Player Ken Maumalo

[MXRecord]

There were times when Ken was given room to score, and a quicker winger would have scored, but Ken was just too slow. Not his fault, you either have speed or you don't. His reaction time in defense also seemed laboured and he was shaky when fielding kicks along the ground. Good luck to him.

This. It's not hard to see. The guy was a liability.

 

[Tragic]

Brought through the grades as a centre/2nd rower, gets to the warriors and gets made into a wing, works his ass off to become an NRL level winger then slows down and the game changes so he isnt good enough for wing. BUT given his attitude is as good as it gets and he has history in the forwards wouldnt a good coaching team give him a shot at making it closer to the middle? He deserved a shot at making it there, we missed a trick by not giving it a go and it would have ben the right thing to do.

 

[drunk_monk]

His post contact meters and stuff was always really good.

He just hasn't been the winger we have needed for ages. Wish we have him in a different role.

Good luck to him at tigers.

 

[Yowieman]

So without Ken the score is 42 - 2. One of my favourite players and this just about doe it for me.

 

[matiunz]

Harsh but if the team meant this much to him why did he bail on them last year? Feel bad for the guy playing in a position he should have been and it was hard watching him break down- but I haven’t forgotten last year

 

[Dixpat]

From this day forward is an immediate release that is not an immediate release now to be called “A Maumalo”?

 

[Viking]

Started out in 1st grade at 105kgs and is now 114kgs. That's not how you stay fast and it's on the club if they weren't monitoring his weight, shameful if they tried to bulk him up. I remember reading years ago that he was the fastest player at the club over 100m, not that it means much when Warriors backs average less than 20m on a line break but still shows he had decent top end speed at one point. A big winger can work if you have an agile center with good footwork and acceleration like Manu\Jerome and Francis\Clinton or even Ken\Peta.

 

[Wigan Warrior]

Always liked Maumalo but think his best years are definitely behind him.

Sad to him go I suppose, glad he went out with a hat-trick and good to see his passion for the club.

 

[WellingtonOrca]

Started out in 1st grade at 105kgs and is now 114kgs. That's not how you stay fast and it's on the club if they weren't monitoring his weight, shameful if they tried to bulk him up. I remember reading years ago that he was the fastest player at the club over 100m, not that it means much when Warriors backs average less than 20m on a line break but still shows he had decent top end speed at one point. A big winger can work if you have an agile center with good footwork and acceleration like Manu\Jerome and Francis\Clinton or even Ken\Peta.

I think they said he was the fastest over 10m i.e. quick acceleration. Still find it weird to this day that he went from playing back-row all his juniors including winning the U20s title, then come round 1 in reserve grade next year he was suddenly a winger.

 

[Viking]

I think they said he was the fastest over 10m i.e. quick acceleration. Still find it weird to this day that he went from playing back-row all his juniors including winning the U20s title, then come round 1 in reserve grade next year he was suddenly a winger.

Can't see him ever being the fastest over 10m even at 105kgs, all of the smaller players should easily beat him over that distance, especially Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Kodi. If he was then that says a lot about the rest of them.

Edit: yeah you're right https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...7/news-story/63e3f2b5c270ac986328d49beb53dcd2

Dunno about the relevance of 10m sprint times from a standing start though because if you're sprinting with proper form, you should be building up speed in the acceleration phase which will pay off later in the race. The trade off there is that will first 10m to 20m will be slower than if you popped up early and hit your top speed straight away but only by 10s to 100s of a second difference. You see this a lot when players get a head start in a long line break but get reeled in by the opposition that's spent the first 20m accelerating and hit a higher top end speed. It might explain why Ken is strong in kick returns but never showed any break away speed.

 

[bruce]

Started out in 1st grade at 105kgs and is now 114kgs.

Heyzeuss spare me!!!!
You would thought that somebody who was around in 1995...even Richard Becht... would remember that weights coach they got from Texas, who apparently spent time with the Dallas Cowboys (probably hung around the fans entrance ) who turned Sean Hoppe from one of the fastest, and biggest wingers in the world into a prop forward...but still on the wing.

Just unbelievable...he either had to go on a diet...or go into the forwards...what is that Bruce? He was being paid too much for a forward?

 

[6Again]

Heyzeuss spare me!!!!
You would thought that somebody who was around in 1995...even Richard Becht... would remember that weights coach they got from Texas, who apparently spent time with the Dallas Cowboys (probably hung around the fans entrance ) who turned Sean Hoppe from one of the fastest, and biggest wingers in the world into a prop forward...but still on the wing.

Just unbelievable...he either had to go on a diet...or go into the forwards...what is that Bruce? He was being paid too much for a forward?

Kenny’s just big boned Bruce 😂

105 kg young man - 114kg grown up. He ain’t getting any smaller even under Madge “The Hammer” Maguire.

 

[Billy Teets James]

Harsh but if the team meant this much to him why did he bail on them last year? Feel bad for the guy playing in a position he should have been and it was hard watching him break down- but I haven’t forgotten last year

Smh...He had personal reasons to go home. The birth of his first child. I ain't mad at him

 

[Viking]

Kenny’s just big boned Bruce 😂

105 kg young man - 114kg grown up. He ain’t getting any smaller even under Madge “The Hammer” Maguire.

Yeah that's how I see it. They needed to identify this earlier and either work on his diet to keep his speed up or move him before the extra weight slowed him down. Corey Oates is in the same situation, he knows his speed isn't good enough for a modern winger and he's been trying to do something about it for the last few years. Plenty of great players have moved into the middle and done well, Wiki is a prime example. I have no doubt the Ken would've done everything he could to adapt to the forwards, less lateral defense would've suited him IMO. Unfortunately, Madge will leave him on the wing which is a shame cos the Tigers wingers are already much quicker than he currently is.

 

[6Again]

Madge will leave him on the wing which is a shame cos the Tigers wingers are already much quicker than he currently is.

Yep he’ll play wing, the Tigers have the worst kick return metres in the competition which is likely why they opted for Ken over Dallin Watene-Zelezniak once he appeared on their radar.

 

[Afakasi247]

Started out in 1st grade at 105kgs and is now 114kgs. That's not how you stay fast and it's on the club if they weren't monitoring his weight, shameful if they tried to bulk him up. I remember reading years ago that he was the fastest player at the club over 100m, not that it means much when Warriors backs average less than 20m on a line break but still shows he had decent top end speed at one point. A big winger can work if you have an agile center with good footwork and acceleration like Manu\Jerome and Francis\Clinton or even Ken\Peta.

It’s interesting because I don’t recall many times he actually made a clean line break, let alone scoring from long range - showcasing his speed.

This is the only instance I call recall (I ripped this from a YouTube highlight package):

View attachment FullSizeRender.mov

This is from the 2017 season I believe - looks closer to 105kg here and faster than what we saw this season - but not out of this world and looked like he didn’t know how to use or handle his speed.

He’s definitely a lot bigger now, and that problem hasn’t/won’t get any better either - hence why the club decided to move on from him.

 

[Viking]

Yep he’ll play wing, the Tigers have the worst kick return metres in the competition which is likely why they opted for Ken over Dallin Watene-Zelezniak once he appeared on their radar.

Who's spot do you reckon he'll take? Roberts has been average but he's on big money. Probably on double what Ken's getting. Joey and Ken might be good pairing.

 

[Canadian_WarriorFan]

Interesting story on Foxsports.com.au

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...b/news-story/48a2024f768d17c984c64d429932a895

 

[6Again]

Who's spot do you reckon he'll take? Roberts has been average but he's on big money. Probably on double what Ken's getting. Joey and Ken might be good pairing.

Ken will play left wing with David Nofoaluma on the right I’d imagine.

 

[tajhay]

Interesting story on Foxsports.com.au

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...b/news-story/48a2024f768d17c984c64d429932a895

Dont know what the fuss is about.

“He was not actively looking for a release as has been portrayed.

“He only asked for a release after the club told him he wouldn’t be offered anything beyond his contract expiry in 2022.”

Its obvious that the club needed to reinvent its backline.

Its simply a business decision. Its the fact that he and his fellow winger take up over 10% of the entire squad's salary cap. Coulda been a different story if he was on a low rate and the club had some speed and could interchange wingers at will, but they dont due to past gross mismanagement of the salary cap.

If we want to keep players just because they are passionate about the club and want to finish as 1 club players, we will never progress as a club. Charity days are over.

Its rather unfortunate that he has been the one to go, but largely due to being easier to offload. No other club will go anywhere near Fusitua on his current highly inflated long term contract.