2020 in review - Kai O'Donnell

[greeneyed]

2020 in review - Kai O'Donnell



This is the twenty fifth instalment of 2020 in review. As is the tradition, now the Raiders' season is over, we are reviewing all 32 players who pulled on a green jersey this year. So far, we've looked at Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Jordan Rapana, Jarrod Croker, Curtis Scott, Nick Cotric, Bailey Simonsson, Semi Valemei, Michael Oldfield, Jack Wighton, George Williams, Josh Papalii, Josh Hodgson, Tom Starling, Siliva Havili, Dunamis Lui, Sia Soliola, Ryan Sutton, Hudson Young, Elliott Whitehead, John Bateman, Corey Harawira-Naera, Joe Tapine, Corey Horsburgh and Emre Guler.

Kai O'Donnell made his NRL debut in the Round 9 clash with the Melbourne Storm - with the Raiders in the midst of an injury crisis. John Bateman, Corey Horsburgh, Sia Soliola and Emre Guler were all out with long term injuries, while Luke Bateman, JJ Collins and Jack Murchie had all been released from their contracts early.

O'Donnell hails from Prosperpine in Queensland and came through the Cowboys' and Titans' junior systems before joining the Raiders in 2019. He was spotted by recruitment guru Peter Mulholland when playing for the Burleigh Bears. O'Donnell went on to play in the 2019 Jersey Flegg Grand Final against the Rabbitohs, having starred all season in the second row. He won the Under 20s Coaches Award on Meninga Medal night and was given a development contract for 2020.

He made a total of four NRL appearances, starting at lock in the three games between Rounds 9-11. That run of games included the Round 10 Grand Final re-match against the Roosters and the Round 11 win over the Rabbitohs. He wasn't called upon again until the Round 20 clash with the Sharks, when coach Ricky Stuart rested a host of his star players. I rated him an average of 5.5/10, with his highest rating of "7" coming in the "Rookie Raiders" win over the Sharks. He started off the bench in that game, but played his longest minutes of the year (45). He scored his first NRL try in that match, and produced one line break, 67 running metres and 30 tackles. O'Donnell also took part in the pre-season NRL Nines in Perth.



It is difficult to make too much of his statistics, given he was mostly given stints of 20 minutes in his matches. As you would expect, his average metres were well down the list of the Raiders forwards, but he ranked sixth for average metres per carry, just behind Josh Papalii and Joe Tapine. His average tackles per match were also relatively low. However, his tackle efficiency rate (90 per cent) wasn't too bad - better than Sia Soliola, Elliott Whitehead, Emre Guler and Corey Harawira-Naera.

Overall, I thought O'Donnell played pretty well when given an opportunity. It would have been a tough year for players like O'Donnell, as they were playing very little football because of the cancellation of the 2020 NSW Cup. It was announced in early December that his development contract has been extended for another year to the end of 2021. It is good news, as he's a player with good potential.

How did you rate Kai O'Donnell's 2020? Tell us below.

Kai O'Donnell's 2020: 3.5/10



2020 Statistics: (Stats from Fox Sports Lab)
Games: 4
Average minutes: 27
Points: 4
Tries: 1
Try assists: 0
Try contributions: 0
Total try involvements: 1
Total kicks: 0
Kick metres: 0
Total runs: 24
All run metres: 212
Average metres per carry: 8
Average metres per game: 53
Tackle breaks: 3
Offloads: 0
Line breaks: 1
Line break assists: 0
Tackles: 51
Average tackles per game: 15
1 on 1 tackles: 1
Missed tackles: 2
Average missed tackles per game: 0.5
Ineffective tackles: 5
Tackle efficiency: 90 per cent
Try causes: 1
Line break causes: 1
Errors: 2
Penalties conceded: 0

[Matt]

Very hard to rate Kai off 4 games. Looked out if his depth in regards to speed of the game, esp in his 1st 2 games, even if physically he looks big enough.
TBH, 3.5 might be generous, so sub 3 for mine.

[Leebola]

Seems unfair to give a rating off such a small sample size. Probably needs another off season or two to put on proper muscle. Solid pedigree, def one to watch.

[greeneyed]

I won’t be giving season ratings for the rest of the players... as they played two games or less. But I will show the average game ratings.

[Botman]

Yeah cant really give him a rating

Thought he came on and did quite well in limited game time, obviously conditioning was an issue in almost all of his game time, really couldnt give more than 20 minutes of footy per game but he did some nice things in his time on the parks

Looks a player worth developing further and we'll see.

[bonehead]

I liked him, good leg speed and nice size

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[BadnMean]

Yeah I feel for these guys- they lost a whole year of footy development due to bad luck. He certainly never let the side down when we was on and he offered enough moments to hint there was a real FG footy player there. His stats would stand up just fine but it's a weird sample of shorter minutes and then a slightly weaker strength game and I'm still not sure where his "real" position is as per edge or middle.

We'll just have to wait and see. Next year he's probably our 4th choice edge forward; Elliot, CHN, Young and then probably Kai. He'll hopefully get a few games somewhere along the line and be able to give a fuller representation of what he can do.

[Bay53]

Very hard to rate because he didn’t get to play his game. We needed him to take some big carries and get through some minutes. He did that even if he was buggered very quickly.

He is more of an edge back rower come occasional middle.

He looks ok but I think he might have a few go past him in the next couple of years if I am being honest. He is the sort of player that is not being in NSW Cup really hurts. I can’t see how he develops playing local comp next year. Needs a stronger comp.

[Botman]

I was just thinking, this guy and his development is pretty interesting in terms of our sqaud compesition

We're stacked in the middle and needing edge help. If we get an injury on the edges, we're looking at shifting Young, Hors or Tapine to the edge. These are high impact middles who dont really provide that impact as edge players... If this guy can develop into a servicable back up as an edge, it would actually be a really impactful if he could play that role

[RedRaider]

Average game time of 27 minutes over four matches but with only 2 errors. Nothing really outstanding or detrimental. Defended well which is the basis of an NRL FGer. On 2020 form I don't see him as pushing for FG in 2021. Too many good players in front of him. Hopefully he develops more fitness and power over the off season. 3.5 seems about right.