Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Buttface]

Agree. To me it looks like a shoot out between Douiehi and To’a for right centre. Turuva left wing and Skelton and Staines going for right wing (guessing Skelton grabs that spot).

If Doobie is in first grade we are in trouble.
I’m preying Turuva suddenly becomes a quality right centre or Richo signs Staggs, and I win the lottery. Not necessarily in that order. I think it’s a real concern bcoz if we still have poor defenders at centre like AD, (and then we still lack a quality srf), so we’ll probably go with seyfart next to AD, and teams will cut us to ribbons down that side.
We still have some big holes to fill.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

If Doobie is in first grade we are in trouble.
I’m preying Turuva suddenly becomes a quality right centre or Richo signs Staggs, and I win the lottery. Not necessarily in that order. I think it’s a real concern bcoz if we still have poor defenders at centre like AD, (and then we still lack a quality srf), so we’ll probably go with seyfart next to AD, and teams will cut us to ribbons down that side.
We still have some big holes to fill.

Defence is still a major red flag.

 

[Speed2burn]

100%. Was it Graham Murray at the Cowboys when he took over he had a massive sandpit installed and the players spent majority of time in the sandpit tackling? I am happy to donate my time and sand to build us a sandpit. Our focus should be Strength, Conditioning and defence.

100%

Remember when we practised 100 passes each training session lmao

The obvious weakness in this club is fitness and strength. 9/10 times we lose the wrestle and roll over like a bag of crap. I think it was Wayne Bennett or some other high profile coach said he doesn’t even start ball work / set play repetitions until January at his pre season training.

Flog the crap out of them until their fitness is up to scratch, then manage their workloads and work on the finesse stuff from there

 

[Speed2burn]

If Doobie is in first grade we are in trouble.
I’m preying Turuva suddenly becomes a quality right centre or Richo signs Staggs, and I win the lottery. Not necessarily in that order. I think it’s a real concern bcoz if we still have poor defenders at centre like AD, (and then we still lack a quality srf), so we’ll probably go with seyfart next to AD, and teams will cut us to ribbons down that side.
We still have some big holes to fill.

When does Turuva start training?

I know May comes back on the 6th January, I’m guessing the same applies for Luai aswell

 

[jrtiger]

When does Turuva start training?

I know May comes back on the 6th January, I’m guessing the same applies for Luai aswell

Luai and Turuva are coming back before Christmas. fairly sure it'll be next week.

 

[magpies forever]

100%

Remember when we practised 100 passes each training session lmao

The obvious weakness in this club is fitness and strength. 9/10 times we lose the wrestle and roll over like a bag of crap. I think it was Wayne Bennett or some other high profile coach said he doesn’t even start ball work / set play repetitions until January at his pre season training.

Flog the crap out of them until their fitness is up to scratch, then manage their workloads and work on the finesse stuff from there

The good thing is now we have a good number of players in the NRL squad from well performing clubs- Penrith, Cronulla and to a lesser extent St George and Canterbury- where fitness was drilled into them and expected. Now for that to brush off on our lot.

Edit- should also add Roosters to that base with May joining us too.

 

[Speed2burn]

Luai and Turuva are coming back before Christmas. fairly sure it'll be next week.

That’s good news. Hopefully May comes in earlier than expected and hits the ground running, he’s gonna need to have a big pre season if we expect him to be our forward leader

 

[Speed2burn]

The good thing is now we have a good number of players in the NRL squad from well performing clubs- Penrith, Cronulla and to a lesser extent St George and Canterbury- where fitness was drilled into them and expected. Now for that to brush off on our lot.

Yep the Penrith boys will bring a lot of knowledge.

Watching the pacific games it surprised me how vocal Turuva was. Every Fijian huddle he was doing a lot of the talking. Need that high energy around this place

 

[jrtiger]

That’s good news. Hopefully May comes in earlier than expected and hits the ground running, we’re gonna need him to have a big pre season if we expect him to be our forward leader

I don't anticipate Terrell will come in before January judging by his comments on The Bye Round.

 

[weststigers]

You think Luke is ready to play a full season from
round 1? more chance of Staines holding down the
#2 being the incumbent. I know he wants to play
center but I can't see Benji breaking up the left side
combo with Luai that brought a lot of success at
the premiers. I said it before but To'a is my roughie
to start round 1 at right centre although he's unpopular

We have choice at wing and centre.

 

[Kelce68]

You think Luke is ready to play a full season from
round 1? more chance of Staines holding down the
#2 being the incumbent. I know he wants to play
center but I can't see Benji breaking up the left side
combo with Luai that brought a lot of success at
the premiers. I said it before but To'a is my roughie
to start round 1 at right centre although he's unpopular

Yeh, I think To'a is in the frame.

 

[orange&black]

Was previously thinking there was still some movement in our roster for 2025 but now I’m not so sure that we will see any further additions apart from possibly Bateman going and Sione F upgrading to a top 30 deal. Can’t imagine we have much cap left and whatever we gain will go towards re-signing Galvin.
This means we play 2025 with the squad we currently have.
So weak points are clearly on the edge and in the centres. We need to manufacture/develop some options for these positions and some depth behind them as well in case of injury.
The centre spot (assuming Olam comes good) will go to one of AD, Toa, Faataape, or Turuva.
The srf spot could be any number of guys with Seyfarth, Bird, Sione as front runners. Personally I like Bird as an option if he’s fit enough- reason being he is used to D on the edge as a centre and still can run the ball and knows the right lines. Could add some attack on the edge and has the skills. Needs to be fit enough to keep up in A and D however.

 

[Jolls]

This means we play 2025 with the squad we currently have.
So weak points are clearly on the edge and in the centres. We need to manufacture/develop some options for these positions and some depth behind them as well in case of injury.
The centre spot (assuming Olam comes good) will go to one of AD, Toa, Faataape, or Turuva.
The srf spot could be any number of guys with Seyfarth, Bird, Sione as front runners. Personally I like Bird as an option if he’s fit enough- reason being he is used to D on the edge as a centre and still can run the ball and knows the right lines. Could add some attack on the edge and has the skills. Needs to be fit enough to keep up in A and D however.

I think you are close to the money there. We have limited options on the edge and at centre. Moving Bateman on and paying him to play elsewhere just makes the cap situation worse - so my preference is that Johnee turns up; shakes hands with Benji and gets into the grind. That would probably give us just the depth cover we need on the edge once we upgrade Sione F.

Olam/Turuva (depending on how his defence stands up) or Olam/Toa are both probably workable combinations at centre with Naden/Faataape provide depth (AD maybe - prefer him gone).

Bird could be an edge or 13; I just get the feeling he will get the nod at the back. I could well be wrong - I'm a long way from the CoE so can't just drop in and have a sqiz. I'm looking forward to hearing reports back from the members training day on Saturday. It may provide some insights - and maybe comone can let us know if Benji seem to be on the ball with clipboard in hand!

 

[jrtiger]

Was previously thinking there was still some movement in our roster for 2025 but now I’m not so sure that we will see any further additions apart from possibly Bateman going and Sione F upgrading to a top 30 deal. Can’t imagine we have much cap left and whatever we gain will go towards re-signing Galvin.
This means we play 2025 with the squad we currently have.
So weak points are clearly on the edge and in the centres. We need to manufacture/develop some options for these positions and some depth behind them as well in case of injury.
The centre spot (assuming Olam comes good) will go to one of AD, Toa, Faataape, or Turuva.
The srf spot could be any number of guys with Seyfarth, Bird, Sione as front runners. Personally I like Bird as an option if he’s fit enough- reason being he is used to D on the edge as a centre and still can run the ball and knows the right lines. Could add some attack on the edge and has the skills. Needs to be fit enough to keep up in A and D however.

we're at 30 spots currently, but once Miller's situation is resolved and Bateman is moved on we'll have approximately $800k in the cap. Sione will take up approx $150-200k of that and a possible Galvin upgrade will likely cost another $200k.

leaves us with around $400k to spend on a backrower, which the club has apparently prioritised. we'll probably have to look at someone who's off contract end of year and is looking for an opportunity. Dylan Egan, Harrison Hassett, Brodie Jones, Ativalu Lisati and Simi Sasagi all fit the bill.

 

[Tiger_claws]

Murray went to Townsville and had to build a sandpit?
Could he not see the beaches to the east?
We need to spend the entire of season on defence and building cohesion amongst the team.

Apparently they got absolutely flogged in it.

 

[2041]

In theory, a good team can accommodate some less than phenomenal players so I'm less worried than others about who the 12th or 13th best starter in the team might be. To take a pertinent example, I really don't think there's a gulf in class between Luke Garner and Alex Seyfarth - if the two had swapped last season I sincerely doubt the presence of Seyfarth prevents Penrith winning the premiership, at least. If Seyfarth is the starting right edge that's not in and of itself a catastrophe - especially if he can cut some of the brain explosions out of his game.

What does bother me is that we're probably now done for cap room for 2025 and quite possibly 2026 as well - at least in the sense of making relatively big signings - and we don't really have any plausible answers at centre or edge.

At centre, even if we assume Makasini is able to make an immediate impact around mid-season I don't really like any of the other options: it's Olam, who's quite possibly past it, Doueihi, who is slow and can't defend, To'a, who has never been consistently good, or Turuva, who just weakens another position where we aren't overflowing with talent and isn't proven at centre anyway.

Edge might be better because hopefully Fainu has one spot tied down for years (though his defence also needs work) and I think Seyfarth can be a first grade standard footballer. Also, historically this has been a position that good teams can plug average players into and get decent results - look at Blore at Melbourne, Garner at Penrith or basically anyone Parra has used for the past half decade. If we start looking like a decent side this is exactly the sort of position where you should be hoping to save a bit of cash. The problem is depth: after the starters we're almost immediately into reserve graders. I'm hoping this idea of experimenting with Johanssen at edge might have some legs, because otherwise I'm not sure where we're finding a usable body from at this stage (and no, it's not going to be Bateman - that ship has sailed, run aground on the rocks and sunk).

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

we're at 30 spots currently, but once Miller's situation is resolved and Bateman is moved on we'll have approximately $800k in the cap. Sione will take up approx $150-200k of that and a possible Galvin upgrade will likely cost another $200k.

leaves us with around $400k to spend on a backrower, which the club has apparently prioritised. we'll probably have to look at someone who's off contract end of year and is looking for an opportunity. Dylan Egan, Harrison Hassett, Brodie Jones, Ativalu Lisati and Simi Sasagi all fit the bill.

Isn't May not actually signed yet lack of top 30 spots

 

[426Tlgerland]

Yeh... that was 3 days ago. Do you bother to post in the appropriate thread from time to time.

I don’t know of a thread for the NRLW signings , rumours , etc , but hay enjoy your dig , hope it makes you feel better

 

[Jolls]

we're at 30 spots currently, but once Miller's situation is resolved and Bateman is moved on we'll have approximately $800k in the cap. Sione will take up approx $150-200k of that and a possible Galvin upgrade will likely cost another $200k.

leaves us with around $400k to spend on a backrower, which the club has apparently prioritised. we'll probably have to look at someone who's off contract end of year and is looking for an opportunity. Dylan Egan, Harrison Hassett, Brodie Jones, Ativalu Lisati and Simi Sasagi all fit the bill.

If I have the Top 30 right, we need to move on two players to make this happen, based ont he assumption that Sione F is a done deal. So Bateman is one; any info on who else is likely to move (assuming Naden and Bud aren't going anywhere)? Tumeth is probably he low hanging fruit unless somone wants to take on Doueihi.

 

[426Tlgerland]

Who is he?

Shows you are not a real Wests Tigers supporter , SHE was a great part of the start of our ladies side of footy