Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Well, it's not like we've fielded a team for a while anyway. It'll just be easier for opposition teams to avoid the Wests Tigers obstacle course.
 
BZN said:
I still feel sorry for Josh re "getting cat fished". I hope he has been able to move on with his life and find that genuine love of having a family he was searching for.
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Last I heard he was waiting for his investment pay out from the Prince of Nigeria....😂 Nah but serious , that was a rough ride for a nice guy.
 
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jirskyr said:
It's interesting that Gus said last night on 100% Footy that he thinks Bulldogs are 3-4 years behind Tigers in Pathways development. As originally quoted to me by bathursttiger.

I also honestly don't think you need great junior sides across the board, of course though it doesn't hurt, but that having a great SG Ball or Flegg side is only a fraction of the story, if most of those boys don't go on to first grade. In other words the lower grade results are not necessarily an indicator of the quality of candidates coming through that actually will play first grade.

E.g. even within our own juniors, the 2012 and 2013 SG Ball back-to-back premiers, most of them didn't go anywhere near first grade
2012
1 Mason Farrell, 2 Max Dimarco, 3 Leva Li, 4 Nathan Milone, 5 Paul Simona, 6 Mitchell Moses ( C ), 7 Mark Daoud, 8 Leki Taumalolo, 9 Manaia Cherrington, 10 Fosio Tatola, 11 Salesi Funaki (Junior's bro), 12 Daniel Rakvin, 13 Andrew Kazzi, Interchange 14 Jason Vikilani, 15 Rhys Armstrong, 16 Matthew Woods, 17 Lolo Funaki
There's one legitimate career first-grader there

2013
1 Camden SUTTON, 2 Jayden WHEELHOUSE, 3 Tom SATTERTHWAITE, 4 Jaleel SEVE-DERBAS, 5 John TOHI, 6 Rhys ARMSTRONG, 7 Jeremy MARSHALL-KING, 8 Fosio TATOLA (c), 9 Jack WHEELHOUSE, 10 Dwayne LEMAFA, 11 Junior TATOLA, 12 Matthew WOODS (c), 13 Peter TA’AUSO, 14 Pio SOKOBALAVU, 15 Tyler CASSEL, 16 Adam SPICER, 17 Chris MOANA
1 decent first-grade here (Junior Tatola) and a respectable bloke recently eking out a career (JMK)

So let's call it 2.5 career first graders from two premiership junior teams, and both of these teams went on to win the U18s National Championship

I'm not saying you are wrong, I am just noting that Gould himself says Tigers are ahead in pathways development and commented that Bulldogs should have started the same process 6-7 years ago.
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But to what effect?
What evidence is there that our pathways is working? We’ve won 1 junior tournament in the past decade and it could be said that it was due to the player brackets being increased coz of COVID so we were able to keep the same side together for multiple years fielding one of the most experienced HMs teams in 2022.
But even still. To your point, what benefit would we be seeing by having a pathways 6-7 years ahead of the bulldogs.
If it is demonstrated through results that despite having a 6-7 year head start on the Bulldogs that already they are more competitive in their lower grades then we have been the moment Gus and Ciraldo enter the building.
 
BZN said:
Have the WT been paying you to write this sorta stuff recently?
You're putting so much spin on a lemon, being WT obviously, politicians of every colour would be impressed.
But in saying that I usually enjoy reading your posts, as You're one of the best contributors on here.
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It was a discussion about how the Dogs and Tigers are travelling relative to one another, and talking down the Dogs, not talking up the Tigers.

The OP was saying that Dogs "off the field they are so far ahead of WT it's not funny." I disagreed and I have been a critic of the Dogs rebuild for several years. I don't think Tigers are so far off quite a number of other struggling clubs, and funnily enough Dogs managed to get themselves flogged not even 24 hours after us.

That's not to say Tigers are doing well, that is to argue against pointing at clubs like Canterbury as a path or template for success. If you want to make comparisons to good clubs, compare to Storm or Penrith or Souths, even how Parramatta have done their rebuild, not Bulldogs or St George.
 
Needaname said:
But to what effect?
What evidence is there that our pathways is working? We’ve won 1 junior tournament in the past decade and it could be said that it was due to the player brackets being increased coz of COVID so we were able to keep the same side together for multiple years fielding one of the most experienced HMs teams in 2022.
But even still. To your point, what benefit would we be seeing by having a pathways 6-7 years ahead of the bulldogs.
If it is demonstrated through results that despite having a 6-7 year head start on the Bulldogs that already they are more competitive in their lower grades then we have been the moment Gus and Ciraldo enter the building.
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I already made the point in the previous post, I don't think "cumulative success in lower grades" is necessarily the sole indicator of a successful Pathways program/strategy. I made the point that many champion junior teams amount to nothing when they attempt to transition to first grade.

I argue that a better indicator for the Pathways system is how many first-grade quality players you produce.

Penrith are an example of this, they have good junior teams but more importantly they field many junior players that are first-grade quality. But also Penrith sit on the biggest junior nursery in the country, not just by virtue of their own work, but because of the demographics and population growth of their district.

I don't know why Gus Gould thinks Tigers are 3-4 years ahead of Bulldogs in Pathways development, I just know that's what he said. And if Dogs have good junior sides but a crap First Grade side, then there must be something more to the Bulldogs Pathways strategy than having a good NSW Cup team every year.

Matt Betsey only joined Tigers in 2021 so he's only been here 2 years overseeing the new Pathways strategy. I am going to assume that in another 2-3 years from now you'll have a better indicator of how much talent this recent strategy is managing to unearth. Obviously Bula and TDS are the first players coming in, one who is a long-term Magpies candidate and one we basically jagged from the Gold Coast.
 
jirskyr said:
I already made the point in the previous post, I don't think "cumulative success in lower grades" is necessarily the sole indicator of a successful Pathways program/strategy. I made the point that many champion junior teams amount to nothing when they attempt to transition to first grade.

I argue that a better indicator for the Pathways system is how many first-grade quality players you produce.

Penrith are an example of this, they have good junior teams but more importantly they field many junior players that are first-grade quality. But also Penrith sit on the biggest junior nursery in the country, not just by virtue of their own work, but because of the demographics and population growth of their district.

I don't know why Gus Gould thinks Tigers are 3-4 years ahead of Bulldogs in Pathways development, I just know that's what he said. And if Dogs have good junior sides but a crap First Grade side, then there must be something more to the Bulldogs Pathways strategy than having a good NSW Cup team every year.

Matt Betsey only joined Tigers in 2021 so he's only been here 2 years overseeing the new Pathways strategy. I am going to assume that in another 2-3 years from now you'll have a better indicator of how much talent this recent strategy is managing to unearth. Obviously Bula and TDS are the first players coming in, one who is a long-term Magpies candidate and one we basically jagged from the Gold Coast.
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Fair point. I’d add Pole to the list, fine pick up from the Melbourne system. But with some of our juniors doing better than others is it really down to the benefit of the system or the individuals within it.
 
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AD is not going anywhere next year, he is just unlikely to be re-signed for '25. The others mostly gone but I'd expect to see Staines and possibly Blore stay on short term deals and I've been told Seyfarth to Parra but again it's all a rumour at this point. The Ben Hunt rumour not entirely going away either I have a feeling we are making sure his manager knows we are an option to make some big $$ staying in Sydney.

Also apparently Cogger told us in no uncertain terms he would not be coming to the club.
 
watersider said:
What's wrong with Staines? He's hard working, consistent, fast, versatile and played well for us. Sure, none of those things are Tigers DNA but why does club not rate him? Obviously he's a little undersize but there are smaller, less physical wingers out there and this week we're starting kepaoa there, so we're not flush with choices.
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The only thing wrong with him is his price tag. Currently over $500k per season. If his expectations were to drop by a few hundred thousand then a deal is there to be made. Not more than 350k though
 
Pbulk said:
AD is not going anywhere next year, he is just unlikely to be re-signed for '25. The others mostly gone but I'd expect to see Staines and possibly Blore stay on short term deals and I've been told Seyfarth to Parra but again it's all a rumour at this point. The Ben Hunt rumour not entirely going away either I have a feeling we are making sure his manager knows we are an option to make some big $$ staying in Sydney.

Also apparently Cogger told us in no uncertain terms he would not be coming to the club.
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Source?
 
Pbulk said:
AD is not going anywhere next year, he is just unlikely to be re-signed for '25. The others mostly gone but I'd expect to see Staines and possibly Blore stay on short term deals and I've been told Seyfarth to Parra but again it's all a rumour at this point. The Ben Hunt rumour not entirely going away either I have a feeling we are making sure his manager knows we are an option to make some big $$ staying in Sydney.

Also apparently Cogger told us in no uncertain terms he would not be coming to the club.
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Fair dinkum re Cogger. If we can’t attract the likes of Cogger who will never be any more than a backup at the Panthers, then things are grim.

I did post an article last week about Cogger from about 3 years ago saying he supported the Tigers as a kid but knocked back an offer in about 2020 because he didn’t want the pressure of playing for the club & being constantly identified as Trevor’s son.
 
supercoach said:
Our chairman’s recent comments about the club going on an aggressive recruitment drive was nearly word for word what he said about this time last year when interviewed after the team received a touch up. I wonder if we will hear the same stuff next year
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*we understand it's unacceptable
*nobody is hurting more than the Front Office
*we are working tirelessly
*we didn't see this coming

Lee Hagipantelis
Circa 2020-21-22-23

😴😴
 
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