Francis Manuleleua thread

It's probably unlikely because Samoa has a lot of forwards with experience to choose from, but Frank would come back to us a much better player if he gets picked for Samoa and plays some good footy in the World Cup.
Training with elite guys and playing against top sides almost always improves players a lot.
 
The nib Newcastle Knights have secured the future of exciting backrower Francis Manuleleua, extending his contract through to the end of 2028.

Manuleleua, 22, has made 8 NRL appearances this season, after making his NRL debut in Round 3 against the Warriors at McDonald Jones Stadium.

The New Zealand-born junior has been a long-term project for Newcastle Knights Head of Recruitment Peter O’Sullivan, who first identified Manuleleau as a 14-year-old.

“We are very excited to see where Francis can get to in his career,” O’Sullivan said.

“Francis thoroughly deserves this extension, he has worked extremely hard and come a long way in the past 18 months, since joining the club.

“He has a wonderful family and support group around him, with this extension he now has the opportunity to cement his place in our NRL squad each week.

“Francis is one of the most naturally gifted players we have at the Knights, his performances in NSW Cup and in the NRL has earned him credibility with the players and coaching staff.

“His ability to find space is second to none and his upside is limitless, but it’s his toughness, hard work and effort plays which has gained the most amount of respect from the group."

NRL Head Coach Justin Holbrook said he has been most impressed by Manuleleua work ethic.

“Francis has always been an exciting young player, what has impressed me the most is how hard he has worked, both in preseason training since November and throughout the season,” Holbrook said.

“He has always had the talent, what was lacking was the work ethic, to his credit Francis has turned that around to get himself into a position to play NRL and become a regular NRL player.

“From a coaching point of view, you want to see how much a player progresses, Francis attention to detail has ensured he has continued to improve every week.

“We are thrilled he has decided to continue his career with us at the Knights.”
 
Just getting all three of Lucas, McEwen and Manulelua secured for that first Chiefs season in 2028 is huge, not confirmed yet but I would bet anything that Liam Martin's off to PNG in 2028... which means Penrith will likely sign an edge from another club, which means that club will sign one, and on and on it goes. I think the majority of the clubs in the comp will be gutted of their depth & no one else is likely to have two good back rowers let alone three besides us and the Wahs.

Long term, you can't keep the same 13-19 guys together, you've kind of got to pick your elite core of about 7 guys to hold onto (for me: Ponga, Brown, Sharpe, Lucas, Best, Hopwood, seventh player TBA) and the guys who aren't elite but outperform their salary notably in some way (that's your Mitch Kenny, Bill Peden, Mitch Aubusson type player, for us atm it's Crossland and Croker). The ones in the middle tend to be pretty impossible to keep and you have to keep refilling the coffers from below on that front.
 
The best news about Manu is I think he has a lot of improvement in him still.
He turned 22 a few months ago and is getting more stamina every game.
I looked at his stats for the last 2 games in firstgrade and his last 2 in reserves and he's made 30+ tackles in all 4, and looking at his tackles per game over time in reserves - my guess is those 4 games would just about be most of his 30+ tackle efforts. Over 2 years in reserve grade he's averaged 20 tackles per game.
Holbrook says he's dropped 4 kg, which makes him the same weight as McEwen (106kg).
He has always had the size, speed, power and skills, but last year you'd be lucky to get 20 or 30 minutes at full pace out of him - which was enough to win games of reserve grade.
Having said that, I reckon he's still only at his best for 60 minutes.
He'll be a hell of a player when he can go hard for 80 in the next year or two.
 
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Unreal! I was expecting the usual fox sports mob to start the contract talk of Manu leaving in the next few weeks.

That’s outstanding, these re signings of quality players this year has been so impressive. Well done to the club, recruitment, coaching staff, and the players for creating a team good players want to be a part of. Our team, and top 30, is starting to look really good.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Just getting all three of Lucas, McEwen and Manulelua secured for that first Chiefs season in 2028 is huge
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Maybe Manu because he was a new kid on the block but it does feel like guys who have been in the system longer are easier to retain and not really a worry. The fact they didn't even bother waiting till Nov 1 is a testament to that (including the guys we have already re-signed).

The guys with less of a market may be an interesting topic, but even those guys like Crossland, Croker, Jones, Cant may not want to leave after being in the system as long as they have.

That's why I'm not really too worried about guys like Best/Jacob Saifiti

Someone like Fletcher Sharpe on the other hand being a FA (though credit to the club for getting him locked up earlier on another contract)

Penrith's probably a bit different because they've achieved success as well as guys winning at Origin level.
So it will be an interesting to see who gets picked off but guys who have been there long term like Martin/Cleary and Yeo...would they relocate for a few years? hmmmmm
 
Curtis Mulherin coming through is signed until 2029. He'll be 21 in his final year. So given the length of Manuleleua's extension, Manuleleua may give way to Mulherin's full time access to the weekly squad, assuming he leaves the club after 2028

These are exactly the type of circumstances that help create an elite system. Mulherin will likely be capable of FG footy within 12 months based on his current output in Cup. But will need to aim to a much higher standard if he is to get access to FG given the depth we have in the backrow.

Its what made the Australian cricket team so elite in the 90s and 2000s. Shield cricket had elite players like Hodge and Love, even Mike Hussey was stuck there until his mid to late 20s - if the bar wasn't set so high to get into the 1st team, perhaps those types of players wouldn't have reached the heights they did. Depth/competition begets performance
 
Les Misérables said:
Curtis Mulherin coming through is signed until 2029. He'll be 21 in his final year. So given the length of Manuleleua's extension, Manuleleua may give way to Mulherin's full time access to the weekly squad, assuming he leaves the club after 2028

These are exactly the type of circumstances that help create an elite system. Mulherin will likely be capable of FG footy within 12 months based on his current output in Cup. But will need to aim to a much higher standard if he is to get access to FG given the depth we have in the backrow.

Its what made the Australian cricket team so elite in the 90s and 2000s. Shield cricket had elite players like Hodge and Love, even Mike Hussey was stuck there until his mid to late 20s - if the bar wasn't set so high to get into the 1st team, perhaps those types of players wouldn't have reached the heights they did. Depth/competition begets performance
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McEwen is also signed until 2028, so it will be a competition between all of them who stays and who remains. Would not be upset with having Manulelua for his whole career if his potential becomes fulfilled. He will be absolute carnage eventually.
 
Celticman98 said:
What I like about these re signings is no one of them have been leaked out beforehand. Good to see the club run competently for once.

Great to see Francis re-sign. Think we've yet to see the best of him and he's already got some great highlight reels.
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Great re-signing, well deserved.

It's also a good thing that the signing values aren't getting leaked.
I don't think a contract value has been leaked since Brown?

Selfishly id like to know the values. But it's great that the club, players and agents seem to be working together and not letting anything out about negotiations, but they're getting deals done.
 
krustykraz said:
Selfishly id like to know the values. But it's great that the club, players and agents seem to be working together and not letting anything out about negotiations, but they're getting deals done.
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I know every once in a while the topic comes up, but honestly I don't care too much if salaries are ever made public, and would rather they not be. I don't think they ever will, other then what we get now, the usual rough guesses.
Totally get everyone will see the topic differently, but it's a non issue personally

When the advantages are so that it's something the fans and media can talk about to churn out more garbage articles then they already do...lol, you just know its unnecessary but some might think its a necessary evil

Maybe it's not having Isaac Moses manage half the team as well as the coaching staff?
 
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