COMPARING THE PROS
Rugby league legends rate Radradra over Sivo
Undoubtedly, the question rugby league fans in Australia are asking is who is the better Parramatta Eels winger. Is it Semi Radradra or Maika Sivo?
Sivo’s incredible performances for Parramatta have eased the loss of Radradra to rugby union far better than any Eels fan would have dared to hope.
The giant Fijian scored four tries against the Cowboys in round eight, simply unstoppable on the left edge. It was the first four-try haul from an Eels player since Radradra in 2017. Sivo now has eight tries for the season, including a highlight reel effort in which he demolished Dally M Medallist James Tedesco on his way to the line.
Even former NRL players Brett Kimmorley and Robbie Farah and coaches have contributed to the debate.
Nine NRL host James Bracey put the question to legendary coach Phil Gould.
He said: “Well Maika Sivo, he’s the one they’ve got. Radradra’s over in rugby, he’s not helping them at the moment.
“They’re different sorts of players but what it’s saying is that whoever plays on the left wing for the Parramatta Eels gets plenty of good service and plenty of opportunity.
“With these tries the other night, Sivo only had to stroll in less than 10 metres on every one of them. They’re playing really good football inside of him and he’s a deadly finisher, he really is.
“He doesn’t score the length of the field tries that Radradra used to do, Radradra used to score tries from all over the field, doing it from anywhere on the field. He could make it on his own.
“This man (Sivo) is a wonderful finisher; big, strong body and he can find his way to the line and he can do it in the air.”
Gould said that the important thing was Sivo and Radradra had both found their way to the NRL from Fiji and become beloved stars. Kimmorley said: You take Maika Sivo in a short term, because of how good he is coming with the game and his percentage has been higher and he’s massive framework. He is so hard to stop. The three years of Radradra playing footie, the consistency of his performance and tries for three years, I’ll go for Semi because he’s got three years of fast pace behind him.
Farah said: “For me those three years, he had a pretty ordinary team at the time, Sivo at the moment is playing pretty good backline and creating a lot of opportunities.
“Semi for me scored so many tries, long range course, everyone forgets. I remember watching the Parramatta, Semi pick up the ball from their own tryline and ran 100metres and scored a try and got him out of trouble. I’ve never seen a winger score so many spectacular tries like Semi did, so I will pick him.”