Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[BAGNF05]

That he was the best player in an intl is your opinion which is problematic

Several commentators described his performances as elite against a strong Tongan pack.

At his best, he’s a good footy player. Getting that out of him, and everyone else, is WT challenge.

 

[Vicious]

He was the best player on the field in an international series months before joining us. Our team lends itself to poor performance because we don’t play as a team.

The Clive Churchill medal winner is not a physical specimen.

That is exactly the problem.
Players such as Liam Martin, Hudson Young for the Raiders, Briton Nikita for the Sharks, Reuben Cotter for the Cowboys just to name a few are not big at all in comparison to most other NRL forwards, however they all play the game with high energy and plenty of aggression which leads to them nearly always running the ball with purpose and tackling with venom which makes them so valuable for their respective teams.
As I’ve already stated, the only time we ever see John Bateman show any of these characteristics is when he has the occasional dust up with opposing players , gives away 5 penalties and gets a bit of fire in his belly because of it.
I acknowledge that our coach has no ability to help fire up players from kick off, but surely someone with Batenans experience can get motivated and fired up on his own accord without any assistance from a coach ?

 

[Kaito]

Tualagi played GPS rugby at the same age

Yeah, GPS QLD, not the same but you're right Tommy

 

[Kaito]

every warrington fan in his comment is begging him to stay, richo work some magic, maybe a swap deal?

They can pay out his contract in full 👍🏼

 

[Vicious]

They can pay out his contract in full 👍🏼

Unfortunately Kaito as you know, Wests Tigers are the only stupid rugby league club they pays double the true value for players such as Bateman, Klemmer, Olam, Sullivan etc.
We are also the only stupid club who thinks it is a good idea to gave 10 virtual rookies nowhere near ready fior NRL in our top 30.
Rival clubs have 5-6 rookies with potential in their top 30 roster, not 10 of them.

 

[Needaname]

The comparison is useful when looking at the rebuilding process. We are behind them but following a similar path, less the coaching staff. A CEO that undersands how to build a club, signing key players to bolster deficiencies (less a couple of forwards at the moment) and locking up the best juniors. I don't recall anyone stating that we should emulate the Dogs playing style.

The significant difference is in the coaching staff where we were gifted Benji, Morris and Farrah by the previous regime and with the move of Farrah replaced him with Hodgo. I get that Marshall lacks experience and Hodgo hasn't had the greatest success in his coaching career to date but I'm not seeing quality coaches lining up at the front gate of the COE looking for a job with us.

I have yet to see one piece of evidence from the "Benji can't coach corner" other than we won another spoon. Is that on the coach or the players? Some of our 2024 attacking stats have us doing pretty well by NRL standards, our defence on the other hand not so good. Maybe that is related to the coaching, maybe it is that we have the youngest side in the competition. I'm not convinced either way on Benji yet.

The useful thing from the comparison with the Dogs is that at a similar stage in the development process, and with a much more expereinced coach, the Dogs went close to winning the spoon and then bounced back to finish 6th.

I'm not suggesting that our turnaround will be as dramatic as we are still a year or so behind where they were this season and we are relying more on our pathways than Laundy's $$$. We are on the right track and in the forseeable future we will be able to pull a big name coach if we need one.

Richo and Benji have a plan. It may not be the best plan and we may not have the players or coaching staff that we want, but a plan that is executed with passion is much better than stumbling rudderless from season to season (sound and feel familiar?)

As painful as it was to watch us win another spoon the pathway to improvement has been illuminated by the Dogs. We don't have to follow their steps exactly, and why would we? We have an experienced and successful administrator, a passionate staff and a plan to create a Wests Tigers approach.

At the end of 23 most Dogs fans were calling for the head of Ciraldo too. As painful as it is, we need to give the plan some time to bear fruit. If Benji, Hodgo and Morris aren't cutting it by 26 I'm pretty sure a door will open for an experienced coach looking forward to taking the glory after the hard yards have been done.

Who is the next Ciraldo?

Josh Hannay prehaps?

 

[BAGNF05]

That is exactly the problem.
Players such as Liam Martin, Hudson Young for the Raiders, Briton Nikita for the Sharks, Reuben Cotter for the Cowboys just to name a few are not big at all in comparison to most other NRL forwards, however they all play the game with high energy and plenty of aggression which leads to them nearly always running the ball with purpose and tackling with venom which makes them so valuable for their respective teams.
As I’ve already stated, the only time we ever see John Bateman show any of these characteristics is when he has the occasional dust up with opposing players , gives away 5 penalties and gets a bit of fire in his belly because of it.
I acknowledge that our coach has no ability to help fire up players from kick off, but surely someone with Batenans experience can get motivated and fired up on his own accord without any assistance from a coach ?

I just think the key to unlocking this is not always getting beaten up on the scoreboard. It’s a snowball effect.

 

[jadtiger]

Was he really that bad? I didn’t watch any games

The only difference between his form here and in the Uk is that he didn't need a translator when he spoke to the referees.His form still was below what is should be

 

[2041]

Unfortunately Kaito as you know, Wests Tigers are the only stupid rugby league club they pays double the true value for players such as Bateman, Klemmer, Olam, Sullivan etc.
We are also the only stupid club who thinks it is a good idea to gave 10 virtual rookies nowhere near ready fior NRL in our top 30.
Rival clubs have 5-6 rookies with potential in their top 30 roster, not 10 of them.

Christ alive you're boring: give it a rest, will you? You're demanding things that are impossible. The club came out of 2022 with a dreadful roster, the worst in the comp by far. This cannot be fixed overnight. There aren't 15-20 good first grade players available who will sign for the Tigers in one off season, hence the proliferation of youth. It is literally either than or give contracts to whoever will sign them, which we've tried before and landed us such club legends as Chris McQueen, Russell Packer and Josh Reynolds.

In this comment you literally criticse both signing the players who are available and giving roster spots to untested players. Your preference, presumably, is that we sign players who aren't available?

Anyway, please don't waste your time replying to this as I'm muting you. So bored of your constant, unfocused moaning. Touch grass.

 

[Kaito]

Unfortunately Kaito as you know, Wests Tigers are the only stupid rugby league club they pays double the true value for players such as Bateman, Klemmer, Olam, Sullivan etc.
We are also the only stupid club who thinks it is a good idea to gave 10 virtual rookies nowhere near ready fior NRL in our top 30.
Rival clubs have 5-6 rookies with potential in their top 30 roster, not 10 of them.

I blame the old management V. We're no longer stupid!

 

[batboy]

Christ alive you're boring: give it a rest, will you? You're demanding things that are impossible. The club came out of 2022 with a dreadful roster, the worst in the comp by far. This cannot be fixed overnight. There aren't 15-20 good first grade players available who will sign for the Tigers in one off season, hence the proliferation of youth.

Dolphins found a whole squad of them....

 

[BAGNF05]

Dolphins found a whole squad of them....

And they’re going well in the finals too.

 

[batboy]

And they’re going well in the finals too.

What was the comment I replied to exactly?

Don't recall mention of Finals - Just decent first grade players.
- Of which there are plenty at the Dolphins - Some superstars even.
All found in 1-2 off seasons.

 

[BAGNF05]

What was the comment I replied to exactly?

Don't recall mention of Finals - Just decent first grade players.
- Of which there are plenty at the Dolphins - Some superstars even.
All found in 1-2 off seasons.

The bloke was arguing it can’t be fixed overnight. Your example is hardly debunking that.

 

[2041]

Dolphins found a whole squad of them....

With two years to run at it, Wayne Bennett and a completely empty salary cap. Also: I would have loved to have seen what the moaners on here would have made of the signings the Dolphins made before the 2023 season. They'd have been falling over themselves to congratulate the club on landing such high-calibre stars as (checks list) Edrick Lee, Anthony Milford, Sean O'Sullivan, Ray Stone and Mason Teague, no doubt.

 

[BAGNF05]

With two years to run at it, Wayne Bennett and a completely empty salary cap. Also: I would have loved to have seen what the moaners on here would have made of the signings the Dolphins made before the 2023 season. They'd have been falling over themselves to congratulate the club on landing such high-calibre stars as (checks list) Edrick Lee, Anthony Milford, Sean O'Sullivan, Ray Stone and Mason Teague, no doubt.

Wolfy might be in for a few rough years. They signed a few dads army forwards too.

 

[crazycat]

When on the field I think Bird can still do a good job but the problem with him is the injuries. It’s the same with Olam - on paper they are good signings but if their bodies are cooked it’s just a waste of time & money

I kinda like how Newcastle managed it with Chris Heighington and Jacob?? get two older players and use one as a spare for the other.


Olam had 2x ACL's. He was carrying 1x ACL all year and was our best back. I want to see this guy play once recovered.

 

[crazycat]

But it wasn't just signing Crichton. They also signed a new fullback, a new halfback, 2 new centres, a new prop, a new lock and a few depth guys. Plus Kikau was like a new signing having only managed 9 games the previous season. In fact over the last 3 years their entire best 17 has changed. During which time they have also retained their better players whilst ours have seemingly had one foot out the door all season.

I very much doubt Luai is going to completely overhaul the team and don't think he has enough help, at least as yet to do so.
I'm not saying our team can't be transitioned over the next few years. It's very much possible that it can be. This could be the start to that. It could also be another false dawn like a couple years ago.

I suspect a team overhall will happen when Luai demands a new coach.

Happy to recruit Barrett and we should be doing this now instead of Hodgson.

(not a Trent Barrett fan at all. I never thought I would say the above).

 

[Tiger_claws]

Same as he was here really, just that game is a little slower, so I would have expected him to stand out a bit more.
I only seen 2 games and fell asleep in one of them.

Yeah I watched on the weekend. I don’t recall him touching the ball until around the 27th minute. He did make his tackles and was busy in defence. If I didn’t know who he was I wouldn’t have noticed him.

 

[Tiger_claws]

Several commentators described his performances as elite against a strong Tongan pack.

At his best, he’s a good footy player. Getting that out of him, and everyone else, is WT challenge.

That series against Tonga was extremely slow. Referee made sure Tonga never got a roll on. He reffed it perfectly to suit England. Not sure thats a good form guide.