Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

SwervinMervin said:
You can't keep all of them though. I don't know the exact stats, but I am sure less than 1 in 20 promising juniors makes it to NRL level. At some point you just run out of room and opportunities for them all. Is he that much better a prospect than other 16-19 year old we have on our books?
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I was told he is one of the best players in the entire age Harold Matts comp.

Penrith, Roosters, Storm, Parra, Dogs, Sharks, Warriors were all after the kid and I know first hand he wanted to stay at the Tigers, I am pretty sure his dad is on the Balmain JRL board and has been for a long while. I have put in a call trying to get his highlights video. Its mind blowing he wasnt even a priority to be kept in the system. The only reason why we havent heard of him in the media his father makes sure his son isnt named in any articles. Money isnt the issue in this case, his dad owns Pain Away its a Tigers family.
 
851 said:
I am not totally against signing Luai, Penriths record with Luai and no Cleary is better than Cleary and no Luai, my biggest concern is we have both Fainu and Sullivan on 4 year contracts, and thats not even factoring in Galvin. Would this be bad for team moral, I don't know, but we can't afford to have a mutiny and cop more bad press
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Im a bit the same as you im not against signing luai there are potential pit falls in it though, being the 3 halves we have waiting in the wings 4 if you include young Large. Most likely why Conti is leaving, the big caveat with all those young guys is they are no guarantee to make it. Similarly theres a caveat with Luai will he grab games by the scruff of the neck outside a panthers system.
Its a big risk at the money being thrown around but a risk we might have to take, could be our Asatasi moment even though i thought Api was it already.
 
ROZELLE.O.G said:
I was told he is one of the best players in the entire age Harold Matts comp.

Penrith, Roosters, Storm, Parra, Dogs, Sharks, Warriors were all after the kid and I know first hand he wanted to stay at the Tigers, I am pretty sure his dad is on the Balmain JRL board and has been for a long while. I have put in a call trying to get his highlights video. Its mind blowing he wasnt even a priority to be kept in the system. The only reason why we havent heard of him in the media his father makes sure his son isnt named in any articles. Money isnt the issue in this case, his dad owns Pain Away its a Tigers family.
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Your obviously very passionate about the kid, but if he's gone already sharing around his highlights video and telling people to talk to Benji and Bronson Harrison isnt going to change anything.
Knowing us he'll probably become a gun and we will get hammered in the media for letting him go, he could also turn out to be another Doueihi.
 
Coastie_Tiger said:
Im a bit the same as you im not against signing luai there are potential pit falls in it though, being the 3 halves we have waiting in the wings 4 if you include young Large. Most likely why Conti is leaving, the big caveat with all those young guys is they are no guarantee to make it. Similarly theres a caveat with Luai will he grab games by the scruff of the neck outside a panthers system.
Its a big risk at the money being thrown around but a risk we might have to take, could be our Asatasi moment even though i thought Api was it already.
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Luai playing alongside Api again would be a nice reunion, an Asatasi moment even?
 
Coastie_Tiger said:
Your obviously very passionate about the kid, but if he's gone already sharing around his highlights video and telling people to talk to Benji and Bronson Harrison isnt going to change anything.
Knowing us he'll probably become a gun and we will get hammered in the media for letting him go, he could also turn out to be another Doueihi.
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Just a bit passionate because my son is great friends with them and we all live in the inner west. We were actually looking forward to seeing these kids contribute to our clubs turnaround. The highlights video was put together by his mates, recruiters know what these kids are capable of already they dont need to see only their strengths like a lot of parents would push.
 
2041 said:
You say that like the salary cap doesn't exist. Put it this way: if we signed Luai but were paying him, say, $6m a year I'm sure we'd all agree that would be a terrible idea - it would mean every single other player on the roster would have to be on minimum salary. If we signed Luai for $250,000 a year, by contrast, I'm sure even the biggest doubters would say that was a cracking bit of business.

Agreed? So by definition you also agree that there's some point in the middle of those two numbers where opinions will reasonably be divided. Personally I'd love the Tigers to sign Luai, but I'm very hesitant about the idea of doing so for $1.4m a year.

Here's an example of why: the Broncos signed Adam Reynolds for $800,000 a year. Is Luai $600,000 "better" than Adam Reynolds? I guess you could argue it. But I bet the Broncos were glad they had a bit of wiggle room when Reece Walsh became available a year later...
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It ultimately comes down to basic economics. Luai is arguably the best NRL player available in the current 1st November cycle. I know some don't like him, but is there someone else you would propose? His winning record is elite (with and without Cleary) and he has 3 premiership rings to show for it. Ironically many of the things that people dislike about him are the things they would love about him if he was playing at their club. But I digress. The best available player is being courted by the worst avaialble club. If the first part of that statement regarding Luai is subjective, then surely the second is not. Two wooden spoons in a row pretty much closes the case on that one. So if he was to consider the Tiges, it would only be for an eye watering sum of money and probably locked in for 5 years. Why else would he go there? Sure, other things might sway his thinking - which team has most upside potential, does he like the coach, does he have old teammates he can hang with - but for him to leave the best club to head to the worst will only happen if Wests Tigers offer him a massive earn.
I don't know what the right amount is, but if they were prepared to go to $1.3-1.4M for Mitchell Moses, who has never won a premiership, then you have to assume they would go to that for Luai.
It will be an interesting one. Panthers have said they can't go beyond $800K, so even if they are bluffing it might be $900K for say 4 years, $3.6M. Compare that to the $1.2-1.4M that he might get open market, $4.8M-$5.6M for 4 years, that's a lot to turn your back on. If he does stay at Penrith for that much less, good on him. And for those that say it makes a mockery of the salary cap, I would say to them it simply highllights the importance of culture, connection and strong governance at a club. The dividend you get from that is talent at a lower price.
 
Luai is a proven winner. Signing a game changing, key half would be excellent. Assuming the signing is for four years, I would rank the top 10 halves this way. So DCE, whilst better, only has 1-2 years left, you would think, same with Reynolds.

1. Cleary
2. Munster
3. Luai
4. Hynes
5. Moses
6. Hughes
7. Walker
8. Dearden
9. Mam
10. Burton

Change the order, but the result is the same. He's easily in the top 10. If we can do this, we should do this.
 
ROZELLE.O.G said:
Here is the kid mate. The kid has scored 11 tries in 12 games in Harold Matts in two seasons. Reach out to Bronson Harrison who is the new pathways boss at Tigers, he is shattered the kid is leaving, he has said he is one of the best kids to come through the Balmain system in the last several years.

Mikey Nasser scoring for Hills Sports in schoolboys comp.
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When did Bronson Harrison come on board in pathways? Is he replacing Siro at Balmain?
 
SwervinMervin said:
It ultimately comes down to basic economics. Luai is arguably the best NRL player available in the current 1st November cycle. I know some don't like him, but is there someone else you would propose? His winning record is elite (with and without Cleary) and he has 3 premiership rings to show for it. Ironically many of the things that people dislike about him are the things they would love about him if he was playing at their club. But I digress. The best available player is being courted by the worst avaialble club. If the first part of that statement regarding Luai is subjective, then surely the second is not. Two wooden spoons in a row pretty much closes the case on that one. So if he was to consider the Tiges, it would only be for an eye watering sum of money and probably locked in for 5 years. Why else would he go there? Sure, other things might sway his thinking - which team has most upside potential, does he like the coach, does he have old teammates he can hang with - but for him to leave the best club to head to the worst will only happen if Wests Tigers offer him a massive earn.
I don't know what the right amount is, but if they were prepared to go to $1.3-1.4M for Mitchell Moses, who has never won a premiership, then you have to assume they would go to that for Luai.
It will be an interesting one. Panthers have said they can't go beyond $800K, so even if they are bluffing it might be $900K for say 4 years, $3.6M. Compare that to the $1.2-1.4M that he might get open market, $4.8M-$5.6M for 4 years, that's a lot to turn your back on. If he does stay at Penrith for that much less, good on him. And for those that say it makes a mockery of the salary cap, I would say to them it simply highllights the importance of culture, connection and strong governance at a club. The dividend you get from that is talent at a lower price.
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That's my point, though: if you can't sign top end free agent talent without offering so much money that it basically becomes impossible to construct a decent roster around your marquee players, you have to find a way to win without signing top end free agents. I'm not sure how else to put it.

It's actually quite ironic that we're looking at what Penrith has avhieved and thinking the way to emulate it is to sign their players. The way to emulate it is to build what they have: a production line of homegrown talent, players who have come through the grades together and want to play, and win, together.
 
SwervinMervin said:
It ultimately comes down to basic economics. Luai is arguably the best NRL player available in the current 1st November cycle. I know some don't like him, but is there someone else you would propose? His winning record is elite (with and without Cleary) and he has 3 premiership rings to show for it. Ironically many of the things that people dislike about him are the things they would love about him if he was playing at their club. But I digress. The best available player is being courted by the worst avaialble club. If the first part of that statement regarding Luai is subjective, then surely the second is not. Two wooden spoons in a row pretty much closes the case on that one. So if he was to consider the Tiges, it would only be for an eye watering sum of money and probably locked in for 5 years. Why else would he go there? Sure, other things might sway his thinking - which team has most upside potential, does he like the coach, does he have old teammates he can hang with - but for him to leave the best club to head to the worst will only happen if Wests Tigers offer him a massive earn.
I don't know what the right amount is, but if they were prepared to go to $1.3-1.4M for Mitchell Moses, who has never won a premiership, then you have to assume they would go to that for Luai.
It will be an interesting one. Panthers have said they can't go beyond $800K, so even if they are bluffing it might be $900K for say 4 years, $3.6M. Compare that to the $1.2-1.4M that he might get open market, $4.8M-$5.6M for 4 years, that's a lot to turn your back on. If he does stay at Penrith for that much less, good on him. And for those that say it makes a mockery of the salary cap, I would say to them it simply highllights the importance of culture, connection and strong governance at a club. The dividend you get from that is talent at a lower price.
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Well said. My stubborn gut disagrees, but I can’t dispute any of above. I appreciate you putting the time into this post. Stupid Tigers gut, can’t even look forward to Luai… what is wrong with me
 
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