Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

WT2K said:
Hooper warning

The Wests Tigers have made an inquiry with Wigan about the prospect of bringing 2019 Dally M Backrower of the Year John Bateman back to the NRL in 2023.

In a move unrelated to Isaiah Papali’i having second thoughts about switching from Parramatta to Concord next year, Tigers director of football Tim Sheens has confirmed the club has made the approach.

The catch is going to be Bateman is under contract with Wigan until at least the end of 2024 and for now the Warriors have blocked the Tigers move.

Bateman was one of the standout backrowers in the NRL the year the Canberra Raiders made the grand final in 2019 before his tenure in the national capital soured over a contract stalemate with the Green Machine.

Bateman then returned home to the UK at the end of the 2020 NRL season after inking a four-year deal with Wigan through until the end of 2024.

The Raiders were forced to pay a $250,000 transfer fee to Bradford to bring Bateman to the NRL the first time around but the one bonus with transfer fees to English clubs is they aren’t included in the NRL clubs salary cap.

The Bateman approach is creative thinking from Sheens trying to look outside the square and devise recruitment ploys aimed at overhauling the Wests Tigers roster.

The Tigers have made some recruitment moves this week by re-signing Brent Naden, Asu Kepoa and Starford To’a but the real recruitment space where they need to get busy is the re-signing of Adam Doueihi.

Doueihi is easily the Tigers best player, a local junior and the type of leader the Wests Tigers need to build the club around.

With Sheens and Benji Marshall now having control of the steering wheel at least it won’t be left to dithering management types to make another misguided mistake.

The issue with Doueihi is he’s going to be a free agent as of November 1 and you can guarantee rival clubs are going to be getting the queue to try and convince the five-eighth to switch allegiances.

The Tigers need to sharpen their pencil and try and get a long-term deal done now prior to the stronger clubs being able to table a deal.

The Melbourne Storm have already had one crack at getting Doueihi on loan for the remainder of this year and with uncertainty surrounding the future of Cameron Munster the Tigers five-eighth would make an ideal replacement.
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Does anyone think the Tigers may use a player exchange in the negotiations to try to bring down any transfer fee for Bateman? Do we even know if Bateman is interested? I'm assuming he is otherwise his name would have leaked.

I would think any of Tyrone Peachey, Liddle, Tuki Simpkins, Zane Musgrove or a returning Gildart would carve up in UK Super League, even possibly Nofoaluma, if any of them were keen on the UK.

I reckon if Noffa is open to it and Bevan French returns to Australia then Wigan may consider paying a bulk of his contract. He would even be a good fullback over there however Jai Field seems to have that secured. Imagine Noffa's ego as a 'superstar' of Super League!!! Potential Man of Steel! This isn't a crazy thought if Noffa is open to it.
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
Does anyone think the Tigers may use a player exchange in the negotiations to try to bring down any transfer fee for Bateman? Do we even know if Bateman is interested? I'm assuming he is otherwise his name would have leaked.

I would think any of Tyrone Peachey, Liddle, Tuki Simpkins, Zane Musgrove or a returning Gildart would carve up in UK Super League, even possibly Nofoaluma, if any of them were keen on the UK.

I reckon if Noffa is open to it and Bevan French returns to Australia then Wigan may consider paying a bulk of his contract. He would even be a good fullback over there however Jai Field seems to have that secured. Imagine Noffa's ego as a 'superstar' of Super League!!! Potential Man of Steel! This isn't a crazy thought if Noffa is open to it.
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These journos live in their own world. I'm sure I heard Read say he contacted Bateman for a response and he didn't know anything about it. Shows how desperate we are getting if true?
 
twentyforty said:
These journos live in their own world. I'm sure I heard Read say he contacted Bateman for a response and he didn't know anything about it. Shows how desperate we are getting if true?
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Bateman is notorious for lying to the media and denying things. Not saying he is lying this time, but I wouldn't read too much into him denying it.
 
Cobarcats said:
Lets Jag one of these;
TYSON FRIZELLANGUS CRI....TON
JOHNNY BATEMAN
DAVID KLEMMER swap for Brooks,
LIAM MARTIN,
MARTIN TAUPAU,
VICTOR RADLEY,
JOSEPH TAPINE
JOSH CURRAN
I don't care if they're contracted, just get it done shifty!

Angus Crichton
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Anyone of those players would be good for the team.

Having said that, Liam Martin and Tapine could be very real options considering the Panthers cap and the rumblings in Canberra. Also chuck in Corey Oates who is off contract at the end of the year so we can tell Nofa to keep himself and his ego in Melbourne.
 
Wokk_ said:
PK and Riccio try not to be a turd challenge (impossible):

The Daily Telegraph’s David Riccio and NRL360 co-host Paul Kent said the Tigers could not afford to wait until the end of the season for Papali’i to make a decision.

“They have a salary cap to manage, they can’t sit back and wait for this guy,” Kent said.

“That’s why they the Tigers should move on now, move on and use the money before it’s too late,” Riccio added.

“Don’t wait until November. If they do there will be no market for them,” Kent replied.

Should Tigers heed the message and cut ties with Papali’i, it leaves them with two clear options.

Spend the money now and bring in a player to bolster the side for next season or save it up and make a play for one of the big-name stars off-contract from 2023 who can begin negotiating with rivals from November 1.
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They are Imbeciles. And who do we sign with Paps money that is even close to his calibre? These guys are just cancerous to the game and are basically destroying the game for the sake of a news story. If these guys aren't careful, there will be 4 or 5 teams in the NRL.
 
Tcat said:
They are Imbeciles. And who do we sign with Paps money that is even close to his calibre? These guys are just cancerous to the game and are basically destroying the game for the sake of a news story. If these guys aren't careful, there will be 4 or 5 teams in the NRL.
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Just trying to get us to spend our money on a knee jerk reaction like we always do...

Makes their job easy for the next few years if we don't improve....

Fk em.... We can sign at least one more decent back rower and hold the Papalli deal.
 
Jedi_Tiger said:
I think Angus Crichton is a good chance as Roosters will need the cap space
Gildart potentially back to Wigan and we pay a transfer fee to get bateman
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I doubt if we will be able to offload Gildart very easily,even in the ESL he spent a fair bit of time in reggies
 
Jedi_Tiger said:
I think Angus Crichton is a good chance as Roosters will need the cap space
Gildart potentially back to Wigan and we pay a transfer fee to get bateman
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Why would we give them Gildart for zip and then pay them to release Bateman?
Seems odd to me....
 
batboy said:
Why would we give them Gildart for zip and then pay them to release Bateman?
Seems odd to me....
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Bateman is contracted 2023 and 2024 Canberra had to pay a transfer fee to Wigan last time expecting they will want the same. The transfer fee is not part of our nrl salary cap either
As for gildart to sweeten the deal as Wigan don't have to release bateman to us and we want him we will need to give them gildart it makes sense as he likely wants to go back home
we also get gildart off our books it's a big win
 
Jedi_Tiger said:
Bateman is contracted 2023 and 2024 Canberra had to pay a transfer fee to Wigan last time expecting they will want the same. The transfer fee is not part of our nrl salary cap either
As for gildart to sweeten the deal as Wigan don't have to release bateman to us and we want him we will need to give them gildart it makes sense as he likely wants to go back home
we also get gildart off our books it's a big win
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For WTs, it is good to have the NRL onside following the debacle in Nth Qld when you are considering this option.
 
Stevec said:
Cant believe just how dumb Tamou was .He comes on TV and says up to Papalii if he comes to Wests Tigers as if no contract signed and no consequences .Tigers just need a decision
He signed a contract it does have consequences if he breaches contract
Tamou looked unprepared but it sounded so dumb
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It does seem that Tamou wasn't prepped for the question. Which is a disappointing lack of foresight from the clubs PR department.

But it also somewhat matches the tone of messages from the the coaching staff who have largely strayed from commenting definitively on the matter in public. We want ipap to come to the conclusion to join us on his own, not through us somewhat forcing him.

It seems to me that Ipap is happy to come to us, but he's also happy to stay at parra if everyone agrees for him to do that. Which is understandable to a degree, they're a more successful club at the moment so if he can get the same pay at both clubs and he had to choose now he'd probably have signed with them. But he didn't wait, back himself to keep playing well and increase his value. He signed a contract 12 months in advance, and this is the risk a player has to accept when they do this. There's zero incentive for us to let go a prized recruit but for him to leave it with his agent to try to somehow get us to release him is a one in a million pot shot.

Using Madge is a cop out. To say i was looking forward to working under madge and am sad we won't be there is one thing, but to use that to try and annul a contract is madness. Saying i'd only come to you to play under the coach that kept failing because i'd rather fail under him than succeed under a different coach?
 
Jedi_Tiger said:
Bateman is contracted 2023 and 2024 Canberra had to pay a transfer fee to Wigan last time expecting they will want the same. The transfer fee is not part of our nrl salary cap either
As for gildart to sweeten the deal as Wigan don't have to release bateman to us and we want him we will need to give them gildart it makes sense as he likely wants to go back home
we also get gildart off our books it's a big win
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Gildart's going to Redcliffe. won't be of any use to us in a deal with Wigan for Bateman. chances are we'll have to pay a transfer fee to get him over here and honestly I'm not sure if we'll be able to get it done. he's under contract til 2024 over there and he hasn't exactly set the world on fire since going home. I'd rather the Brooks/Frizell swap.
 
balmain boy said:
It does seem that Tamou wasn't prepped for the question. Which is a disappointing lack of foresight from the clubs PR department.

But it also somewhat matches the tone of messages from the the coaching staff who have largely strayed from commenting definitively on the matter in public. We want ipap to come to the conclusion to join us on his own, not through us somewhat forcing him.

It seems to me that Ipap is happy to come to us, but he's also happy to stay at parra if everyone agrees for him to do that. Which is understandable to a degree, they're a more successful club at the moment so if he can get the same pay at both clubs and he had to choose now he'd probably have signed with them. But he didn't wait, back himself to keep playing well and increase his value. He signed a contract 12 months in advance, and this is the risk a player has to accept when they do this. There's zero incentive for us to let go a prized recruit but for him to leave it with his agent to try to somehow get us to release him is a one in a million pot shot.

Using Madge is a cop out. To say i was looking forward to working under madge and am sad we won't be there is one thing, but to use that to try and annul a contract is madness. Saying i'd only come to you to play under the coach that kept failing because i'd rather fail under him than succeed under a different coach?
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If it was so important and given there was so much discussion about our coach, then he should of had that clause in his contract. No Madge, no me.
Just using it as some sort of rationale to not come.
My attitude has always been only transfer if you are committed to the club you are joining. And as someone said earlier, there has been no positive vibe by him toward WT.
Maybe Madge got in his ear at international weekend and is using IP as payback., despite his massive golden handshake.
 
Halbrowne61 said:
If it was so important and given there was so much discussion about our coach, then he should of had that clause in his contract. No Madge, no me.
Just using it as some sort of rationale to not come.
My attitude has always been only transfer if you are committed to the club you are joining. And as someone said earlier, there has been no positive vibe by him toward WT.
Maybe Madge got in his ear at international weekend and is using IP as payback., despite his massive golden handshake.
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I would doubt if Madge would have got in his ear about not coming,this rumour about Paps not coming was well established before Madge was sacked it has just intensified since then.Parra are an absolute shit as a club and i would say have been in his ear virtually since he signed for us,they are beneath contempt
 
jrtiger said:
Gildart's going to Redcliffe. won't be of any use to us in a deal with Wigan for Bateman. chances are we'll have to pay a transfer fee to get him over here and honestly I'm not sure if we'll be able to get it done. he's under contract til 2024 over there and he hasn't exactly set the world on fire since going home. I'd rather the Brooks/Frizell swap.
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gildart is contracted to wests tigers 2023 he is not going anywhere unless he is released by wests tigers
 
jrtiger said:
Gildart's going to Redcliffe. won't be of any use to us in a deal with Wigan for Bateman. chances are we'll have to pay a transfer fee to get him over here and honestly I'm not sure if we'll be able to get it done. he's under contract til 2024 over there and he hasn't exactly set the world on fire since going home. I'd rather the Brooks/Frizell swap.
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Brooks frizell swap ain't happening it was condured up in the minds of the Brooks bashers
Sheens made it clear no such swap is happening
NEXT
who else can the Rumours start for a Brooks swap
 
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