Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[tigermate]

I agree on the length of contract and the cost. Though without not many other options other than perhaps Illias, whom has a lot of growing to do and there is no guarantees he is available and wants to come to us. What we need to sign is players that will be there when we have a team to go deep into the finals. With time, these two could grow into a solid combination.
I think Sheens prefers left side, right side so with quick and elusive players either side of the ruck it gives us a better threat we haven’t had in years.
Now for the Centres!

im with you mate... but all the top teams have a dominant controlling half... which can slow down the play from the 6.

and yes agree -- i think we will at least have attacking options... but i just dont see us going far into the finals wihthout a cool head at 7.... and its the same reason the tigers could never make the finals consistently with benji at 7... he has brain farts... he wasnt consistent "enough".. yes we could win 1.5 games out 5... but you need to win more than that.

penrith dont have two luais

melbourne dont have two munsters

brisbane dont have two manns.

souths dont have two codies...

i just foresee the same old problems for us...

i just wish sheens and benji would keep things simple for us... use our dominant forwards, get quick play the balls for Api, then have a a solid controlling half who can kicks us and steer us around... and put us in positions to give to our flashy 6 who can create on the edges... it's not rocket science man far out.

I'm not a fan of Ilias - unless you have a gun team around him.

i think for where our team is at -- an older 7 with a young flashy 6 is ok.

I think sezer type is the right kind of guy for now... and then we should wait and see what else we can pick up in a year or two.

 

[jadtiger]

Problem is in our club his defensive deficiencies will stick out like a sore thumb.

His defence is better than anyone we have at the moment and good enough for Bellamy before his injury,i am positive he can also do 200 passes at training without it being a problem.
He is a class act and exactly what we should be aiming for

 

[Lestronge]

We sign Latu Fainu and Sam Fainu and Jayden Sullivan and everyone is excited and I really hope there is good reason to be excited !
My scepticism is based on what we don't know that is how many players have we sounded out ,approached , floated verbal offers to and got rejections .I'm sure we have tried for some established Nrl stars or even Esl stars . The 3 above might be all we can get so far
We did try for Munster , Moses , Pearce ,Johnson , Croft etc etc .
However what I've read about Latu excites me .Seems the kid has real talent and surround him with some matching talent he might star ?

All it takes is 1 yes mate . I know a guy who only ever approached 10s in a club , when we were younger . He was not a good looking man . Would get rejected most of the night , yet , sure enough there would always be one who he would get in with .
The rejections are irrelevant .

 

[Tiger-ferret]

When I was told tartak was upset that the tigers weren’t taking schuster and threatened to pull the Fainus he told me that he was also concerned with sending sullivan here …

Meaning he was already taking about it

Then I told Lee and Justin this

And now we have sullivan on 4 years lol at full freight

I imagine that Lee and Justin and Fulton did whatever they could to get the Fainus and promised tartak go to take sullivan and bc tartak delivered the Fainus then sullivan gets a pretty good contract

That’s just how the world works unfortunately when you have management that can’t negotiate if their lives depended.

Look at flanno on the other hand - who knows how to build a roster bc he is a very good and strong negotiator… immediately shuts down Hunt leaving even tho he’s gone public … and then really wants to get rid of sullivan but tells the tigers he won’t chip in … so we cave and pay him full freight. That ladies and gents would never happen with our club as we’ve seen over the years. When we want to get rid of a player or they want to go we always get screwed and we want a player we always pay overs and give them 1 more year than they’re worth …

Look at klemmer - 4 years! When the knights weren’t going to renew him. And to coin.

Adam douehi - 4 years when south’s told him to look elsewhere

We are known - as tartak told me - as a soft club when it comes to negotiating.

We’re an easy target.

That’s just the way it is.

Btw I love the club it just annoys me how dumb mangament are and how much they get played by agents and other clubs.

Justin in a nice guy but not a killer

And Lee just shits the bed bc he’s worried about his public profile and wants to do this aggressive recruitment thing and needs recruits now or he’ll look stupid

Look at how lee negotiated Noffa deal… 5 years and top coin.. yes he was in demand then but normally local juniors take less to stay at a club they love. For us Lee got bent over bc he has no idea about negotiating with players … it’s more about his ego and getting someone to sign.

Same as Justin right now

Both Lee and Justin and even benji are desperate for a good story bc we are getting another spoon

These signings are a lot about trying ti give us fans hope to suppress us so we don’t rally against them

Trust me.

Sullivan was worth 2 years with a club option or at a stretch 3 years but on less money.

We had Hastings as a controlling half, sheens choose brooks instead who he said was “a number 7”… and then after losing 7 games says “we need a controlling half”… why didn’t he say at the start of the year we need a controlling half? Bc he couldn’t see what all of us could - that brooks was not a controlling 7.

I only bring that up bc now that we don’t have hastings who was a controlling half - we go to market and are desperate and pay overs …

If anyone on here has watched the tigers since inception in 2000 or 2001 whatever it was … knows that we only made the finals when we had a controlling 7 and then a flashy 6. Fainu and sullivan are flashy 6s. My issue is that benji knows Sezer is a one year player two at most meaning he thinks fainu and sullivan will partner in the halves.

I’m just over the dumb thinking and bad negotiating bc we get stuck in a cycle particularly when we sign players up to 4 year deals.

I put money on it that we end up paying for sullivan to go elsewhere after 2 years or we don’t make the finals with sullivan as 7.

Thank you for the lengthy reply. It is a good insight. Yes the lengthy deals are a worry and I’m not defending those per se.

 

[earl]

I think we should’ve signed him for 2 yrs with our option for a third… and if he didn’t want that I wouldn’t sign him.

He’s unproven with a string of bad hamstrings.

Also he is not an organsing half

So we have him for 4 years and where does Fainu play? 6…

Sullivan is not a 7!

We are going to end up back where we were before with two #6s.

Even if sezer plays next year and the year after we still have two 6s lol - when we desperately need a 7.

We play him as a half. We stop thinking we need an organizing half. If he isn't good enough he plays reserve grade.

Same as Fainu.

Personally I'd love to have two halves that can actually create something. Let's see how they go.

 

[Lestronge]

Thank you for the lengthy reply. It is a good insight. Yes the lengthy deals are a worry and I’m not defending those per se.

Hastings is shit . I can’t believe people still go on about him . Controlling half ? Wtf does that mean if the attack offers nothing , and , our half (Hastings) can’t kick the ball 40m . He has zero power , much like Wakeham . Touching the ball 100 times a game and pissing off everyone around you isn’t controlling a game.
The knights are winning despite Hastings not because of him . Hence the cogger signing , and chasing Sullivan.
Even if Hastings stayed here he wasn’t playing half . And there’s only 1 club in the nrl that was playing him as a half , and even they now have had second thoughts .
And this whole idea that I’d Hastings was here we would have won more games is garbage as well . He has no running game , he is beaten easily on the outside defensively , and he can’t kick the ball for power .
When people say controlling half what they really mean is a half who takes the right option more often than not .
With brooks the issue is , he’d make a half chance or line break , panic and do something stupid .
With Hastings he doesn’t offer anything . He’s not making half chances . He’s passing it along for others too . Sure that’s cool when you have best , Fitzgibbon (highly underrated) and Ponga . This year maybe we had Bula who has that confidence . Seriously , hunt , DCE , sure this is a legit convo . But Hastings ? Please …
Oh and finally look . Hes on the nose AGAIN with his teammates . What’s that ? Roosters , manly , Wigan , tigers , knights …… football is a team sport .

 

[earl]

Everyone knows we need a controlling half.

Not me. I'll wait and see how they perform prior to making that judgement.

 

[earl]

We sign Latu Fainu and Sam Fainu and Jayden Sullivan and everyone is excited and I really hope there is good reason to be excited !

I think we should all temper our expectations. These guys are not established first graders. I'm more excited for next year than this one though because this year is clearly a write off and one of the worst years we've had.

Still I like Fainu and Sullivan. I think they will score some points. The issue will be can they defend.

It gives us some threats though. Our main threat for years has been Brooks and he isn't good enough to shoulder that load. Now we have two threats who are this point are clearly not as good as Brooks but maybe they can develop into better players over time.

 

[Needaname]

im with you mate... but all the top teams have a dominant controlling half... which can slow down the play from the 6.

and yes agree -- i think we will at least have attacking options... but i just dont see us going far into the finals wihthout a cool head at 7.... and its the same reason the tigers could never make the finals consistently with benji at 7... he has brain farts... he wasnt consistent "enough".. yes we could win 1.5 games out 5... but you need to win more than that.

penrith dont have two luais

melbourne dont have two munsters

brisbane dont have two manns.

souths dont have two codies...

i just foresee the same old problems for us...

i just wish sheens and benji would keep things simple for us... use our dominant forwards, get quick play the balls for Api, then have a a solid controlling half who can kicks us and steer us around... and put us in positions to give to our flashy 6 who can create on the edges... it's not rocket science man far out.

I'm not a fan of Ilias - unless you have a gun team around him.

i think for where our team is at -- an older 7 with a young flashy 6 is ok.

I think sezer type is the right kind of guy for now... and then we should wait and see what else we can pick up in a year or two.

Have to wait and see.
For context I didn’t mean deep into the finals year 1. More so year three after building the combination and yes as you said with Sezer providing the balance.

 

[Spartan117]

Someone needs to be sacked if the 2.2 is correct 🤦‍♂️

Fainu (x2), Sullivan, Sezer combined 2024 salary = to Brooks 2023 salary.

 

[Needaname]

His defence is better than anyone we have at the moment and good enough for Bellamy before his injury,i am positive he can also do 200 passes at training without it being a problem.
He is a class act and exactly what we should be aiming for

He fires out of the line and more often or not it comes off. However he doesn’t leave himself many alternative options. In Melbourne it works. In our side he will be well exposed.

 

[tigermate]

Not me. I'll wait and see how they perform prior to making that judgement.

lol. ok. you're supposed to know before signing them for 4 years. You have to make an assumption on what you think. that's why most commentators say that sullivan is not a controlling 7. if you just want to wait and see that's fine... but any club needs to make an assumption before they make a long term signing... and my assumption is based on what i have seen, heard, etc that he is not a 7. so even on the off chance he magically turns into one... you are taking a risk that is lower than the probability of what he looks and feels like today.

which is classic tigers.... take the lowest probability option and hope. lol.

 

[Kaito]

You do realise 7 is his preferred position and played there in junior footy. He also won the SG Ball grand final at 7 and was man of the match and captain.

He can’t play 7 at the Dragons because they have Hunt.

Granted at NRL level he hasn’t played the controlling half yet, but let’s remember Mitch Moses was a horrible game manager at 21.

Here here. Tigermate won't let go of the bone lol

 

[rihannafan1]

Highly doubt Sullivan is on 550k a year. It'd be without whatever Dragons are chipping in and would be a number including possible bonuses. Much more likely to be 300k. The number suits his agent, who looks like he got top dollar for his client, and suits the media, who can spin this as us paying overs when it suits them.

 

[tigermate]

Hastings is shit . I can’t believe people still go on about him . Controlling half ? Wtf does that mean if the attack offers nothing , and , our half (Hastings) can’t kick the ball 40m . He has zero power , much like Wakeham . Touching the ball 100 times a game and pissing off everyone around you isn’t controlling a game.
The knights are winning despite Hastings not because of him . Hence the cogger signing , and chasing Sullivan.
Even if Hastings stayed here he wasn’t playing half . And there’s only 1 club in the nrl that was playing him as a half , and even they now have had second thoughts .
And this whole idea that I’d Hastings was here we would have won more games is garbage as well . He has no running game , he is beaten easily on the outside defensively , and he can’t kick the ball for power .
When people say controlling half what they really mean is a half who takes the right option more often than not .
With brooks the issue is , he’d make a half chance or line break , panic and do something stupid .
With Hastings he doesn’t offer anything . He’s not making half chances . He’s passing it along for others too . Sure that’s cool when you have best , Fitzgibbon (highly underrated) and Ponga . This year maybe we had Bula who has that confidence . Seriously , hunt , DCE , sure this is a legit convo . But Hastings ? Please …
Oh and finally look . Hes on the nose AGAIN with his teammates . What’s that ? Roosters , manly , Wigan , tigers , knights …… football is a team sport .

lol.

knights are in the 8. we are last. the two best games we played and won last year he was 7. souths and parra.

knights have struggled to have a solid 7 who can unleash their potential.

you can think what you want, but results speak for themselves.

i wont argue with you because we assess things differently.

 

[tigermate]

Here here. Tigermate won't let go of the bone lol

lol..... haha... lets see man... i hope you're right... i don't think so... but here's to hoping. lol

 

[Wildcat777]

Tele reporting Sullivan is now signed, sealed and delivered. No idea if that figure is accurate or not but the money isn’t huge for a 6 or 7 so we roll.View attachment 6138

Bargin if true!

 

[earl]

lol. ok. you're supposed to know before signing them for 4 years. You have to make an assumption on what you think. that's why most commentators say that sullivan is not a controlling 7. if you just want to wait and see that's fine... but any club needs to make an assumption before they make a long term signing... and my assumption is based on what i have seen, heard, etc that he is not a 7. so even on the off chance he magically turns into one... you are taking a risk that is lower than the probability of what he looks and feels like today.

which is classic tigers.... take the lowest probability option and hope. lol.

I don't care about the controlling half which makes your point irrelevant to me. We are going to find out over the next couple of years how this turns out.

Personally I would have preferred a shorter contract length but that contract is not going to kill us so let's see how they go.

 

[Spartan117]

Watching Broncos and Newcastle win today both teams had standout performances from their halfbacks Madden and Hastings which are two of our many discards
Question ? Is Sullivan demonstrably better than either of them . Pretty sure Madden wouldn't have cost $2.2 mill to keep !

Madden is Solid, Improving. He will be benefiting from playing with Adam Reynolds.

He wants the ball and is a hell of a competitor. What this space...

 

[Spartan117]

View attachment 6142
I know many get frustrated when we see clubs like the dogs signing player after player, and we can seem quiet.

I’d rather quality signings over quantity. As you can see with many of the dogs signings moved on, they weren’t the right fit.

We have been guilty in the past of overreacting. I am more comfortable with the strategic approach. Players always fall out of other clubs, players will become available. I’d rather make sure we make the right decision, for the short and long term, rather than overreact, and tie our hands for any future movements.

I Respect this,

The Dogs are weeding out players that are not Hard Trainers. That's how you build a culture of excellence.