Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[The Chad]

Bula's my favourite player at the club right now. He might have areas he can work on- but he has shown consistent growth, over the 2 years of 1st grade.

I think, all said & done- he's the best talent the club has.

 

[The Chad]

I don't see what Jack Bird has over some other options being discussed- but as has been mentioned- experience & professionalism.

Centre or lock, I assume. If centre, I think that would tell us what many suspect- Benji has identified dumb defensive decisions out wide as the achilles heel & is looking to fix it. You're not paying for prime Jack Bird obviously.

I'm sure if he is targeted, regardless of his level of play, it won't be good enough!

 

[Needaname]

Bula's my favourite player at the club right now. He might have areas he can work on- but he has shown consistent growth, over the 2 years of 1st grade.

I think, all said & done- he's the best talent the club has.

100% agree but he is raw, to get us out of the slump would be benefit from someone who is polished?

 

[Oldman]

Yeah, he looks likely but we really havent seen enough to judge him.
Agreee, wish him a full year of footy.

Haven’t seen anything to have an opinion either way.
I wish his mother was on this forum because by my recollection she is 1 for 1 on her quote that he was injurie prone.

 

[The Chad]

100% agree but he is raw, to get us out of the slump would be benefit from someone who is polished?

If the middles & edges stop representing spongecake, Bula's shortcomings won't be exposed as much.

Tighten up the middle. That's the first key.

 

[Oldman]

That could also work. The problem is, will the club have the balls to try these things?
Historically we are very conservative here.
Youd remember mate, for years you and me and a handful of others were adamant Brooks was not a halfback and we copped all sorts of kickback for those opinions. These days its pretty much accepted by the masses and everyone seems to talk about it as if it was an accepted fact a long time ago. It wasnt.
Im not happy with how our spine(s) are playing. I feel winning all these spoons are a byproduct of these spines. We must continue to experiement before we lock them in. In my eyes, Galvin does not have a mortgage on the 6...not yet anyway.

IF 🤞Latu comes good and can stay on the field and is considered in our best 13 what about moving Bula to centre and Galvin to fullback , with Galvins fitness he could end up like an Dylan Edwards plus he has a better passing game than Bula.
Just a thought

 

[Tucker]

Agreed but he has been the only constant with Sullivan, Sezer and Latu in the 7 due to injury, form, suspension so I would suggest he has been told to run it by the rookie coach.
Next year he will be less as Luai will demand the ball more.

Yes he has been the constant, thus I say he ran our attack this year. How did our attack go do you think?Does this make him an effective 5/8? Luai will certainly help him next year but is that what we should be doing, or should Luai be paired with Fainu? These are the questions that I am raising.

 

[Tucker]

He's just turned 19 and playing with full grown men. What he has showed for his age is incredible. He has energy. He takes the line on. He looks dangerous. He creates space. He's got a good combination with Sam fainu going that's only going to get better. With some training he will be one of the better kickers in the game. There's work to do in defence, but again he's only 18. He will get bigger and better each year.

He is a 6. He wants to play 6.

If we put him into the centres then we say goodbye to him at the end of 2026.

If we were the Roosters, the halves pairing of Galvin and Luai would be the talk of the town..

We should be building the club around these two and the crop of juniors we have.

You're entitled to your opinion, but mine is the club will never win a premiership with Sezer at 7. On the other hand, we are a chance with Galvin at 6 and Luai at 7.

I am only suggesting Sezer until Fainu is ready. Fainu/Luai will be the better combination with Galvin in either the centres or the backrow. At present he is too small for the backrow, therefore I suggested centres.

 

[Tucker]

You could use the 3 wins from 19 against any player and say they havent been effective.

You can do better than that.

Its true in his case because he has been running our attack and the results have been balls.
All of our outside backs have been poor this year. Now I put it to you, is it more plausable that the problem is with all of them or is there something about how he interacts with them that isnt working?

 

[balmain boy]

Bateman will be back, hopefully refreshed we need
him at second row, he'll play better with new structure

He will never return. No chance

 

[Tucker]

Well pretty much every Rugby League expert has commented on how good of a job he’s been doing at 5/8 & how he will be a star there for years to come but yes there is more substance to your opinion & you are right as always.

They havent said that at all. Learn to listen. They are all saying how he is a natural fit for first grade, how he is not intimidated, how he is a tireless worker, how he never gives up, how he is always on the ball etc....they are referring to his ability to play first grade footy.

 

[Tucker]

Is that most errors as a total number of average errors per game? Nice stats.

8th highest total of personal errors in the comp.

 

[balmain boy]

Agree with your last comments on intelligent forwards but your mate Balmain Boy does not think that way. How do you Convince him? He just wants a sharp AX to get rid of them all.

Huh, you think I don't want intelligent forwards? Of course we do. Intelligent strong powerful forwards. Intelligence is nothing if they're 170cm and 90kgs and run softly.
We definitely need some genuine tough guys. Nice guys finish last. We've tried to sign players on character alone, but that's not enough. The physical requirements come first. But the two definitely aren't mutually exclusive

 

[Tucker]

And, if you can be bothered, who are the other players making lots of errors? Is it good players who are pushing things like is Sam walker up there? Or is it a list of duds?

Finally, how's he going with line breaks, tries and try assists?

I actually didn't think he'd look as good statistically as your stats suggest, and that's despite me rating him highly. Given he's doing that on one of the least competitive squads ever assembled, that's actually really impressive from Bula.

Its the guys you'd expect, Savage, Lomax, Hunt, Rapana, Drinkwater, Feldt, Tago then Bula.
Line Breaks = He is 96th in the comp
Line Break Assists = He is 26th in the comp
Tries scored = He is 28th in the comp
Try Assists = He is 62nd in the comp

He is a funny sort of player, gives off the impression that he isnt doing a lot when he is, however his ball playing definitely needs work.

 

[TSP]

Api has been carrying this bunch since he got here, hopefully he doesn't feel as pressured and burdened once Jerome arrives, he just looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

He’s a cool customer.

I think he feed off Jerome and vice versa, theyd both be looking forward to it.

 

[Tucker]

IF 🤞Latu comes good and can stay on the field and is considered in our best 13 what about moving Bula to centre and Galvin to fullback , with Galvins fitness he could end up like an Dylan Edwards plus he has a better passing game than Bula.
Just a thought

I think at this stage of all 3 player's careers, nothing should be off the table. Pigeon-holing them because thats where they want to play or where they played as juniors is insular thinking and could be harmful.
Now is the time to experiment.
Bula has been here for the majority of both spoon seasons. He is a good player, but is he a good fullback? Would he be better elsewhere in the team?

 

[Tucker]

Bula's my favourite player at the club right now. He might have areas he can work on- but he has shown consistent growth, over the 2 years of 1st grade.

I think, all said & done- he's the best talent the club has.

Yes thats probably correct. Is fullback his best position? Hope to see his ball playing develop for next year.

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

He doesn't turn 18 until July, so he wouldn't be eligible until later in the season. It would depend how the team is going and more specifically how the outside backs are performing.

can the club get approval to play him before he turns 18 ?

 

[BirchgroveTigers]

Bula least of my concerns. About as good already IMO as say Will Kennedy and sharks are 4th. Can defs improve but is a great player for us.

 

[WestsTigers4VR]

Yes thats probably correct. Is fullback his best position? Hope to see his ball playing develop for next year.

I reckon his best position is fullback but wouldn’t be upset to see him at centre.

The problem is he’s played less than 50 games, more specifically 39. It takes time to develop as a fullback and I think people confuse Bula as a “game breaker.” I see him more as a Dylan Edwards. He is consistent and a workhorse who eventually has his moments.

Now I’m not saying his is currently an Edward calibre player but was Dylan the player he was when he was 22? People are very quick to forget how great Bula was in 2023 and it’s very tough as a rookie to put those type of seasons back to back. I think he has been far more consistent this year than last.

If you don’t confuse Jahream as a game breaker but rather a “Edwards-type player” you’ll find that he is actually a quality fullback.

What you must also take into account is our horrendous defence. Jahream has had to make the most tackles of any fullback I believe. The comparison I’ll use is Scott Drinkwater who has played the same amount as Bula (21games). Jahream Bula has had to make 175 attempted tackles or 8 tackles per game compared to Drinkwaters 134 attempted or 6. I’ll also use Tedesco who’s currently played 18 games, in which he has a total of 103 attempted tackles or 5 per game.

When you are constantly having to cover line breaks and missed tackles your job is gonna become a lot harder. It was against the Rabbitohs that he had to make 15 tackles. I ask how often do you see a fullback having to make that many tackles? I’m not saying Jahream is the perfect player but he is one of, if not the, best player in our squad and is pretty much our only strike in the backline.