Hope they do (aim lots of traffic at Averillo). He's always seemed like a strong defender to me. It's his attack I've been critical of.
Im glad you say that and praise his defence. At Bulldogs it was always an issue and even at Dolphins earlier this year and a lot of last year he was caught out in defence he was baked by Shibasaki (sp) earlier this year. He’s certainly made improvements for sure.
Averillo at Bulldogs always had the highlight reels never the 1% stuff. I always felt he was very poorly treated by all his coaches at Bulldogs with the exception of Michael Potter who backed him in the one position and showed him some love.
Yet in saying all this during his four years 2020-23 no one scored more tries than Averillo (Fox only played 2 of those years). He was probably our 4th or 5th best performed player during the games Potter was coach. The standout two were JMK & Burton whilst King & Fox went well.
I was disappointed Averillo was pushed aside at the Bulldogs but very happy he found a home at Dolphins. His best years is still ahead of him, he’s becoming more assured as a player as a perceived weakness at the Bulldogs was he was too within himself which as a spine player you need to have confidence & clear communication. All reports from Dolphins is that he’s really coming out of shell & developing more outward confidence to lead a team.
He came through the system as a 5/8 but was messed around by Barrett who tried to manufacture him as a halfback it set him and his confidence way back and when Potter got it back Gould & Ciraldo decided Hayze Perham was a better fullback & he was no longer required beyond 2023. Averillo was the clubs leading try scorer that year and IMO was the second best performed player that year after Jacob Preston.
Yes I’m a biased fan of Averillo and hope he really goes next level.
Whether Dolphins win or lose tonight Woolf has given them the best possible chance of winning tonight with the players he has available. I’m so excited to see how the Katoa, Averillo & Donoghoe 7-6-13 combo works as that should be the long term combo for Dolphins. I see Plath as a 9/13/14 middle & edge player again good flexibility.
On another note just how valuable are players like Averillo and Donoghoe in the top 30, salary cap & HIA eras where they can cover so many different roles without fuss and such flexibility. I can a time where they’ll be battling it out for the NSW 14 role with Connor Watson clearly not 9 and his game nowadays pretty much a 13 rather than the fixit utility he used to be same as Nikorima he’s evolved from a fixit to a 5/8 as he gets older.
Fingers and toes crossed Averillo nails this tonight.