Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Joel often mentions Ben Galea whenever the conversation of our board or football GM position comes up.
Joel has other connections with the history of the club he is married to Wayne Smith’s daughter who played for the Magpies than defected to the Sharks at the back end of his career. I was great friends with Wayne’s brother Rod who also played for the magpie’s but sadly passed away two years ago. Rod always said Joel was a champion bloke
 
Joel has other connections with the history of the club he is married to Wayne Smith’s daughter who played for the Magpies than defected to the Sharks at the back end of his career. I was great friends with Wayne’s brother Rod who also played for the magpie’s but sadly passed away two years ago. Rod always said Joel was a champion bloke
But Joel is too nice a guy; remember him when Saints' Blacklock stepped him to score a runaway try, when he should have coat-hangered him..... 🤣
 
Can't go wrong, two former Wests Tigers players who know the game, both represented the joint venture after the merger, one won a comp with us.
Actually, you can. The skills required to be an effective board member, even of a rugby league club, are very different to this. Knowing the game from a player’s perspective and an administrator’s perspective are very different. If someone has the requisite skills/experience and played for the club then we are talking.
 
They both have experience in Finance...
(Smarts outside Footy)

And neither are peanuts
- Which would automatically make them a better candidate than some of our current board members....
But are they really manners or doers. So much of the Boards responsibility is setting out a roadmap, that if followed, will ultimately lead to ongoing success.
Proactive not reactive is what we need, with people capable of reading the future of the game, and our role in it.
Really doesn’t count if they played or didn’t play, just their background and smarts for the task at hand.
 
But are they really manners or doers. So much of the Boards responsibility is setting out a roadmap, that if followed, will ultimately lead to ongoing success.
Proactive not reactive is what we need, with people capable of reading the future of the game, and our role in it.
Really doesn’t count if they played or didn’t play, just their background and smarts for the task at hand.
Planners not manners, fat fingers !
 
Da Silva shouldn't be a worry. He's 18 so you'd have to think he's no chance of being ready to carry the load as a starting first grade hooker for another couple of years at least - by which stage Koroisau will be right at the end of his deal. Harry Grant is the best young hooker in the game and his first season in first grade was the one on loan at the Tigers, when he was 22. If all goes well with Da Silva there's a natural succession in place.

Bula seems to have fullback locked down. So we're talking about halves, and specifically the idea that we'd only be able to play two of Luai, Galvin, Sullivan and Fainu. I'm not sure about that, though. All three of Sullivan, Galvin and Fainu are unproven at first grade level and the latter two are also 18, so you'd have to think there's a very good chance at least one of them will either never make the step up or will be injury prone, sign elsewhere after their current contract or any number of other potential pitfalls. Fainu and Galvin are also both 18 so should have reasonable expectations about game time over the next couple of years.

I also suspect Sullivan is somewhat the odd man out. He's on a fairly reasonable contract that would make him not widly overpaid as an X-factor utility off the bench in a good side whereas, on the flip side, he probably has the least up side of all of them.

By the time we get to 2026, when Da Silva, Fainu and Galvin might actually be reasonably thinking about locking down full-time starting jobs I would be pretty shocked to find that we have Bula-Luai-Sullivan-Koroisau as a bolted on starting spine with no question marks at all. And, frankly, if we do I'd suggest we have played finals football at least once and we're probably not too bothered about the 'logjam'.

Can’t see a problem with locking in too many quality halves on contracts. Especially when we have been crying out for years for just 1. If it ever gets to the stage where you have too many contracted quality 6s and 7s, they are an easy position to trade. Most teams are always after upgrades in this area and you could use your stockpile to trade for other key positions you are light in. Would be a good problem to have.
 
Galvin will fill out and play in the back row like Wade Graham. the hard part is convincing him of that sooner rather than later.
Galvin will be a half, a big one but still a half. He's beautiful to watch with the footy in his hands and I think a bit of size will improve him. Taking on the line with his talent and vision with a bit of size.... he could be the new benchmark.
 

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