Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[weststigerman]

I was thinking about the reported disagreement between fulton and benji on who to buy, cogger or seizer. Obviously benji won but why seizer ? Wouldn't be out of the realms to think cogger is the better recruit, younger, more upside for the future. Maybe he was thinking we've already got 3 or 4 coggers ( fainu, sullivan galvin, mason ? ) with potentially more upside. We only really need one to turn into a superstar. They all have freakish natural ability but what they need to go to the next level is game management, kicking skills etc. Enter a 15 Yr 1st grade veteran which owes his career doing those skills, on a 12month minimum contract. We've got a 12 month personal halves coach that can not only show them at training but out on game day as well. Haven't heard much from fulton since then.. maybe this was a light bulb moment and he's on board with benjis vision. Because bloody hell, they need to be on the same page if we're going to steadily climb this very steep mountain we find ourselves in.

Cogger wanted a 3 or 4 year contract, while we were looking for a stopgap for 1 maybe 2 years.

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

No mate they won 1986. 1981, 82 and 83 was their 3 peat.

Thanks Sully.

 

[Flippedy]

He is deflecting because our club leaks like a sieve..

Exactly! It must be easy for player managers to extract rumour and innuendo out of our club because it happens all the time.

 

[guywolf]

How would you describe this culture they are buying in to?

Fair point, my evidence is purely anecdotal based off what I've read here. So maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Fallen Angel]

It’s funny - Mick Ennis has a few years experience as a coaching assistant,.,
I reckon if we gave him a head coaching gig - this place would blow up deluxe!!

And so it should, he’s got a few years under his belt as an assistant… but that’s very different than being a head coach.

Cos the blokes name is Benji Marshall and it’s the Tigers - it’s a totally different set of rules for what’s acceptable…

At least they’ll have his flick pass to run with if he’s not getting results…

I can’t believe more people aren’t offended with how the club is looking to swindle the fan base…

It’s funny - Mick Ennis has a few years experience as a coaching assistant,.,
I reckon if we gave him a head coaching gig - this place would blow up deluxe!!

And so it should, he’s got a few years under his belt as an assistant… but that’s very different than being a head coach.

Cos the blokes name is Benji Marshall and it’s the Tigers - it’s a totally different set of rules for what’s acceptable…

At least they’ll have his flick pass to run with if he’s not getting results…

I can’t believe more people aren’t offended with how the club is looking to swindle the fan base…

Benji seems to me like the kind of dude who has the attention span of a gnat. Like he woke up one day and thought “I might give that coaching thing a try”. But the bigger idiots are the club. I don’t think there are words to accurately describe how irresponsible and dumb his appointment is. It’s a publicity stunt on steroids.

 

[Tom Shines]

Benji seems to me like the kind of dude who has the attention span of a gnat. Like he woke up one day and thought “I might give that coaching thing a try”. But the bigger idiots are the club. I don’t think there are words to accurately describe how irresponsible and dumb his appointment is. It’s a publicity stunt on steroids.

The Sheens mentoring Benji thing was a brain fart that Phil Rothfield came up with at a lunch with Lee and Pascoe after six bottles of wine …. And they thought it was a good idea…

 

[CornerPost]

Cogger wanted a 3 or 4 year contract, while we were looking for a stopgap for 1 maybe 2 years.

Fair enough.. do you know how many years he signed with Newcastle

 

[Tom Shines]

Fair enough.. do you know how many years he signed with Newcastle

I just checked that out myself … three apparently

 

[Kelce68]

Benji seems to me like the kind of dude who has the attention span of a gnat. Like he woke up one day and thought “I might give that coaching thing a try”. But the bigger idiots are the club. I don’t think there are words to accurately describe how irresponsible and dumb his appointment is. It’s a publicity stunt on steroids.

Probably one of the main reasons he played 346 NRL games across 19 years.

Generally speaking, poor attention spans parlay well into long careers in key spine positions in the NRL.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Probably one of the main reasons he played 346 NRL games across 19 years.

Generally speaking, poor attention spans parlay well into long careers in key spine positions in the NRL.

Let’s be honest, he coasted on his name post 2012.

 

[balmain boy]

Pascoe told me that 95% of the stuff that leaks about all clubs is from player managers. Any chance they get for leverage on their current deals, always working in the background.

He said, and it makes sense, that it's rarely in a club's interest to leak to the media.

It may not be in the club's interest, but it may be in an individual's interest if they have a particular agenda. Which there often is.

 

[Lestronge]

There is some serious poo poo being dribbled here at the moment lol . He coasted on his name since 2012 ? Lol what are you talking about ? He was playing Q cup for large chunks of the broncos season and was all but out the game . Came here as the backup 7 , to mentor . Won the spot and was a great foil for Brooks and lead the team .
Though Madge had zero idea , which proved to be correct in hindsight , moved on to the bunnies made a grand final , and was a key voice in the locker room there .
Spending at least large portions of his final 4 years in a mentoring/ coaching role .
The only place he may have coasted was the year before his final year the dragons . Even in his final year there , he was on the nose and told he should head to England .
This whole echo chamber of stupidity is beyond laughable . Some low IQ posts about this stuff . Comparable to Facebook geriatrics .
And I’m not a huge fan of the guy either . I think his hubris leads him up the wrong path over and over again, and I worry that it will do the same . But to say any of the last few pages has any accuracy is to say that vaccines cause autism , and the world is flat . Some people I swear to god …

 

[Bones]

It may not be in the club's interest, but it may be in an individual's interest if they have a particular agenda. Which there often is.

That’s just what the people who are leaking told him to put him off the scent 🧠

 

[Kelce68]

Let’s be honest, he coasted on his name post 2012.

At times, sure.

I actually think in many ways, once he lost a yard, he became a better player. He was forced into reinventing himself, which he didn't always nail, but he certainly added more to his bow as he went.

That I think is quite admirable and more a mark of his motivations.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

I think there are some variables to consider when judging Benji's performance last year. Solely on our results, it's easy to say he was poor, and no one could definitively argue against that as that's all that matters really. However, IMO there is some evidence to give us hope he may work out.

I believe the changes we made around the Manly game, followed by a strong performance against Parra then finally our first win against Penrith came from Benji. He lead the push for a simpler game plan, earning our way through hard work before just throwing the ball around. Players bought into this more then what Sheens wanted to do.
We then had a good period of footy that could have kicked on, but we blew the game against Canberra with a late penalty, a game where we were the far superior team, we then lost our 9 and 7 for a large chunk, momentum lost and season gone. I do wonder what could have been if we had that game plan from round 1 and didn't lose our 9, 6 and 7 for big periods.

There are signs of hope with Benji, no matter how unlikely it seems.

I'm impressed with his ability to get buy in from our senior players despite finishing last.

Been many years since we had such a tight knit group.

Seems to have won the dressing room anyway.

 

[tony soprano]

I'm impressed with his ability to get buy in from our senior players despite finishing last.

Been many years since we had such a tight knit group.

Seems to have won the dressing room anyway.

Same manager as Isaiah Papali'i. Don't think he likes wests tigers very much.

 

[CornerPost]

I just checked that out myself … three apparently

I think he'll be a good buy for Newcastle.. we've got so many potentials, maybes, hopefullys in the next couple of seasons believe it or not I'm actually excited.. let's hope we don't royaly stuff it up..

 

[teddy23]

Benji seems to me like the kind of dude who has the attention span of a gnat. Like he woke up one day and thought “I might give that coaching thing a try”. But the bigger idiots are the club. I don’t think there are words to accurately describe how irresponsible and dumb his appointment is. It’s a publicity stunt on steroids.

Hypothetically we sack Benji……. who’s your pick to take over? I can’t think of anyone who I’d have confidence can get the job done that’s on the market right now.

What I’m seeing is that this club over the last 10 years have lacked an identity/DNA. Overtime it has translated into a very poor culture which has been lingering around this club ever since which inadvertently really stuffed up our ability to recruit and improve as no one wants to join a club with no clear vision/culture. Whilst also being the main reason to continued failing seasons.

Where we’re in luck is the one thing we’ve lacked and struggled to implement which arguably is the hardest attribute to have as a coach - the ability to create a vision that the players can buy into and set a culture around that to make sure we hit our goals to get to the level we’re striving towards. Well this is the one thing that comes so naturally to Benji. Which is why everyone can see the clear potential he has as a coach. Combine that with the respect he’ll command for his players in terms of what he did for the badge and surrounding himself with former Wests Tigers legends like Farah, Heighno, Morris etc and we’re building towards a implementing a Wests Tigers DNA.

Look at what we’ve done….. Api re-signing, Stef getting rid of his clause, Ice reaffirming he wants to stay and Bula inking a new deal. That’s just retention related. Usually someone’s asking for a release post season - yet this season it’s the opposite.

After the year we’ve had why are all these players still so committed to this club - because of Pascoe? Sometimes I don’t understand the Benji hate, I really don’t. The problem is far bigger than Benji, it’s clear we have some issues that are higher than him that we need to address - whenever we do that then we can really start to put the foot on the pedal and see what we can do as a club.

I understand the year we had wasn’t ideal - however I’m not as bothered as some as I saw some really good signs when fit. Unfortunately having Brandon Wakeham and Will Smith as our halves at some points in the year….. well as much as we expect to win we’re already fighting a losing battle. Next year should be different.

Not all the time it’s about who’s the best coach - it’s more so who’s the best fit for that particular club and where they’re at. Personally, I think the fit is perfect.

 

[Spidercam]

Hypothetically we sack Benji……. who’s your pick to take over? I can’t think of anyone who I’d have confidence can get the job done that’s on the market right now.

What I’m seeing is that this club over the last 10 years have lacked an identity/DNA. Overtime it has translated into a very poor culture which has been lingering around this club ever since which inadvertently really stuffed up our ability to recruit and improve as no one wants to join a club with no clear vision/culture. Whilst also being the main reason to continued failing seasons.

Where we’re in luck is the one thing we’ve lacked and struggled to implement which arguably is the hardest attribute to have as a coach - the ability to create a vision that the players can buy into and set a culture around that to make sure we hit our goals to get to the level we’re striving towards. Well this is the one thing that comes so naturally to Benji. Which is why everyone can see the clear potential he has as a coach. Combine that with the respect he’ll command for his players in terms of what he did for the badge and surrounding himself with former Wests Tigers legends like Farah, Heighno, Morris etc and we’re building towards a implementing a Wests Tigers DNA.

Look at what we’ve done….. Api re-signing, Stef getting rid of his clause, Ice reaffirming he wants to stay and Bula inking a new deal. That’s just retention related. Usually someone’s asking for a release post season - yet this season it’s the opposite.

After the year we’ve had why are all these players still so committed to this club - because of Pascoe? Sometimes I don’t understand the Benji hate, I really don’t. The problem is far bigger than Benji, it’s clear we have some issues that are higher than him that we need to address - whenever we do that then we can really start to put the foot on the pedal and see what we can do as a club.

I understand the year we had wasn’t ideal - however I’m not as bothered as some as I saw some really good signs when fit. Unfortunately having Brandon Wakeham and Will Smith as our halves at some points in the year….. well as much as we expect to win we’re already fighting a losing battle. Next year should be different.

Not all the time it’s about who’s the best coach - it’s more so who’s the best fit for that particular club and where they’re at. Personally, I think the fit is perfect.

For you teddy, common sense is common

 

[2041]

Hypothetically we sack Benji……. who’s your pick to take over? I can’t think of anyone who I’d have confidence can get the job done that’s on the market right now.

Yup. Some commenters on here just won't engage with reality - they seem to think the fact that we've been crap for years means it's reasonable to demand the impossible. They want to sign players who aren't available and who they refuse to name, appoint a coach who isn't out there, sack a board that literally owns the NRL franchise. Then they scream at anyone who points out that these things aren't possible.

I mean, I'm sick to death of supporting the laughing stock of the comp and I'm 100% not satisfied with the governance, coaching, recruitment and retention or playing roster. But I am also engaged with reality and I understand that the only solutions to this whole mess are (a) going to take a long time, and (b) have to be things that can actually be done.