Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[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).

 

[Vicious]

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

Quite possibly, but we can’t throw all our eggs in that basket.

 

[weststigerman]

Yeah why would we want him, some people really just have blinkers on

You want to pay 700k for him?

 

[Tom Shines]

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 ti 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 t 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 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.

We can agree to disagree about his abilities… my argument is laid out already in the thread ..

I think you know as well as I do that they are only bringing in a maximum of another 2-3 new players along with Luia and Turuva …

They need these to be better players than a reserve grade winger ..even if he might be slightly better than Luke L and Staines ..

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

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.

I don't care whether we get Daniel Saifiti or Royce Hunt if Stefano departs, as long as the club does its due diligence to ensure they are healthy, motivated & have the right psychological profile to lead an inexperienced forward pack, verbally & through actions on and off the field. And we don't pay overs!

 

[TillLindemann]

You want to pay 700k for him?

For To'o? Of course!

 

[weststigerman]

For To'o? Of course!

I wouldn't. He'd be heavily targeted in our side along with the rest of our short players who couldn't cover for him.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

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.

The Feagai bros aren't particularly quick but they are strong. One of our issues is we throw a blanket over our outside backs believing centres can play wing. They can on occasion but WTs need specialist wingers who have genuine pace, some height and defensive nous which comes with being specialist wingers.

 

[Vicious]

The Feagai bros aren't particularly quick but they are strong. One of our issues is we throw a blanket over our outside backs believing centres can play wing. They can on occasion but WTs need specialist wingers who have genuine pace, some height and defensive nous which comes with being specialist wingers.

That’s correct in a perfect world, but where are and who are these types of players that could potentially be signed by Wests Tigers ?
I would be happy with Bailey Simonsson on our left wing, he has a bit of height, he’s strong and has plenty of pace.
Alternatively players such as Reimis Smith and Isaiah Tass are still available for 2025, but neither are specialist wingers and neither of them are overly fast.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

That’s correct in a perfect world, but where are and who are these types of players that could potentially be signed by Wests Tigers ?
I would be happy with Bailey Simonsson on our left wing, he has a bit of height, he’s strong and has plenty of pace.
Alternatively players such as Reimis Smith and Isaiah Tass are still available for 2025, but neither are specialist wingers and neither of them are overly fast.

Smith is a centre and so is Tass. I believe we should be aiming higher. We need to look at athletes who have the correct qualites - pace, height, strength. Do we have scouts in the Pacific Islands? Korobeite was another outstanding athlete. Willett is a good example of a player with great athletic ability.

 

[Vicious]

Smith is a centre and so is Tass. I believe we should be aiming higher. We need to look at athletes who have the correct qualites - pace, height, strength. Do we have scouts in the Pacific Islands? Korobeite was another outstanding athlete. Willett is a good example of a player with great athletic ability.

There was a couple of noticeable big, strong and fast athletes when watching the Fiji Jersey Flegg team against our Wests Tigers in round 1, whether or not they have the Rugby League IQ to progress to NRL level is another matter.

 

[Fish88]

Wing is such an important position these days, just look at Lomax and what he’s done since shifting to wing.

I’d take Ravalawa any day. Can find the line, is a big unit (we are so undersized it’s not funny) and has played a decent amount of first grade.

Not every signing we make can be an origin rep. Were spooners, likely three in a row spooners at that. We need to fit players in that can help the likes of Api. Galvin and Luai next year and are realistically chances of coming here.

 

[Tiger Stripes]

Unfortunately that’s not what the Coaches & Trainers see each day and that’s all that really counts. More importantly what are we going to do to build a better Culture and a supportive one so we can see a new West Tigers evolve. Any positive Suggestions or ideas?

What the coaches and trainers see is the problem. They can't identify hidden gems, X factors. Whether it is desire to be the best, size, height, fitness, offload, speed, communications etc
All important factors to consider and be impartial to outside pressures from management.

 

[Oldman]

What I am hoping for is Richo can match Gould & Bennett and orchestrate the clean out we need at year’s end.
If we have the same pack of forwards next year I don’t see our new half being able to make much difference.
I suppose we will have to wait and 🤞 he is in there league.

 

[jirskyr]

I’m sure the forum will get behind Brooks in the finals

I think any of these journos talking about some kind of "transformation" of Brooks must have never watched him play footy. He's playing more or less the same output as at the Tigers, he just has some much better players around him to take up his slack.

For example The Mole here says it's great that Brooks can take pressure of DCE, but actually the opposite is true, that DCE takes pressure of Brooks who can focus on the strengths of his running game.

Mole then talks about Blore, which is really the same deal. Always been a willing player who had a terrible run of injuries at Penrith and Tigers, never really got enough game time to max out his performances. I still think he's rather average at Storm but he does his job and Storm aren't looking for stars, they are looking for willing contributors to an already excellently-coached system. Mole says "Tigers may regret letting him go" which is a massive oversight of the fact that actually Panthers were the first to let Blore go.

The problem with Tigers is we can't only recruit and hold onto average honest first-graders. We need game breakers to help convert those willing performances into wins. For many games of the past few rounds Tigers have been well in contention for the win, to be let down by inexperience, ill-discipline and dumb play. We have a lot of guys who haven't played much first grade. Shawn Blore doesn't change that equation at all, which is why at least I think the signings of Luai and Turuva are very encouraging for Tigers.

 

[Tiger Stripes]

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.

Are you referring to Bula's passes?