king_sirro
Well-known member
Parramatta's Junior.
Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion
- Thread starter MacDougall
- Start date
Parramatta's Junior.
Tigerdazz2
Well-known member
Bateman is as good as gone, Super League teams are already lining up to sign him for 2025.
There's no way WT sign Junior, he's a depth signing only & would probably take the big dollars in the UK over reserve grade $$ in the NRL. Klemmer hasn't lived up to expectations (much like Papalii) and I suspect he will go rather than play NSW Cup.
Unfortunately WT management have form on the board for buying "Star Forwards" that mysteriously turn into "Toothless Tigers" who can't make decent metres & put in pathetic defensive efforts when other clubs like Melbourne are turning discards into champion players.
The club is better off going for hungry young forwards (as they did with Stef) who are out to prove a point. If they can get them from our juniors, all the better but if not there are plenty of good props & second rowers at some of the top clubs, playing NSW or Qld Cup who WOULD be playing 1st grade somewhere elsewhere.
We got a hungry raw Stef a few years back & look at him now!!
His best footy is ahead of him as most forwards hit their peak & 28-29.
We should be targetting good young forwards aged around 24-25 and signing them up to long term contracts with performance incentives built in.
king_sirro
Well-known member
I'm far from saying that's the pack I want. Quite the opposite. I've heard a whisper about Junior that's why I put him in there.
I hope your right that Bateman is gone.
Hungry players like Jack Williams, Trey Mooney, Tallis Duncan will do me
Tigerdazz2
Well-known member
Unfortunately it looks like Hunt will be at Bennett's Bunnies next year. The Bennett factor means players will sign up to the Bunnies for much less coin than WT can dangle in front of them.
Sadly, even with the many good young players out there who idolised Benji back in the day, even with Luai & Sonny coming next year the club still has trouble attracting good players as WT are seen as a basket case.
Until the club gets its act together, starts getting results on the field, stop being cannon fodder for the media & stop taking crap from unscrupulous player managers I don't see things improving too much in the player recruitment & retention area.
Tigerdazz2
Well-known member
I haven't seen much of him, but Tallis Duncan certainly has a lot of tongues wagging. I dare say WT wouldn't be the only club looking at him.
If Bennett thinks he's any good there's no way he's going to let him go.
Sadly I think this is true. You would think the presence of Luai would be a carrot for some, but I think many players are expecting him to fall from grace once he dons our jersey. Thankfully he doesn’t think so, well not yet anyway.
Tigerdazz2
Well-known member
Bateman reminds me of Darren Senter.
Whilst being a good player, Senter cost WT more games than I care to remember with his ill discipline & brain explosions.
I got abused on this forum (in a previous life) for criticising Senter, but the truth was WT ended up winning more close games when he wasn't playing.
king_sirro
Well-known member
Hahaha...good old Darren Senter. I agree. He was a player all opposition supporters hated and even some Tigers supporters hated.
I remember we upset the Bulldogs one day and he played on with a broken hand. Tough player but a goose.
The Chad
Well-known member
Sione Mata'utia & Trey Mooney/Jack Williams transform our forward pack.
Tigerdazz2
Well-known member
He was the Reed Mahoney & Michael Ennis of the day, with a dose of James Graham's temper.😄😆😂
FrodoTBaggin
Well-known member
Dude Mata'utia is hopeless. He captained that knights team to more spoons than we have.
851
Well-known member
I was on the same page as you with Senter, a penalty magnet
momo_amp_medo
Well-known member
I think if we look all this realistically we may perhaps agree that this was always going to be another difficult year. Particularly with or average roster, couple of very average preseason performances and even after getting those two early wins I was never really confident.
With current NRL rules in place we live in very difficult game environment where teams ….. looking to reset, rebuild and/ or play with inadequate experienced roster backup ….. have very little chance to succeed. Particularly if you add to that the hostility and manipulation from the media and player managers that’s relentlessly directed our way.
I know in the past it’s been said over and over that we need to be patient ….. and as supporters of WT club ….. that message is wearing rather thin. I don’t expect short term miracles but believe success will come as long as we continue to focus resources on local junior pathways as major road to improvement.
So I can understand and support approach currently taken by the Club ….. clean out our roster and move on the underperformed, uninspired and unwilling and use our historic knowledge of failure to turn it into success.
With current NRL rules in place we live in very difficult game environment where teams ….. looking to reset, rebuild and/ or play with inadequate experienced roster backup ….. have very little chance to succeed. Particularly if you add to that the hostility and manipulation from the media and player managers that’s relentlessly directed our way.
I know in the past it’s been said over and over that we need to be patient ….. and as supporters of WT club ….. that message is wearing rather thin. I don’t expect short term miracles but believe success will come as long as we continue to focus resources on local junior pathways as major road to improvement.
So I can understand and support approach currently taken by the Club ….. clean out our roster and move on the underperformed, uninspired and unwilling and use our historic knowledge of failure to turn it into success.
The Chad
Well-known member
That doesn't make him hopeless. They were terrible Knights teams.
Tigerdazz2
Well-known member
His reputation with the refs got so bad he copped penalties when he didn't do anything at times😂😆.
Eventually it didn't matter if the opposition player dropped the ball cold or had a loose carry, if Senter was involved in the tackle he copped a penalty for a strip.......all because of his past transgressions, and his willingness to give away penalties in illegal tackles/strips.
Tigerdazz2
Well-known member
I don't know about that 😂 he's a bit of a loose cannon. To be fair though, I think Naden is just as bad if not worse.
If he ran the ball with the same purpose he did back when playing for the Raiders, giving away a penalty here and there wouldn’t be an issue.
Similar with Naden, when was the last time he broke a tackle from running the ball hard and when was the first time he tackled someone hard enough to force an error ?
If both Bateman and Naden were demonstrating these qualities, I’m sure the odd penalty from them could be forgiven.
Last edited:
Odessa
Well-known member
Who can we go after Stefano is gone
Oregon Kaufusi and Royce Hunt.
