Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Tom Shines]

Richo's blackbook ...

Nelson Asofa-Solomona

Big Nelson had his best game of the season last week..

Rumours that Bellamy told him during the week to pull his finger out or he would be trading him to the Tigers …

seems to have done the trick

 

[Fish88]

I agree that while Bateman isn’t living up to his price tag, we have more pressing issues such as the contracts of Naden, Sullivan and Stef.

Bateman is a first grader and atm we are lacking first graders. We have already lost ice and I don’t see any urgency to lose another first grade forward (unless we are replacing with an improvement. I don’t see any improvements coming in)

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

He has been starting at the Sharks ahead of some pretty decent players.
That tells me the Sharks ideally want to keep him, but surely they have just about maximised their spending for middle forwards.
I really don’t know what Richo is possibly looking at in the UK as even the current props in the English team are average.

Agree that’s why I think he would be better value pickup than some of the other names mentioned & has the bigger upside to offer us. He also won’t break the bank like some of the others would.

I do think our roster is somewhat skewed though with props & inbetweener forwards & kids which is limiting our ability to do the upgrades within the roster we need to do for next season. Maybe that’s why the UK is being looked at - we can shuffle cap/incentives and get a player over on a lower cap hold rate. But issue I have with UK is unless someone goes outbound we stay in same position roster wise around weaknesses/strength areas

 

[Bones]

You answered your own question. Plays with heart.

You don’t think Staines does?

I think you could question Staines on a lot of things but heart is not one of them.

 

[Betterdays22]

Apparently he is big trouble off field

Did you hear this from the same bloke who told you Stef had signed with the Roosters?

 

[Betterdays22]

You don’t think Staines does?

I think you could question Staines on a lot of things but heart is not one of them.

Agreed. Staines has faults but not playing without heart is not one of them.

 

[bptiger 0]

We've Luai and Turuva, I'd say that is getting matters done. We need to be selective with our recruits as many of the names mentioned in this thread are better off staying at their clubs to improve our chances. We just need to select our targets carefully which the club has been doing since Richardson arrived. There are also a couple of very handy young footballers - Pole, Makasini and no doubt a few others we need to retain as a priority.

3 off the players u mentioned are backs , MY post is all about forwards , losing papa, maybe losing Bateman , stepho , what have they done to address replacements, KLEMMER on his last legs, went to England to get players came home with chocolates for benji , if the club wants to get value out of luai and Galvin they need to give them a forward pack than can stand up against the big boys

 

[Tom Shines]

3 off the players u mentioned are backs , MY post is all about forwards , losing papa, maybe losing Bateman , stepho , what have they done to address replacements, KLEMMER on his last legs, went to England to get players came home with chocolates for benji , if the club wants to get value out of luai and Galvin they need to give them a forward pack than can stand up against the big boys

What chocolates? Think I would prefer Aust chocolates to UK ones

 

[pawsandclaws1]

3 off the players u mentioned are backs , MY post is all about forwards , losing papa, maybe losing Bateman , stepho , what have they done to address replacements, KLEMMER on his last legs, went to England to get players came home with chocolates for benji , if the club wants to get value out of luai and Galvin they need to give them a forward pack than can stand up against the big boys

I am sure Richardson is working hard behind the scenes to strengthen our team. We've done well to get the players we have and hopefully get a few more plus re-sign our best younger players. I haven't heard about losing Bateman other than a few comments on the forum. Utoikamanu's potential loss would be disappointing but the club has made him a good offer to stay.

 

[jirskyr]

I don't think Tupouniua is someone we should be angry on missing out on. Especially on a 4 year deal.

Dogs must surely have a Plan B to offload Tupouniua after 2 seasons when he's broken down.

 

[426Tlgerland]

Townsend to Roosters being reported , Rooster to dogs confirmed , where is the ? To the Tigers .
Stefano re signs , Hunt to add to Tigers Pack , anything , something ,, we can’t survive on the kids coming through alone , we need players of nrl standard added urgent , at least 3 on top of Luai and Turuva , Richo needs to pull his finger out or we will be doing the same as every year going over the scraps that no one wants

 

[426Tlgerland]

Apparently he is big trouble off field

I have no info on that , all I heard he is free to find a new home , Tigers sign Stef and add this guy for half his contract price next year and only a 2 year deal could be ok , I would prefer a Sydney based player like Hunt or similar

 

[Tito Santana]

I was happy he went last time , but what come of it stuff all , all we get is lip service that things are changing, but all that’s happened is putting out spot fires on players wanting to leave . Then we release papa with no replacement, word is Bateman going too ,

Good and good. Bateman is shit.

 

[Tito Santana]

I believe we are well ahead on this scorecard. Luai would have to be up with the best 7s in the NRL. Turuva is also a high class recruit. Papali'i and Utoikamanu are fine players. Finding replacements for a prop and second row forward imo is easier than one of the best 7s and a high class 3 or 4.

Papallii isn’t a loss. Fainu and Porter are better

 

[hank37w]

I think the issue with Horsburgh is he’s known whinge and whine about anything and everything and is not well liked by his team mates because of it.
If you could somehow get him to simply focus and play the game to the best of his ability he is well above average NRL forward.

On the positive side, he's not married to Joe Tapine's Mrs.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

Papallii isn’t a loss. Fainu and Porter are better

Yeat they're both going well, especially Fainu. Let's hope we unearth a few more players of their calibre.

 

[BAGNF05]

You don’t think Staines does?

I think you could question Staines on a lot of things but heart is not one of them.

He very obviously looks sheepish and small following a major injury.

Has kicked the ball several times this year when in space or had an opportunity to go into contact and score. On another occasion he ran it dead rather than try to escape the in goal which lead to an opposition try right on HT. Soft options.

 

[Mistymuzzle]

Richo's blackbook ...

Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Daniel Saifiti
Herman Ese Ese
Royce Hunt
Emre Guler

Any others?

Guler is going to Bulldogs

 

[Telltails]

Who do you trust to measure whether a player is worth offering a big money contract to Shane Flannagan, Ricky Stewart, and Bellamy or the Tigers fans trying to convince themselves another player is not worth it.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

We're all looking towards next season & how we can bolster our squad and fair enough too.

But the reality is unless we can find a home for a Sullivan or Naden or someone else under contract, we have limited roster spots available. Of course unless Stef packs his bags!

However for 2026, we will have Klemmer, Staines, Naden, Sukkar, Seyfarth, Pole, Feledy, Matamua, Doueihi & L Laulilii off contract.

Maybe 5 will be retained out of them plus there will be a few internal promotions hopefully like Mason, Makasini & Large.

But we should be in a position come November 1 to have a crack at at least 2 elite players with decent $$$ offers.