Went back through all the posts, no mention of him leaving us anywhere
Nice of the club to inform eh?
Full of crap half the time
Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion
- Thread starter MacDougall
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Nice of the club to inform eh?
Full of crap half the time
@BlackWhiteGold mentioned it back it October
Nothing from the club though
I don't think they mentioned Chris Faagutu either
I don't think they publicise stuff about junior movements
Buttface
Well-known member
They want us to be invested and short change us on the product.
I was really keen to se those two develop, Faagutu bcoz of the Keebra park, the wraps, and we need a barnstorming lock with skill that we developed. Willet bcoz he’s from the MNCoast, with wraps, and we needed a tall try scoring winger. I would chase any info in either, but I would get local info on how Willet was going the last year he played bush footy. I was invested, and still am, I know they don’t have to but some info as to why would be nice.
They made a bit of a deal about it when he first came on iirc
They just announced 2 kids this week
It’s hard to work out what went wrong with these 2.
Faagatu was a highly regarded aggressive young beast who come to us from Queensland with massive wraps and scored some very good individual tries for our Jersey Flegg team last season.
I can only think his fitness levels and body shape were not where the club wanted and failure to follow a plan to fix it has been his demise ?
Willet also come to us with big wraps from Taree and you don’t often find a young and talented outside back with his height.
He also impressed in his couple of games for our Wests Magpies NSW Cup team last season, obviously impressed Manly enough to put him in their contracted player list, where we prioritised others ahead of him,
Player ID is fascinating and somewhat of a guessing game as players of all shapes and sizes progress and develop at very different timelines, but I just hope letting these 2 go doesn’t come back to bite us.
crazycat
Well-known member
This year we are lacking in 2RF options and the Eels do have good props...
Paulo won't leave without massive money, but man what a player. Adds so much punch to any team he plays in. Ryles won't be stupid enough to punt him and if he is we only have the money if were loosing galvin or something.
Matto is a player that may get punted from Parra, he can play and not someone I would want here. But if Parramatta will carry 300k of his freight and it's a 1-2 year contract where we could push for finals, he could be useful. ... That said he is exactly the kind of player that will go "Last contract, I get paid anyway I will do nothing".
Joffa its the opposite. Great heart, but we came last with him. Then he goes to Parra and...
Pretty much nothing. I mean great guy, but not someone I want back because I want to get off the bottom of the table.
Tuilagi, Cartright are definately options. We need a mobile player and that's where I would be hunting... Someone pissed off at Ryles but can play.
Tucker
Well-known member
Maybe politics?
Outsiders v Maggie’s/Tigers juniors.
rihannafan1
Well-known member
And you'd have liked them to let you know that Declan Casey was let go too?
Tim Sheens
Well-known member
Yeah, the club retains Fa'agutu and misses out on Terrell or Royce, and keeps Willet at the expense of signing Turuva or Skelton. Sliding door moments, possibly, and in either direction, but likely remaining relatively inconsequential like most retention/recruitment decisions.
rihannafan1
Well-known member
It is confusing about why Faagutu was let go and where he's ended up. He'll almost certainly be better off for leaving us though, that's how it has gone for our juniors since forever.
Different pack lining up this year.
Buttface
Well-known member
I hope not.
Hopefully it had to do with merit.
The players contracted 26-30 in our top 30 list or those on Development deals do not have any effect on the recruitment/retention for more high profile players on a much bigger salaries such is Terrell May, Royce Hunt, Sunia Turuva, Jeral Skelton etc
Top 30 contracted players 26-30 on every NRL team list are players on the minimum wage still trying to force their way higher up that list and hoping to become genuine NRL top 17 contenders.
Willett was in direct competition with the likes of Luke Laulilli, Solomone Saukuru and Alex Lobb, while Faagatu was in direct competition with the likes of Kit Laulilli and Justin Matamua.
Obviously Manly have pounced on Willett and are of the belief he’s a player with NRL potential, strangely enough the much more highly rated Faagatu does not appear to have landed at any other NRL club as yet.
Sometimes when young players are as highly rated as what Faagatu was from a young age suddenly start to hit a few road bumps in their career progress, they can become disillusioned and lose the drive and determination they once had.
You don’t be an elite player at 18/19 and then suddenly become a passenger at 20-22 without something going drastically wrong and it is generally the mind that loses confidence not being able to handle the roadblocks that were never there previously. Coaching also plays a massive part in this.
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I'm not suggesting we actively look to recruit one of their players (though if Guymer is available...). We've got 1 spot and I'd guess not a whole lot of cap space to make a play at any of them. I'm just refuting that our pack is significantly better than theirs or that few of their forwards would make our team.
That aside in not sure the "we were last when he was here" argument holds for any one player. I mean we were last when Api was here but I still want him here. Same for Fainu or Galvin. Similarly, I'd recruit players that have previously received a spoon if they are the right fit. It hasn't stopped Panthers or Manly recruiting a few of our mob.
JOffa left after disagreements with Marshall. No point even considering bringing him back whilst Marshall is still here. Doesn't mean he isn't a better footballer than many of our best 17 forwards.
Tim Sheens
Well-known member
I understand all that, but your first sentence is plainly wrong. The most important thing is that there are only 30 spots at a club, and especially so when it has a chunk of spare cap space like WT did, so they do not necessarily relate to salaries. WT could not sign them (other than Turuva) without such choices or moving on other contracted players (Tumeth says hello and I am going nowhere).
Sione could not sign until Sullivan was temporarily moved on to the bunnies and we only have a spot available now because WT are reportedly paying some $600/700k for Bateman to play with the cows. It's all relative.
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Yes
I’m sure we all played with and against some man-Childs when we were 16/17 that everyone was saying would make it, But surprisingly most struggled once everyone else grew to the same size or bigger,
Many a child superstar gave the game away once things became hard.
Regarding signing a centre for 2026, one player I would be keeping an eye on is Zac Laybutt from the cowboys.
He's back from an ACL injury but he looked an absolute weapon before suffering the injury, a very big powerful and skillful centre who's only 23 and could've possibly fallen down the pecking order while on the side line
He's back from an ACL injury but he looked an absolute weapon before suffering the injury, a very big powerful and skillful centre who's only 23 and could've possibly fallen down the pecking order while on the side line
Very good player, but I’m under the impression he is very highly rated by the Cowboys, I can’t see them letting him go.
If we are talking outside backs we probably need to find a way to get Olam off our books for 2026 before we can go too hard in the market for someone else.
I still think we will be getting Taylan May for 2025 IF he is found not guilty in his up coming court case.
A committed and focused Taylan May would be clearly the best centre/winger on our roster in my opinion.
Grant Anderson currently the first chosen back up centre/winger at Melbourne Storm is only currently earning 130k according to Zero Tackle which I find to he a fairly reliable source. It has been rumoured he’s off to the Broncos in 2026, but nothing confirmed as far as I am aware, I’d easily value him as a 300-400k per season player and I assume it would go very close to getting him if offering that type of money. He’d be another walk up start in our NRL team in my opinion.
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No he’s to tall
Yeah - reckon his size has plenty to do with it…
Beats me why we keep trying to go with these undersized backs… bery rarely works out,
been that way forever - drives me nuts
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