Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Fingers83 said:
Canterbury football boss Phil Gould has secretly met with axed Titans coach Justin Holbrook in the same week the Bulldogs launched their bid to sign champion Gold Coast forward Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.
This masthead can reveal both Gould and Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo had dinner with Holbrook on Tuesday night in Sydney.

Fa’asuamaleaui is now a free agent because of a clause in his contract that stipulated the deal would be null-and-void if Holbrook was sacked.

The Bulldogs are one of five clubs that have reached out to Holbrook, mindful the former Titans coach’s close association with Fa’asuamaleaui could be a handy bargaining chip in their quest to bring the Queensland Origin star to Belmore.

Holbrook has also been sounded out by two Super League teams, but his preference is to remain in Australia – putting NRL clubs such as the Bulldogs in the box seat for his signature.

It is understood the Bulldogs have yet to table an offer at this stage, but Gould’s meeting with Holbrook is a sign the Canterbury football chief is leaving no stone unturned in his blueprint to give Ciraldo every chance of success.

Holbrook’s manager Chris Orr confirmed the deposed Titans mentor is being chased by several NRL rivals just three weeks after his shock dismissal at Parkwood.

“Justin is a very talented coach whose services will be in demand,” Orr said.

“Justin is the type of coach that players want to play for which is evident from the reaction of the Titans players.


“I am overseas at present but on my return we will sit down and work our way through Justin’s options.”

The Bulldogs’ secret talks with Holbrook come in the aftermath of revelations Canterbury owner Arthur Laundy is plotting a $4 million poaching raid on the Titans skipper.

Fa’asuamaleaui is said to be bitterly disappointed with the treatment of Holbrook and should his former coach end up at the Bulldogs, it could be a potential lure for the Maroons enforcer.

Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett tried to poach Fa’asuamaleaui 18 months ago and the Titans captain pledged his loyalty to the club on the proviso a get-out clause related to Holbrook was inserted in his Gold Coast upgrade.

The Titans agreed to that request and Fa’asuamaleaui now has the next three months to decide if he will explore interest from Canterbury and Canberra or remain at the Gold Coast.

Holbrook declined to comment when contacted on Wednesday, but told News Corp a fortnight ago he was hoping to remain in the NRL.

“I don’t know what’s next exactly, but I love coaching,” he said.
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Why don’t we throw are cards in the ring 🤔
 
liltiger said:
How Wests Ashfield power brokers can think things are tenable is beyond belief. When will they take action and start sorting the club out. The chair and Ceo are complete clowns without a clue in way over their heads, how Wests Ashfield can think things are looking up is insanity.
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That board are to busy watching the pokies income come in , and again no footy brains in there
 
tony soprano said:
Sheens going down kicking and screaming
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Yep, sadly Sheens seems to want to air out club drama in public .. seems to put his own ego in front of the club and it’s really starting to piss me off.. seems to treat the club as a vanity project far too often and that saddens me because he Is very experienced and should know better .. I’d like to be proved wrong but the fact that he plans to retire into the British sunset suggests to me that he does not have too much skin in the game …. I’d like to know different but I am starting to feel very concerned by some of his decisions
 
Luke Brooks #1043 Fan said:
The CEO and chair only care about lining their pockets. They couldn't give two stuffs about the football club. Every move they make is about securing their own spot.
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Sorry man, you can say what you want. But Lee is not lining his pockets. His key differentiator to Pascoe is the amount of his money that he commits. Pascoe is in the paid position and I think the board roles are unpaid... But don't quote me on that.
 
The poor perception of the club has been an ongoing problem and the main cause between planning and executing successfully. (it's why we've always struggled with recruitment).
I agree it doesn't help when our upper management unintentionally add to that negatively - through PR presence or making alterations. Yet now see it's (at present) only a huge roadblock because we have no halves signed beyond 2024.

We already know part of the strategic plan but it now includes a coaching succession plan.
Sheens prior to commencing his role (as Director) stated the roster needed improvements in many areas to be able to function at its full potential.
We all may be discontent with this year but rebuilding the roster is one metric that is part of the strategic plan - that was implemented, and building the forward pack was the first thing on the agenda.
Is it therefore successful due to the assembly or do we only consider it a success if they are highly competitive in the NRL?
He labelled the halves on par with the forwards - their importance to the spine and attack/game plan
That's been disastrous but that's obviously still a work in progress.
Depth was next if I recall correctly. Alongside backs.
The roster rebuild is still underway and while we want instant results unfortunately for us the amount of effort required to achieve our outcomes is far greater than other teams.

Seriously I hope we can pull off the best possible outcome in securing a halfback. There's no top tier halves available but the next best thing could be good enough. Townsend? Croft?...yes I'm being serious as there's not much else.
People are underestimating the value of Api, Bula and those types of guys. Hopefully this is enough of a drawcard for us to get back on course.
 
TigerNeddyK said:
Yep, sadly Sheens seems to want to air out club drama in public .. seems to put his own ego in front of the club and it’s really starting to piss me off.. seems to treat the club as a vanity project far too often and that saddens me because he Is very experienced and should know better .. I’d like to be proved wrong but the fact that he plans to retire into the British sunset suggests to me that he does not have too much skin in the game …. I’d like to know different but I am starting to feel very concerned by some of his decisions
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I wonder if that's for Marshall's sake?

I imagine Sheens is either going to hang up the boots or take a UK team and they will tap him for a job.
Sheens used to avoid all the Board BS when he was here. Now he has become more Vocal. Is this that the Old board avoided him because it was Wests vs Balmain? we all knew the old board did not care about the whole Coach/team thing.

Or is it that Sheens wants to air out the Board's problems so the new coach doesn't have too?
 
If we could snag Fainu and a Townsend, Croft for a couple of seasons I believe we will be cooking with gas. Fainu is ready to play NRL next year and will provide spark and a solid half who can direct around him will allow the whole team to blossom. I can't believe some of the negativity around some of our younger players such as Bula, Toa, Tupou etc, they are rookies and will make mistakes, but make no mistake they are talented players. Anyone who thinks that Fainu isn't ready, I remember similar comments a few years ago about a young 18 year old called Reece Walsh, how is he going?
 
TigerNeddyK said:
Yep, sadly Sheens seems to want to air out club drama in public .. seems to put his own ego in front of the club and it’s really starting to piss me off.. seems to treat the club as a vanity project far too often and that saddens me because he Is very experienced and should know better .. I’d like to be proved wrong but the fact that he plans to retire into the British sunset suggests to me that he does not have too much skin in the game …. I’d like to know different but I am starting to feel very concerned by some of his decisions
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Most already knew this from the last couple of years he had with us last time as well as the lawsuit against the club.

Somehow the board and WT management missed this. Sheens should never have been coach, but I'm over rotating coaches. Get rid of the fools that made the constant bad decisions first, otherwise we'll sack the coach and make another bad decision on his replacement.
 
TigerNeddyK said:
Yep, sadly Sheens seems to want to air out club drama in public .. seems to put his own ego in front of the club and it’s really starting to piss me off.. seems to treat the club as a vanity project far too often and that saddens me because he Is very experienced and should know better .. I’d like to be proved wrong but the fact that he plans to retire into the British sunset suggests to me that he does not have too much skin in the game …. I’d like to know different but I am starting to feel very concerned by some of his decisions
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And you're not concerned at the decisions of the CEO and Chairman??
 
Sheens has every right to be pissed. He moved halfway around the world for a different job to this and has found out the hard way that he will have to do as the Board wants while they correct whatever mistakes they think have occurred, and which were most likely of their own doing.

Was he doing much in the UK beforehand? Irrelevant. Are his coaching results great? No. But he was never hired to coach in the first place.

He has every right to be pissed off. This Board have an atrocious record of hiring and managing people.
 
TigerNeddyK said:
Yep, sadly Sheens seems to want to air out club drama in public .. seems to put his own ego in front of the club and it’s really starting to piss me off.. seems to treat the club as a vanity project far too often and that saddens me because he Is very experienced and should know better .. I’d like to be proved wrong but the fact that he plans to retire into the British sunset suggests to me that he does not have too much skin in the game …. I’d like to know different but I am starting to feel very concerned by some of his decisions
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I think the more dirty laundry aired the better, the board room won't dob themselves in with their silly decisions, sunlight is the best Disinfectant, the more the public know the more the boardroom will look incompetent adding to the external pressure that may lead to changes, it's the only way the board members will be removed, when the stake holders at Wests Ashfield are made to look silly.
 
Lauren said:
The poor perception of the club has been an ongoing problem and the main cause between planning and executing. (it's why we've always struggled with recruitment).
I agree it doesn't help when our upper management unintentionally add to that negatively - through PR presence or making alterations. Yet now see it's (at present) only a huge roadblock because we have no halves signed beyond 2024.

We already know part of the strategic plan but it now includes a coaching succession plan.
Sheens prior to commencing his role (as Director) stated the roster needed improvements in many areas to be able to function at its full potential.
We all may be discontent with this year but rebuilding the roster is one metric that is part of the strategic plan - that was implemented, and building the forward pack was the first thing on the agenda.
Is it therefore successful due to the assembly or do we only consider it a success if they are highly competitive in the NRL?
He labelled the halves on par with the forwards - their importance to the spine and attack/game plan
That's been disastrous but that's obviously still a work in progress.
Depth was next if I recall correctly. Alongside backs.
The roster rebuild is still underway and while we want instant results unfortunately for us the amount of effort required to achieve our outcomes is far greater than other teams.

Seriously I hope we can pull off the best possible outcome in securing a halfback. There's no top tier halves available but the next best thing could be good enough. Townsend? Croft?...yes I'm being serious as there's not much else.
People are underestimating the value of Api, Bula and those types of guys. Hopefully this is enough of a drawcard for us to get back on course.
Click to expand...

Wonder what impact if any the new director has had.
 
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rihannafan1 said:
Sheens has every right to be pissed. He moved halfway around the world for a different job to this and has found out the hard way that he will have to do as the Board wants while they correct whatever mistakes they think have occurred, and which were most likely of their own doing.

Was he doing much in the UK beforehand? Irrelevant. Are his coaching results great? No. But he was never hired to coach in the first place.

He has every right to be pissed off. This Board have an atrocious record of hiring and managing people.
Click to expand...

Bit hypocritical considering he did the same to madge.

At this point it's just enforcing his contract which he is an expert at.
 
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