This time last week, Samoa players had no idea Blaize Talagi was capable of kicking goals.
The young five-eighth has matured into a classy playmaker at Penrith this season, and is known for putting on some big hits while defending, but goal-kicking?
The fact is, despite having never kicked a goal in the NRL, Talagi took nearly 2000 attempts at Panthers training this year. He regularly stayed behind after training to learn about preparation and repetition from none other than Nathan Cleary.
Samoa lost to the Kiwis 24-18 on Sunday, but had they won, the big talking point would have been Talagi’s nerveless sideline conversion late in the game.
The 20-year-old rated the moment the ball sailed between the posts at Go Media Stadium as the best of his short career.
Now his right boot shapes as a key factor when Samoa meet Tonga in front of 45,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.
Blaize Talagi’s excellent sideline conversion.Credit: NRL
“I kicked all the time growing up, but I only started practising again when I joined Penrith,” Talagi said. “When I came into camp, ‘BG’ [coach Ben Gardiner], who is an assistant coach at Penrith, told me I’d been kicking well all year, and said, ‘You’re the man, you’ll be our goal-kicker’.
“As soon as we scored that try the other day, I knew it was going to be a big kick from out wide. I took a few deep breaths, got into my routine – I take five steps back, one to the side, put my head over the ball and aim for the right post – and tried to stay composed.
“I saw the big screen behind the goals, but never realised it was me on the screen. I was only looking at the posts.“I was so glad when it went through. It’s definitely one of the biggest moments I’ve had in my short career.”
Talagi said the hours spent with Cleary, not just kicking, but observing the time and effort he put into every attempt, had taught him plenty about the art.
Samoa player Blaize Talagi.Credit: NRL Photos
“I put up an Insta story during the week and Nathan commented, ‘Penrith’s new goal-kicker’,” Talagi said. “I’m in awe that I get to play with him each week. Not only does he control the team, but he attracts so many defenders each time, it just makes my job so much easier.
“We do a lot of kicking together at training, but you don’t realise how he goes about things and how much he puts into his preparation.”
New Zealand goalkicking legend Daryl Halligan works with Talagi and Penrith, and was seated on the Kiwis bench just 15m behind Talagi when he had the chance to lock the scores up.
The fact he nailed the conversion was another example of why Talagi has such a bright future in the game, said Halligan.
Blaize Talagi takes a hit-up for Samoa last Sunday.Credit: NRL Images
“The first time I had a look at him was about 12 months ago in the pre-season at Penrith,” Halligan said. “I said, ‘Do you do some goalkicking?’ and he said, ‘Yeah’, then away he went, and I was like, ‘Holy smoke, this kid is on to it’.
“It was a great moment for him on Sunday. You have a minute to put the ball on the tee until you kick the ball off the tee.
“That one minute is about visualisation, you might be thinking about contact, you might be thinking about your line, the shape of your kick. He did well to control that one-minute period with everything that was going on around him in terms of the crowd and what it meant to the game.”
Stephen Crichton is Samoa’s regular kicker but the Canterbury captain is out injured, while Dylan Edwards and Paul Alamoti are the back-up kickers for the Panthers if Cleary was unavailable.
Halligan told Penrith Talagi was ready to take on the job midway through the season, but the club did not want to burden the second-year five-eighth.
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