Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Happy to get only Luai if not AFB or Olam. He's priority imo
Honestly I see Luai creating problems for us.
Why:
Because it means we have 3 5/8 in Fainu (ok not ready), Sullivan and Luai.
Sezer, I view as a 5/8 may or may not be okay at being a depth half.

Sullivan and Fainu would be looking at us going "where do we play?". Rightly so, clubs punting people 2 years into a contract is bad. We will be looking to punt people we have signed mere months ago!

Not dissing Luai, he is a quality 5/8. I am dissing our panic buying of halves. Okay Newcastle was running with almost 6 halves (and we couldn't beg one over??), so maybe they do learn from each other... In short were full.

Same could be said for Olam, just not very many if any at all have shown to be keepers in our back line.

AFB would upgrade our forward pack which is already massive. Ok I know we will need to punt Klemmer/Paps/Bateman but imagine AFB combining with those guys or Stefano/etc?

AFB for me. Ofcourse I would prefer Payne Haas, but it's AFB is possible for us.
 
There isn't actually any additional room for 'projects' to be reclaimed.

Naden, Tupou, Kepaoa, Nofa, To'a, Willett, Lobb, Casey..we have all the guys with promise we need.

Established starters are really the only additions to make at this point- the squad is already a development squad.

That's why Luai, AFB & Olam make sense- established players that step in.

I have a sneaky feeling the Fox might be on the radar as well. Could be an either/or thing depending on the Olam outcome. No inside info- just a hunch.
I am thinking the same thing. Namely the "Fox" will be pushed out of Belmore as Phil Gould loves playing moneyball and squeezing players and the cap. I am kinda surprised people still want to work under him. That said I have worked with several strict bosses, I hated it, but others loved knowing where they stood.

your point is dead set right. We have too many projects and the "projects" can't learn how to play footy from other projects.
 
Olam not coming is a good sign for us and that we are no push over like the past.

We advise Storm what they needed to contribute and if they don't like it then he stays on their books and rightly so. Media should be congratulating us for not getting pushed around.
Galvin can play centre
 
I completely agree. I reckon they are showing Melbourne that we are happy to walk away from taking Olam unless they come back and agree to pay a decent percentage. They are the ones who want him gone.
Frank P at storm is normally pretty stringent with Melbourne deals and there cap.
Good on the Tigers for saying no if storm were not willing to pay a big bit of freight. Olam if he is not playing for them and unhappy is a waste of cap space and past his best
 
Honestly I see Luai creating problems for us.
Why:
Because it means we have 3 5/8 in Fainu (ok not ready), Sullivan and Luai.
Sezer, I view as a 5/8 may or may not be okay at being a depth half.

Sullivan and Fainu would be looking at us going "where do we play?". Rightly so, clubs punting people 2 years into a contract is bad. We will be looking to punt people we have signed mere months ago!

Not dissing Luai, he is a quality 5/8. I am dissing our panic buying of halves. Okay Newcastle was running with almost 6 halves (and we couldn't beg one over??), so maybe they do learn from each other... In short were full.

Same could be said for Olam, just not very many if any at all have shown to be keepers in our back line.

AFB would upgrade our forward pack which is already massive. Ok I know we will need to punt Klemmer/Paps/Bateman but imagine AFB combining with those guys or Stefano/etc?

AFB for me. Ofcourse I would prefer Payne Haas, but it's AFB is possible for us.
Luai won’t be released so he will be signed for 2025. Sezer has a one year deal so the halves options 2025 would be Luai, Fainu, Sullivan. Based on talent alone Luai (7), Fainu (6), Sullivan (14). Halves are an asset if they perform well a player swap for a top line outside back for a good half is a fair trade in either case.

We lost every half at the club last few years in Brooks, Wakeham, Douihei (injury), Wil Smith, Jock Madden.
 
We desperately need to be winning in administration and governance. The idea of recruiting some players from winning teams obviously isn’t working when average teams can put 13 & 10 tries on us.
praying for a win doesn’t work either, you need to plan for it.
Agree with this only way is a completely independent board. They need to get to the quality of the Rabbits or Roosters. Nothing will change until they sort this out.
 
Luai won’t be released so he will be signed for 2025. Sezer has a one year deal so the halves options 2025 would be Luai, Fainu, Sullivan. Based on talent alone Luai (7), Fainu (6), Sullivan (14). Halves are an asset if they perform well a player swap for a top line outside back for a good half is a fair trade in either case.

We lost every half at the club last few years in Brooks, Wakeham, Douihei (injury), Wil Smith, Jock Madden.
Why would we pay $550k (as reported) for a 14?
 
talking about povo

i just went and checked out the panthers forum to see what they were saying about luai

1. the forum design and layout is super slick

2. the forum posters were all really nice and wishing him the best

this place is like a bogan zoo compared to the panthers forum.

lol.
Are you referring to their LU forum?
Spend some proper time there. They are a bunch of smug wankers who get very nasty very quickly. I like to stir them up occasionally.
 
I kinda guessed that Olam would be out of the picture once we resigned Staines.

We have:
Charlie Staines
Tupou
Nofa
Brent Naden (I expect him in first grade and thumping this year).
Starford Toa

A few others.

None of these players are at Olam's level. IMHO we needed a strong good, top back.

Ofcourse our halves, Sullivan, Fainu and Sezer are not at Luai's level.

Yet Benji picked all 3. Benji is now saying he would prefer Luai?

It's a total shemozzle.
You can only try to recruit players on the market.

I rate the halves we have got compared to last season
 
We bought bud Sullivan before hebwas a 14.

He adds a tremendous amount of creativity that we have lacked in the halves for a decade.
If he’s as good as you say then why not play him at 7 Luai 6 and Latu 3? Or any other combination that works better?
I know it’s a tactic oft used these days to have a game breaker zippy smaller player sitting on the bench for most of the game, but I’m not sure it pays off often enough unless the guy has lightning speed like a Koula?
 
If we have lost interest in Olam it maybe for the same reason that Melbourne are happy to let him go rather than anything to do with money.
 
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