Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Todd Packer]

Unfortunately we have nothing to offer Souths to relieve them of Blake Taafe. But I think he would be an excellent addition right now. Kurt Falls could be had easily enough. I know- not an exciting signing. But his kicking game is solid & he directs play around the field. Is that worse than what we already have?

Off season needs to bring in a centre of note- someone that drags an extra defender over & creates gaps outside.

We have plenty of our own mediocre players. We don't need to add Falls unless we're aiming for a Magpies KOE premiership.

 

[tigerbenji]

I know that a couple of seasons ago in a trial match (I think it was out at Kirkham) when he was still at the Roosters, the kid destroyed us.

I was there & he was great, was talking to someone who knew & in produced me to him. Nice young man.

 

[tiger05premier]

Since 2020 we have let a heap of players go, our team now only contains AD, & Twal,

& the King of halfbacks Luke The Brooks, who currently play in our team so anybody with a brain can figure the constant thing within our team thats not changed,
Luke of course, nor have our results changed, yes lots of players make mistakes, but in nearly every game luke plays in, you can work it out, in todays game against manly he made a glaring error in defence that delivered them there 2nd try, lost two balls when tackled, dropped a pass with the chance to score close to post creating an 8 point lead for us with 8 minutes left on clock. And this did not only happen today, it happens in most games he is in.

But he will play next week and they will give him another contract.

Funny thing is that we are the only club on the planet in contention for his signature as no one else is interested and we will still offer him 1.4m instead of the development contract he deserves

 

[Stevec]

Plan to win
1. Make a decision on who is the long term fullback Staines or Bula and leave them there !
2. Find 2 Quality centers( Naden and Toa came to us as wingers )
not sure they are centers
3.find a top playmaker half
In the short term what I would do is try Laurie and Api in the half's and move Brooks to left center where his game will be less dependent on decision making .This is not ideal but I assume We are stuck with Brooks
4, explore the top Cup sides here and Qld for centers and half's

 

[bathursttiger1]

Plan to win
1. Make a decision on who is the long term fullback Staines or Bula and leave them there !
2. Find 2 Quality centers( Naden and Toa came to us as wingers )
not sure they are centers
3.find a top playmaker half
In the short term what I would do is try Laurie and Api in the half's and move Brooks to left center where his game will be less dependent on decision making .This is not ideal but I assume We are stuck with Brooks
4, explore the top Cup sides here and Qld for centers and half's

Employ someone like Scott Prince to setup a half back academy and get everyone of our juniors halves to work one day a week with him on the finer art of halfback play.

 

[Telltails]

We are sending the wrong message. No player who wants to win, and especially quality players want to play for a club who is talking three years time and or a rebuild. The best players have made that abundantly clear. Bennett straight away made it very clear that the Dolphins would not run last whether it was right or wrong it immediately showed what was expected from the squad.
Maguire/club signed Api and Papalii when there was no talk of that because he clearly did not have that time to see the team improve.
Apparently Sheens does, but he has hardly got a line up of players who want to play for him or a club that consistently fails. No player with options is going to see us as a good fit atm while ever we keep losing.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Ronald Volkman would be an ideal halfback signing atm & is a great goalkicker which just adds to his importance.

With risk of being shot down for this suggestion, what about a Papalii for Volkman trade???

Yes Isaiah is of higher value but we have a plethora of backrowers for depth and it would be an easier position for us to recruit. However it is very very difficult to recruit a good halfback and this kid looks to have the goods.

 

[Lukic]

It'll be a major disappointment if we don't have one of these players at halfback next year:

- Ben Hunt
- Shaun Johnson/Ronald Volkman
- Braydon Trindall
- Mitchell Pearce
- Lewis Dodd

All of them would provide an enormous upgrade over Brooks.

 

[bptiger 0]

Ronald Volkman would be an ideal halfback signing atm & is a great goalkicker which just adds to his importance.

With risk of being shot down for this suggestion, what about a Papalii for Volkman trade???

Yes Isaiah is of higher value but we have a plethora of backrowers for depth and it would be an easier position for us to recruit. However it is very very difficult to recruit a good halfback and this kid looks to have the goods.

Ur mad , we still getting run over in the forwards and u want to give away a gun backrower for a un tested 1/2

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

It'll be a major disappointment if we don't have one of these players at halfback next year:

- Ben Hunt
- Shaun Johnson/Ronald Volkman
- Braydon Trindall
- Mitchell Pearce
- Lewis Dodd

All of them would provide an enormous upgrade over Brooks.

Definitely. I'd add Jayden Sullivan to that list.

 

[hsvjones]

It'll be a major disappointment if we don't have one of these players at halfback next year:

- Ben Hunt
- Shaun Johnson/Ronald Volkman
- Braydon Trindall
- Mitchell Pearce
- Lewis Dodd

All of them would provide an enormous upgrade over Brooks.

Surely the club knows that the main pieces we are missing are in the halves. We are an NFL team at current with no Quarterback. It's that simple
I don't care what it costs we must buy 1 or 2 experienced halves to run the team as we have a great forward pack and money to burn.. We get them and start winning other players will want to come here so until we spend money on halves we will struggle.

If they extend Brooks they are blind or Brooks has something on the club..

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Ur mad , we still getting run over in the forwards and u want to give away a gun backrower for a un tested 1/2

Just putting it out there @bptiger 0 looking at the bigger picture.

Do we trust our development of Blore, Mansfield, Kepaoa, Tumeth to replace IP & maybe add one of the Sironen brothers for experience?

Volkman is a gun & will be a 10-year halfback. He's done a great apprenticeship in lower grades. Yes untested in 1sts.

 

[The Chad]

You can only buy what is available. Players like Trindall, Volkman, Tracey etc are completely untested. Absolutely no guarantee these players improve our team.

If you are picking up these guys, you are committing to the 5 year plan.

Sheens is on record saying he wants 'an experienced half'. Not sure who that is, but so long as he doesn't stink, it goes toward making us competitive in the short term.

Blake Taaffe is off contract the end of this season. So is Shaun Johnson. That'd be a start.

 

[hank37w]

will smith played much better than laurie. who is number 3 in the center?

I agree, which is why I wouldn't do anything rash like rushing Daine Laurie into the NRL side. Lets see if he can show us something worthwhile before that happens.

Sick of the constant chopping and changing and not letting players settle into a position.

I hope someone gets a consistent run in the full back spot whether that is Staines or Bula. Wouldn't object to both of them playing and swapping between wing and fullback to give Bula NRL experience and keeping Staines interested and keen to impress at fullback.

I think the player you are referring to in the #3 was the big lump of a centre Saukuru. Was hoping he would get more touches of the ball to see if he could do some damage but he didn't seem to see much of it.

 

[earl]

Too many schooners?

I honestly don't see why we necessarily benefit from Brooks leaving the club apart from less noise on the forum. He is clearly our best half now and he is creating heaps of points for us. In all seriousness he has been heavily involved in most of our tries over the past 2 weeks. 2 of 3 tries this week and 3 of 4 last game. This is objective reality. I posted the highlights last game and wrote it down. I can do it again.

We win if we get 2 halves better than Brooks. I reckon there is a 99.9% chance that doesn't happen.

People aren't looking at the situation rationally. Those points above are reality. Try not to be emotional or irrational.

*** For clarity I don't drink very often but I am on prescribed medication.

 

[Stevec]

Ronald Volkman would be an ideal halfback signing atm & is a great goalkicker which just adds to his importance.

With risk of being shot down for this suggestion, what about a Papalii for Volkman trade???

Yes Isaiah is of higher value but we have a plethora of backrowers for depth and it would be an easier position for us to recruit. However it is very very difficult to recruit a good halfback and this kid looks to have the goods.

Not sure that is needed .Volkman does not seem to get a look in for Warriors NRL side
As wary as everyone is to come to the tigers if it means graduating from Cup to NRL its a different story . The reason I think we don't even look at guys like this is that Tim &Co are totally fixated on backing Brooks and our own pathways cup flegg etc
We should be chasing real talent no matter who's pathway their in !

 

[Stevec]

It'll be a major disappointment if we don't have one of these players at halfback next year:

- Ben Hunt
- Shaun Johnson/Ronald Volkman
- Braydon Trindall
- Mitchell Pearce
- Lewis Dodd

All of them would provide an enormous upgrade over Brooks.

I agree with you but of your list I doubt Hunt ,Johnson Pearce or Dodd would be interested they have already achieved top tier NRL or ESL status and fear career suicide coming to Concord . However for Trindall and Volkman its a full time gig in the big league and should be enticing

 

[Kelce68]

Ur mad , we still getting run over in the forwards and u want to give away a gun backrower for a un tested 1/2

Getting run over?

We're averaging 1439 run metres per game, the 5th most in the NRL and 1399 run metres conceded, which is 9th in the NRL.

I think the offer of Papali'i for Volkman is hilarious, but we're certainly not getting run over.

 

[liltiger]

For those mentioning signing Kurt Falls and those disappointed we let Hastings go, I’m pretty sure the Bulldogs would be happy to offload Kyle Flanagan ASAP if we wanted him and he plays that structured style of game.
I’m far from sold on Kyle Flanagan being a decent quality NRL player, but at the same time he’s got a far better resume than most halves his age.
Just making the point he’s one we could easily get straight away if we purely want a structured type of halfback.

I'm only saying no to Flannaghan because he seems to have the exact same temperament as Brooks, he would instantly buckle under the immense pressure of being the Tigers 7, doesn't seem to be a general, just one of the troops. We desperatly need a leader in the halves.

 

[Tiger-ferret]

Ur mad , we still getting run over in the forwards and u want to give away a gun backrower for a un tested 1/2

Agree you would be mad to trade papi now but I think our forwards are holding their own this season.