Isaiah Papali’i #265

Interview with IPap gave me no confidence he’ll be here, despite signing a binding contract.
Claims the sacking of Madge was the catalyst to reconsider
Papali'i' signed his contract knowing where WTs were on the table. A change of coach in that scenario is always a possibility. I'm sure when he accepted the money he did not have a "coach clause".
 
He’s probably just pushing for an upgrade for more money from us

But I don’t understand how a player who has signed a contract can be on tv saying he’s not sure what he’s doing next year when his contract cleary states he is playing for tigers next year
 
He stated he hasn’t made up his mind on what to do next year; he is leaving it all to his manager; he wants to focus on this year with Parra and will make his final decision after the season ends…..helllo you signed a contract you DH, there is only one decision to make and that is what to pack for lunch on day 1 of preseason training for the Tigers…..gee I hope we don’t cave in to this Guy….

And the nrl do nothing
 
Never confident. Sacking Maguire will provide the perfect excuse - even if it is not true - and while the NRL allow players and managers to run the game not alot clubs can do when players decide to get their managers to get out of deals..
Let's not pretend that if we were in Parramatta's position we wouldn't be doing everything we can to get him to stay.
 
Like I said he does not want to come to the tigers
He does not like the fact Madge and his good mate Nathan Cayless won’t be at the club.
Also the fact that Parra have the money to match the tigers offer plus more with third party payments.
For some reason Parra are very confident he will be staying.
I hope the tigers stick solid and make him honour his contract but like anything contracts are worth nothing these days and broken all the time.
 
Like I said he does not want to come to the tigers
He does not like the fact Madge and his good mate Nathan Cayless won’t be at the club.
Also the fact that Parra have the money to match the tigers offer plus more with third party payments.
For some reason Parra are very confident he will be staying.
I hope the tigers stick solid and make him honour his contract but like anything contracts are worth nothing these days and broken all the time.
Only broken if the other party agrees
 
My take on it is simple. He signed with us because we offered an extra 200k more than Eels. His management went back to Eels twice to see if they could at least match our offer for him to stay. Parra have obviously found that extra $$$ he was seeking and that is that. If Madge was the major reason he was coming why did his management go back to Parra twice. I call BS on this blokes take on things. I can’t blame Parra for trying to keep him but the fact he says “I haven’t decided yet” annoys me because he obviously did decide when he signed his contract.
 
Parramatta superstar Isaiah Papali'i will wait until the end of the season to determine whether he honours a three-year NRL contract at the Wests Tigers.

After a breakout 2021 season in which he snared Dally M second-rower of the year honours, New Zealand international Papali'i signed a deal to join Kiwis coach Michael Maguire at the Tigers for 2023.
Since then, Maguire has been sacked and the Tigers have been consigned to a battle with Gold Coast to avoid the wooden spoon.

Reports emerged in July that Papali'i was considering reneging on his move to the 15th-placed Tigers.

Speculation only intensified when Papali'i refused to publicly confirm he would honour his deal and the Eels revealed they had the salary cap space to retain him.

A month later and the Eels are now on the cusp of the top-four with four games left in the regular season, leading Papali'i to put contract discussions off until Parramatta's finals campaign was complete.

"I've got a season to finish off and then I can worry about all that after," he said.

"When it does come time to have that talk (with the Tigers), we'll definitely have that talk behind the scenes.

"We (Parramatta) have a massive opportunity and I just want to make sure I put my best foot forward. I definitely believe this team can go all the way. That's what my focus has been on lately."

The Eels are already preparing to lose key members of their forward pack in Reed Mahoney, Oregon Kaufusi and Marata Niukore but the uncertainty around Papali'i's future has not been a source of frustration among the playing group.

"You get poked here and there about it but they're pretty good about it," Papali'i said.

"They understand what my situation is and they're backing me to do a massive job this season."

The Tigers' attack showed marked signs of improvement following Jackson Hastings' switch to lock in round 18, which has encouraged Papali'i as he prepares to weigh up his future.

"They've been playing some good footy. It's cool watching from the outside," he said.

"I'm definitely excited for any team that has been struggling throughout a season to put in some good performances."

 
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Never confident. Sacking Maguire will provide the perfect excuse - even if it is not true - and while the NRL allow players and managers to run the game not alot clubs can do when players decide to get their managers to get out of deals..
Let's not pretend that if we were in Parramatta's position we wouldn't be doing everything we can to get him to stay.
Why do people just make this stuff up? The Maguire sacking is not a "perfect excuse" unless it's a specific provision in the contract which, clearly, it isn't. Unless WT fold like a pack of cards he belongs to WT in 2023.
 
He only has to play the mental health card and we are stuffed.
If I had made a decision to leave a finals team to join us Id be depressed. It wouldn’t be hard for him to play the victim.
Ill be stunned if he plays here next year.
 
This is really starting to piss me right off...
We made big recruitment decisions around him coming E.g. letting LL walk and if we back down the fans should protest.. There is NO reason for him not to come and if he doesn't he gets a normal job for 3 years like everyone else and doesn't play footy. He knew what he was coming to and he even commented saying he will enjoy the challenge lifting this team up.

Every other big club Including the Eels never back down so why should we..

He should be dirty on the Eels TBH as they tried to get him for under's and now that they have lost other players he is more important to them...

While I'm on my rant what happens if he form dips and the club ask his Mgr to take a pay cut due to this ??? Oh that's right they would say piss off we have a contract :unsure:

Rant over but if we give in I will need a weeks holiday to write my next rant :LOL:
 
Heres the deal. At the very least push it till he plays the mental health card, cause a bit of a scene, because at least then it becomes very obvious to EVERYONE in the nrl that contracts mean absolutely nothing.
 
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