18 years old coming back from acl
man produces these stats
Will be left centre next year, big, quick and strong

3 times the player of suaali allready

15 Runs
236M
59 PCM
15 offloads
1 LB
13 TB

[Noosa Rooster]

We need to be careful about what we expect of these kids.
Most here frothed over the potential of Suaalli only to turn on him when his formed dropped, which coincided with him being played out of position. While I expect the ‘He defected to rugby’ rhetoric will be offered as the reason, if his form had held, the fickle nature of this forum would still be blowing smoke up his arse awaiting the day he returns to the Roosters in glory.
While I consider he is being way overpaid for what he offers, both by us and RA, that’s not his fault and while I don’t know anybody on here personally, I’d be pretty confident to say that none of us would knock it back if we had negotiated that deal for ourselves.
I hope Robert Toia does live up to his potential and has a great career with us but also hope we cut him some slack when he inevitably goes through a bad patch.

[ism22]

Robert toia 3rd game back in nsw cup
18 years old coming back from acl
man produces these stats
Will be left centre next year, big, quick and strong

3 times the player of suaali allready

15 Runs
236M
59 PCM
15 offloads
1 LB
13 TB

Yes in NSW cup. Anybody got Sua'ali'i's stats from GPS rugby? He's not just hype. He killed it on the wing last year and has found solid form again in recent weeks (after the experiment at centre - which was a big ask).

IMO part of the puzzle is that our team s*x this year. If we were winning other aspects of the game then I reckon the great Aukuso Sua'ali'i would be absolutely killing it at centre. I reckon we see this with guys like Steve Crichton... when you take him outta the Penrith systems he's not THAT good at centre. However with Penrith he's frigging lethal.

We thought we'd be a top-4 team this year and if we were, it woulda been an easy transition for Aukuso. However as it is, you can't expect him to learn the role while also dominating in a bottom-8 team that's been awfully close to spoon territory but for a few early season wins against Souffs and Parra.

His time will come! IMO blaming a young winger for your season's form while boasting that some kid's getting mad stats in NSW cup is a false economy. We all know that NSW cup is nothing like the NRL...

[King Salvo]

Yes in NSW cup. Anybody got Sua'ali'i's stats from GPS rugby? He's not just hype. He killed it on the wing last year and has found solid form again in recent weeks (after the experiment at centre - which was a big ask).

IMO part of the puzzle is that our team s*x this year. If we were winning other aspects of the game then I reckon the great Aukuso Sua'ali'i would be absolutely killing it at centre. I reckon we see this with guys like Steve Crichton... when you take him outta the Penrith systems he's not THAT good at centre. However with Penrith he's frigging lethal.

We thought we'd be a top-4 team this year and if we were, it woulda been an easy transition for Aukuso. However as it is, you can't expect him to learn the role while also dominating in a bottom-8 team that's been awfully close to spoon territory but for a few early season wins against Souffs and Parra.

His time will come! IMO blaming a young winger for your season's form while boasting that some kid's getting mad stats in NSW cup is a false economy. We all know that NSW cup is nothing like the NRL...

Good point - Penrith's robotic like grind game is not being replicated by any other club so if they move to other clubs with a different style of play they can struggle to replicate the form they showed at Penrith.

[ChookMaster]

Yes in NSW cup. Anybody got Sua'ali'i's stats from GPS rugby? He's not just hype. He killed it on the wing last year and has found solid form again in recent weeks (after the experiment at centre - which was a big ask).

IMO part of the puzzle is that our team s*x this year. If we were winning other aspects of the game then I reckon the great Aukuso Sua'ali'i would be absolutely killing it at centre. I reckon we see this with guys like Steve Crichton... when you take him outta the Penrith systems he's not THAT good at centre. However with Penrith he's frigging lethal.

We thought we'd be a top-4 team this year and if we were, it woulda been an easy transition for Aukuso. However as it is, you can't expect him to learn the role while also dominating in a bottom-8 team that's been awfully close to spoon territory but for a few early season wins against Souffs and Parra.

His time will come! IMO blaming a young winger for your season's form while boasting that some kid's getting mad stats in NSW cup is a false economy. We all know that NSW cup is nothing like the NRL...

I agree it is the NSW cup however it is still worthy of being mentioned because of Rob’s lengthy injury history and the fact that he has essentially had to jump up to playing men since returning. I posted his stats in the JS thread whilst almost creaming myself ahah but it is obviously known that he is a rookie with a great future ahead with many bumps along the way - all I care about is we develop him which is a test to Robbo these days.

Gus Gould offered Rob a nice deal but thankfully we got him to sign on a longer deal.


Gus knows

[Waylander]

The kid can only play who's in front of him, and to date he has looked the goods at every level.

The club has a VERY high opinion of him, and I expect him to come into firsts next year and he will not look out of place. I'm really looking forward to what he can bring to our side. Note the number of offloads in the stats above ... that's exactly the kind of thing we need to ignite our attack. I'd love nothing more than to see the return of the Roosters "lethal left" as they used to call it.

I'm going to posit that Toops might just leave Mini a long way behind him in the try-scoring stakes by the end of next year.

[The Brain]

The Special one

[King Salvo]

I agree it is the NSW cup however it is still worthy of being mentioned because of Rob’s lengthy injury history and the fact that he has essentially had to jump up to playing men since returning. I posted his stats in the JS thread whilst almost creaming myself ahah but it is obviously known that he is a rookie with a great future ahead with many bumps along the way - all I care about is we develop him which is a test to Robbo these days.

Gus Gould offered Rob a nice deal but thankfully we got him to sign on a longer deal.


Gus knows

So you reckon the 250k a season for Toia is correct - I've seen that it's a 3 and or 4 year deal

[Roosterfarian]

I recognise that we shouldn't get too ahead of ourselves as there have been ample examples of our juniors not kicking on but personally I love hearing stories of our boys killing it in the lower grades. We are not really recognised for our junior development so when one comes through its not hard to get excited.

Those games stats above are pretty impressive for someone who's been out for a WHOLE year. Let's hope he gets better and better and vying for a first grade spot next year. It may just be time to reset our team structure and new kids bring energy that some of the older guys have lost. Let's just take it for what it's worth at this time. Well done to the young fella. Hope he kills it.

[ChookMaster]

The kid can only play who's in front of him, and to date he has looked the goods at every level.

The club has a VERY high opinion of him, and I expect him to come into firsts next year and he will not look out of place. I'm really looking forward to what he can bring to our side. Note the number of offloads in the stats above ... that's exactly the kind of thing we need to ignite our attack. I'd love nothing more than to see the return of the Roosters "lethal left" as they used to call it.

I'm going to posit that Toops might just leave Mini a long way behind him in the try-scoring stakes by the end of next year.

Na the poster stuffed it up… I have no idea how he got 15 lol but he managed 3 anyway.

[Rooster_6]

Not sure what this has to do with Joseph Suaalii but it has been great to see Toia come back and hit the ground running.

Would be good to see him get a run in the last few games once we are mathematically ruled out.

[BillyBonkers]

Yes in NSW cup. Anybody got Sua'ali'i's stats from GPS rugby? He's not just hype. He killed it on the wing last year and has found solid form again in recent weeks (after the experiment at centre - which was a big ask).

IMO part of the puzzle is that our team s*x this year. If we were winning other aspects of the game then I reckon the great Aukuso Sua'ali'i would be absolutely killing it at centre. I reckon we see this with guys like Steve Crichton... when you take him outta the Penrith systems he's not THAT good at centre. However with Penrith he's frigging lethal.

We thought we'd be a top-4 team this year and if we were, it woulda been an easy transition for Aukuso. However as it is, you can't expect him to learn the role while also dominating in a bottom-8 team that's been awfully close to spoon territory but for a few early season wins against Souffs and Parra.

His time will come! IMO blaming a young winger for your season's form while boasting that some kid's getting mad stats in NSW cup is a false economy. We all know that NSW cup is nothing like the NRL...

One of your best....

[Waylander]

Na the poster stuffed it up… I have no idea how he got 15 lol but he managed 3 anyway.

3 is still better than most of our guys usually manage. Watching what little I have seen of him so far he always seems to make it difficult for the first defender to get solid contact. He is physically strong in his upper body, throwing off defenders and has good late footwork as well. I'm excited about what he will bring to us.

[Tom Verlaine's Ghost]

Jermaine Ale
Tautau Moga
Sia Soliola

[Waylander]

Jermaine Ale
Tautau Moga
Sia Soliola

You never know when guys are dominating in the juniors if it's simply because they are more physically mature than their opponents. There are plenty of examples of guys who killed it through the age groups but when they eventually played against their physical equals, they failed to shine. Toia is 183cm and 100kgs at 18. That would allow him to dominate most centres through the juniors without any special skills. The fact that he is still putting impressive stats together playing against men in Reggies is very encouraging.