Francis Manuleleua thread

McEwen started at Orange, moved to western Sydney and played 1 year of Mats at Penrith, moved to Newcastle where he played Mats in the year it went from under 16s to under 17s, then played Ball and Flegg and reserve grade - so he played every lower grade here.
 
I can only speak for myself, but I am very, very happy we’ve now got McEwen/Lucas/Manuleleua locked up long term as our second rowers over KPP. Never rated him like everyone else and I’m glad he’s gone and not chewing up our cap like he was for someone fairly unknown/unproven.
 
Jon Snow said:
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.
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Also it looks like a very happy club, the players all get along and they are all enjoying their footy.

That helps massively in retention, happy players will want to resign and in most cases they will sign for unders

The transformation of this club should be commended by all of us
 
MattyM said:
I can only speak for myself, but I am very, very happy we’ve now got McEwen/Lucas/Manuleleua locked up long term as our second rowers over KPP. Never rated him like everyone else and I’m glad he’s gone and not chewing up our cap like he was for someone fairly unknown/unproven.
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100% would rather all 3 above KPP. KPP is a good player, his defence is great. But he isn't the "attacking beast" that commentators were banging on about early in the season. He is a good offloader, but he rarely dents the line beforehand, so many games where he'd barely run past 50m or so. He reminds me of Kiraz at times where he is so enamoured with offloading, even if they aren't impactful. Some deadset grenades for offloads being thrown at times.
 
PTB said:
Also there is Sharpe who only came into first grade last year from our pathways and has exceeded expectations with his transition to 5/8.
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Sharpe debuted mid year in 2024 and even started 2025 rd 1 at 5/8. 2025 is a blur for me im not even sure how many games he got at 5/8 last season. Regardless, he certainly is exceeding expectations being a sub 50 game 22 yr old.
 
Sorry you are correct. The seasons roll on so quickly and it’s hard to believe it’s over 2 years since his debut. I watched him come through Ball and Flegg and was amazed at his pace and acceleration. He played Flegg 2 years above his age and was a continual match winner there. I have always felt that full back is his best position, however now feel he offers more at five-eighth in our current team. Maybe that’s reflective of the exceptional backline he’s part of and the coaching of Holbrook.
 
Wicket said:
That injury may limit his mobility, so centre might not be ideal.

Time will tell, but we need to find a way to fit all 3 into the team going forward
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surely we could start McEwen then move him into the middle rotation after 20-25 mins and Manu comes on to play out the remainder of the game?

Talk of moving Lucas to centre earlier on is wild, he is still easily our best edge forward, Manu has been great the last fortnight but lets not get carried away yet, it is early days.
 
I’m on the hype train with Manu. He has been close if the our best player the last 3 games. But I agree with not putting Lucus in the centres. He’s the left side second rower when he is back.

If Manu can play 80, which he will be for the rest of the season, so his fitness will get better, we will have to move McEwen into the middle rotation.

Manu needs to be on the edge for his skill set. Obviously we won’t have this headache till next year, so see if Manu can continue his form.
 
frankLauda said:
I’m on the hype train with Manu. He has been close if the our best player the last 3 games. But I agree with not putting Lucus in the centres. He’s the left side second rower when he is back.

If Manu can play 80, which he will be for the rest of the season, so his fitness will get better, we will have to move McEwen into the middle rotation.

Manu needs to be on the edge for his skill set. Obviously we won’t have this headache till next year, so see if Manu can continue his form.
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Wouldn't be surprised to see sides really marking up on Manuleleua now ... so will be interesting to see how he handles it. That opens up more opportunities for the others of course, though.

So many attacking weapons in our team!
 
For 2027, I’d love to see:

11. Lucas
12. Manuleleua

15. McEwen

Lucas and Manuleleua are both our best hole running options, with pace and explosiveness and McEwen would be better suited as an impact forward with his hard running style and limited hole running ability. What a headache to have once all players are healthy. 🤯
 
Manu is a freak, starting next year is completely up to him. If he continues this from and has a big pre season, he will take Mckewns spot.

He is so similar to olakau'atu, having him with hunt and young on the right will have to be the tallest edge in the comp? Very intimidating.

McEwen would be very unlucky, but his impact off the bench would be fantastic, I think he could easily fit into the middle, might even fit the team better than right now.

Honestly our pack looks so good for the future, we can't even fit all in.
 
It will be interesting because while McEwen is really good in attack, Manu makes breaks when ever he feels like it, he is a freak that needs to be in the side if we are pushing for a title.

Like against Canberra McEwen was going hard but didn’t have great success with the super physical raiders defence and yet Manu was driving in all the time made a few breaks and broke a few tackles.

It’s a awesome position to be in for Holbrook
 
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