Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Tired Tiger said:
I'm confused which is not unusual but I'm sure several posters confirmed the Fainu brothers were already guaranteed 100% locked and loaded. They had already signed with us apparently.....

Now they are definitely going north, now I know two things can be true at the same time but in this case they can't be.

Someone please check on the mailman as he seems confused as to where to send the package.....
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First lesson of the Wests Tigers Forum…Never, ever, ever believe a poster who claims insider knowledge - especially concerning recruitment.
 
batboy said:
Seems a lot riding on a kid that hasn’t played and a back rower brother who ‘we’
made look stupid…
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My post isn't about placing all our hopes on these 2 kids. It's about us still not being able to land their signature despite all the reasons for them to sign outlined by several people. That is a very bad thing and I don't see how you could spin it otherwise. Posters very happy to pin our hopes on a bunch of local 16 years olds though.
 
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Wearyfan22 said:
My post isn't about placing all our hopes on these 2 kids. It's about us still not being able to land their signature despite all the reasons for him to sign outlined by several people. That is a very bad thing and I don't see how you could spin it otherwise. Posters very happy to pin our hopes on a bunch of local 16 years olds though.
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That's the way it works, if they've identified talent correctly.

What Panthers did which WT always struggle in they identified and recruited the best forward pack in the comp.

Yes, WT have some good juniors coming through but do they have the forward back to support them at the moment ? Answer is no.
 
tony soprano said:
Yes, WT have some good juniors coming through but do they have the forward back to support them at the moment ? Answer is no.
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Most fans have been stating our pack is good enough. I think our pack is close and can compete but there is something missing. We were rolled over by Cronulla.

I suppose the no 1 issue has to be our halves and hence the hail mary play for Fainu or Galvin (?) who is already part of the top 30 for next year. I think then we need another outside back or two but they need to be real good. Then we need an addition to the pack but I'm not sure if we need an edge forward or just a gun lock.

We have a bunch of middle forwards. Klemmer, Stef, Pole, Twal, Seyfarth, Blore and Asitasi.
 
earl said:
Most fans have been stating our pack is good enough. I think our pack is close and can compete but there is something missing. We were rolled over by Cronulla.

I suppose the no 1 issue has to be our halves and hence the hail mary play for Fainu or Galvin (?) who is already part of the top 30 for next year. I think then we need another outside back or two but they need to be real good. Then we need an addition to the pack but I'm not sure if we need an edge forward or just a gun lock.

We have a bunch of middle forwards. Klemmer, Stef, Pole, Twal, Seyfarth, Blore and Asitasi.
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Good post Earl. We are not that far off. There was lots of spirit demonstrated on Thursday night. Also three new Aust Schoolboy reps, all in crucial positions of 6 and 1 announced yesterday. There is plenty of talent.
 
tony soprano said:
That's the way it works, if they've identified talent correctly.

What Panthers did which WT always struggle in they identified and recruited the best forward pack in the comp.

Yes, WT have some good juniors coming through but do they have the forward back to support them at the moment ? Answer is no.
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I would disagree and say our forward pack now and into the future is already sorted. What we don't have is the halves and to a lesser extent backs to take advantage

We have one of the best hookers in the Comp in Api and an outstanding 18 yr old coming through

We have a great mixture of props in Klem, Twal, Stef, Pole with James, Miller, Faagatu coming through plus I think Blorecis best on the middle moving forward

We have top 2nd rowers in Ipap and Bateman with Matamua, Pole, Tumeth, Mansfield and young Lautiti coming through.

We have 2 best u18 five eights in the game playing for Aus school boys both only 6 months younger then Fainu.

Bula is a star at fullback and will only get better. Tupou has so much potential on one wing and Toa is half a season into playing centre and has shown so much. We have Feledy coming through at left centre and Staines on the other side.

What we don't have is a halfback
 
earl said:
If true this does show some really poor decision making from the board. How many fans wanted Brooks gone though ? They are doing what the fans wanted in this situation whereas Sheens may have signed him up on a better deal. Maybe it's a smokescreen to take the heat of Sheens making those decisions ?
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Here's the quotes direct from the horse's mouth. Was part of an article in the Australian.

He was determined not to do the wrong thing by the club — or Sheens and Marshall — so he made the decision to reject the offer, which was revealed in this masthead on June 11.

“It was straight after the Titans game I sat down with Benji (on the Friday) and he said the people on the board have come back to him and said they need an answer by Sunday,” Brooks said.
“I guess that probably didn’t sit too well with me, them putting that deadline on me after only about a week and a half.
“I had a think about it and I guess out of respect to Benji I said I didn’t want it to drag on. I called him Sunday and said I wasn’t going take up the offer so he could move forward and they could plan things for next year.
“The whole time Benji and Sheensy were upfront with me and telling me that they really wanted me to say.
“They have stuck up for me the whole time. I definitely got that feeling that they were definitely trying to get me to stay.
“Just speaking to Benji, he was disappointed I made the decision to leave but he congratulated me and backed me on my decision as well.”

Asked whether he felt some people in the club were happy for him to go, Brooks said: “I feel like there may have been. With the way it panned out, it seems that way, just with putting the deadline on me to make a decision.
“In the past there have been players they have been in talks with that have dragged on. Then for someone like me who has been loyal to the club, they put a deadline on me which didn’t really sit well with me.
“It was a tough decision to make, especially after everything that has happened. If you take it back three or four weeks before that, I thought that I would be staying.
“It was hard but in the end I think it was the right decision for me and I think I have made the right move not just for me, but for my family.”

We need that board cleaned out. They are deadset rubbish and it shows with a decision like that. Why did they need it fast? It's not like we had other options on the table. You can say what you want about Luke, but he's been loyal and deserves more respect. They gave Mitch eons to make a decision.

Forget this argument about the top not impacting football operations. You have it right there.
 
I think there's a lot of pressure and expectation from fans about player signings. But I think our progress will depend more on the sort of system we want to play and finding players that can do that. You need a clear structure and just a really strong forward pack.

People knock Gould but it feels like he, or whoever was there at Penrith, created a system that continually produces players that can just be plugged in. Look at their success with back-up halfbacks recently. Even with no halves they do well. Turning nobodies in to half backs. That's a clear system that gives confidence.

Same goes for Arthur, few seem to rate him, but he built a team out of turmoil and now has rebuilt again after losing supposedly crucial forwards. Moses and gutho were also no world beaters when he got them, and they continue to get better.

Bellamy has done it many times as well.

Confidence in and understanding of what a coach expects is something we've never have. We fluked 2005 based on individual genius miraculously gelling. For those players, in that year, the freedom was beneficial. But it was never able to be replicated.

Our scattershot approach to recruitment doesn't really bode well for our current coaches having a clear idea of structure. It's seems any half from Pearce to Johnson to brooks will do, yet none of them seem sold on whatever vision we've offered.

So I don't really care if we don't get the fainu bros, I want to see us have an attacking structure and style of play that players can learn and thrive in. If we don't have that, it doesn't matter who we sign.
 
hammertime said:
We need that board cleaned out. They are deadset rubbish and it shows with a decision like that. Why did they need it fast? It's not like we had other options on the table. You can say what you want about Luke, but he's been loyal and deserves more respect. They gave Mitch eons to make a decision.

Forget this argument about the top not impacting football operations. You have it right there.
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I linked to your post in another thread. You make a good argument.

I'm over it and I think a majority of fans wanted Brooks gone anyway but I don't believe they made a good decision in this instance especially considering the talent available in the halves within the marketplace.
 
earl said:
I linked to your post in another thread. You make a good argument.

I'm over it and I think a majority of fans wanted Brooks gone anyway but I don't believe they made a good decision in this instance especially considering the talent available in the halves within the marketplace.
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Thanks Earl. 100%. It also sends a horrible message to our juniors about how we treat our own blood. If we want people to stay for less (only way we'll compete), we need to build a love and passion for the club. It doesn't work when our board doesn't display proper respect.
 
watersider said:
So I don't really care if we don't get the fainu bros, I want to see us have an attacking structure and style of play that players can learn and thrive in. If we don't have that, it doesn't matter who we sign.
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Maybe we have that but we don't have the cattle. Penrith for instance just have a strong team so the halfback isn't so critical. I think a big issue is retention. We tend to overpay for players to stay and that makes recruiting hard as well. I suppose we have to know which ones to let go and get it right.
 
hammertime said:
Thanks Earl. 100%. It also sends a horrible message to our juniors about how we treat our own blood. If we want people to stay for less (only way we'll compete), we need to build a love and passion for the club. It doesn't work when our board doesn't display proper respect.
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I totally agree with your point. The board to me should only be acting to remove people from key positions if they aren't performing. This has to be some sort of subjective decision but that is their job. Maybe they can oversee various special projects as well. Maybe they should try and work out how to provide more support to the club. I don't think getting involved in contract decisions should be within their remit and in this instance it reeks of a fan on the board who doesn't like Brooks. That is so bad.

I worked for the Commonwealth Bank and one of my mates/bosses managed massive projects where he reported through to the board. Admittedly the scale is completely different but you need good corporate governance.
 
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earl said:
I totally agree with your point. The board to me should only be acting to remove people from key positions if they aren't performing. This has to be some sort of subjective decision but that is their job. Maybe they can oversee various special projects as well. Maybe they should try and work out how to provide more support to the club. I don't think getting involved in contract decisions should be within their remit and in this instance it reeks of a fan on the board who doesn't like Brooks. That is so bad.

I worked for the Commonwealth Bank and one of my mates/bosses managed massive projects where he reported through to the board. Admittedly the scale is completely different but you good corporate governance.
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100% .They need to determine what would be the Tigers guiding principals for success and base decisions around it. I do IT delivery and we call them design principals that govern everything we do.

For us, we're not going to be chequebook club. It's pathways and making it a focus throughout. Treating one of those pathways guys as more than a signing commodity has to be one of those principals. Even if they aren't the right fit, there are ways to do it with respect.

Robbie, Benji... All the same. We're lucky they had the memories of 05 in them to overcome that.

What will blokes like TDS think of it?

For the board and CEO not to grasp some simple bloody vision and execute, does my head in. They don't even understand how they impact the football dept!!
 
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