The Elephant in the Room...Fumbles Ikuvalu

[ROC181]

Sad but true.

I can't recall a defensive weak link as bad as Walker in a Roosters jersey, ever.

He's just not physically ready yet. He has loads of heart so will be fine long term but right now he's just 10kg of muscle and two years physical maturity away from being ready.

And yet, he still needs to start because Lam is a total spud. I'd rather have to watch Turbo run at Walker with all the horrors that go with it than watch Lam stink it up in attack.

Hahaha… a total spud. Never heard that expression before.

Like I said elsewhere, if Lams role is defence, which he’s not the best at it either, then why not get an edge forward who can defend and maybe make some breaks as well. I doubt Lam would have made a tackle like Walker did last night…How many times has Walker saved our arse? How many times has Lam saved our arse? That’s a half back role…

I wish Watson would have made his decision earlier.

[ism22]

Agree Ikavalu has one handling error per match or your money back. But he is solid and scores tries that Copley or no one in our squad bar BMoz would score. Retain him. Every club needs the lesser known players like Ikavalu.
I’m more concerned they’ll push their A at Keighran.

Yep exactly. More diamonds than rocks... he's a prolific try scorer who can play wing/centre and isn't chasing $$$.

IMO depth is why we're now 2 games away from a grand final rather than sitting at home, eating Maccas with Crichton and ordering booze from Teddy's Door Dash. There's a lot of flawed, 2nd-4th string players in our team, but they go alright!

We should stop attacking individuals and keep looking at the bigger picture. This is what we've got and they're doing okay!

[mattyh]

poor ika , i felt sorry for him. but goddamn he has a handling error or 2 in him, i think he has more upside then copley personally. can score lots of tries dale cant .

[Thirteen]

Opposition coaches know it,opposition players know it,comentators know it and Rooster supporters know it.....Fumbles Ikuvalu is the weak link in the Easts team

last night Ikuvalu errors resulted in 2 Titans tries...his miss in defence in the final seconds almost gave victory to the Gold Coast

Notice how Ikuvalu was the one to take the second hit up from kickoffs.?...so very predictable

Ever since he debuted in 2018 Ikuvalu has had error filled games

People focus on the scoring of spectacular tries...but what about all the stuff ups??

The Solution
if Easts want to have any hope of winning next week...Drop Ikuvalu and replace him him with Dale Copley...a solid reliable right winger, who defends well

if Ikuvalu plays against Manly,Hasler will exploit the weakness......

A short kickoff against Manly might even work as a bit of variation

PS How good is Sam Walker last night ?...cometh the hour..cometh the man

You must have been dying to get on here and start this thread.

Yeh let’s do short kick offs. That will win us the comp.

[Thirteen]

I think our excellent season is about to end, so I reckon we should give Sam at least half a game against Manly. It would be excellent experience for him in the lead up to our premiership runs in 2022 and 2023.

Not smart to suggest we use a knock out semi to give a young guy experience. We go with the best guys available to win us the game.

[Thirteen]

poor ika , i felt sorry for him. but goddamn he has a handling error or 2 in him, i think he has more upside then copley personally. can score lots of tries dale cant .

Plus Dale is built with tissue paper and would be lucky to last the 80.

[Johnny Tobin]

I think our excellent season is about to end, so I reckon we should give Sam at least half a game against Manly. It would be excellent experience for him in the lead up to our premiership runs in 2022 and 2023.

I’m not giving up that easy. We can beat Manly.

[Johnny Tobin]

Yep exactly. More diamonds than rocks... he's a prolific try scorer who can play wing/centre and isn't chasing $$$.

IMO depth is why we're now 2 games away from a grand final rather than sitting at home, eating Maccas with Crichton and ordering booze from Teddy's Door Dash. There's a lot of flawed, 2nd-4th string players in our team, but they go alright!

We should stop attacking individuals and keep looking at the bigger picture. This is what we've got and they're doing okay!

More rocks than diamonds unfortunately.

[zac]

iku's one of the best finishers in the game - in the disallowed try he did very well. he had two fatal errors last night but he had a shocker with several errors last year and people were calling for him to be dropped but robbo stuck with him and he didn't let us down. if robbo sticks with him it's cos he'll be able to get him right for next week.

[Monaco's Fan Club]

I’d be happy with Copley coming in. The pressure on Ikuvalu to not just perform but the strain not to be a liability.

This is the finals, no room for passengers

[horrie hastings]

As bad as Iku's fumble was when he coughed up the ball straight into the Titans player to score the play shouldn't have even got that far. Tino for the Titans was in front of the kicker when the bomb went up and he tacked Josh Morris when Morris caught the bomb so it should have been penalty to the Roosters.

[rented tracksuit]

Agree Ikavalu has one handling error per match or your money back. But he is solid and scores tries that Copley or no one in our squad bar BMoz would score. Retain him. Every club needs the lesser known players like Ikavalu.
I’m more concerned they’ll push their A at Keighran.

Keighran is an atrocious defender... at the moment.

No one is perfect with only a handful of first grade games though.

Iku is a must have in the side right now. Sure he almost cost us our unbelievable season, but he didn’t. He will win us more games that he will cost us.

[milanja]

DCE probably has the best kicking game of any half in the comp, Toops v Saab should be a beauty.

[Roosterfarian]

Haha...sorry Hedgehog but I can't recall you ever making a positive comment on here, ever. It's a hard read.

Forum flog he is the SesameStreetKid.

[Rooster1908]

I’m better than you, which is all I need to be.

Nah don't think you are actually.Iku is a solid first grader , not a star but a good reliable backup .Yep drips a ball and misses a tackle accassionly but he scores some beauties as well.As for Lam well we did win and I suspect is young Sam was on we wouldn't have.Hes the future but not ready yet