Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Halbrowne61]

He‘s everywhere. Roosters, Knights, us, England.

He’s not with us my friend, that’s for certain. We’d be more likely to end up with Griffin !

 

[TigerNeddyK]

Feledy was burned really badly on the outside in that Origin game.
Big red flag

Tell that to Nofa , and Kepoa , and Brooks and
toa Ffs .. feledy was playing against an extremely quick team that he had not ever sighted Before

 

[TigerNeddyK]

As do the rest of us so hope, as WT need almost all of our choices of youngsters to work out.

Feledy has all the attributes of Bradman Best..

 

[TigerNeddyK]

We had some good Englishmen in the 80s, Schofield, Ellery Hanley, Lee Crooks, even Darryl Powell for a short time, Shaun Edwards briefly & also big Harvey Howard in the 90s.

Andy Currier also went well

 

[king_sirro]

Feledy has all the attributes of Bradman Best..

Similar line running, similar build, similar strength. No where near as quick as Bradman though, but thats ok. As long as he is quick enough to adjust defensively, which is questionable at the moment unfortunately.

 

[TigerNeddyK]

No he wasn't
- Was more of a Winger that played in the Centres for us...

A splash of Lawrence for a couple years did well there, Before that it was Whatuira....
The last NRL quality centre we signed.

Lawrence looked incredible until he did his hip injury. Lost a lot of pace and a bit of confidence after that .. real shame because he was lightning fast before it

 

[Vicious]

Remember Dylan Edwards in his first few years in the NRL? He was so far from having an all round game that no one rated him, myself included. His now biggest fan Michael Ennis continually called for his head if Penrith were to be any chance of competing. He worked super hard on the areas he needed to improve, and he did it while playing fullback.

Bula's starting point is miles ahead of Edwards, so we need to do the same thing. Stick solid with him, and work hard on his game. All he needs to improve is his ability to engage the defense before passing. He has everything else. He will get better at that, I have no doubt.

Absolutely absurd the talk about moving him.

Some very good point you raise.
My concern is we seem to be a long way from playing the same regular physicality as what the Panthers do.
Edwards largely plays off the back of his teams physicality getting them on the front foot and hence the reason Bula played so well against the Cowboys at Leichhardt.
I fear we won’t have a team in the short term capable of providing that regular physicality to get us on the front foot and allow a fullback such as Bula who is predominantly a ball runner the platform he needs to regularly show his best.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Lawrence looked incredible until he did his hip injury. Lost a lot of pace and a bit of confidence after that .. real shame because he was lightning fast before it

Lawrence really could have been anything pre-hip injury. Would easily have been on par with Benji at his peak.

 

[TigerNeddyK]

We could be facing our next Tedesco/Papenhuyzen moment in a few years with the likes of Bula, Mason, Oitmann, Laulilii, Kanaan, Karnib & Nasser all very capable fullbacks.

You just sign them all and fit them in somewhere as a group like Storm did with Munster and Slater and Hughes at the time .. if they bond with each other and take pride in playing together and winning together you build a culture of working for each other

 

[balmain boy]

If I have anything to do with it, it'll be John Morris (very good man manager & bringing out improvement in individuals according to some articles I have read from his time at the Sharks). If not, I'd look into Steve Georgallis & Matt Parish.

A couple of left-field options could be Gareth Ellis (AC at Hull FC since '21) or Brett Hodgson (Defence coach at Wallabies so would probably be unavailable until after RWC ends in Oct).

I doubt Ben Hornby or Josh Hannay would leave their posts for us.

We've tried Hodgo. He failed, wasn't ready for it yet. (which is also why Benji is such a huge gamble)

 

[balmain boy]

Feledy has all the attributes of Bradman Best..

Except pace, and i suspect Best is a bit taller too. Different body shape. Best looks broad, Feledy more Utai-ish nuggety.

 

[The Chad]

Looking at the roster breakdown (27/30 confirmed) the Tigers are really going to have to shift 2-3 players.

Charlie Staines, Sezar & Sullivan, if signed, fill the roster.

As far as I think, most of us, believe...we lack any impact in the centres if this fills out the roster.

What I see as the 'immediate' problem is that we have a bunch of youngsters that play backrow only, but are clearly not ready to play 1st grade, in Tumeth, Mansfield, Sione Fainu on the roster. That's 3 spots allocated for future options. Matamua can be added to that, but seems 'close' to at least being in the top 17.

Additionally, our centres are To'a, Tupou, Naden , Feledy & Reilly. It could be argued that there really isn't a #1 centre in that group. Yet, 5 spots allocated to it.

Wing- Nofa, Staines (if), Kepaoa gives us a very limited selection of wingers, with Tupou able to also play wing.

That is 8 spots allocated & really....2-3 guys are 'locked in'- Tupou, Staines & To'a (and only if Staines signs, of course). The others can all have arguments made for & against.

2-3 of our outside backs either need to become locked in starter types, or moved on. Otherwise we are too heavily invested in 'almost 1st graders'. Naden, Reilly, Kepaoa & Nofa are the obvious names. Feledy isn't going anywhere & could almost be in the conversation to be in the top 17 at some point next year.

One of the back row guys probably needs to make way for either Aitasi James or Seyfarth. Or Fa'agutu if they move him into the top 30 (I feel like he would contribute quickly if top 30).

If the club can't move on a large selection of players, we are likely looking at losing guys better than them simply through lack of roster spots.

The 2 back-up hookers have to be in consideration as well- Simpkin & Rua. Particularly if Connor Watson is actually being discussed. Da Silva is already the #2 hooker at the club.

There's not a lot of great available talent, but we still need to find spots on the roster & move some guys on in order to strengthen the overall roster.

 

[balmain boy]

6'3? Surely not...

They often lie in these stats. Elijah Taylor was always huge on the bio.

I'd be surprised if Meaney is that big, he looks pretty tiny on the field.

 

[Coastie_Tiger]

Did i read someone saying earlier that Sullivan was a possibility to be announced today?

 

[Roar_Power]

Looking at the roster breakdown (27/30 confirmed) the Tigers are really going to have to shift 2-3 players.

Charlie Staines, Sezar & Sullivan, if signed, fill the roster.

As far as I think, most of us, believe...we lack any impact in the centres if this fills out the roster.

What I see as the 'immediate' problem is that we have a bunch of youngsters that play backrow only, but are clearly not ready to play 1st grade, in Tumeth, Mansfield, Sione Fainu on the roster. That's 3 spots allocated for future options. Matamua can be added to that, but seems 'close' to at least being in the top 17.

Additionally, our centres are To'a, Tupou, Naden , Feledy & Reilly. It could be argued that there really isn't a #1 centre in that group. Yet, 5 spots allocated to it.

Wing- Nofa, Staines (if), Kepaoa gives us a very limited selection of wingers, with Tupou able to also play wing.

That is 8 spots allocated & really....2-3 guys are 'locked in'- Tupou, Staines & To'a (and only if Staines signs, of course). The others can all have arguments made for & against.

2-3 of our outside backs either need to become locked in starter types, or moved on. Otherwise we are too heavily invested in 'almost 1st graders'. Naden, Reilly, Kepaoa & Nofa are the obvious names. Feledy isn't going anywhere & could almost be in the conversation to be in the top 17 at some point next year.

One of the back row guys probably needs to make way for either Aitasi James or Seyfarth. Or Fa'agutu if they move him into the top 30 (I feel like he would contribute quickly if top 30).

If the club can't move on a large selection of players, we are likely looking at losing guys better than them simply through lack of roster spots.

The 2 back-up hookers have to be in consideration as well- Simpkin & Rua. Particularly if Connor Watson is actually being discussed. Da Silva is already the #2 hooker at the club.

There's not a lot of great available talent, but we still need to find spots on the roster & move some guys on in order to strengthen the overall roster.

Mate, I think 2025 is where it's at. Only 13 signed on. Next year 2024 will be about clearing the deadwood, giving some young fellas a chance in first grade and improving on a dismal current season. The idea will be to promote within, buy the odd seasoned first grader and some decent depth for Benji's debut coaching year.

 

[gregjm87]

Remember Dylan Edwards in his first few years in the NRL? He was so far from having an all round game that no one rated him, myself included. His now biggest fan Michael Ennis continually called for his head if Penrith were to be any chance of competing. He worked super hard on the areas he needed to improve, and he did it while playing fullback.

Bula's starting point is miles ahead of Edwards, so we need to do the same thing. Stick solid with him, and work hard on his game. All he needs to improve is his ability to engage the defense before passing. He has everything else. He will get better at that, I have no doubt.

Absolutely absurd the talk about moving him.

He has a heck of a lot more than that to work on. He is so often not positioned correctly in attacking plays. Perhaps the halves need to communicate to him better but regardless he is at training so he should know where to be.

Having said that, i think this will dramatically improve spending an offseason training as first choice and completely agree talk of moving him is absurd.

 

[earl]

Charlie Staines, Sezar & Sullivan, if signed, fill the roster.

It's a concern isn't it. I think we should re-sign Seyfarth as well plus there was mention of signing Xavier Willlison who might be a good option. Plus we may need to move up our top dev players like Fa'agutu.

I'm not really sold on Sezar or Watson. It's not the money it's the roster spot that they take up. In reality we need another half but ideally we'd move on a player or two. The question is who do we move on.

Nofo is here not just next year but for another year on top of that. This was a really bad contract in the context of our squad and how much we are paying him. I think Kepaoa is a good squad option but I'm not sure if he is worth holding onto. Then there are guys like Sione Fainu, Tumeth, Reilly and Mansfield.

I'd like to give Reilly a shot in the centres.

 

[earl]

Did i read someone saying earlier that Sullivan was a possibility to be announced today?

You did but that doesn't appear to be happening now does it.

 

[earl]

Perhaps the halves need to communicate to him better but regardless he is at training so he should know where to be.

I reckon Bula is going pretty well but his faults are not the fault of our halves. The same as our halves aren't poor because our forwards are duds or our outside backs are duds.

 

[TurnStyle]

We had some good Englishmen in the 80s, Schofield, Ellery Hanley, Lee Crooks, even Darryl Powell for a short time, Shaun Edwards briefly & also big Harvey Howard in the 90s.

Ah I couldn't stand Edwards!

Just something about him and how he jinked around like a nervous, hyperactive boxer first time in the ring against King Kong .... Can't say for certain, but I have a memory of him being a bit of a pea heart.

.... Just annoyed me.

How many "old man yells at cloud" points do I get for that one? Plenty I reckon... 🤣