Francis Manuleleua thread

Celticman98

Celticman98

Sean Rudder
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Knights player #369
Knights debut vs Warriors Round 3 2026
 
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We seriously need to find a way to get Manuleleua into the NRL side. I've been following his Cup games this year and he is unbelievably talented. For me, I'd throw him in over Cant, and it would not surprise if he was a starter by years end. He could be as good as any forward in the game and I fear if we don't give him a good crack at NRL we'll see him carving it up at another club.

Coach, make it happen!!!
 
He finally looks like he has the engine to drive 110kgs with high impact for 80 minutes.
We didn't get to see just how hard he is to stop when he gets the ball near the line, or the sneaky playmaking and passing he has from his time in the halves.
Holbrook said towards the end of the pre-season that the guys who were showing the most improvement were Manuleleua and Hopwood, and he finally has them ready for firstgrade I think, but both will just keep improving as the get firstgrade match fit.
If they both avoid injury, they'll both be regulars in our top 17 by the end of the year.
 
Billy said:
He finally looks like he has the engine to drive 110kgs with high impact for 80 minutes.
We didn't get to see just how hard he is to stop when he gets the ball near the line, or the sneaky playmaking and passing he has from his time in the halves.
Holbrook said towards the end of the pre-season that the guys who were showing the most improvement were Manuleleua and Hopwood, and he finally has them ready for firstgrade I think, but both will just keep improving as the get firstgrade match fit.
If they both avoid injury, they'll both be regulars in our top 17 by the end of the year.
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And we will be better placed for it
 
Didn't expect him to play 80 minutes but the idea that he wasn't even capable of playing more than 10 or so minutes was ridiculous, and unsurprisingly mostly came from people who admittedly don't watch reserve grade but somehow still give opinions on it.

As mentioned, if he's a regular part of the rotation by the end of the year we're a much more dangerous team for it.
 
I was impressed by his stamina, I watch all the juniors and have seen him have stamina problems, he seems to have fixed that and that’s only a good thing for him and the Knights, I’m a big fan of Manu and have wanted him in the team earlier, can’t wait for him to show people what he really can do, by definition he is a freak athlete and I can’t wait to see more of him in the NRL
 
Its a hard point if we have 2 80min 2nd rowers and a few guys waiting for a chance. I get that Injuries occur and have, so they get a few games. But it's hard to picture how they end up in the team long term.
 
It was very interesting to see that he again seemed to struggle with the pace when he first got on, but I thought he grew into the game. I don’t know if it was just he was very emotionally keyed up before he got on, or just he needed a bit of time to get used to it in a way which was weirdly obvious, but either way he did very well and was one of our best on the day. So good on him.
 
Treadly said:
Its a hard point if we have 2 80min 2nd rowers and a few guys waiting for a chance. I get that Injuries occur and have, so they get a few games. But it's hard to picture how they end up in the team long term.
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Hopefully there’s some games when they have good leads and the coach can afford to take guys off for a rest, enabling the younger guys to get a run too.

That’s one of the benefits of the 6 man bench. They can carry a couple of young guys who can get a run when things are going well

Have to say that was an awesome line Manuleleua ran for that break. He steamed onto the ball too. Like McEwen a couple of weeks ago he also handled the draw and pass to the support runner perfectly

It’s great we now have 3 genuine hole running back rowers in Lucas, McEwen and Manuleleua
 
Roundtable said:
He will be our best backrower by some way i reckon.
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Big call! Lucus one of our best forwards now, talk of origin and McEwen coming along rapidly. I could see Manu and McEwen share minutes. Only a small sample size atm. But Cants injury could be at a worse time if Manu proves he’s better, Cant will fall down the pecking order.
 
Let's compare him to Fitzgibbon.
They both come into firstgrade at about the same age and both have a lot of impact, but both looked like they had a pretty small motor.
Fitz was managed carefully when coming into firstgrade. He came off the bench and played limited minutes. Even when he started, it took years before they'd give him 80 minutes.
I was obsessed with Fitz's tackle counts and he averaged about 15 tackles a game for ages and it was years into his career before he made 30 in a game.
He eventually got fit enough to play 80 and make over 40 tackles and still be effective in attack - but that was 5 or 6 years into his career.

I was amazed to see Manu played 80 minutes, made 31 tackles, and was still a handful in attack in his very first starting game. I'd have literally given 100/1 odds to anyone wanting to bet on that.

Fitz turned into a great clubman and a very good second row, but it took years for him to build up the fitness needed, and I thought we were looking at the same from Manu, although Manu is bigger, stronger and faster than Fitz ever was.

I really don't know what to make of Manu's debut, but if he goes back to giving us 40 decent minutes like 22 year old Fitz, I'd be happy with that - till he gets up to speed.
 
frankLauda said:
Big call! Lucus one of our best forwards now, talk of origin and McEwen coming along rapidly. I could see Manu and McEwen share minutes. Only a small sample size atm. But Cants injury could be at a worse time if Manu proves he’s better, Cant will fall down the pecking order.
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This year his been average and unfortunately has the Bradman about him.
 
Hit in the throat is an unlucky injury to have. Bradman has ongoing hammies and groin. So I don’t think Lucas is the same. His injury last year was a foot. Other than that I can’t recall other injuries.
 
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There was criticism of Manu's motor after his first grade debut where he got about a 11 minute run in the middle, we never had the ball and he looked slow to get back in defence. I watched him closely in reggies after that. He was back to playing 80 minutes on the edge. In both games he was producing more explosive plays as the game went on. The Raiders game he went absolutely nuts in the second half scoring and setting up tries. Best performance was probably against a dogs pack which rolled us pretty easily in the first half and we didn’t have much ball. He held up well in defence during that period and was able to bust open the dogs pack a couple of times late on when we went close to win we should never have been in touching distance of. Even so, the quality of his performance last week over 80 minutes last week surprised me. I think he was caught out by the speed of the game for the first ten minutes but got better the more he warmed in to the game. His explosive plays came in the first half this time, but for a rookie he held his own again in the second half when we were completely starved of the ball. I don't see his motor being an issue. Massive test tomorrow against a team and half back who will pick on him from the first minute to take advantage in the 79th.
 
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