I did actually mean Terry Newton but that cabbage of a coward in red and white is just as bad, the famous HKR enforcer that always comes in off the ball out of sight or third man do you mean


but seriously both are much worse thatn Hame ever was, Hame is petulent yes and will slap anyone who upsets him thats his make up and his way. but i recal the huge call for an enforcer or two when all we had was PK, hey you cant have enforcers without red cards you know ask Brisbane fans

Trouble with Lauiki was (and this is from limitted ky matches and the derby) that if an oppo niggled him he would come up swinging. I think it was his first match for you against the Bulls, he'd only been on 5 mins and had 3 minor skirmishes and only by luck of the call Glenn Morrison sent off and he stayed on. Other teams have spotted this being his achiles heel and will target it, as was seen in the derby.

He will be on a learning curve and maybe the ref warning him (albeit a bit harshly) will help him progress down this curve. If as you say he is a smasher then thats what he needs to do, legally and he will only get pats on the back. If the other player takes exception, laugh at him, it means the smash worked. His 'reputation' will soon go away once the refs realise he's got the message.

good post

Sadly real life is never as simple as we'd like it to be, and given the standards of the officials in SL I doubt that any player would just be able to shrug off a warning that he was being watched before he even touched the ball. You see uneven treatment of the same 'offences' in every single game, and if you've been warned that every move you make is going to be put under the microscope then you can guarantee you'll get pinged for the [islightest[/i infringement or - just as likely - for hard but fair play that draws a reaction from the crowd or the opposing team.

Disgraceful behaviour from the referees IMO.

and that is echoed across the club!! well said .
imagine knowing your employed to ring bells in players heads however to do so you cant use your hands, arms or shoulders in the process for fear of being booked?? bad situation .
Rumour has it is all started with Silverwood after Hame asked him after a match why he was trying to make him look bad on TV in the famous " can you speak English" conversation and Silverwood took offence ( think it was silverwood) and thus the word went out!!

Seems like Lauaki's had his card marked by some fans as well as the referees, he now can't win. Either he curbs his aggression, and thus isn't as effective and accused of not doing enough, or he carries on with his game and gets stick for poor discipline. Before he arrived, we'd had a period of being too nice and suffered because of it. Now we have a bit of needle from the likes of him and O'Meley and we're a top 6 team.

He does no more than plenty of players in SL do, he just happens to fall into the category being bigger than most, having an aggressive reputation, and he doesn't play for one of the RFL's darling clubs.

He's having a little rough spell, but there's been enough evidence he can be a potential matchwinner to persist with him IMO.

I have no issue with the refs giving penalties for the offences lauaki has committed this year that i've seen. There's not a single one i think they've given based on his aggressive style rather than the actual offence.

I think there's a risk here that Lauaki gets defended for his style and the refs get blamed when the realitiy is Laukai is to blame more than them for his style.

I agree that the ref shouldnt pick Lauaki out as he did. However, i also think Lauaki has major problems with his style and technique which need to be addressed. Those aren't the refs fault but Lauaki seems to be largely blame free for some on here.

and also over cooked by some too!!

Lauaki is the type of player we have needed for a long time. Sure he wont put the 30-40 tackles a game stint in but he has good hands and asks questions of the opposition. He is a target for the hand-wringers on here but gives no more penalties away than most other players in our team. Some cry out for an X factor then cry out when we get one. His treatment by Silverwood in the last derby game was a disgrace and it seems referees have let things snowball from there but that comes as no real surprise. I hope he can get through this spell and continue to attract the attention of the opposition in defence - something I'm sure his team mates are only to willing to take advantage of.

Possibly because he's no more to blame than pretty much any other player of his type? Certainly what his penalty stats seem to suggest at any rate.

And to think the amount of stick i got on here when i said he cant tackle, a penalty machine and lazy

He has a coupleof good runs a game.

Isnt the arguement that people think the ref is picking on him for those penalties and he hasnt even given those away?

It's ok he'll bump someone off in the derby and he'll be a hero again just like he was after the 1st game of your season

If he did that every game he would be a hero. He doesnt though.

No. There may be one or two that were harsh - I'm not sure he deserved the treatment he got in the Derby for example - but the main argument is that his game is being stifled because he is being over-careful due to the pre-emptive warnings he receives from refs.

Does that mean he deserves to be criticised - because he doesn't break the line every game ?

I just wish he were as good as Manu, and why the hell do we switch tickle around to accomodate him when he comes on and then not bother to give him the ball anyway

He isn't even in the top 25 for giving away penalties.

I won't comment on the other two points as I haven't seen enough games to judge. I suspect you may be in the same position given your location.

He was signed as an impact prop/2nd row. In the majority of games that he plays does he give us impact? If he doesnt then he is open to criticism. I dont think he does.

So should the coach tell him to deal with it and stop been over careful rather than feeling sorry for himself?

He attracts plenty of defenders in every game. That can only be good for his team mates.

I don't think he's anywhere near as bad as you're making out. He's not as good as Manu, but not many are. He's highlighted by opposition coaches as a danger man, and as someone it might be good to wind up. Because of this, when he gets the ball he comes in for heavier treatment than most.

That being said, he causes defences to worry, breaks the line quite regularly (not as frequently as Manu, granted), and is capable of a decent off load. He has his faults (short temper, big mouth, prone to the odd error), but on the whole I'd rather he was with us than against us.

And then when a string of undeserved penalties follows he can get [ireally[/i pilloried on here. Not to mention the damage done to our chances of winning games.

Why have you taken against him so badly? That's the second time you've accused him of acting like a big kid when there's a total absence of evidence of him doing any such thing.

For instance I would bet that if he ever fought to get up and have a quick PTB he'd get penalised for lashing out or something. He does give penalties away but I'm surprised at BDT picking up on it when he defends the penalty machine that is Radford