Have to agree. You could say that about any player.
I'm pretty sure no one comes off that field feeling like they could have gone another few rounds.
And legend as Johnny is, he didn't bounce people around like Pauli does. Completely different players.

Charitably, this can best be described as "ambitious" - because suggesting that PP is a 'fringe' player in a WT team, suggests that you're perceiving us to be way ahead of where we actually are. PP is a monster - with limitations - which if he didn't have, he'd be bossing it in the NRL; as it is, he's one of the most effective and imposing forwards in SL, and the fact that we have both him and Big Dave in the same squad is nothing short of a miracle.

JT was a good player especially for his size and has been a fantastic servant to the club for nearly fifty years???. Thus a certain mythology has been built around him that simply wasn't there. At his very best he was a good squad player but nothing more, not NRL standard for the day or International, which in fairness was due mainly to his lack of height.

Truth is he was never anywhere near as effective then as PP has been now. It took JT 19 years and over 300 appearances to score 22 tries, it' taken PP 27 appearances to score 8 tries. God only knows what the yardage figures are but again I suspect they are hugely in PP's favour.

Stats only seem to count when they suit posters point of view and as such are mis-leading but not that mis-leading! PP is clearly the more effective player - regardless of era.

JT gained his status during the 1990 Aussie tour, I was there and it was fantastic. However that was for guts and general hard as nails behaviour not actual play. Truth is during the game JT along with the rest of the pack were only just a match for a second string Aussie team that hadn't really got off the bus.

If you strip away all that stuff PP is simply a bigger more effective unit and thats even taking his poor tackling technique into the equation. I bet if you were to ask JT he's say that PP is not a player he'd want to get in the way of, most don't.

I await Belly waxing lyrical about foggy nights, Woodbines at half time and running into brick walls for fun

Agree with all that.
Johnny is revered for his guts, toughness and loyalty.
He served us best when it was a tough slog of a game at Featherstone or when the Aussies were trying to bully us.

I'd always want Johnny at my club but PP is the kind of player that is taking our team to the top half of Super League.

Saying PP hasn't got the heart of JT is like saying he isn't as fast as TJ. They are just not comparable subjects.

Lots of different views on Pauli. One worry is that when he's ready to start training he might weigh in at 28stone.

Funnily enough, when he got injured last time he lost a fair bit of weight and had to put size back on. ATEOTD though the Coaching staff will monitor him through all this and watch his diet and weight and ease him back into training like they do with all injured players. Trouble can come when the players get injured and then go home and come back to preseason having not done much, like what could have happened to Fifita if he had not looked after his diet in that period but he looks to have recovered from his operations well and got back to where he needs to be.

Why, he didn't weigh 28 stone when he was out of action for over a year!

Don't get this at all, we wanted a big monster player and now he's too fat! How contrary can folk be.

I sincerely hope you all prove me wrong and the big lad has a stand out season for us ,humble pie is nothing new to me .
It’s been a pleasure of mine over the last fourty odd years to see some great overseas players at our club ,some famous,some not ,some came for a Holiday some left as hero’s and for some it just didn’t work out .
I really hope Pauli turns into a club legend that’s talk about in years to come , I’m just not convinced .

I remember Justin Holbrook saying it seems almost unfair to have a player like PP running at you close to the line. As others have said almost unstoppable and draws defenders so I think we will miss him but when he does come back conditions will suit him better and we certainly have sufficient depth to cope.

I just dont think we have used him in a way to maximize his potential yet.

Pretty much agree, though in fairness there must be other requirements from props. As an example Huby averaged under 6 metres last year so must presumably have brought something else to the party.

I personally don't think Huby had his best season for one reason and another, 6m AG and around 1350 meters, the year before he was at 7m AG and did nearly 2200 meters, although being a Fifita, PP type prop isn't his game, he's more a find his front quick PTB, or looking for an offload guy.

Yeah, Props do have to have more than a massive hit up in their game, or at least between the 4 a coach has at his disposal there's room for different types of Prop in a team. One or two can be a big AG Prop, who has 3/4 players pulling him doing every hit up and massively tires defenses out but that also sometimes gives time for a defense to set their line when peeling off. Alternatively, as I mentioned with Huby there are Props who are happy to make the meters they can and then get up quickly for a fast play of the ball, which also gets the team moving down the field. Obviously, there are other elements like being a solid tackler, having an offload game, a good engine & even a bit of footwork doesn't go amiss.

think this was a tongue in cheek comment, chill man

He’ll never be as good as Jarrod Hickey



now that was a waste of money.

Well someone did mention 28 stones, he wasn't far off when he literally rolled up here.

back in the 70s we had Les Tonks, now he was a big lad that did take some stopping many a time had his shirt ripped off his back while running through the line

So someone asks a question you don’t like and somehow they are frantic, nice side step fit the perpetual loser.

didn't get the perpetual loser bit
But seriously you do need to chill because you come across as a Mr know it all who likes to have the last word in any debate in which a persons view differs to yours, to the point where you start trading personal insults

The irony of your post, exceptional.

Your response, exceptionally good, a touch of humour without your usual diatribe.

Chill out man, you don't always need the last word.

The irony of your post, exceptional.

The whoooosh of your last post is predictable

I don't think I have to explain why I'm locking this one. I gave you every chance.

If this continues into the season I'll start handing out temporary bans like they do on the VT.
I'm assuming we are all just bored before the action starts.