Steve Matai

<style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> It would be interesting to hear people’s opinion of Steve Matai, purely in footballing terms. He is such a divisive player for so many reasons, including but not limited to: playing for Manly; having a dumbass haircut; wasting so much time every game with injuries; and high shots that are so bad you even begin to pity a jackass like Michael Ennis. Combined with the ridiculous praise he gets from portions of the press, notably Ray Warren, it isn’t hard to understand why most rugby league fans hate him.

But I actually think Matai is a pretty decent player. He is by no means a superstar but if you compare him to other centres in the NRL*, he is comfortably in the top third and at various times, I’d even argue that he pushes into the top 10.

In attack he isn't a brilliant individual player but he is well-balanced. He is fast and strong and I’ve always been a fan of his ability to step off his left or right foot. He isn’t great at hitting holes but when he gets the ball early I think he is in his element: he has developed a decent grubber kick and while he isn’t going to perform many Matt Gidley draw-and-passes, he has quick hands and is good at judging when to pass to his winger. That last point is particularly noteworthy because a lot of modern centres have become notorious ball hogs and secondly, he generally plays inside Jorge Taufua, whose timing can be terrible and is often guilty of rushing up too flat in attack and putting Matai under huge pressure. Added on top of that, Matai always makes good metres coming out of dummy half and is Manly’s second best player in this area, only behind the incomparable Taufua.

Matai’s obvious issue is defence but I think that is less of problem when you remember that the overall standard among today’s centres is pretty damn low. He is definitely in the bottom half but there are still many who are worse than him. But while his tackling and his ability to read the play is bad, his aggression actually means that from time-to-time, he does a tremendous job of shutting down the opposition because his physicality and speed panics them and shuts down the inside man. Overall, his net contribution is still negative but if you compare him to plenty of other centres, for example Dane Gagai, who only ever puts in average-to-poor performances and then occasional has a terrible game, I’d generally rather take Matai since he’ll have just as many poor games but will occasionally come up with some golden plays.

If I were the New Zealand coach, I'd be asking him to come back and play at the end of the year.

 

Players who have played a reasonable amount in the past two seasons:

Jamie Lyon
Steve Matai
Michael Jennings
Will Chambers
Kane Linnett
Dane Gagai
Brent Tate
Bryson Goodwin
Shaun Kenny-Dowell
Jarrod Croker
Jack Reed
Konrad Hurrell
Ben Pomeroy
Jonathan Wright
BJ Leilua
Ryan Moran
Brad Takairangi
Dean Whare
Krisnan Inu
Dane Nielsen
Chase Stanley
Blake Ayshford
Tim Lafai
Josh Morris
Dylan Walker
Maurice Blair
Justin Hodges
Jamal Idris
Lewis Brown
Jacob Loko
Chris Lawrence
Blake Ferguson
Tim Simona
Jack Wighton
Gerard Beale
Ricky Leutele
Willie Tonga
William Hopoate
Kirisome Auvaa
Dale Copley
Mahe Fonua
Matthew Allwood

I should probably also point out that this isn't asking whether Steve Matai is "overrated" or "underrated". Your perception of how other people perceive a certain player is an incredibly boring and overdone topic of discussion.

 

Nah, Julian is exempted because he is right on the money. His post is severely underrated.

 

No, it's just a list of players who played more than 10 games as a centre in 2013 or 2014

 

I don't know how anyone can say he's tough when he gets injured every second game, goes off and then comes back on a lot of the time.

 

Well unless it explains the constant but ephemeral knee and ankle injuries mixed in with the shoulder and arm problems, to which I assume you're alluding, I don't really see the relevance. But no, I don't.