Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[boonboon]

And Sivo will be 31 next year FWIW. Kind of kills me enthusiasm for him.

I actually think that may be the attraction - if you have a couple of young blokes coming through like Willett, Laulii, Saukuru who might be a couple of years away from full-time nrl then an older winger who won't block the pathway is probably the right signing

 

[GNR4LIFE]

I actually think that may be the attraction - if you have a couple of young blokes coming through like Willett, Laulii, Saukuru who might be a couple of years away from full-time nrl then an older winger who won't block the pathway is probably the right signing

Maybe. But it will still be another player we ended up signing 3 or 4 years too late.

 

[Tiger_Yoshi]

Looked injury affected last time I saw him play. Doesn't carry it back as hard as you'd think a guy his size would. Good finisher though.

falls over the line after a good cutout pass from Gutho....no thanks

 

[hammertime]

falls over the line after a good cutout pass from Gutho....no thanks

Still. A winger who can catch a ball? That's an upgrade

 

[Tito Santana]

I imagine Parra won’t let him go without something though if legit.

Did someone say Sullivan????

 

[Blocker1963]

Haven't seen Willett on the lists, Injured ? Good prospect that kid

 

[Demps]

Reports Gutho will move to 5/8 this week.

It's definitely happening.
Lomax will be the fullback next year.

Gutho will move to left centre, in 2025.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Reports Gutho will move to 5/8 this week.

It's definitely happening.
Lomax will be the fullback next year.

Gutho will move to left centre, in 2025.

It’s been common knowledge for a long time that Parra have been looking for a FB to move him to the centres. There is zero doubt around what Gutho’s role will be next year.

 

[mactiger]

I actually think that may be the attraction - if you have a couple of young blokes coming through like Willett, Laulii, Saukuru who might be a couple of years away from full-time nrl then an older winger who won't block the pathway is probably the right signing

Where is willett playing haven't seen him named in any of our junior sides or cup

 

[Kelce68]

40 tries, 42 line breaks, and 1 domestic abuse case in 44 games of NSW cup. Would've played NRL here already if he wasn't a see you next Tuesday. But you see, the Roosters don't really care about whether or not a guy is a d-head or not. They just want to win. Hence why we've seen them signing every women abuser they can get their grubby claws on. He'll probably debut there eventually.

I'm relatively certain that those charges were dropped. Though I struggled to find information confirming that and so I'm happy to be wrong if that's not the case.

Before we start swinging for the fences on people, let's make sure we're not tarring people with the wrong brush.

 

[Vicious]

Just ask @Vicious - Te Whare is apparently a future star...

View attachment 11643

A fit and committed are Whare would be a star without question.
He looked much fitter when playing for the Dolphins during the trials and played well, but I haven’t seen any clips of him playing since.
Based on him not getting another call up and no mention of him in any Qld Cup highlights or Teams of the Week, it’s likely he has not been playing too well or maybe not keeping the weight off.
He’s a left centre in any case, we currently have 10 of them, we need right centres, wingers and other positions I won’t mention.

 

[426Tlgerland]

Did someone say Sullivan????

Yep we take Parra boy for 2 years full pay and same for Parra with Bud and we tip in $ 100 k 2 years front or back end of contract , I think they would be on similar coin

 

[Kelce68]

Trying to troll through the NSW Cup lists across the league, there is both plenty available and not much available at the same time.

Jeral Skelton stands out like a sore thumb though. His numbers are nonsense. 124 post contact metres on the weekend.

The Warriors are another club we should look at. With RTS having a mortgage on one centre spot and Berry on the other side, they've got the likes of Pompey, Leaitaua and Patrick MoiMoi as other centre options and Kosi and Tuaupiki as possible wing options too. All surplus to requirements.

Club by club, there is plenty around. Contract situations aside, we quite simply need to go out and ravenously attack the next wave of backline talent at every club to fill out what we need.

If it's for next year, so be it.

But backline recruitment is a non-negotiable moving forward. I don't care if it's T and T deals, dev deals or the odd Top 30 (if we're able to make several available)

I know this isn't a groundbreaking idea, but having a look around the league and its various tiers, it's simply not ok to continue to sit on what we have in my opinion.

 

[Moh]

I don't follow other teams that closely - but I don't get the noise about Gutho (starting from last season or the one before where they were in the market for a fullback) when he is consistently amongst their better players?

I'd be pretty pissed off if I was him.

 

[gregjm87]

I actually think that may be the attraction - if you have a couple of young blokes coming through like Willett, Laulii, Saukuru who might be a couple of years away from full-time nrl then an older winger who won't block the pathway is probably the right signing

I don't get this line of thinking. If you've got confidence in the young guys coming through, sign the best winger you can (value for money included). Just don't sign them long term.
Then you either don't re-sign them because the kids are ready or re-sign them because the kids didn't fulfill expectations.
This will ensure signing the best possible option and give you more flexibility long term.

 

[Nonotmeagain]

I don't get this line of thinking. If you've got confidence in the young guys coming through, sign the best winger you can (value for money included). Just don't sign them long term.
Then you either don't re-sign them because the kids are ready or re-sign them because the kids didn't fulfill expectations.
This will ensure signing the best possible option and give you more flexibility long term.

All that depends upon is the player/s wanting what you're offering. They may want 4 years and you're offering two so why would they sign ?

 

[Vicious]

Trying to troll through the NSW Cup lists across the league, there is both plenty available and not much available at the same time.

Jeral Skelton stands out like a sore thumb though. His numbers are nonsense. 124 post contact metres on the weekend.

The Warriors are another club we should look at. With RTS having a mortgage on one centre spot and Berry on the other side, they've got the likes of Pompey, Leaitaua and Patrick MoiMoi as other centre options and Kosi and Tuaupiki as possible wing options too. All surplus to requirements.

Club by club, there is plenty around. Contract situations aside, we quite simply need to go out and ravenously attack the next wave of backline talent at every club to fill out what we need.

If it's for next year, so be it.

But backline recruitment is a non-negotiable moving forward. I don't care if it's T and T deals, dev deals or the odd Top 30 (if we're able to make several available)

I know this isn't a groundbreaking idea, but having a look around the league and its various tiers, it's simply not ok to continue to sit on what we have in my opinion.

I like your thinking here.
I’ve heard some say why would we look at reserve graders and why block the path of our juniors etc
We simply do not have a big bodied winger who makes plenty of post contact metres, makes line breaks, scores plenty of tries etc
Jeral Skelton’s progression and form is simply too good to ignore.
He is blocked at the Bulldogs as they are happy with Kiraz as their big bodied winger.
We need someone and both he and Semi Valemai are currently available for next season, why not sign them both and have 2 big bodied wingers who can ably assist our forwards, but also have the size, speed and class to finish backline moves and score tries.
Signing one of the centres you mentioned from the Warriors wouldn’t be a bad option either, although my preference is Aaron Scoupp as a genuine right centre who is young, strong and fast.
Another fullback, winger, centre prospect who is a great young athlete is Jsylan De Groot. His path is blocked at the Titans but a very good prospect we should be tracking at the very least.

 

[gregjm87]

All that depends upon is the player/s wanting what you're offering. They may want 4 years and you're offering two so why would they sign ?

I agree with that. If they won't sign for two years then let them go elsewhere. Usually there is a small trade off between years and dollars though. Longer term = lower salary. Short term = higher so that would be the why. However with that in mind you still consider return on investment and don't go excessive with the overs for short term.

 

[gregjm87]

I agree with that. If they won't sign for two years then let them go elsewhere. Usually there is a small trade off between years and dollars though. Longer term = lower salary. Short term = higher so that would be the why. However with that in mind you still consider return on investment and don't go excessive with the overs for short term.

Also not many wingers getting long term deals across the comp.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Where is willett playing haven't seen him named in any of our junior sides or cup

I wish the club would include our wider top 30, development and T&T players in injury reports.

Most of us are very interested to know when the likely returns are for the Nav Willetts, Heath Masons, Tony Sukkars, Onitoni Larges of the world.

We are a development club after all so Wests Tigers, start including our youngsters in these reports please.