Fonua Pole #257

The situation with Poke is as follows.
He is contracted for 2025.
He has been offered a massive upgrade to extend.
He has told the club he still wants to test the market.
So for all His talk about how much he loves the club and he owes everything to the club blah blah blah, he is just like Stef. He has a huge opinion of himself and despite having achieved very little so far in his career he thinks he deserves elite player money.
He may stay and that’s fine. But I am getting a bit tired of players whose contribution is modest but they want star treatment.
 
Hargreaves said:
The situation with Poke is as follows.
He is contracted for 2025.
He has been offered a massive upgrade to extend.
He has told the club he still wants to test the market.
So for all His talk about how much he loves the club and he owes everything to the club blah blah blah, he is just like Stef. He has a huge opinion of himself and despite having achieved very little so far in his career he thinks he deserves elite player money.
He may stay and that’s fine. But I am getting a bit tired of players whose contribution is modest but they want star treatment.
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This is a by product of neglecting our pathways for years if he was a local who is from the area he would be far more likely to stay.
 
Hargreaves said:
The situation with Poke is as follows.
He is contracted for 2025.
He has been offered a massive upgrade to extend.
He has told the club he still wants to test the market.
So for all His talk about how much he loves the club and he owes everything to the club blah blah blah, he is just like Stef. He has a huge opinion of himself and despite having achieved very little so far in his career he thinks he deserves elite player money.
He may stay and that’s fine. But I am getting a bit tired of players whose contribution is modest but they want star treatment.
Click to expand...
As long as we stick by our offer and don't get forced into more by his manager. If he wants out, he's obviously not in for the crocodile roll, and whilst would be disappointing, he's not irreplaceable.
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
As long as we stick by our offer and don't get forced into more by his manager. If he wants out, he's obviously not in for the crocodile roll, and whilst would be disappointing, he's not irreplaceable.
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We could tell ourselves that but imo I think we can cope with losing Stef but losing Pole as well… it’d be hard to come back from that.
 
Hargreaves said:
The situation with Poke is as follows.
He is contracted for 2025.
He has been offered a massive upgrade to extend.
He has told the club he still wants to test the market.
So for all His talk about how much he loves the club and he owes everything to the club blah blah blah, he is just like Stef. He has a huge opinion of himself and despite having achieved very little so far in his career he thinks he deserves elite player money.
He may stay and that’s fine. But I am getting a bit tired of players whose contribution is modest but they want star treatment.
Click to expand...
its all the rage,of late.Cant really blame the players. The game constantly talks its self up n how much richer they wanna b.Who doesnt want some of that
 
Hargreaves said:
The situation with Poke is as follows.
He is contracted for 2025.
He has been offered a massive upgrade to extend.
He has told the club he still wants to test the market.
So for all His talk about how much he loves the club and he owes everything to the club blah blah blah, he is just like Stef. He has a huge opinion of himself and despite having achieved very little so far in his career he thinks he deserves elite player money.
He may stay and that’s fine. But I am getting a bit tired of players whose contribution is modest but they want star treatment.
Click to expand...

it’s a free world and he owes the club nothing ..

he is looking for the best deal he can get… and this may mean returning home to Melbourne… that doesn’t mean he has a “huge opinion “ of himself..

We are more than happy to take it when it works the other way and we throw more money at the player than his current club does to get him to come here like Luia and Turuva
 
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Hargreaves said:
The situation with Poke is as follows.
He is contracted for 2025.
He has been offered a massive upgrade to extend.
He has told the club he still wants to test the market.
So for all His talk about how much he loves the club and he owes everything to the club blah blah blah, he is just like Stef. He has a huge opinion of himself and despite having achieved very little so far in his career he thinks he deserves elite player money.
He may stay and that’s fine. But I am getting a bit tired of players whose contribution is modest but they want star treatment.
Click to expand...
It’s the WT way…players know they can screw the club for $$$ so they do
 
Tom Shines said:
it’s a free world and he owes the club nothing ..

he is looking for the best deal he can get… and this may mean returning home to Melbourne… that doesn’t mean he has a “huge opinion “ of himself
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I have no problem with players seeking the best deal. But my point is fans are tired of the self promoting nonsense about how much the club means to them and how they owe the club for giving them their chance (they say this - I didn’t) and then straight away start shopping themselves all over town. By all means seek the best deal but spare us the hypocritical bullcrap.
 
Hargreaves said:
I have no problem with players seeking the best deal. But my point is fans are tired of the self promoting nonsense about how much the club means to them and how they owe the club for giving them their chance (they say this - I didn’t) and then straight away start shopping themselves all over town. By all means seek the best deal but spare us the hypocritical bullcrap.
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He was asked a question in an interview a few months ago .. what do you expect him to say … he doesn’t want to be here ? Maybe things have changed personally for him since then …but likely he might have had enough of getting belted each week for the privilege of winning the spoon each year
 
Hargreaves said:
I have no problem with players seeking the best deal. But my point is fans are tired of the self promoting nonsense about how much the club means to them and how they owe the club for giving them their chance (they say this - I didn’t) and then straight away start shopping themselves all over town. By all means seek the best deal but spare us the hypocritical bullcrap.
Click to expand...
They don't have any other options but to say they love the club.

If Pole leaves and the fact Stef left is is a by product of being a crap team.

I just heard the podcast of the Pathways guy that we have. He kept saying we are a "development club".. idk exactly what that means because all clubs even Roosters develop players at some point (Roosters pick our the best from the u16, u18s etc) , but what the players see it as is, develop and get your shot at NRL here and then have a career elsewhere.
 
tig_prmz said:
They don't have any other options but to say they love the club.

If Pole leaves and the fact Stef left is is a by product of being a crap team.

I just heard the podcast of the Pathways guy that we have. He kept saying we are a "development club".. idk exactly what that means because all clubs even Roosters develop players at some point (Roosters pick our the best from the u16, u18s etc) , but what the players see it as is, develop and get your shot at NRL here and then have a career elsewhere.
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Its very tough to get this “development club” thing right….

Its a numbers game where you have to commit to a lot of teenagers , obviously most of whom never make it to NRL level ..

And then you are under the pump to keep the small percentage that do make it .. they are coming off contract in their early 20s , and the elite clubs are throwing themselves at them

Might seem obvious …but they need to get off the bottom of the table and finally have a bit of success … to show the young guys coming off contract that staying here will not hurt your career and you may be playing for a premiership…this part is obviously where the club is struggling …
 
Hargreaves said:
I have no problem with players seeking the best deal. But my point is fans are tired of the self promoting nonsense about how much the club means to them and how they owe the club for giving them their chance (they say this - I didn’t) and then straight away start shopping themselves all over town. By all means seek the best deal but spare us the hypocritical bullcrap.
Click to expand...
I don’t think people should put much stock in what players say. They all roll out the same cliches their media training tells them do nowadays.

The games lost it’s characters.
 
Needaname said:
Isn’t he contracted for 25, or am I mistaken?
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Yes but come November 1 he can sign with another club for 26 and agitate for immediate release. This is what I hate about the current set up. The last year means nothing to a manager who wants more money now.
 
Tom Shines said:
Its very tough to get this “development club” thing right….

Its a numbers game where you have to commit to a lot of teenagers , obviously most of whom never make it to NRL level ..

And then you are under the pump to keep the small percentage that do make it .. they are coming off contract in their early 20s , and the elite clubs are throwing themselves at them

Might seem obvious …but they need to get off the bottom of the table and finally have a bit of success … to show the young guys coming off contract that staying here will not hurt your career and you may be playing for a premiership…this part is obviously where the club is struggling …
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Yeh you need to develop players at all stages to get it right like Panthers did.

I actually feel that we are one of the rare clubs that have representation at a lot of Junior levels and whoever set this up years and years ago did a good job of having affiliations with all these Junior sides.

But what seems to be lacking is the support provided to coaches and players within our system. I don't have any proof of that but that's the only possibilty given the lack of success.
 
Buttface said:
Yes but come November 1 he can sign with another club for 26 and agitate for immediate release. This is what I hate about the current set up. The last year means nothing to a manager who wants more money now.
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Yes I know that, hence I said if it comes with a swap deal for 25 I’m ok with it.
 
disappointing he's going to market, but not surprising.

I doubt he'll get as much money as we have offered him elsewhere. it'll come down to whether he believes in where we're going. and if he doesn't believe in it, then you replace him with someone who does.
 
I’ve not liked our chances of keeping Pole for some time, and now that Stef is gone it makes his retention that more difficult. 😥
When he first started playing with Tigers, he was asked who in the team does he admire most?
Or who inspires him as a mentor? He named Ofahengaui and Garner.
We lost them both soon after.
In another more recent presser, Pole was asked a similar question, to which he replied, Stefano.
Now Stef is gone.
We’re not good at being a “development club” are we?

Anyway, on another subject, anyone know who actually hired Hodgo?
Was it Benji? Richo? WT board member? or HBG board member?
 
jrtiger said:
disappointing he's going to market, but not surprising.

I doubt he'll get as much money as we have offered him elsewhere. it'll come down to whether he believes in where we're going. and if he doesn't believe in it, then you replace him with someone who does.
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I heard he is interested in going back to Melbourne where he is from, for personal reasons …if that is actually true then the money won’t matter unfortunately…
 
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