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If you look at it real closely, last year there were 6 games were Tupou did not make a handling error and yet we won all 6 of those games.
He did however tend to be very lazy in returning the ball back in which if you look at the Melbourne game our first set in which he came out of dummy half on the second tackle dropped it so called without a hand on him. Especially when we were down on troops that night but started strongly in defense. We gave Cronk the opportunity to run over us in which that play surely was a factor in how we were going to play that night.
I can also remember the home game against the Bullscum..... Pearce and Mitchell started so strongly that we got out to a 12 point lead in which we should have been 16-nil up only to have Tupou drop a sitter of a pass from Pearce with no one in front of him and he was over the line. On that next set by the Scum, they scored and the momentum changes for them to win the game.....
You cannot also forget the last round against the Broncos when he could not even clear out or pick up such an easy rolling ball which yet again we were on top but a silly error from him in which the Broncos scored and momentum went their way to win the match.
Now, for a player who has won a Premiership, played Origin and a Test Match for Australia you would not expect the simple unforced errors like above from a player of that caliber. I got really frustrated with his ball handling this year as if he does not try to offload and shows alot more respect for the ball then I can guarantee he will keep that left wing position as he is a very talented player. Manu Vatuvei had the exact same problem years ago and got over it and look how good he has been.
Coaching Staff should focus on his ball control skills and then the club and the fans will see the best from Tupou.
He did however tend to be very lazy in returning the ball back in which if you look at the Melbourne game our first set in which he came out of dummy half on the second tackle dropped it so called without a hand on him. Especially when we were down on troops that night but started strongly in defense. We gave Cronk the opportunity to run over us in which that play surely was a factor in how we were going to play that night.
I can also remember the home game against the Bullscum..... Pearce and Mitchell started so strongly that we got out to a 12 point lead in which we should have been 16-nil up only to have Tupou drop a sitter of a pass from Pearce with no one in front of him and he was over the line. On that next set by the Scum, they scored and the momentum changes for them to win the game.....
You cannot also forget the last round against the Broncos when he could not even clear out or pick up such an easy rolling ball which yet again we were on top but a silly error from him in which the Broncos scored and momentum went their way to win the match.
Now, for a player who has won a Premiership, played Origin and a Test Match for Australia you would not expect the simple unforced errors like above from a player of that caliber. I got really frustrated with his ball handling this year as if he does not try to offload and shows alot more respect for the ball then I can guarantee he will keep that left wing position as he is a very talented player. Manu Vatuvei had the exact same problem years ago and got over it and look how good he has been.
Coaching Staff should focus on his ball control skills and then the club and the fans will see the best from Tupou.
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