Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[The Chad]

Under the right conditions Ravalawa is an upgrade to our wing stocks.

As has been pointed out already- we get terrible kick return/early set metres from our current players (hoping Lualili'i eventually is part of that solution). Ravalawa should help with that immediately.

If we can bring in a player that makes Charlie Staines a depth player instead of an automatic starter- that improves the club.

 

[Tom Shines]

Under the right conditions Ravalawa is an upgrade to our wing stocks.

As has been pointed out already- we get terrible kick return/early set metres from our current players (hoping Lualili'i eventually is part of that solution). Ravalawa should help with that immediately.

If we can bring in a player that makes Charlie Staines a depth player instead of an automatic starter- that improves the club.

Improves the club 1 per cent …at this rate they will be back to 9th by 2030..under the “right conditions “…

 

[Harvey]

Can’t be Sukkar or Tumeth problem because they were not there and the Cup side got flogged. I think Wests need to look at the real underlying issue here and it’s their defence and error rate. Until they fix that, there will be no improvement and they will yield the same results. They have changed players each week like nappies on a baby! No difference or change and it’s not the Coach.

Strength and conditioning is the common problem through all our grades. Mistakes under fatigue, and we get physically dominated.

 

[Tigerdazz2]

Penrith don't need to defend their line as much as other teams as their defence keeps the opposition out of their red zone much more than other teams do.

Also on the height thing, Warbrick at the Storm out jumps his opponents most of the time, most of their outside backs are taller than average.

 

[The Chad]

Improves the club 1 per cent …at this rate they will be back to 9th by 2030..under the “right conditions “…

No idea where you get 1% from.

Fact is, Ravalawa adds something Staines etc do not.

Staines adds something Ravalawa does not.

What is more needed by the team at the moment?

I wouldn't go out of my way to add Ravalawa, but if we did- the extra 30-50m per game coming out of our own 20m area certainly puts the team in a better position. At the moment, our wingers have us starting tackle 4 inside our 30.

 

[Tigerdazz2]

No idea where you get 1% from.

Fact is, Ravalawa adds something Staines etc do not.

Staines adds something Ravalawa does not.

What is more needed by the team at the moment?

I wouldn't go out of my way to add Ravalawa, but if we did- the extra 30-50m per game coming out of our own 20m area certainly puts the team in a better position. At the moment, our wingers have us starting tackle 4 inside our 30.

Staines doesn't get enough good ball, he is under utilised in my honest opinion. He takes the ball up strongly when he comes infield to give the forwards a break.

He is lightning fast, if he could get his hands on the ball more often and I mean good ball not hospital passes or passes below his knees or above his shoulders (like he seems to cop a lot) he and the team would be a lot more potent in attack.
He is also a damn good defender for his size especially considering he suffered that perforated bowel, others coming back from injuries haven't been as "brave" as he has, Adam Douehi is a good example.

 

[Tom Shines]

No idea where you get 1% from.

Fact is, Ravalawa adds something Staines etc do not.

Staines adds something Ravalawa does not.

What is more needed by the team at the moment?

I wouldn't go out of my way to add Ravalawa, but if we did- the extra 30-50m per game coming out of our own 20m area certainly puts the team in a better position. At the moment, our wingers have us starting tackle 4 inside our 30.

Well ..consider this …his current premiership winning coach that knows him a lot better than you or I doesn’t rate him …even though his best player at the position is walking out the door at the end of the season

The one percent was figurative of what I was saying earlier in the thread …is he better than Staines ? Probably…

is he a first grade player ? Well …his current coach doesn’t think so ..

So would it move the needle much next year if he joins ? I’m not sure it’s worth the hassle for him to take up a rare roster spot for not much of an improvement … I guess it depends if you want to improve the side gradually or not …

some might see moving up next year from 17th to 15th as an achievement …not sure that is going to help us retain Galvin next season ..which I think is the most crucial decision the club is facing in the next couple of years …

swing for the fences and buy a couple of established first graders

 

[The Chad]

Staines doesn't get enough good ball, he is under utilised in my honest opinion. He takes the ball up strongly when he comes infield to give the forwards a break.

He is lightning fast, if he could get his hands on the ball more often and I mean good ball not hospital passes or passes below his knees or above his shoulders (like he seems to cop a lot) he and the team would be a lot more potent in attack.
He is also a damn good defender for his size especially considering he suffered that perforated bowel, others coming back from injuries haven't been as "brave" as he has, Adam Douehi is a good example.

I quite like Staines. He adds that speed, as you pointed out. Plus he is a decent back-up fullback option as well.

As our primary winger, however, he doesn't produce enough momentum in those early tackles. Turuva will help that. We definitely seem to be starting our 3rd & 4th tackles too deep in our own half.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

No idea where you get 1% from.

Fact is, Ravalawa adds something Staines etc do not.

Staines adds something Ravalawa does not.

What is more needed by the team at the moment?

I wouldn't go out of my way to add Ravalawa, but if we did- the extra 30-50m per game coming out of our own 20m area certainly puts the team in a better position. At the moment, our wingers have us starting tackle 4 inside our 30.

Not sure if Ravalawa is the type of character we want to bring to the club when we all harp about low IQ players.

He has built a bit of a rap sheet the past 18 months, drunken fight with a team mate earning a breach notice & then calling a female touch judge a c*** allegedly bringing a suspension.

Let's look at hard working, high effort, high IQ players.

 

[The Chad]

Well ..consider this …his current premiership winning coach that knows him a lot better than you or I doesn’t rate him …even though his best player at the position is walking out the door at the end of the season

The one percent was figurative of what I was saying earlier in the thread …is he better than Staines ? Probably…

is he a first grade player ? Well …his current coach doesn’t think so ..

So would it move the needle much next year if he joins ? I’m not sure it’s worth the hassle for him to take up a rare roster spot for not much of an improvement … I guess it depends if you want to move up gradually or not …

some might see moving up next year from 17th to 15th as an achievement …not sure that is going to help us retain Galvin next season ..which I think is the most crucial decision the club is facing in the next couple of years …

swing for the fences and buy a couple of established first graders

Fair call.

I think the argument that certain players fit needs more than others has to be taken into account.

According to this forum, Royce Hunt fixes losing Utoikamanu. Yet Royce Hunt doesn't get a guatenteed contract at the premiership challenging Sharks.

The Tigers generate low metre gains from the back 3. Ravalawa would 'most likely' go some way to improving that. I don't think Staines does.

I think, too often, the current success of a player in a system is all that is noted. Most players do not all of a sudden forget how to play. Adam Blair was the best backrower in the game at the Storm. Was awful at the Tigers. Then went back to being a premier forward at the Broncos.

His success at the Storm didn't make him a success at the Tigers, and his failure at the Tigers didn't make him a failure at the Broncos.

Ravalawa isn't a complete player. But he probably puts Luai in better field position to be Luai.

 

[The Chad]

Not sure if Ravalawa is the type of character we want to bring to the club when we all harp about low IQ players.

He has built a bit of a rap sheet the past 18 months, drunken fight with a team mate earning a breach notice & then calling a female touch judge a c*** allegedly bringing a suspension.

Let's look at hard working, high effort, high IQ players.

Before I get labelled as wanting Ravalawa at the club- certain conditions only. I wouldn't go out of my way to add him. But, if he was 'budget', if it was a short term contract, if it didn't get in the way of Lualili'i & Makasini getting into 1st grade & was for the purpose of adding something we don't have....he's an upgrade on Lobb.

 

[Vicious]

Improves the club 1 per cent …at this rate they will be back to 9th by 2030..under the “right conditions “…

At the moment we have a young inexperienced winger who is clearly not yet ready for NRL, he is about 5 foot 10 and struggles to catch or tackle.
Ravalawa is a monster who is over 6 foot, weighs over 100kgs has played plenty of NRL, has a history of powerful ball running and scattering defenders, has a history of scoring plenty of tries, many that other wingers would not score.
He is 25y.o so should be in the prime of his career, he’s fast, carries no excess condition and has plenty of NRL experience.
As others have pointed out our forwards are struggling to do their job, therefore we desperately need backs who can carry the ball strongly out of our danger zone, Ravalawa does that.
What are our alternatives, everyone in our own system has been tried and failed or clearly not ready ?
Bailey Simonsson if we want a solid player with plenty of pace ?
Reimis Smith or Isaiah Tass if they are prepared to play predominantly as a winger ?
Taylan May if he gets cleared of criminal charges and the club is prepared to take a chance on him ? There is no doubt the Roosters won’t be concerned about what’s happened in the past if he gets cleared to play NRL again.

 

[The Chad]

At the moment we have a young inexperienced winger who is clearly not yet ready for NRL, he is about 5 foot 10 and struggles to catch or tackle.
Ravalawa is a monster who is over 6 foot, weighs over 100kgs has played plenty of NRL, has a history of powerful ball running and scattering defenders, has a history of scoring plenty of tries, many that other wingers would not score.
He is 25y.o so should be in the prime of his career, he’s fast, carries no excess condition and has plenty of NRL experience.
As others have pointed out our forwards are struggling to do their job, therefore we desperately need backs who can carry the ball strongly out of our danger zone, Ravalawa does that.
What are our alternatives, everyone in our own system has been tried and failed or clearly not ready ?
Bailey Simonsson if we want a solid player with plenty of pace ?
Reimis Smith or Isaiah Tass if they are prepared to play predominantly as a winger ?
Taylan May if he gets cleared of criminal charges and the club is prepared to take a chance on him ? There is no doubt the Roosters won’t be concerned about what’s happened in the past if he gets cleared to play NRL again.

I honestly thought he was older than 25!

 

[Vicious]

I honestly thought he was older than 25!

I just re-checked he’s 26, but still prime age for an NRL player.

 

[Tom Shines]

Fair call.

I think the argument that certain players fit needs more than others has to be taken into account.

According to this forum, Royce Hunt fixes losing Utoikamanu. Yet Royce Hunt doesn't get a guatenteed contract at the premiership challenging Sharks.

The Tigers generate low metre gains from the back 3. Ravalawa would 'most likely' go some way to improving that. I don't think Staines does.

I think, too often, the current success of a player in a system is all that is noted. Most players do not all of a sudden forget how to play. Adam Blair was the best backrower in the game at the Storm. Was awful at the Tigers. Then went back to being a premier forward at the Broncos.

His success at the Storm didn't make him a success at the Tigers, and his failure at the Tigers didn't make him a failure at the Broncos.

Ravalawa isn't a complete player. But he probably puts Luai in better field position to be Luai.

I have my own reservations about Hunt … ideally I would prefer keeping Stef … but that is seemingly likely … even with Stef staying they are still short that aggressive pack leader … and I don’t see that changing next year … they are short a second row and prop already …even with Stef staying..

They have issues out wide no doubt… i can’t for the life of me understand why they have concentrated for years on short stocky wingers … there is only 1 Brian To’o I have seen so far …im hoping they have a Saab/ Dom Young somewhere in their juniors ..doesnt appears so…

if they were able to do a Canterbury style clean out and turn over 10 players than you could look at this guy Ravalawa … but for whatever reason they don’t seem to be able to do this… it appears that only 1-2 established players will be added to the squad besides the two we know … I think these have really gotta be home runs if we want to see significant improvement next season

 

[Tom Shines]

Ravalawa is a monster who is over 6 foot, weighs over 100kgs has played plenty of NRL, has a history of powerful ball running and scattering defenders, has a history of scoring plenty of tries, many that other wingers would not score.
He is 25y.o so should be in the prime of his career, he’s fast, carries no excess condition and has plenty of NRL experience.

so why doesn’t his current coach want him with Lomax walking out the door ? Does he know him better than you do?

 

[The Chad]

so why doesn’t his current coach want him with Lomax walking out the door ? Does he know him better than you do?

To be fair- it seems to be a financial move- creating room to go after one of the Siafiti brothers.

 

[Tom Shines]

To be fair- it seems to be a financial move- creating room to go after one of the Siafiti brothers.

They seem to be linked to a lot of players … will be interested if this is the last move if they get Siafiti ..I doubt it

 

[Vicious]

so why doesn’t his current coach want him with Lomax walking out the door ? Does he know him better than you do?

If you can believe what you read it has been reported his contract is somewhere around 350-400k per season which is a fair bit of money to spend on a winger.
The Dragons have plenty of young tall, strongly built, fast wingers such as the Feagai brothers and the winger who scored 4 tries against our reserves yesterday who would all be on contracts around half or less than half of Ravalawa’s contract value. If they offload Ravalawa is allows them to spend more money recruiting in other areas, they are reportedly desperately keen to sign Daniel Saifiti and will need 800k per season to buy out his contract from the Knights.
Wests Tigers do not have any tall, strongly built fast wingers in our ranks other than Tupou who is leaving us to play reserve grade at the Dolphins and Alaimalo but he turns/changes direction like a truck and I don’t think he fits into the fast category either.
In saying this Daniel Saifiti also looks to be one of the better options for us if we need to replace Stefano.

 

[Tiger Tarl]

I reckon Heamasi Makasini will get an exemption to play on the wing next year at 17 years old (turns 18 in July).