TBT: Fus at the double
David Fusitu’a cracked his century of NRL appearances for the Vodafone Warriors last weekend and today we salute his achievement on Throwback Thursday by heading back to 2018 when he was matchless as the competition’s top finisher.
That was the year ‘Fus’ claimed the Dally M try scorer of the year accolade after snaring an astonishing 23 tries in 23 appearances.
He set the pace from the start of the campaign, bagging a double in the opening round victory over South Sydney in Perth and then maintaining the strike rate in the Vodafone Warriors’ first home game of the season against the Gold Coast Titans a week later.
In a grinding 20-8 victory, Fus provided two of the undoubted highlights.
The first of them came midway through the first half with the Vodafone Warriors down 0-2 at the time after an early Titans penalty.
It owed everything to his inside men. Captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck jumped into dummy half, shifting the ball right to Tohu Harris on a short side. With superb footwork, Harris skipped outside his marker, Peta Hiku running a beautiful line onto a short pass and then giving Fusitu’a a clear run-un to finish off. Sweet skills.
For his second Fusitu’a had much more to do, showing off his brilliant aerial skills to haul in a pinpoint Shaun Johnson bomb for his second of the day.
Watch and enjoy.
March 17, 2018
Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland
Vodafone Warriors 20 (David Fusitu’a 2, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Solomone Kata tries; Shaun Johnson 2 conversions).
Gold Coast Titans 8 (Anthony Don try; Michael Gordon conversion, penalty).
Halftime: 12-2 Vodafone Warriors.
Referees: Adam Gee and Gavin Reynolds.
Crowd: 14,132.
Teams:
Vodafone Warriors | Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (c); David Fusitu’a, Peta Hiku, Solomone Kata, Ken Maumalo; Blake Green, Shaun Johnson; James Gavet, Issac Luke, Adam Blair; Isaiah Papali’i, Tohu Harris; Ligi Sao. Interchange: Sam Cook, Leivaha Pulu, Sam Lisone, Bunty Afoa.
Gold Coast Titans | Michael Gordon; Anthony Don, Dale Copley, Konrad Hurrell, Phillip Sami; Bryce Cartwright, Kane Elgey; Jai Arrow, Nathan Peats, Leilani Latu; Kevin Proctor, Ryan James (c); Will Matthews. Interchange: Mitch Rein, Max King, Morgan Boyle, Keegan Hipgrave.
