Round 19: Dolphins vs North QLD

[Liverbird with Phins up]

He was poor in the few NRL games he played prior to 2025.

As for the Dragons, I thought they were robbed vs the Warriors but their pack worries me a bit. Our backs are way better but their forwards gave the Warriors pack a bit of a bath.

Young and talented. Should have snapped up Pasifiki Tonga when he was unhappy.

Worst officiating I have seen this year. That was a crime that game.

Donga was poor, to the point he deserved hooking for the amount of errors he made. With players, its a flip of the coin whether they live up to potential or not. And a lot of young blokes look good in the lower grades and kill it, to come up and not have the guts for the top. One of the best youngsters I have seen was a guy called Matt Mundine, and Kyle Stanley. Both killed it, one didn't have it mentally and one didn't have it physically in the top grade.

Making calls on whether a youngster is going to be good is just a guess, and the quality of coaching development. You take a punt and try and develop them. The NFL selects youngsters based on tangible/measurable metrics. Height, Speed, Strength in a thing called the combine. They also hold interviews to determine character. Those are the ultimate factors that go into the final place they are selected in the draft.

On Donga, based on his first half, you'd hold him back, he has the age and metrics, so you develop and hope he gets it. He can probably see a bloated 13 dressingroom, and decided to pull his finger out. Because if this season was like his early form, he would be somewhere else next season.

Its not hard to see he has the foundation, but mentally is where good players are made.