Choco Feature article / Loti Tuqiri to train with Port

Beffery

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Thread starter #1
Saw this fantastic feature article on Choco in The Age.. definitely worth the read.

A journey of enlightenment

Also, Choco has surprised us all once again, inviting Lote Tuqiri to train with us in January with the hope of converting him to our game. There's never a dull moment when it comes to Choco!
What do you guys think? A Rugby League player, turned Rugby Union convert, turned AFL convert.... should prove interesting!

Port keen to lure Tuqiri to AFL
 

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Portia

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#2
AWESOME :D

I'll cross-post my opinion from the thread on the main board as to why its good despite us almost definitely not recruiting Tuqiri.

From Port's perspective...

1. Enormous kick in the arse to RU in Australia on the heels of the World Cup. The AFL will love that.
2. Its good for the Port players to be training with a guy who has just played his own sport at the highest level.
3. Gets the fans interested, and almost definitely going to training - its a bit of positivity on the back of a shocking off-season.

From Lote's perspective...
1. He gets four weeks of intensive training on his field kicking skills (as well as other important skills) at an organization with first-rate facilities.
2. It reminds RU that they can't take his participation for granted and may get him some more money in the long run.
3. Its a bit of variety.
 

noddy

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#5
Originally posted by Beffery
Saw this fantastic feature article on Choco in The Age.. definitely worth the read.

A journey of enlightenment

Also, Choco has surprised us all once again, inviting Lote Tuqiri to train with us in January with the hope of converting him to our game. There's never a dull moment when it comes to Choco!
What do you guys think? A Rugby League player, turned Rugby Union convert, turned AFL convert.... should prove interesting!

Port keen to lure Tuqiri to AFL
Was a bloody good read & just goes to prove we shouldn't judge people on impressions gained through the media.

As for the Tugiri invite well one thing about Mark Williams is that he will never die wondering.
 

mic59

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#7
Having him training with our club would certainly be a boon. Maybe some of his never-say-die attitude would rub off on our players. About the second psrt of the story, converting him to AFL football. Well, I reckon it would be great but I don't see how we could afford him for one thing and secondly, I am quite sure he will stay playing Rugby Union. He may start to like watching AFL, and Port in particular, but if I was as good as he has become in a short time at one sport, I'd prefer to stay at that sport until I became even better rather than move to another where I have to sink or swim.
 

Danni

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#8
I grew up with my family having strong ties to the Fijian community up here in Qld. My first memories of Lote Tuquiri is of a little fella with a mop of hair running along side the fields at Uni of QLD watching his uncle (also named Lote) and other friends playing both League and Union.

I remember thinking when he was added to the Bronco's list up here what it would have been like if AFL had been as strong as it is now when he was a youngster (and it still isn't really THAT strong), would he have had a go at that too and whether he would have been successful as an AFL player.

Very bold move by your coach, and a fantastic experiment IMO.
 
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Moderator #9
Bl00dy good read, good work by Caro :eek: ! I have my doubts due to leopards and spots, but if Mark can change a couple of things as implied in the article - 1. you can't control everything and 2. it's ok to take chances - then maybe he can step back from the precipice.

Having Tuqiri come out - especially if it's for a few training sessions - would be sensational for the reasons Porthos has listed, and also for the Port training staff to see that a guy can be huge in the upper body, intimidating and powerful and still maintain his athletic prowess.
 

PAfolwr

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#10
This is the bit I like from the article about Williams.
Williams had not been to bed the previous night, having spent it in Sydney as an unofficial guest of the Wallabies' post-World Cup wind-down. There he learnt that not one member of the Australian coaching contingent had attended the England-France semi-final.

Once Australia had beaten New Zealand, the Wallabies reasoned, they had to concentrate on their own game.


Playing Stevens (Sydney) and JT (Collingwood) out of position is the exact opposite reasoning to what is said above.
Lets hope we worry about winning instead of not losing, when it comes to finals, from now on.
 

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PAfolwr

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#12
Originally posted by Porthos
That said, both Port and the Wallabies lost, so who is actually right?
Both the Wallabies and Port got to where they shouldn't have got to. The difference is they came into the finals from opposite directions.

To partially quote a famous person
"Finally, we concede there can be honor in defeat, but to each of us, honorable defeat of our club and guernsey can come only after human endeavour on the playing field is completely exhausted."

That is applicable to the Wallabies during the RWC.
Not so to our dismal finals performances over the last few years.

A big part of that IMO is the fact that the players were put in a position that they were playing a game that they weren't used to. That is being more worried about the opposition rather concentrating on doing what they knew best, and letting the opposition be worried about us.
 

Sandola

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#13
Originally posted by PAfolwr

A big part of that IMO is the fact that the players were put in a position that they were playing a game that they weren't used to. That is being more worried about the opposition rather concentrating on doing what they knew best, and letting the opposition be worried about us.
Yeh, this is the big difference between 15 sides and the Lions in the last couple of years. I would love to see us go out there in finals with that sort of backable confidence.
 
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Originally posted by PAfolwr
A big part of that IMO is the fact that the players were put in a position that they were playing a game that they weren't used to. That is being more worried about the opposition rather concentrating on doing what they knew best, and letting the opposition be worried about us.
Exactly. While the Wallabies would have planned for the strengths of the English game (and probably countered them as well as you could), you didn't suddenly see Tuqiri in the front row or Justin Harrison taking penalty kicks to throw the English off.
 
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