I was unimpressed by Sisa Waqa when he started at the Melbourne Storm. Although it was clear if you gave him the ball he could run, defensively he was the weak link in the side, and the Storm conceded too many tries down his wing.
I was happy to admit that I had misjudged him and grew to respect him more and more with every game I watched him play.
Craig Bellamy was right and I was wrong and that’s why he is a professional coach and I sit there watching on TV.
As a result, it was with disappointment but understanding I watched Sisa make his debut for Canberra on the weekend, and with trepidation wondered who would take his place in the number 2 jersey.
I needn’t have bothered.
Against the Dragons, Young Tonumaipea stepped up and showed why he is considered one of the bright young things (no pun intended) in the Melbourne Storm.
At 22 years old, and with one season of first grade under his belt, Tonumaipea started out on the wing and was a stand-out in what was at times a sloppy, but hard-fought defensive arm-wrestle. He scored the first try of the match, and put every other coach in the NRL on notice.
Although the night didn’t start out too well for him (he was the recipient of a great tackle by debutant Eto Nabuli which caused the first error of the match) he was the first to gather a great kick into the in-goal area by Cooper Cronk to open the scoring.
He played his part in the defensive kicking game by providing support for Billy Slater under the high ball and fielding a bomb himself. He took a couple of turns at dummy-half and had one good dummy-half run in the second half.
For me though, the highlight of the match was watching him in defence, both by himself and in partnership with Will Chambers. The way the two of them worked together, it was clear that more than a little work had been done in the off-season. There was a marked contrast between the way Chambers and Tonumaipea worked together and the opposite side of the line, which saw Marika Koroibete coming in off the line to cover youngster Kurt Mann. I am not criticising Mann’s game (he was better than average) simply highlighting the contrast between the two pairs and, in fairness, St George really didn’t attack that side that often.
Even the St George try, which came from a kick to Tonumaipea’s corner, spoke more to the skill of Benji Marshall than the defensive deficiencies of Tonumaipea’s game. He was up on the line when he needed to be and when he did come out of the line, he never came further out than he could get back and cover.
In a side where 90 per cent of the press space is dedicated to three players (maybe four if you want to argue about it), I was impressed by Tonumaipea both as an individual and as a team member. Storm fans can only hope he stays healthy over the season.
Can he keep improving? Will he back up next week with another great performance? Watch this space!
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