Eels great Eric Grothe tips massive future for Maika Sivo
After 22 tries in his first NRL season, Maika Sivo ‘could be anything’ for Parramatta, according to Eels great Eric Grothe, who can’t wait to watch two Fijian flyers in Saturday night’s elimination final.
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Former Eels and Kangaroos great Eric Grothe believes will soon dethrone him as the greatest winger in Parramatta’s 72-year history.
Grothe, who is an NRL and Parramatta Hall of Fame legend, said Maika Sivo “could be anything”.
His comments will add intrigue to Sivo’s highly-anticipated one-on-one confrontation with Melbourne’s Suliasi Vunivalu in Saturday night’s elimination final at AAMI Park.
The match-up between the two Fijian flyers drove Grothe’s son, former Parramatta and NSW winger Eric Grothe Jr, to post on social media …
If I’m a Melbourne winger this week I’m packing extra undies. 💩 #SivoSmash
— Eric Grothe Jr (@ericgrothejr) September 16, 2019
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Sivo has scored 22 tries in his first NRL season, including a double in Parramatta’s record-breaking 58-0 win over Brisbane at Bankwest Stadium on Sunday.
It prompted Grothe Sr to say Sivo would one day become the Eels’ finest winger.
“He can rise to the top and be the best ever, absolutely,” Grothe said. “He is something special. He’s amazing, isn’t he?
“I didn’t think anyone could be as good as Semi Radradra but Sivo is certainly up there. He is super strong and can jump for the ball. He can finish things off really well.
“Sivo’s got it all, he’s got all the skills. Once he gets comfortable with the game …
“We need players who can finish things off like he does because we are playing so well and the forwards are doing so well.
“The winger clash this weekend will be a beauty all-round. Vunivalu is a great player, as it (Storm star) Josh Addo-Carr.
“They are all strong and can all run like the wind. They are as big as forwards. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
“They like to come in and put on a hit every now and then, too. That might be explosive.
“The game is different now to when I played. All the players are bigger and faster.”
Sivo has quickly become a cult figure at Parramatta, as shown by the “Sivo, Sivo, Sivo” chant from adoring fans at Bankwest Stadium on Sunday.
“It’s still early days but he is certainly an excitement machine,” former long-serving Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald said.
“To have the crowd launch into a chat ‘Sivo, Sivo’ when we’re all used to the ‘Parra, Parra’ chant — it’s sensational, the noise that reverberates around Bankwest Stadium.
“He could well be our best ever winger but he needs to continue improving and scoring plenty of tries.
“And based on Sunday’s effort against Brisbane, you’d like to think Parramatta will score plenty of tries over the next five years.”
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Sivo scored a miraculous try against Brisbane in which he lost the ball, juggled it and regathered before touching down to once again send the 30,000 crowd into a frenzy.
His 22 tries came in just 24 NRL games this season. He has also made 27 linebreaks, just one behind the NRL’s best, Roosters fullback James Tedesco, and completed 75 tackle busts.