His goal kicking is an area where he has improved a lot. When he arrived at the Knights he was kicking at less than 70% success rate, and for the last few years he is over 80% and rarely misses from anywhere but the sideline. I think he was selected for firstgrade a few times mainly for his goal kicking. He was mostly coached by Rory Kostjaysyn in reserve grade for the last few years, as well as getting kicking and playmaking skills coaching from Scott Dureau, and working with those two old playmakers, as well as regularly opposing Mitchell Pearce in opposed sessions, has improved his game. As someone said in an earlier post, it's hard to get a handle on his playmaking skills from watching him play alongside Mitchell Pearce in firstgrade, because Mitch does the lion's share of the playmaking, but in reserve grade he has been steadily improving at the Knights. You can see a lot of his NSW cup stats here - which give a better idea of his playmaking stats. https://www.newcastleknights.com.au/tea ... ason-lino/

His goal kicking is an area where he has improved a lot. When he arrived at the Knights he was kicking at less than 70% success rate, and for the last few years he is over 80% and rarely misses from anywhere but the sideline. I think he was selected for firstgrade a few times mainly for his goal kicking. He was mostly coached by Rory Kostjaysyn in reserve grade for the last few years, as well as getting kicking and playmaking skills coaching from Scott Dureau, and working with those two old playmakers, as well as regularly opposing Mitchell Pearce in opposed sessions, has improved his game. As someone said in an earlier post, it's hard to get a handle on his playmaking skills from watching him play alongside Mitchell Pearce in firstgrade, because Mitch does the lion's share of the playmaking, but in reserve grade he has been steadily improving at the Knights. You can see a lot of his NSW cup stats here - which give a better idea of his playmaking stats. https://www.newcastleknights.com.au/tea ... ason-lino/

very good signing i!!! just the type of player we need .

I personally think his NRL record is fairly unimportant as it usually is. The fact that he’s played in it and won a full time contract indicates the lad can play. Not holding down a regular spot tends to show the depth of the NRL talent pool more than anything else.

What I tend to like about these south see islanders or whatever you want to call them is their willingness to adapt to new environments. Many native born or less be honest white Australians struggle to adapt to U.K. life. To these Samoans in this case it’s just another place to make their fortune. They don’t seem lumbered with home sickness because they were already away from home in some respects.

Also they seem to offer each other a support network, not just in their new club but throughout the U.K. game.

If he comes with the right attitude, fits in and joins the above I recon it may work out. I’m more confident with this lad than I would be with an established Aussie player.

Fingers crossed.

Speaking of Rory Kostjaysyn I see Jake Granville, his successor at the Cowboys, is available...now he would make a difference for us

Are you feeling OK?

I asked my contact who lives in the Hunter about Lino, and to give me a brief overview of his game and history to date.

"kicks goals" was all I could get.

Tough audience I think!

Well it ticks one box I guess.
I asked my NRL contact and he was gushing over how good he was but was unsure about the organisational skills as he has always played with a more dominant half back. He says he'll be a good signing if we get him though.

Confirm on the clubs FB feed, 3 year deal

Totally agree. Never got why some rated him

I’m chuffed. Hope he does well.

Confirmed on the club website... https://wakefieldtrinity.com/blog/2020/ ... g-of-lino/ and interview here on Trinity TV... https://trinity.mysportsonline.uk/

Confirmed on the club website... https://wakefieldtrinity.com/blog/2020/ ... g-of-lino/ and interview here on Trinity TV... https://trinity.mysportsonline.uk/

I'm impressed how quickly we moved on this. Great bit of business Trinity.

Mason Lino is not a midget at 5 foot 9 tall and 13 1/2 stone. Looking at some of his highlights he looks pacey.

He's in effect replacing Danny Brough who is allegedly only 5 foot 3 tall and 12 1/2 stone.

Welcome to the Trinity Mason! Hope you prove to be one of our best ever overseas signings over the next 3 years.

Must have already been on the radar.

Williams was known quantity but he failed to settle last time and procrastinated Thais time and to be fair on him he clearly knew 3 years in the U.K. wasn’t for him. He didn’t mess us around in a serious way.

I’ve no idea if this lads a better player but he does seem to be more willing to make the move long term. To me that’s a huge positive.

We will all, and will always have different opinions on different players, regardless who they are, and that will never change. For me, the stats don’t lie, regarding such as try assists and 40/20’s, which he led both for us, and bearing in mind he spent probably less time on the pitch than Finn and maybe Miller.

The ship has now sailed, we all need to see what Mason can do and give him our support. Welcome on board Mason.

People say he isn’t an organiser, but if he’s played alongside bigger names in the halves, which I believe he has, the team may have gone through that player more often. He’s still young enough to further develop his game.

Need to sort the front row now

I think it is easy to say that we don`t rate him now he isn`t coming back over to play for us, although I know he divided opinion previously so I won`t get too caught up in that.

I will start by saying, I do rate Williams but also at the same time I am not that bothered that we missed out on his signature, I thought he did the basics very well for a halfback, knew how to pick a pass, had a decent short and long kicking game in his locker and he always seemed to have his options organises, I just think some of us have come to "expect" more (Whether that's right or wrong!)when we are bringing in an overseas player like that than we would of got from the like of Finn (In reality there probably wasn`t much between them other than Finn just seem to slot in the side a bit better) he does though strike me as the kind of player that would do very well playing behind a monster pack, similar to Drinkwater a couple of years back with Catalan, a big team that just steam rolls others and they just need a link player to pick passes and provide a decent kick every now and then.

From the sounds of it as Vasty alluded to, he wants to come over and play which is always a good sign, he also wants to commit to 3 years which is also another good sign - I am sure that he had plenty of options to stay in Australia and lead one of the NSW cups team and play deputy to an NRL team, he obviously wants to come over and play, from what I hear on the Williams situation it was a bit forced.

If you asked me before if I would rather the club re-sign Williams or go with someone like Lino, an exciting player that is untested in SL and a bit of a calculated risk, I would have said Lino.

I don't disagree about Polynesian players, but I would point out that Lino is ethnic Chinese. He might have some Samoan heritage, but not much by the look of him. To risk using racial stereotypes, he is studying Business/Accountancy at University.

Massive risk a 3 year deal. We have a lot of running halfbacks that don't organise I'm not sure about this one. Suprised Chester gets any dough to spend to be honest

Well let's all just hope that you're wrong (as per usual!).

#GlassHalfEmpty

Righting him of before he gets here. Watched a few videos of Lino ,got fast feet ,seen some nice kicks near opponents line . And some good comment from coaches .But what do they do with all the coaches on this site

Yeah of course you're right......


We should have signed him for a year, watch him have a stormer and then f*ck off to Wigan - or even worse - Cas - for free.

So everyone has posted that this player is noted for being an organiser/playmaker yet somehow you choose to miss this, takes a special kind of st.......

Yes, that's right give him no money despite having a very good record on player signings. Note, MC has taken responsibility for some of the recent contracts handed out, most notably Brough but don't let that bother you.

Why would any current NRL player leave to join a SL club, even a top one, which we are not, on anything other than a 2 or 3-year deal? It's seller's market in case that's slipped your mind.

Finally, the fact that you are unsure gives me great hope, your record on predicting players is appealing so I expect him to be a superstar.

Yea but im usually right i dont listen to most of you on here lol. All im saying 3 years is risky I hope i am wrong too.

Er, no you're not.....

It’s deluded always has been.