Brumbies playmaker Noah Lolesio has rocketed up the leaderboard in Stan Sport’s Australian Super Rugby Pacific player of the year race after the snubbed Wallabies playmaker starred against the Reds in round seven.
After each round the Between Two Posts team are handing out their 3-2-1 votes towards their ’Posty’ awards.
The stakes are high in 2023 as Wallabies coach Eddie Jones runs the rule over the Test contenders with the ultimate carrot of a place in the Rugby World Cup squad.
Watch the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific and Super W seasons on the home of rugby, Stan Sport. All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand
MORGAN TURINUI, Former Wallabies and Waratahs back
3 points: Noah Lolesio
“I love Noah Lolesio, I think he’s a great kid. I love seeing the way he works on his game when I see him around, away from games and training and things like that. He’s a student of the game, he’s a great kid.
“The physical stuff, that’s been some of his feedback, around consistency, around fronting up and being physical and I saw that, I’m seeing that.
“I enjoyed that victory from the Brumbies because I saw Noah play well, I know it’ll be great for his confidence. I want him to do well, I love all these young 10s that have been thrown into the mix together.”
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2: Tom Wright
“He’s been good. The Brumbies are hard to single out people and he’s been sneakily good throughout the season, he’s been influential.
“Skill set excellent and I’m just looking for him to transition his good Super Rugby level decision making into the Test arena. That’s going to be the next step for him.”
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1: Tate McDermott
“That 50m try, he does things that no-one else can do. What impressed me at least as much, if not more so, was his passing looked a little bit crisper, I liked his work off the deck, his core role.
“I think that’s probably where Nic White or Ryan Lonergan might just shade him is the core role, the basics of the game, the variations between kick, pass and run. As a running nine, there’s no-one better but the complete package, that’s where I think they want more from Tate.”
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SEAN MALONEY, Nine and Stan Sport commentator
3: Rob Valetini
“I don’t know who’d given him a jab, who’d prodded him, who’d said get out there and have a dip but he was a force.
“He was everywhere, they couldn’t stop him.”
2: Noah Lolesio
“When you’ve been called on to make some sort of reply to being omitted – he was really good the other night. Kicked unbelievably for the posts, kicked well out of hand, defensively he was fronting blokes, hitting forwards and dropping them. One or two missed tackles but outside of that, very very good.”
1: Fraser McReight
“That guy doesn’t know how to stop. They’re down by 20-30, he’s still chasing back, making steals on his own try-line and clearing out.
“Phenomenal performance again, scored a try as well. He’s just wired different, that kid.”
LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND SEVEN
13: Carter Gordon
8: James Slipper
7: Langi Gleeson
6: Cadeyrn Neville, Ryan Lonergan, Rob Valetini
5: Nick Frost, Brad Wilkin, Noah Lolesio
4: Pete Samu, Jordan Petaia, Andy Muirhead, Tom Wright
3: Lachlan Lonergan, Stacey Ili, Richard Hardwick, Vaiolini Ekuasi, Jed Holloway, Harry Wilson, Fraser McReight
2: Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, John Ulugia, Joe Pincus, Tim Anstee, Len Ikitau
1: Max Jorgensen, Dave Porecki, Tom Lambert, Josh Flook, Lalakai Foketi, Gareth Simpson, Liam Wright, David Feliuai, Taleni Seu, Michael Hooper, Jordan Petaia, Tate McDermott
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