Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Feline Carrier]

Stef is fine. Lad is yet to hit his straps.

On Luai, he's borderline special needs, living in Cleary's shadow, a big noting arrogant knobhead and he'd still walk backwards into our top 17.

 

[supercoach]

Stef is fine. Lad is yet to hit his straps.

On Luai, he's borderline special needs, living in Cleary's shadow, a big noting arrogant knobhead and he'd still walk backwards into our top 17.

Disagree I see him as an ultra competitive guy with natural talent. We have lacked that really hard nose player for a long time

 

[hank37w]

AFB behind Haas is the best prop in the game.

If it’s for 2025 he’d be the perfect replacement for Klemmer.

AFB and Stefano would be one of the most dangerous starting prop rotations in the league.

Agree with you on Haas and Blake but yet to see it from Stefano.

He's been given chances to show it but apart from a few rare glimpses I'm far from convinced that he is anywhere near that dangerous category at this point in his career.

Maybe with consistent improvement through next season, an injury free run and taking into account his relatively young age he could get there around 2025.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

I hope to god we don’t sign luai… our culture sucks enough as it is, I simply can’t get behind that bloke.

 

[Demps]

I hope to god we don’t sign luai… our culture sucks enough as it is, I simply can’t get behind that bloke.

Be interesting to see him come up against Penrith....

Will he bring that same energy we're use to seeing? The niggle, the pest, the arrogance.

 

[Tito Santana]

Stefano needs to take angry pills. He’s not mean enough.

 

[Kaito]

Stefano needs to take angry pills. He’s not mean enough.

I'm not sold on Stef becoming elite yet. Doesn't have mongrel in him yet, no opposition player would fear him.. Waerea Hargreaves, Fonua Blake, Paulo, Fisher Harris all instil fear into the opposition.

ET. He's not aggressive, he's a good yardage
and clubman though.. I hear what you're saying

We're lucky to have him at the club 🤞🏼🤞🏼

 

[innsaneink]

Good player in the right structure. Anywhere else - potential disaster. Mentality is not there. Spirit is.

He wants to be the main man... Ego needs it and he can't get it playing with Nathan

 

[Demps]

ET. He's not aggressive, he's a good yardage
and clubman though.. I hear what you're saying

We're lucky to have him at the club 🤞🏼🤞🏼

Remember that Amone prop we had for a few games ?

Randomly crossed my mind.

our props are all pretty tall and lean.
Fonua is more stocky / powerhouse type.

Good for mixing it up and keeping the opps guessing in defence as @batboy has pointed out before.

 

[Kaito]

Remember that Amone prop we had for a few games ?

Randomly crossed my mind.

our props are all pretty tall and lean.
Fonua is more stocky / powerhouse type.

Good for mixing it up and keeping the opps guessing in defence as @batboy has pointed out before.

I don't think your wrong... We need some hard
Nuts though. Stef criticism is crazy though

 

[Kaito]

Remember that Amone prop we had for a few games ?

Randomly crossed my mind.

our props are all pretty tall and lean.
Fonua is more stocky / powerhouse type.

Good for mixing it up and keeping the opps guessing in defence as @batboy has pointed out before.

Batboy rarely misses

 

[Needaname]

Same claim was made a while back - until someone listed the starters for each team.
He was bested by most…

Kids got potential, but anyone who says he’s really come on in 23 is lying…

I’m usually quite critical on stef in terms of his impact on the field. However contrary to the opinions of his performance in both Samoan games I thought he was really strong for them. He isn’t standing out as a break out player but there was a noticeable difference in both defence and attack when he was on the field.
Made plenty of tough carries and was very solid in contact against two very good packs.
I was thinking to myself he would be the prototype prop for Melbourne to pick up and turn into a 300 gamer.

 

[TigerNeddyK]

I think its starting to make sense. Buy props with 3 initials. In this epoch.

Aaron Samson Woods

 

[ancient_magpie]

I hope to god we don’t sign luai… our culture sucks enough as it is, I simply can’t get behind that bloke.

Couldn't agree more he's an arrogant arsehole

 

[Tiger_Yoshi]

AFB behind Haas is the best prop in the game.

If it’s for 2025 he’d be the perfect replacement for Klemmer.

AFB and Stefano would be one of the most dangerous starting prop rotations in the league.

Klem is here till end of 2026?

 

[crazycat]

?????? Like John Morris ? …… or …… Tim Sheens ……

re basics coach.

Yea, clearly Tim Sheens focused on Basics in 2023...

Honestly it seemed that Tim Sheens strategy was to do passes and Fast footy

You may be right. We may have hired Sheens as "the basics coach". If so, wrong decision.

John Morris will be a good asset to the team and I totally agree that he should help instil basics.

 

[TIGERPOWER]

Couldn't agree more he's an arrogant arsehole

He knows how to win. He has played for his country and taken them to a World Cup final. Played for his state. Won 3 grand finals and still in his prime. Definitely not the player the wooden spooners need because he’s an asshole on social media lol.

 

[Halbrowne61]

So Sironen and Tuilagi fall into the category of players we shouldn't have been wasting our time with to start with, which is one of the things I mentioned: not picking the right players to work with in the first place. Nofoaluma never added to the skills he came into first grade with, it's just that those skills were sufficient to offset his deficiencies for a while. That's literally what I'm talking about. Liddell had terrible luck with injuries, which is why I offered Simpkin as an alternate.

Garner I'll give you.

Anyway, the point isn't to arbitrarily have 13 guys who fit the mold - it's to say that this is a persistent problem that needs to be fixed if we're ever going to get out of the sewer. Imagine if half these players had gone on to be most of what we thought/were told they might be.

Just a quick comment re Nofa .Without defending him I do think in recent times part of his demise is the lack of a straight running centre able to set up their winger as required. When he went to Storm and was paired with Olam he had what he so desperately needed, unfortunately I think Okam is also going downhill at a rapid rate.
I’d like Benji to devote some time to the way centres run and how to set up their winger.
More basics that unfortunately our guys just can’t master.

 

[crazycat]

AFB behind Haas is the best prop in the game.

If it’s for 2025 he’d be the perfect replacement for Klemmer.

AFB and Stefano would be one of the most dangerous starting prop rotations in the league.

Hell yea.

Look we need to sort our backline so we don't get walked on by other teams. But I am all up for muscling up and if AFB has a connection through Fulton or whatever. Bring him home here.

I know this won't happen. It will be Easts for money/connections, Dragons blowing 1.6m of their cap, a return to Manly or something else. It wont' be a damn good prop signing with us, a basket case team.

That said, 100% for it if we can pull it off.

 

[Glenji95]

Klem is here till end of 2026?

26 is a MO (mutual option) technically he’s contracted until 25 unless the club or Klem decide to trigger it.