Was Mogg playing injured in the back end of the season? He had that tentative look
Yeah, he'd buggered his shoulder and was clearly lacking what little confidence in contact he previously had.
My opinion of Mogg is that he's a Latham the second.
Once he naturally fills out a little and puts on a bit more beef, he'll have confidence in contact to make the tackles he needs to. The kid can hit seriously hard, getting him to do it consistantly is the thing. He'll continue being patchy, with moments of brilliance and clangers, but once he truly finds his feet, he's going to be very good, unless we lost him to France or Japan first.
His performances in gold were much better than people remember. A few kicks failing to find touch, and a few missed tackles aside, he also made a shit tonne of metres with his boot, a few really good breaks and his positioning was pretty good.
It's also worth noting that his few games in gold were at the very beginning of Link's tenure, with To'omua at 10, other new faces, and a backline trying to learn a different style of play.
Folau's 2013 season set a pretty high benchmark too.