Player Junior Pauga

[MeetTheMonster]

Im shocked by how good this junior Warrior is getting. A season ago he looked speedy and cut from the Nigel Vagana mould. But last weeks performance was impressive. He has put on a lot of size and looked bloody similar to SBW at times, just charging through players, manhandling and bouncing them off at will.

He looks an incredible talent on the rise and an out and out genuine centre option. To top it off the Warriors have promoted him to NSW cup this weekend.

Is Junior Pauga the next big thing at the warriors? anyone got some more info on him?

 

[Freddie Futler]

Have to agree with you MTM, been watching him and his ability to break through the tackle is amazing.
He does however have a flaw which needs to addressed at this level and that is his inability to pass.

Quite a few of our juniors have this problem though and in last weeks game the only time they spun the ball all the way to the winger they scored. We have complained about Kata's inability to pass and I would like to see the coaching staff address any issues with passing, tackling or giving away stupid penalties addressed at this level before they move up to reserve grade.

But he is a great looking prospect.

 

[mt.wellington]

Definitely got a huge future ahead of him. The raw athletic ability of the kid is truly amazing. Living in the Warriors house right now but his family live in Melbourne so not sure how that works.

He's basically the main reason I watch U20's theses days after seeing him play in the secondary schools comp for Kelston. Last two weeks he has racked up some 500 metres! Good to see him play some reserve grade too this weekend...

 

[MeetTheMonster]

Definitely got a huge future ahead of him. The raw athletic ability of the kid is truly amazing. Living in the Warriors house right now but his family live in Melbourne so not sure how that works.

He's basically the main reason I watch U20's theses days after seeing him play in the secondary schools comp for Kelston. Last two weeks he has racked up some 500 metres! Good to see him play some reserve grade too this weekend...

Wow averaging 250m per game from centre is an incredible stat. Of this years u20's there's only Pauga and Ackland that I see as having serious NRL potential. Clark and Marata I think will go close but they certainly are not dominating games so far in their careers.

Ackland looks very very Classy - almost Cooper Cronk like in some of his plays.

 

[Blain]

How old is Ackland?

Those numbers from Pauga remind me of when Hurrell dominated in NYC. Is he an actual centre? Or wing playing in/second rower playing out wide? (sort of hope he's more of a second rower haha).

 

[MeetTheMonster]

How old is Ackland?

Those numbers from Pauga remind me of when Hurrell dominated in NYC. Is he an actual centre? Or wing playing in/second rower playing out wide? (sort of hope he's more of a second rower haha).

He is a genuine centre, very quick and fleet of foot but got good size.

 

[Five&Last]

Also very surprised with his recent form, almost a 'Sipley like' unexpected rise.
Love the fact that he is a genuine centre also, not a makeshift position filler.
His ability to bump off blokes and break through tackles is incredible for size as he's not the biggest guy.
Very active player always looking for metres. Also very good defender, which is rare for Junior Warriors coming through.
Last week in particular he was amazing, nobody could tackle the guy at all.
I remember watching him at Kelston where he was playing fullback.
One thing he could work on is being a bit more creative with the ball, not the most likely person to set up his wing, and at this stage I'm not sure whether thats passing inability or if his game awareness is not quite there yet.

 

[MeetTheMonster]

Also very surprised with his recent form, almost a 'Sipley like' unexpected rise.
Love the fact that he is a genuine centre also, not a makeshift position filler.
His ability to bump off blokes and break through tackles is incredible for size as he's not the biggest guy.
Very active player always looking for metres. Also very good defender, which is rare for Junior Warriors coming through.
Last week in particular he was amazing, nobody could tackle the guy at all.
I remember watching him at Kelston where he was playing fullback.
One thing he could work on is being a bit more creative with the ball, not the most likely person to set up his wing, and at this stage I'm not sure whether thats passing inability or if his game awareness is not quite there yet.

How big do you think he is now ? - a year ago he looked mid 80kg but now he looks closer to around 96 - 98 kg - he certainly looks extremely difficult to tackle and not because of explosiveness like a Hurrell but just pure hardness and strength.

 

[MeetTheMonster]

Just read that last week Pauga ran for 312m and had 9 tackle breaks!

 

[Five&Last]

How big do you think he is now ? - a year ago he looked mid 80kg but now he looks closer to around 96 - 98 kg - he certainly looks extremely difficult to tackle and not because of explosiveness like a Hurrell but just pure hardness and strength.

His frame is decent - I would say he's about 6 ft. But he does have very lean muscle at this stage, which is not a bad thing if he's able to bump off other players now imagine what he could do if he puts on another 5kg of muscle. Id say he's around 90kg and he's got potential to fill into his frame, but with his size now he has great speed, power to break tackles and enough size to defend bigger outside backs, so maybe they just focus on him getting stronger rather than putting on size.

 

[Freddie Futler]

How big do you think he is now ? - a year ago he looked mid 80kg but now he looks closer to around 96 - 98 kg - he certainly looks extremely difficult to tackle and not because of explosiveness like a Hurrell but just pure hardness and strength.

Very unique how he busts the line, doesn't crash them like you say Hurrell does, but stays upright and seems to glide through two tacklers like they ain't there.
He looks taller than 6ft and like you say he is all muscle.

 

[InsideBall]

I get virtually no opportunity to see the juniors now, living over here, so it's interesting see the names getting throw around.

What about Talea? Last I heard there were huge raps on this kid.

 

[InsideBall]

On a somewhat related note - anyone see the junior Panthers +/-?

+424.

Holy fuck. I've never seen anything like that in my life.

 

[Five&Last]

What about Talea? Last I heard there were huge raps on this kid.

Still a good prospect, unsure of the opportunities he'll get later on with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck here, don't think we would be able to play him in other positions - looks a genuine fullback.

His support play is honestly unreal, never seen a player of that age with such good positional awareness and a knack for being in the right place for an offload or short ball. Could use some more muscle/size (much like most of our young nyc side). Handy goal kicker also.

 

[bruce]

How old is Ackland?

Didn't he and Nathan Cleary play in the same team when they were youngsters, so he is probably about the same age, 18 or 19. I have been impressed by what I have seen of him, he appears to be a thinking player.

Those numbers from Pauga remind me of when Hurrell dominated in NYC. Is he an actual centre? Or wing playing in/second rower playing out wide? (sort of hope he's more of a second rower haha).

I remember seeing Hurrell in his first game at Mount Smart. His speed and build made him pretty hard to stop. He carried that form through to FG but it also showed up his lack of fitness and defensive skills. I don't know why he was re-signed, especially when they had warnings about his running style.

 

[Rick O'Shay]

I get virtually no opportunity to see the juniors now, living over here, so it's interesting see the names getting throw around.

What about Talea? Last I heard there were huge raps on this kid.

I rate this kid. Has a presence about him and one of those rare players that seems to have time and space. At the moment fullback and for sure that's his natural position but I think he could be a future centre

 

[Jordan G]

On a somewhat related note - anyone see the junior Panthers +/-?

+424.

Holy fuck. I've never seen anything like that in my life.

In 2001 the Eels finished at +433. Panthers will eclipse that easily, albeit in a much weaker grade.

On the other end of the spectrum Wests Magpies finished the 1999 season at -659

 

[Iafetas Kickstand Wang]

Paunga looks awesome. For anyone too critical of what we are developing NYC, pretty sure we have one of the if not the youngest squad in NYC this year. There's plenty of upside for these guys under Kelvin Wrights watch.

 

[MeetTheMonster]

Im not on the bandwagon for Talea yet. I think compared to where he has been as a junior to the NYC this year he has choked up. I think he will take 2 or 3 years of development to see his worth. I would not be backing him for an NRL career from what I have seen so far. His impact has been disappointingly minimal.

 

[Five&Last]