Arriving mid-season from the Knights Joey Leilua had an interrupted start to his Raiders career, but he finished the season showing some strong potential and is poised to sign a new deal with the club for 2016 and beyond.
The blockbusting centre began his career with the Raiders off the bench against the New Zealand Warriors in Auckland, but missed the next two matches due to the bye and a clause in his contract which saw him forced to miss the match against his former club Newcastle.
The break from football gave him the chance to work on his fitness and he returned to the Raiders line-up in round 19 for the clubs heartbreaking one point loss to the Sharks at GIO Stadium.
Leilua’s first win as a Raiders came in round 20 at Pepper Stadium, where he was influential in setting up two tries for Jordan Rapana, including some slick work down the short side to catch the defenders napping and give the Raiders the lead late in the match.
Two suspensions for shoulder charges interrupted Leilua’s finish to the season and this will be an area he will need to work on in the off-season, to ensure he can gain some consistency in his football for the Green Machine.
His Speed, Size and Power give the Raiders a potent attacking option on the right hand side of the field and if he can reach his best form he has the potential to have a very fruitful career in green.
Statistics:
Matches |
Runs |
Metres |
Tackles |
Tries |
Try Assists |
Tackle Breaks |
Offloads |
Line Breaks |
6 |
46 |
501 |
63 |
0 |
2 |
16 |
3 |
0 |
