Parramatta believe the best is still to come for winger Maika Sivo, with the flyer set to become just the fourth rookie in 30 years to top the NRL’s try-scoring charts.
Sivo capped off a stunning maiden regular season with a hat-trick against Manly on Friday night, moving his tally for the year to 20 and well clear of his rivals for the Ken Irvine Medal.
Signed until the end of next year, it’s understood the Eels are positive on the way talks are progressing with the 25-year-old to keep him at the club beyond that.
In doing so, it would stop him being a big-name target for rival clubs when the new rugby league year begins on November 1.
Crucial, given the Eels believe Sivo’s best is still very much ahead of him.
“He’s only had 12 months at NRL level,” Arthur said.
“He only had a three-four week pre-season, he’s coming off a shoulder reconstruction, so we didn’t really get a lot to do with him in the pre-season.
“So we’re hoping that he knuckles down over the next pre-season, gets himself fitter for the week-to-week competition.
“Pre-seasons are really important and that can be where, if he wants to take his game to the next level, that’s where it will be.”
Sivo’s feat means that 2019 will be the third time in the past four years a Fijian has topped the charts, after Semi Radradra (2015) and Suliasi Vunivalu (2016 and 2017).
But it has been the fashion in which he has done it which is most impressive, after he only began playing rugby league for Gundagai in Group Nine four years ago.
He is virtually unstoppable close to the line, as he leads the league for linebreaks (25) and Parramatta for tackle busts (68).
His development has come as Radradra met with a number of NRL clubs about a possible return to the NRL in the past week, with the Eels having claimed not to be one of them.
“He (Sivo) had a couple of weeks there where he was a little quiet and he bounced back really well last week,” Arthur said.
“He carried strong.
“I think if he carries hard out of the backfield early, it sets him up and he’ll find a way or we’ll find a way to get him the ball and he’s pretty hard to handle.
ROOKIES TO TOP TRY-SCORING LISTS SINCE 1990
* Noa Nadruku, Canberra 1993
* Alex Johnston, South Sydney 2014
* Suliasi Vunivalu, Melbourne 2016
