Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

I'd like to add AFB.

I would NOT trade away Papali'i for him. Or Utoikamanu.

The Tigers need to get better. Not lose to gain.

If it were Blore the Warriors were chasing- fair enough.

All this in mind, there will be a natural progression from Fonua Pole to factor in as well. I believe he is a damaging runner of the ball & could fill that role comfortably.
 
The Chad said:
I'd like to add AFB.

I would NOT trade away Papali'i for him. Or Utoikamanu.

The Tigers need to get better. Not lose to gain.

If it were Blore the Warriors were chasing- fair enough.

All this in mind, there will be a natural progression from Fonua Pole to factor in as well. I believe he is a damaging runner of the ball & could fill that role comfortably.
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I will say this. Fonua Pole has more upside than any other forward at our club.
 
Glenji95 said:
I’m not expecting big things in 24, but who do we have that can replace IP with? Answer is no one and even if we managed to get AFB and Luai but lose IP while the squad is stronger in other positions it still makes us poor. Chances are if we land both of those (which is unlikely) we won’t be doing much more recruiting as those 2 will be taking up what’s available money wise for 25.
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Blore - even though he is lame.

What about Mr Whippy?
 
GNR4LIFE said:
No way do you trade any of our forwards for AFB. Unless they are willing to take Seyfarth. AFB needs Klemmer, Stef and Ice to compliment him. AFB is a gun but he can’t do it all himself.
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Absobloodylutely! Papalii was the best back rower in the game the year before he signed with us. He’s had one average season trying to find his feet in what was a badly performing team all round and now everyone wants to offload him!! NO just NO! Build around him with other quality forwards as GNR says and add some decent halves to boot. Then we will see the best of the likes of Papa, Klemmer, Steph, Bateman etc. That’s a damn good pack, I don’t want to lose any of them.
 
jrtiger said:
if AFB signs Papali’i will be swapped in a deal. why? because I believe a certain backrower from Manly will be playing in black, gold and white very soon.
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If he was to come here who would we trade in return? Doesn’t make sense to let a top 5 2nd rower in the comp leave early for nothing
 
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Stef off limits unless he doesn’t want to stick around. Papa wasn’t average for us. I’m not a fan of trading him either for AFB the more I think about it. Klem won’t be on the table as his family are settling back into sydney life.

Positive with a Papa trade would be we then get more cash in the cap to spend on another player. AFB is top notch quality and gives us second phase play.

Downside is we are struggling in the backrow nrl depth wise & with inexperienced young halves/backs that’s a recipe for disaster.

Other issue with AFB is the prop log jam we then have as hope we keep Stefano. If Klem isn’t moved on or willing to come off the bench can’t see Stef sticking around. Stef is in a contract year. AFB & Klem are 50-60min props, Stef is 40min prop. You then have $2m or so tied up in 3 props which capwise isn’t good but for 24 we probably could get away with easy enough as no other bignames are coming.

Shifting 2 of our starting best players on to gain 1 who won’t win you more matches than those 2 doesn’t make sense to me.
 
weststigers said:
Ok, I see what's happening here.

Firstly, you are seeing us losing IP as a need to replace him for the exact same rated player or better for you to feel you haven't lost out. This isn't Rugby League Live 4 on Playstation. It doesn't have to be that way.

Try and look at it this way. AFB adds a dimension to our attack that IP doesn't. His offloads in the middle contribute to a lot of second phase play. He had the most running metres amongst props in 2023 and scored 9 tries. That type of contribution adds something different, but arguably better than what we have now with IP.

Blore can replace IP - you have pegged him as a middle, but he can and has played on an edge. I'd argue Blore performed like an absolute beast at the back end of the season. These were performances with the same halves and team that you blame for IP's bad performances. If Blore can do it within that team, why can't IP? At this stage, I'm taking Blore over IP for performance and value until something better comes along.

A lot can happen in a season. Often the players that switch clubs aren't even on the market. Something always comes along. If you're willing to pass up AFB to hold onto IP, then I'm genuinely shocked.
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Agree with all this, though I currently have no desire to see Papallii leave and would like to wait until mid next year to assess performance before considering a release.
If he continues his 2023 output there are dozens of Jackson Ford types that could be picked up at a fraction of the price for similar output. As well as the internal options such as Blore, Fainu and Seyfarth.
 
Wearyfan22 said:
Player swaps/trades get a lot of attention and generate a lot of chatter way out of proportion to how many actually happen. Might be wrong but they seem to be pretty rare? They aren't cattle - I imagine to get one over the line is pretty complicated.

Just lazy journalism imo.
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It’s one of their tried and true go to’s
 
weststigers said:
Ok, I see what's happening here.

Firstly, you are seeing us losing IP as a need to replace him for the exact same rated player or better for you to feel you haven't lost out. This isn't Rugby League Live 4 on Playstation. It doesn't have to be that way.

Try and look at it this way. AFB adds a dimension to our attack that IP doesn't. His offloads in the middle contribute to a lot of second phase play. He had the most running metres amongst props in 2023 and scored 9 tries. That type of contribution adds something different, but arguably better than what we have now with IP.

Blore can replace IP - you have pegged him as a middle, but he can and has played on an edge. I'd argue Blore performed like an absolute beast at the back end of the season. These were performances with the same halves and team that you blame for IP's bad performances. If Blore can do it within that team, why can't IP? At this stage, I'm taking Blore over IP for performance and value until something better comes along.

A lot can happen in a season. Often the players that switch clubs aren't even on the market. Something always comes along. If you're willing to pass up AFB to hold onto IP, then I'm genuinely shocked.
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Blore played his best footy in the middle. He may do better with better halves if he does go back to the edge but if Blore stays with us, I see him as a middle going forward. He hasn’t performed as well on the edge IMO but the only way if he does want to be a backrower he needs to train their full time and oddly enough, I haven’t seen him in any of the training pics the club has posted on their website and social media.

Would I like AFB? Of course but we’re also making our squad weaker by making the trade for him even if we did Stef instead of Ipap it’s the same thing. Let’s be honest we don’t have a back rower that can replace him and the ones on the market apart from Haumole aren’t better or as good as he is but in saying that Haumole isn’t available to talk with until Nov 1 next year.

We need a good replacement if we’re gonna let Ipap go. If we had Haumole already coming i’d bite the bullet but we don’t and we can’t guarantee he’ll come to us as well. Unless we get a genuine replacement, I wouldn’t even consider letting Ipap go for another Prop where we have enough depth already, and our depth in the backrow is atrocious.
 
I'll probably be in the minority here but I wouldn't swap Ice for AFB.
Ice is a gun, we just couldn't work out how to utilise him last year. He created soo many half chances but never had anyone pushing up around him ready for the offload. Defensively he's very sound, can be a bit weak laterally, but he's so strong you never see him fall off tackles. For a big fella his effort areas are amazing, and he's a smart footballer, it's rare that you see him out of position or having a lapse in concentration.
If we do end up seeing a simplified game plan this year, I think we will see Ice excel.

That said AFB would be a great acquisition, I just don't think we need to give up Ice to get him.
 
weststigers said:
Ok, I see what's happening here.

Firstly, you are seeing us losing IP as a need to replace him for the exact same rated player or better for you to feel you haven't lost out. This isn't Rugby League Live 4 on Playstation. It doesn't have to be that way.

Try and look at it this way. AFB adds a dimension to our attack that IP doesn't. His offloads in the middle contribute to a lot of second phase play. He had the most running metres amongst props in 2023 and scored 9 tries. That type of contribution adds something different, but arguably better than what we have now with IP.

Blore can replace IP - you have pegged him as a middle, but he can and has played on an edge. I'd argue Blore performed like an absolute beast at the back end of the season. These were performances with the same halves and team that you blame for IP's bad performances. If Blore can do it within that team, why can't IP? At this stage, I'm taking Blore over IP for performance and value until something better comes along.

A lot can happen in a season. Often the players that switch clubs aren't even on the market. Something always comes along. If you're willing to pass up AFB to hold onto IP, then I'm genuinely shocked.
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We need genuine first graders. Tigers don’t have 17 of them. At times I reckon we had 6 or 7 first graders in games last season. IP was one of them!

I can’t agree with what you’re saying unless the squad has first grade depth and we are pushing the top 4 for a premiership.
 
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