Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[weststigerman]

Oates, To'o, Ravalawa? Are we trying to build an entire team of wingers?

You'd probably release someone like Staines to get To'o but I don't think we need more wingers.

Centre, edge, lock is what we need.

 

[Lestronge]

So True....
Interesting the Bears won the Ressies minor premiership with about half a dozen of old Wests Tigers players.

Seems we can't even make a dint in the reserve grade comp recruitment wise....

Arnt they no longer a feeder team ? Or did someone pick them up ?
It’s pretty easy when you have stability and “elite” reserve graders . In MLB it’s called “4a” . Way too good for reserve grade “triple A” and not good enough for MLB .
The amount of turnover this year was always going to cause major problems for reserve grade and jersey flegg.
If we field our strongest flegg team , I honestly think we would have run the comp . But they’re all in nrl or KOE.
The squad member jersey flegg , almost made the finals . Literally the top 20 players you would have pencilled down for flegg were in other grades .

 

[batboy]

Be interesting how next season goes as do think things look a bit different with how we are approaching it already

We signed on something like 6-8 new faces a few weeks back for NSW Cup (which is early) mixed with some of the kids getting NRL run this year stepping back.

Yeah.... Maybe (Hopefully)
The young blokes are the ones that have been getting towelled up though
Also more young blokes amongst the new signings.
I'm still adamant they'll need a couple old soldiers there to help bring them through....

It's no shock to me that the last time we were decent in Ressies 09-12
(We've barely made the finals since in 2nds)
was when we were last half decent at NRL level.

Pro Ressies like Meaney, Farlow, Dave Gower, Dessie Nichols scattered amongst the young blokes...
Fantastic for bringing them through.

 

[Tiger_Fanatic3]

We need to stop recruiting rubbish first

I think our current signings are solid and possibly more to come

 

[batboy]

Arnt they no longer a feeder team ? Or did someone pick them up ?
It’s pretty easy when you have stability and “elite” reserve graders . In MLB it’s called “4a” . Way too good for reserve grade “triple A” and not good enough for MLB .
The amount of turnover this year was always going to cause major problems for reserve grade and jersey flegg.
If we field our strongest flegg team , I honestly think we would have run the comp . But they’re all in nrl or KOE.
The squad member jersey flegg , almost made the finals . Literally the top 20 players you would have pencilled down for flegg were in other grades .

Believe they 'were' the Ressies for the Roosters Ressies....
Dunno where that is now.
I assume they're going it alone and have bought all the good players kicking about to make some noise for the WA bid inclusion...
(just a guess, but that's what I'd have done)

But there's blokes in that Bears squad that showed a bit of something here
- Reagan Hughes and Jack Boyling I'd have thought were worth keeping about....

 

[batboy]

I think our current signings are solid and possibly more to come

They are,
But the inadequacies in the Squad are still alarmingly there....

And we're losing 2 mill + worth of players from the top squad next year (Including Bateman if he's not here)

 

[Buttface]

thank U jirskyr -funny how they sook about lazy text yet dont proof read every thing they post,who gives a ,certainly stirred some of the past Mods up,b4 the title was next2 their names and the walls fell down around them.I certainly dont give a toss what any1 thinks about Merlot,ive bn used abused n forgotten about by people that i liked here.such is life/on the interweb.Thanks

I will say it again, I find you hard to read sometimes, but it adds to the colour of this place, a shade of red obviously, never change Merlot. Love ya work.

 

[hank37w]

Believe they 'were' the Ressies for the Roosters Ressies....
Dunno where that is now.
I assume they're going it alone and have bought all the good players kicking about to make some noise for the WA bid inclusion...
(just a guess, but that's what I'd have done)

But there's blokes in that Bears squad that showed a bit of something here
- Reagan Hughes and Jack Boyling I'd have thought were worth keeping about....

This season North Sydney Bears have been a feeder for the Storm along with the Sunshine Coast Falcons and Brisbane Tigers.

Thinking back you may remember that Blore played a couple of games for North Sydney early in the season before appearing regularly with the Storm.

You never know, Stefano may play a game or two for North Sydney Bears.

 

[batboy]

This season North Sydney Bears have been a feeder for the Storm along with the Sunshine Coast Falcons and Brisbane Tigers.

Thinking back you may remember that Blore played a couple of games for North Sydney early in the season before appearing regularly with the Storm.

You never know, Stefano may play a game or two for North Sydney Bears.

Right you are....
Forgot about that.

Stefano might,
Billy Slater did when they had the same relationship with the Storm in the Mid 2000's.

 

[Harvey]

2 years at $400k was what they said was the offer … Im a little dubious they get him that cheap as apparently he is on $600k at the dragons next year …

Dragons would need to cover the other 200k

 

[Buttface]

We need to stop recruiting rubbish first

And stop extending our current rubbish.

 

[PabloX]

We need to stop recruiting rubbish first

Totally agree. I definitely don't want Ravalawa

 

[The Chad]

Improving the depth of our KOE squad helps every grade in the club- through the development teams up to the 1st grade team. It means that we don't have to rush the paths of young players who are better served playing Matts, SG Ball or even Ron Massey at this stage of their career.

It also means that we don't debut 12 rookies in 2025, half of which are clearly not PUSHING for selection in 1st grade as yet.

Additionally- if players like Faataape, Doueihi, Johannssen, Porter, Lobb, Alaimalo etc are KOE players, it is up to them to play to a standard to break into 1st grade, not just be the most available body. This is where a player like Brent Naden offers value- if he is the 6th or so viable option into 1st grade- the depth of the club is strong. For instance- Junior Pauga is probably 6th option at the Roosters. I'd take Naden over Pauga.

A lot of our issues have been depth related. The problem with our buying power is we have to take risks on injury histories- Olam, Doueihi, maybe Bird- in order to attract the volume of quality into the club, at a price that remains acceptable. Will they play a full season? Unlikely. But if Doueihi replaces Bird, how much do you lose in quality to say, Feledy replacing Doueihi as it stands right now?

Strengthening the KOE squad is vital. I actually believe we have almost enough quality in 1st grade. But we are THIN on depth. 1 or 2 more 1st grade options, with 3-4 KOE type players & I think the club surprises many next season.

 

[twentyforty]

Improving the depth of our KOE squad helps every grade in the club- through the development teams up to the 1st grade team. It means that we don't have to rush the paths of young players who are better served playing Matts, SG Ball or even Ron Massey at this stage of their career.

It also means that we don't debut 12 rookies in 2025, half of which are clearly not PUSHING for selection in 1st grade as yet.

Additionally- if players like Faataape, Doueihi, Johannssen, Porter, Lobb, Alaimalo etc are KOE players, it is up to them to play to a standard to break into 1st grade, not just be the most available body. This is where a player like Brent Naden offers value- if he is the 6th or so viable option into 1st grade- the depth of the club is strong. For instance- Junior Pauga is probably 6th option at the Roosters. I'd take Naden over Pauga.

A lot of our issues have been depth related. The problem with our buying power is we have to take risks on injury histories- Olam, Doueihi, maybe Bird- in order to attract the volume of quality into the club, at a price that remains acceptable. Will they play a full season? Unlikely. But if Doueihi replaces Bird, how much do you lose in quality to say, Feledy replacing Doueihi as it stands right now?

Strengthening the KOE squad is vital. I actually believe we have almost enough quality in 1st grade. But we are THIN on depth. 1 or 2 more 1st grade options, with 3-4 KOE type players & I think the club surprises many next season.

It seems such a logical thing to do, promote competition for all positions in all of the teams. So why don’t we do it consistently?
Is it about the cost?
I often wonder how the interest is calculated on the WA debentures?
Is it based on a percentage of profit?
Does anyone know?

 

[851]

Actually,
You make a great point,
Every year he has coached the Roosters he has had a team that could win a premiership, and he didn't do it, how would he have been rated as a coach if it was West Tigers he coached,
He probably Would have been sacked 5 years or more ago,
And never heard of again.

Seems some media are starting to see what we can see, this is a good read.

MSN

 

[weststigers]

Improving the depth of our KOE squad helps every grade in the club- through the development teams up to the 1st grade team. It means that we don't have to rush the paths of young players who are better served playing Matts, SG Ball or even Ron Massey at this stage of their career.

It also means that we don't debut 12 rookies in 2025, half of which are clearly not PUSHING for selection in 1st grade as yet.

Additionally- if players like Faataape, Doueihi, Johannssen, Porter, Lobb, Alaimalo etc are KOE players, it is up to them to play to a standard to break into 1st grade, not just be the most available body. This is where a player like Brent Naden offers value- if he is the 6th or so viable option into 1st grade- the depth of the club is strong. For instance- Junior Pauga is probably 6th option at the Roosters. I'd take Naden over Pauga.

A lot of our issues have been depth related. The problem with our buying power is we have to take risks on injury histories- Olam, Doueihi, maybe Bird- in order to attract the volume of quality into the club, at a price that remains acceptable. Will they play a full season? Unlikely. But if Doueihi replaces Bird, how much do you lose in quality to say, Feledy replacing Doueihi as it stands right now?

Strengthening the KOE squad is vital. I actually believe we have almost enough quality in 1st grade. But we are THIN on depth. 1 or 2 more 1st grade options, with 3-4 KOE type players & I think the club surprises many next season.

Regarding KOE Cup, we take a look.at guys like Alaimalo, Mason, Porter etc. They all had quite a bit of game time.

Having a strong KOE Cup is mandatory, but I think.more than ever, all they issues we jump up and down about on the forum are being addressed by Richo.

I can't think of much that the fan base doesn't agree on with management at this stage. Maybe Royce Hunt is an each way bet, but he is not a key player. All of the signings have been supported strongly.

If we stay the course, we will be in good shape. I can see us having hiccups along the way, maybe even another spoon, losing a key player etc. But this is building a foundation for the next 20 years.

 

[batboy]

Seems some media are starting to see what we can see, this is a good read.

MSN

Dane Elderidge?
"Lifetime Sports Enthusiast"

He might need to actually have some semblance of a career before he starts to take the mickey out of someone elses' you'd think?

 

[Lestronge]

Believe they 'were' the Ressies for the Roosters Ressies....
Dunno where that is now.
I assume they're going it alone and have bought all the good players kicking about to make some noise for the WA bid inclusion...
(just a guess, but that's what I'd have done)

But there's blokes in that Bears squad that showed a bit of something here
- Reagan Hughes and Jack Boyling I'd have thought were worth keeping about....

Wvwnnif they’re sharing with 2 other storm feeder sides that’s a whole lot of stability there .
So you don’t have to field Massey players or , 17/18 year olds or build a combination to watch it scatter throughout the grades because of importance , strategy around development etc .
If you can field a whole bunch of guys who at best might make 17th man in nrl , that’s a real strong reserve grade team .
Most clubs can’t do that because of development plans , top 30 contracts etc .

 

[jrtiger]

Dane Elderidge?
"Lifetime Sports Enthusiast"

He might need to actually have some semblance of a career before he starts to take the mickey out of someone elses' you'd think?

he’s not wrong though is he.

 

[Jolls]

this is building a foundation for the next 20 years.

This is the fundamental difference about this "rebuild" versus the countless others we had to have. This is the first time I feel confident that we are actually looking at the foundations of the club.

We have been trying to patch over cracks in the gyprock and brickwork forever, buying in older players to fill gaps as opposed to getting in and underpinning the joint. As much a Sheens got it wrong with the NRL side he knew what he was doing by prioritising the development of our pathways programme. Many on here were unhappy with the approach because we weren't winning now. There were dumb decisions made by the administration in appointing him as coach; and, although I had concerns about Benji as a coach, at this stage, I don't think it matters all that much. He can be mentored and goomed at the same time the club is transforming.

I expected us to finish around 12 - 14th this year; we won't but I don't think it matters because the focus of the club hasn't been winning games. It has been about developing the foundations so we have a solid structure to build from. This has been more or less achieved through:

• the development of selected juniors being accelerated.
• a developing, but quality spine in place for 25.
• every player in the pathways system having a roadmap to success.
• developing a plan to replace from within (next man up) and to recruiting to meet deficiencies.
• employing an experienced NRL administrator as CEO with a proven track record for turning around basket cases.
• the alignment of all aspects fo the club; despite the bullshit in the sidelines this week the front office and football department are aligned and working toward a strategic outcome.

I trust that we belt Parra tomorrow as it will be symbolic of us rebounding from rock bottom. It will be a "feel good" to end the season with. However, for mine, the hard work has already been done. It is now a matter of sticking with the plan; turning the half chances into wins and turning wins into dominance. Wer'e still a couple of years away from being a real threat to the competition as it stands; but who know what opportunities will come knocking over our off season.