{"id":39191,"date":"2021-02-27T03:48:13","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T04:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=39191"},"modified":"2021-02-27T07:01:08","modified_gmt":"2021-02-27T07:01:08","slug":"suaalii-lives-up-to-hype-in-first-bout-with-big-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=39191","title":{"rendered":"Suaalii lives up to hype in first bout with big boys"},"content":{"rendered":"

They all wanted to see Joseph Suaalii<\/a> in his first game against grown men – and the Sydney Roosters wonder-kid didn't disappoint with a two-try performance in a trial in Canberra.<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old<\/a> – who barely played a game last season due to COVID and contract disputes – could not have asked for a better debut.<\/p>\n

Playing for Roosters' feeder club North Sydney, Suaalii lived up to the hype – and then some, helping the Bears to an upset 26-18 win.<\/p>\n

Canberra should have won this trial easily on paper – their team contained seasoned NRL players Corey Horsburgh, Emre Guler, Dunamis Lui, Ryan James, Tom Starling, Bailey Simonsson and Siliva Havili, while the Bears had a team largely of 'no-names'.<\/p>\n

The former rugby union schoolboy star didn't have to wait long for his maiden try against the big boys – just 16 minutes and three touches.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A bomb was spilled by the defence, with ex-Warriors fullback Brad Abbey picking up the crumbs and shovelling the ball to Suaalii, who showed great strength to find his way to the tryline.<\/p>\n

Suaalii saved his best for late in the game, stepping and showing great power to burst through three defenders from close range for his second.<\/p>\n

Here's a report card on the teenager's debut.<\/p>\n

ATTACK: Didn't get many chances in open space but got the ball close to the line twice – and scored both times.<\/p>\n

RATING: A<\/p>\n

FOOTWORK: Showed good leg speed and strength to score both his tries.<\/p>\n

RATING: A+<\/p>\n

DEFENCE: Saved a try early on and not afraid to put the shoulder in against the opposition forwards.<\/p>\n

RATING: B<\/p>\n

TOUGHNESS: Was served up a couple of hospital passes and hit hard, at one stage hobbling around the field on a sore ankle – but kept coming back for more until cramp forced him off late in the game.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/NRL\/status\/1365524966725152776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

RATING: B-<\/p>\n

MATURITY: Didn't let all the attention get to him and didn't fall into the trap of trying to over-play his hand. Waited for his chances out wide\u2026 and then took them.<\/p>\n

RATING: B<\/p>\n

OVERALL: For a kid with massive expectations on him, Suaalii handled the pressure well, doing his job and then some.<\/p>\n

RATING: B+<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They all wanted to see Joseph Suaalii in his first game against grown men – and the Sydney Roosters wonder-kid didn't disappoint with a two-try […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39191"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39193,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39191\/revisions\/39193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}