When Luciano Leilua burst onto the rugby league scene in 2014, such was his talent, he was often compared to the man he will face on Saturday night, Jason Taumalolo.
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However, like many talented juniors, question marks remained over whether Leilua possessed the work ethic to reach his potential.
And when, after making his NRL debut as a 20-year-old in 2016, he spent the entirety of 2017 in the NSW Cup, there were fears Leilua may represent yet another youngster unable to live up to the hype.
However, after an impressive month in the St George Illawarra Dragons first grade side in which he has showed off his punishing defence, silky skills and imposing ball-running capabilities, it is clear that Leilua is set for a bright future in the NRL.
“He’s a freak,” Leilua’s Dragons teammate Paul Vaughan said.
“He’s looked after himself with his diet and he’s so skillful. You could see on the weekend, he made a linebreak and set a try up for Matty Dufty so he’s very skillful.”
Leilua concedes the transition to first grade has been a tough one. With the St George junior no longer allowed to simply rely on his precocious talent, Leilua was forced to improve his fitness in order to cope with the fast-paced nature of the NRL.
Such was his fear he would be released by the Dragons, Leilua recruited a personal trainer to train with on top of the gruelling requirements of a St George Illawarra preseason and help him shed 10 kilograms leading into the season.
“The big thing for me was my fitness,” Leilua said. “I had to have a big preseason. During the break I went and did some training with my PT and just came to preseason and ripped in.
“During the season, I need to improve my defence when I get fatigued, just don’t get lazy and doing the little things right in attack as well.”
Even in his return to first grade in 2018, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Leilua this season. There have been times in recent weeks where he looks every bit the 12-game player he is, making simple errors attempting to overplay his hand.
Additionally, an ankle injury suffered playing NSW Cup early in the year forced him to spend a month on the sidelines, however Leilua viewed that period as another opportunity to improve his fitness.
“It was a bit tough, but I had a good support system around me, which was good. I was only out for four weeks, it was a bit tough getting back into it, I’m glad that I’m back now and fitter than ever.”
Leilua admits that earlier in his career he had one particular vice, the famed Golden Arches, but now he’s cut that out of his diet his performances look set to go from strength to strength as the Dragons push to the finals.
“He’s got a great head on his shoulders,” Vaughan said. “A great attitude towards training and football, which is what you need, and he’s really down to earth too, which is great. It shows in his footy, when he gets an opportunity he kills it.
“He’s going to be playing first grade footy for a long time.”