Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[earl]

Didn’t hear it from his mouth, but was well quoted. Heard the recruitment dude from the knights say they were confident in signing him as he didn’t want to go to the tigers due to that fact.

It still doesn't really ring true to me. Like it's a choice between the Knights and us but we aren't sure if we are going to even move forward with signing him and it doesn't sound like we are offering him more money.

I wonder what the tune would have been if Benji was pushing hard for him to come and we were offering him an extra 50k per year.

 

[crazycat]

@kade7 - are we in the hunt for this Kiwi?

Clubs hunting Tuivasa-Sheck clone after code switch

'The guy has everything'

wwos.nine.com.au

A player with mental problems and "could be the next thing" or "could be the next 400k player not taking the field". Not who we should be targetting, IMHO

It's like the Dogs signing TPJ and the Sharks signing Dale Finucane. Dale's performance won't be extreme, but he is easy to coach and helped a rookie coach in Craig F get the teams structure down. TPJ being handled by a rookie coach at the dogs, underperforms and sounds like he is more trouble then he is worth.

Lets target next big things that Benji can actually coach. Anyone wrong attitude won't be helped in our structure.


ALSO:
They "forgot" our winger of the year was a Rookie!

Shame on the NRLW!

Bloody hell, can we release the Karens of Western Sydney on them?

 

[Mistymuzzle]

Bloody hell, can we release the Karens of Western Sydney on them!

They are all busy in the 25 years thread.

 

[bptiger 0]

Dragons: Kyle Flanagan and Hame Sele.
Bulldogs: Stephem Crichton, Jaeman Salmon, Bronson Xerri, Blake Taafe.
Titans: Keenan Palasia.
Dolphins: Jake Averillo, Herbie Farnworth, Thomas Flegler.
Manly: Luke Brooks, Aitasi James, Jaxson Paulo, Tommy Talau.
Cowboys: Jake Clifford, Viliami Vailea.
Parra: nobody.

That's the bottom half of the ladder and I'll give you two clubs we could perhaps be envious of. The Dolphins I think are a bit of a special case given their combination of cap room, the Queensland factor and Wayne Bennett. With the Dogs we're talking about one player, aren't we? I'd rather have anyone we've signed than the second best player they've signed.

So what you're saying basically comes down to "I wish we'd signed Stephen Crichton". Even there, isn't the story that he wants to play fullback - which we don't need?

U forgot the knights, two English international backs and a panther kid who lucks very good

 

[balmain boy]

That's fair, he wasn't playing for an nrl club.

He was playing though, was it the koori knockout where he was playing with Greg Inglis and got the taste for it again?

I hope we have talent scouts at these carnivals...

Hopefully Fulton was there. He's not doing his job if he wasn't.

No excuses.

There was plenty of talent on display, some at NRL clubs, some not.

I wonder if the club has deliberately moved away from signing indigenous players.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Hopefully Fulton was there. He's not doing his job if he wasn't.

No excuses.

There was plenty of talent on display, some at NRL clubs, some not.

I wonder if the club has deliberately moved away from signing indigenous players.

That must be the reason 🙄

 

[jrtiger]

They are all busy in the 25 years thread.

any word on these signings that were allegedly close involving players from finals teams?

 

[Coastie_Tiger]

any word on these signings that were allegedly close involving players from finals teams?

TBF we were probably only aggressively window shopping.

 

[2041]

U forgot the knights, two English international backs and a panther kid who lucks very good

The Knights weren't in the bottom half of the ladder.

 

[Needaname]

The reported value of his contract was quoted as 'in excess of 3.3 million over 4 years' which is in excess of 825k a year, so, likely a greater nominal value than 825k a year on average, which is at the very least approaching the million dollar mark in my eyes, but I take your point and can change it to 'a bit under a million'.

From what was reported, he will walk into that fullback jersey and his pay packet certainly supports that, but if what you've said about his attitude to fullback is true, then good on him. It's a shame more players in the modern game aren't as team first.

That's good to hear.

Funny, just spoke to my dogs mate bout Critchton being a steal for them.
He quoted he is on $850k a year.
For perspective that’s roughly the same as what the Roosters resigned Manu on.
For a club that’s been struggling for quite a while that is most certainly a very good deal.

 

[Needaname]

Mate most of our recent and best purchases were not on the market including Klemmer, Bud, Fainu. None of the top clubs wait until they are available. You can talk to who ever you want whenever you want but cant sign a contract more than 12months out without permission.

Actually. You can’t. Well you won’t be able to be as per the new rules and regulations.

 

[Kelce68]

Funny, just spoke to my dogs mate bout Critchton being a steal for them.
He quoted he is on $850k a year.
For perspective that’s roughly the same as what the Roosters resigned Manu on.
For a club that’s been struggling for quite a while that is most certainly a very good deal.

Yeh, he's such a talented player on his day. He has a great knack for nailing the small moments often too. Is versatile. Consistency may be his only shortcoming at this stage, but it's easy to forget he's the same age as Starford To'a, so that will come in time.

 

[Mistymuzzle]

Actually. You can’t. Well you won’t be able to be as per the new rules and regulations.

under the current rules you can

 

[Telltails]

Funny, just spoke to my dogs mate bout Critchton being a steal for them.
He quoted he is on $850k a year.
For perspective that’s roughly the same as what the Roosters resigned Manu on.
For a club that’s been struggling for quite a while that is most certainly a very good deal.

A huge loss for Penrith. It will be interesting to see if his form is as as good at the Bulldogs unlike the other two big recruits from Penrith who to date have been underwhelming since switching clubs.

 

[jadtiger]

TBF we were probably only aggressively window shopping.

More likely that our perpetual chairman wanted to see his name mentioned again in the media.

 

[Odessa]

Yeh, he's such a talented player on his day. He has a great knack for nailing the small moments often too. Is versatile. Consistency may be his only shortcoming at this stage, but it's easy to forget he's the same age as Starford To'a, so that will come in time.

I think he is very consistent but it's hard to always standout in a team of star's

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

@kade7 - are we in the hunt for this Kiwi?

Clubs hunting Tuivasa-Sheck clone after code switch

'The guy has everything'

wwos.nine.com.au

This is the guy we need ... Shaun Stevenson ... All Blacks winger who can play fullback & centre. Keen on NRL too and off contract this season (not sure if that has changed recently).

Shaun Stevenson on his All Blacks debut, missing the World Cup and his big Super Rugby year

Stevenson's natural game is an uncanny ability to prize open defence with a combination of swift footwork and calculated, intuitive running. His kicking has grown but there is a persistent narrative that he struggles defensively.

www.rugbypass.com

Stevenson reveals details of chat with NRL coaching great, call on future plans

“It was just nice to meet the guy and talk about league.”

www.sen.com.au

Benji, get on the blower!

 

[crazycat]

I agree he doesn’t always set the world on fire and there is an argument to say both To’a and Reilly have done just as well if not better at times with limited opportunity.
I do believe we need to start looking at body shape and physical attributes when signing players.
In this day and age where scoring tries from kicks and sheer speed is so important, tall fast and strong players are key in the outside backs.
We won’t get Bradman Best unless we pay him 1 million per season and as good as he is, he’s not a 1 million per season player.
Dane Gagai certainly would offer a wealth of experience, but now approaching his mid 30’s, does he still have the speed and agility required to excel at NRL level ?
Justin Olam would give us a hard running fearless centre, but again I fear he’s ageing fast and although not yet 30, there is a danger his best is behind him.
Then you have young less notorious options on Isaiah Tass and Reimis Smith. Both are proven solid NRL players without being superstars, but both a tall, strong and fast and coming from strong sides they could potentially add a bit of professionalism to our outside backs.
Also hoping we re-sign Charlie Staines who adds height and speed

Wait, WHAT.

Look we can't be talking about signing Dane Gagai (way over 30) but knocking back Olam (29)... I like the idea of going for Olam and/or Reimius Smith as Melbourne will have to ditch one of them. We need an experienced back that is good at defending.

The big question I would like to know is how much of Bradman Best's performance improvement is due to mentorship from Dane Gagai? I don't think Gagai is the right player for us and I think he would retire within 1 year... Olam, Manu, would hit the spot but "tell him he's dreaming Son!"

 

[Telltails]

Olam has had a terrible season and Bellamy doesn't give up on players that have been successful in his system without reason. Hard to figure what has gone wrong there.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

So with the international games over the next 4 weeks, the following 8 players won't be back for the first day of pre-season in early November (probably back in early December) ... Api, Stefano, Ice, T'oa, Bula, Matamua, Latu Fainu & Bateman.