The Tigers scoring one try on Ali's edge seems to have been interpreted as Ali has defensive issues.
I think his defence is fine. He just needs more time with the first grade partnerships. That Tigers try looked bad because Ali went up early and committed to a runner, made his hit, then tried to make a correction (which is impossible because it is too late already, the other guy has the jump on you) noticed people criticizing Ali for an arms only attempt on that ball carrier as lazy tackle (no he was a beaten defender there was nothing else he could do).
This opens the opportunity for critics to say it was bad decision making. Commiting early is only the wrong call if your defensive partners do not come forward with you (or in that example you also need the inside players to chase hard from the Leiataua's inside shoulder, they call that chasing from the inside out, that is the second rowers job (which is where Ali was beaten back on the inside by the Tigers set move).
The worst thing you can do when defending near your Try line like they were, is to be backing away or to plant your feet and stay flat footed.
Ali did the right thing, he attacked their line, the others should have done the same, the only weakness in that strategy is that when Dallin comes in too, there is space left on the edge, which is where CNK would hit the NOS and try do an RTS corner try saver.
There are times where Ali looks out of sync with his outsides, same thing happens to Berry, Ford, Montoya, Dallin, Pompey and every center in the NRL, but I agree with John Wick, he is so close to readiness for First grade that the missing sync issue is specifically to do with not playing enough games with those specific first grade players.
Roger T Sheck made it look easy, he made the Center defence arguments of the ages look silly 'defence is hardest at center' in a way Roger made Ali look bad, hell Roger made everyone look bad. Hopefully people realise Roger is not the standard, Roger was Jimmy Hendrix, playing with his teeth and behind his back, the rest of the Warriors were on base and drums.
A fairer comparison for Ali is Berry, when Berry played his early games he was awful till he synced with Dallin, Ali is ahead of that curve.
