Manly Sea Eagles recruitment manager Scott Fulton has claimed that a four-minute highlights package on content sharing site YouTube was all the evidence he needed to sign speedster Taniela Paseka.
Speaking with The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, Fulton explained that he was sold on Paseka's ability after viewing the 23-year-old's reel at the cessation of the 2016 season.
After being sent the below package by Paseka's manager Craig Baker some five-years ago, it took less than 10-minutes to enquire about prying the Auckland-born talent from the Wests Tigers' claws.
“I only saw Taniela play maybe once before I rang Craig," Fulton said.
"I asked him about some players and then brought up Taniela. He sent through the highlights of Taniela. I watched it and straight away rang Craig back and said: ‘We’ll take him’.
“You could see his sheer size on that video, power, pace, defence, everything really. And you could see he was going to get better and better as he matured.
“He was 19 when we signed him and he then played under 20s for us before going into first grade the following year. I think we signed him on a junior development contract.
“He has had a few injuries but all-in-all, he is a potential representative player, without a doubt."
The man on the other end of the phone call was quick to corroborate with Fulton's narrative and stated that the Sea Eagles' desire was enough to save him the hassle of shopping the forward's wares on the open market.
Having been given a license by head coach Des Hasler to offload the footy when he sees fit, Paseka has taken up the advice on 29 occasions this season.
With Fulton holding the view that Paseka is only just entering his peak years, South Sydney's forward pack may well have their hands full containing him during Friday night's preliminary final.
“Taniela is only 23. He’s been around a while but is still young," he said.
"Good judges generally don’t think front-rowers get going until their mid to late 20s so there’s a lot of upside to him.”
The 6 foot 6 brute produced a season high five offloads during his last clash against the Bunnies in Round 2 of this season - a performance Hasler will desperate to see repeated in an effort to steer the Northern Beaches side through to their first decider since 2013.
