Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Tom Shines]

Yeah signing Turuva took us to 27. We still need to re-sign Stefano to make it 28. So only 2 spots left if we can keep Stef.

And you would think they might be looking to hang onto Faataape who seems higher up the depth chart than several other guys here ..so not a lot of room left …

 

[Snidest 0]

He's followed everywhere so far its not a long bow to draw, anyway thats my opinion you're entitled to yours.

He moved clubs ONCE.... when Manly released him so they could buy Brooks...

That is NOT a pattern!

Scott Fulton is a myth - you reckon wherever he goes (if he ends up anywhere) is going to throw a bucket of cash at Schuster as he tried to convince us to do??

Latu and Samuela are more loyal and level-headed than you realise - and Scott never had any real involvement in their day to day life as footballers at either club. He was just a conduit to their manager!

He is a decent talent scout - but NOT a recruitment manager or football manager!

Thinking he has anywhere near the influence you are suggesting is just plain wrong!

 

[Coastie_Tiger]

He moved clubs ONCE.... when Manly released him so they could buy Brooks...

That is NOT a pattern!

Scott Fulton is a myth - you reckon wherever he goes (if he ends up anywhere) is going to throw a bucket of cash at Schuster as he tried to convince us to do??

Latu and Samuela are more loyal and level-headed than you realise - and Scott never had any real involvement in their day to day life as footballers at either club. He was just a conduit to their manager!

He is a decent talent scout - but NOT a recruitment manager or football manager!

Thinking he has anywhere near the influence you are suggesting is just plain wrong!

Alright mate i get it you don't agree, thats fine you are entitled to not agree.

 

[bptiger 0]

Our back four missed 16 tackles to 4, I think it was. That’s part of the issue to go with the grunt work. Our forwards have to work harder than others to get back on side and then to take the run, every set. Then be fresh enough to dominate the other pack.
But Stef had 3 runs at halftime, that’s unacceptable, but unusual. 🤷‍♂️

I think I no why stef has gone of the boil, if he keeps playing well he will get selected for State of origin , and that would stop him from joining the panthers , just my take on it 😳

 

[426Tlgerland]

apparently they have another 3-4 guys from within who will move to Top 30 spots at the end of this year

Richo has said they aren’t a recruitment club and I believe him … at least for the next year until they can free up some space on the squad …

I’m surprised by him saying we are done in the recruiting, we are still not a first grade team who goes well each week , we need probably 2 more , I note the panthers signing he noted centre next year so we need a big prop with strong go forward carries and a speedy big winger , prop will let Pole play back row , the other thing is our second grade team shows not much in the players who can meet first grade we need to unload half of them and get firing first graders from other clubs who are behind top class players

 

[Glenji95]

Looking at who’s available there really isn’t much available who can really improve the squad for next year. There are a couple players who you might be willing to take a chance on, but not a whole lot that you know will improve the squad. Probably why Richo said we will be promoting from within for the rest of the squad.

 

[bptiger 0]

it really depends on how the kids currently in and around the top two grades develop, namely the Laulili'i's, Matamua, Miller, Da Silva, Faagutu, Mason, Sukkar and Willett. even Kepaoa as a backrower. all of them have shown promise at one point or another but need to develop thru the remainder of this year and 2025 preseason to become genuine depth options to supplement first grade.

it's not like we have a choice either, all of them are on full time contracts next year. if the majority of them can develop in the way we hope they will, there will be less of a need to go to market.

we do need a right winger though, that is for damn sure.

Matamua just doesn’t look like a 1st grade player , miller is just a large lump , watched him on the weekend, didn’t impress .
Looking forward to see faagutu, he really impressed in state of origin last year
Mason has that I will be a 1st grade player writing all over him always on the ball has good pace and is a good defender, not sure what would be his best position
As for the rest it doesn’t look good

 

[Buttface]

I think I no why stef has gone of the boil, if he keeps playing well he will get selected for State of origin , and that would stop him from joining the panthers , just my take on it 😳

That made feel a little sick inside.
Nothing would surprise me, human nature can sometimes make me feel a little sick inside too.

 

[jrtiger]

Matamua just doesn’t look like a 1st grade player , miller is just a large lump , watched him on the weekend, didn’t impress .
Looking forward to see faagutu, he really impressed in state of origin last year
Mason has that I will be a 1st grade player writing all over him always on the ball has good pace and is a good defender, not sure what would be his best position
As for the rest it doesn’t look good

I'm not really sure what more Matamua could've done. a try, try assist, made over 30 tackles and only missed a couple and found the right balance between running and passing. he's probably been our best in Cup all year.

Miller is lacking conditioning but he certainly doesn't lack impact. not sure what game you were watching. carts it up hard off the back fence, makes plenty of post contact metres and throws his weight around defensively. his biggest issue is conditioning. an increase to his workload week-to-week and into a big preseason and I feel he'll be banging down the door for selection.

Faagutu has gone to Ron Massey as they want him playing against men. he's a work in progress but he possesses a lot of talent. hoping to see him really excel in Cup by the end of the year. Mason looks great yes, but Luke Laulili'i has the higher ceiling. both great players in their own right and will both play their fair share of first grade.

Da Silva is our long term 9. he is still finding his feet in Cup but I've watched plenty of him to know his quality.

Sukkar has been up and down, similar with Kit. unsure where their ceilings are at the minute. Kepaoa looks to have found his spot at back row but now needs time and reps. Willett is nowhere to be seen but I've been impressed by what I've seen.

I really wouldn't be surprised to see the Magpies come home strong in Cup providing there isn't any injuries and they can continue to develop. a lot of the youngsters are still getting used to playing against men week-to-week, but by year's end we might see things begin to change.

 

[Vicious]

Matamua just doesn’t look like a 1st grade player , miller is just a large lump , watched him on the weekend, didn’t impress .
Looking forward to see faagutu, he really impressed in state of origin last year
Mason has that I will be a 1st grade player writing all over him always on the ball has good pace and is a good defender, not sure what would be his best position
As for the rest it doesn’t look good

I’d be surprised if Da Silva doesn’t become an NRL regular, just not sure what’s going on with him at the moment.

 

[Vicious]

I'm not really sure what more Matamua could've done. a try, try assist, made over 30 tackles and only missed a couple and found the right balance between running and passing. he's probably been our best in Cup all year.

Miller is lacking conditioning but he certainly doesn't lack impact. not sure what game you were watching. carts it up hard off the back fence, makes plenty of post contact metres and throws his weight around defensively. his biggest issue is conditioning. an increase to his workload week-to-week and into a big preseason and I feel he'll be banging down the door for selection.

Faagutu has gone to Ron Massey as they want him playing against men. he's a work in progress but he possesses a lot of talent. hoping to see him really excel in Cup by the end of the year. Mason looks great yes, but Luke Laulili'i has the higher ceiling. both great players in their own right and will both play their fair share of first grade.

Da Silva is our long term 9. he is still finding his feet in Cup but I've watched plenty of him to know his quality.

Sukkar has been up and down, similar with Kit. unsure where their ceilings are at the minute. Kepaoa looks to have found his spot at back row but now needs time and reps. Willett is nowhere to be seen but I've been impressed by what I've seen.

I really wouldn't be surprised to see the Magpies come home strong in Cup providing there isn't any injuries and they can continue to develop. a lot of the youngsters are still getting used to playing against men week-to-week, but by year's end we might see things begin to change.

I agree Matamua has tried hard this season and consistently one of our best in NSW Cup.
He’s shown he looks ready to step back up to NRL and not let us down, but I’m not seeing anything to say he could come back in and be a standout. His carries are good without being great and likewise his ball playing is good without being great.
I think our NRL team ideally needs a 13 with good leg speed to really get our opposition on the back foot when they run the ball, just not sure we have that player internally.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Yep, this is right.

Lobb doesn’t have a Top 30 deal in his contract, just two years of Development.

We have 30 players under contract for next season if Uto, Sezer & Tumeth's options are exercised. Here is a little depth chart I have put together just on our top 30 contracted for next season.



So to recruit, re-sign or promote any more players mean we have to release some.

 

[magpies forever]

Matamua just doesn’t look like a 1st grade player , miller is just a large lump , watched him on the weekend, didn’t impress .
Looking forward to see faagutu, he really impressed in state of origin last year
Mason has that I will be a 1st grade player writing all over him always on the ball has good pace and is a good defender, not sure what would be his best position
As for the rest it doesn’t look good

I have to say, my general impression of our squads throughout the various comps is a lack of size / power / strength compared to so many others. Do we deliberately go out of our way to select the smaller, less powerful players in a time where the big, good players simply run over / through good, little players?

 

[jrtiger]

I agree Matamua has tried hard this season and consistently one of our best in NSW Cup.
He’s shown he looks ready to step back up to NRL and not let us down, but I’m not seeing anything to say he could come back in and be a standout. His carries are good without being great and likewise his ball playing is good without being great.
I think our NRL team ideally needs a 13 with good leg speed to really get our opposition on the back foot when they run the ball, just not sure we have that player internally.

I think his job is pretty simple. the biggest worry has always been his ability to bend the line and hit hard in contact, but that is consistently improving. given our issues at 13 I think he's best placed to fix it right now.

Siotame Havea is the player we have internally that is the ideal candidate moving forward, the issue is that he's 16 and a long long way off. I'm talking another 5 years. the rumoured plan to pursue Tallis Duncan certainly makes sense to me.

 

[magpies forever]

We have 30 players under contract for next season if Uto, Sezer & Tumeth's options are exercised. Here is a little depth chart I have put together just on our top 30 contracted for next season.

View attachment 11862

So to recruit, re-sign or promote any more players mean we have to release some.

Think Tumuth would be a good case to release as not set the world on fire, the issue of Sullivan / Sezer for next year will have to be resolved with one of them gone, as well as the issue of Twal / Seyfarth somewhat competing against each other for same similar role, Matamua, Klemmer and Toa might be cut too if theyre making hard decisions (klemmer only if his stats are lessening as he ages).

 

[AdelaideTiger]

I think his job is pretty simple. the biggest worry has always been his ability to bend the line and hit hard in contact, but that is consistently improving. given our issues at 13 I think he's best placed to fix it right now.

Siotame Havea is the player we have internally that is the ideal candidate moving forward, the issue is that he's 16 and a long long way off. I'm talking another 5 years. the rumoured plan to pursue Tallis Duncan certainly makes sense to me.

I know Matamua has been up and down but I still think there a real gem there. If our middle defence was better, I'd have no issue with him playing 60min in the middle for first grade. Teams just seem to be able to find too much space in and around the ruck and it kills us.
Our 13 just needs to get through soo much work on defence, which is why I think they have favoured Pole to date.
The team's that haven't been able to break us down in the middle is where we have had success. I honestly think we will put the dogs to the sword this week, our pack should dominate theirs

 

[weststigerman]

We have 30 players under contract for next season if Uto, Sezer & Tumeth's options are exercised. Here is a little depth chart I have put together just on our top 30 contracted for next season.

View attachment 11862

So to recruit, re-sign or promote any more players mean we have to release some.

You'd think the club would want to re-sign Sione Fainu to keep the other Fainu's happy and he did look good in the trials before his injury.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

You'd think the club would want to re-sign Sione Fainu to keep the other Fainu's happy and he did look good in the trials before his injury.

It's looking more and more likely (due to current contracts) that the best offer he'll get from us is a Train & Trial deal. Then it'll be down to whether he gets offered a top 30 elsewhere which I currently can't see happening.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Think Tumuth would be a good case to release as not set the world on fire, the issue of Sullivan / Sezer for next year will have to be resolved with one of them gone, as well as the issue of Twal / Seyfarth somewhat competing against each other for same similar role, Matamua, Klemmer and Toa might be cut too if theyre making hard decisions (klemmer only if his stats are lessening as he ages).

I think you're right.

I reckon Benji will want to free up some spots for player types we desperately need.

Tumeth released & only one of Sezer or Sullivan retained would give us 2 spots.

Big watch on Twal, Seyfarth, Naden, To'a, Staines, Doeuihi, Alaimalo, Faataape, Sione Fainu over rest of the season - they all need to seriously impress to cement spots.

 

[razor7]

I know Matamua has been up and down but I still think there a real gem there. If our middle defence was better, I'd have no issue with him playing 60min in the middle for first grade. Teams just seem to be able to find too much space in and around the ruck and it kills us.
Our 13 just needs to get through soo much work on defence, which is why I think they have favoured Pole to date.
The team's that haven't been able to break us down in the middle is where we have had success. I honestly think we will put the dogs to the sword this week, our pack should dominate theirs

It's sort of like the late 90's when a lot of halves switched to hooker successfully.

Generally speaking the players who come through as halves are the most talented players. Some kick on, some fall just short. Those that fall just short can transition to a position that requires less skill and pressure, like hooker and lock.