Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Flippedy said:
We needed an edge forward before we shafted Klemmer, now we need a prop as well. They’ve had a whole off season to sort this out, and an off season longer than most at that. The best teams in the comp have their rosters sorted before the season begins. Going into a season unprepared like this us unforgivable really and it’s the reason why we continually struggle to be competitive. I was hoping for better this year…silly me.
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Incase you missed it, we've had 3 spoons in a row. We are far from "the best teams in the comp".

We can't operate the same as them (yet). We have to be a bit more ad-hoc, whilst we rebuild our roster to become a "best team in the comp".

This means, if an opportunity arises to offload deadwood (klemmer) who wasn't going to play first grade, freeing up salary cap to sign a player who will play first grade, then we should do it... and we have...

It's unreasonable to have "perfect world" scenarios every single time.

I am sure the Tigers ALSO wanted this to be done before the beginning of round 1, however keep in mind who Klemmer's manager is..... The Tigers don't get to dictate the terms.. It's not a one way street. They also have to manage the situation with the manager given he also works with Galvin...

It's not black and white.
 
Tiger_Yoshi said:
He has been released of his WT contract...therefore the contract is null and void He aint coming back...
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What I mean. He was pushing to be paid part of his second year with us prior to the release (no announcement yet mind you).
The reason being Dragons were only interested in signing him for 1 season.
So he misses out by moving either way. This is really only to benefit us not Klemmer.
 
Needaname said:
What I mean. He was pushing to be paid part of his second year with us prior to the release (no announcement yet mind you).
The reason being Dragons were only interested in signing him for 1 season.
So he misses out by moving either way. This is really only to benefit us not Klemmer.
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Maybe it's a 1 year deal with a club option from the dragons, if not does seem strange.
 
Rock Hopper Steve said:
Maybe it's a 1 year deal with a club option from the dragons, if not does seem strange.
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With a contract clause that stated Klemmer would activate a contract extension of up around 800k for season 2026 if he played 12 or more games for Wests Tigers in 2025, nobody could argue that was an outrageous contract and the club had no option other than to advise Klemmer we would not be playing him for anymore than 12 games in 2025 as we were not happy with the contract clause for 2026.
Klemmer obviously would not have been happy about it, but it was better for us to be honest and give him a chance to move on which he has now done.
As myself and Rock Hopper Steve have previously stated, the concern is now our lack of depth in the forwards if we get any injuries.
I don’t believe we have any middle forwards or edge forwards outside of our top 17 that you could currently call NRL ready and have proven it with regular strong performances for our NSW Cup team.
Therefore common sense should be telling us it is not possible to go a full season without a few injuries to our forwards and therefore plans should already be in place to sign at least 1, but preferably 2 players from outside the club who can provide adequate cover to our NRL forwards and that’s in addition to the hopeful signing of Taylan May.
Keep a watch on Jayden Tanner and Charlie Murray both playing for our Wests Magpies NSW Cup team this week as they are both potentially players who could help our NRL team in the back half of 2025 once they are NRL eligible if they play to their potential.
 
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Vicious said:
With a contract clause that stated Klemmer would activate a contract extension of up around 800k for season 2026 if he played 12 or more games for Wests Tigers in 2025, nobody could argue that was an outrageous contract and the club had no option other than to advise Klemmer we would not be playing him for anymore than 12 games in 2025 as we were not happy with the contract clause for 2026.
Klemmer obviously would not have been happy about it, but it was better for us to be honest and give him a chance to move on which he has now done.
As myself and Rock Hopper Steve have previously stated, the concern is now our lack of depth in the forwards if we get any injuries.
I don’t believe we have any middle forwards or edge forwards outside of our top 17 that you could currently call NRL ready and have proven with regular strong performances in our NSW Cup team.
Therefore common sense should be telling us it is not possible to go a full season without a few injuries to our forwards and therefore plans should already be in place to sign at least 1, but preferably 2 players from outside the club who can provide adequate cover to our NRL forwards and that’s in addition to the hopeful signing of Taylan May.
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So true V but alas where do we get the forwards from, we need them right now could be a while before some decent ones become available, it's a concern.
 
Rock Hopper Steve said:
So true V but alas where do we get the forwards from, we need them right now could be a while before some decent ones become available, it's a concern.
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The only way is to try and convince players who are already a little bit disgruntled with their position in their current clubs pecking order that they can potentially get much better NRL opportunities if they switch clubs and play for us for the remainder of 2025.
You won’t sign any superstars this way, but we are not looking for superstars, just a couple of players who can get the job done when called upon to play NRL.
 
Vicious said:
The only way is to try and convince players who are already a little bit disgruntled with their position in their current clubs pecking order that they can potentially get much better NRL opportunities if they switch clubs and play for us for the remainder of 2025.
You won’t sign any superstars this way, but we are not looking for superstars, just a couple of players who can get the job done when called upon to play NRL.
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Sneaky stuff Richo should have experience at this approach hope he's working on it right now.
 
jrtiger said:
you've taken the bait for the biggest nothingburger of the year. well done on giving Dean Ritchie the airtime he doesn't deserve.

did you hear Luai talking about how he wanted a ten year deal in the offseason? guess not. get your head out of News Ltd's arse and your ears might pick a few things up.
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The funny thing I have never read one of his rants or even heard him on tv or radio, so I don’t know how I can help him
 
So Shane Richardson's UK trip, he was shopping;

John Bateman - Gone (NQ)
David Klemmer - All but gone (Dragons)
Jayden Sullivan - Temporarily Gone (Souths)
Charlie Staines - Contracted for 2025 only
Brent Naden - contracted for 2025 only

 We've also got Justin Olam, potentially retiring pending medical.

Tumeth, Matamua, Feledy and Douihei all only contracted for this year, 2025.

Starford Toa has 2025 and 2026 on the books.

That's a lot of ordinary players on the way out.
Hopefully some upgrades incoming.
 
Demps said:
So Shane Richardson's UK trip, he was shopping;

John Bateman - Gone (NQ)
David Klemmer - All but gone (Dragons)
Jayden Sullivan - Temporarily Gone (Souths)
Charlie Staines - Contracted for 2025 only
Brent Naden - contracted for 2025 only

 We've also got Justin Olam, potentially retiring pending medical.

Tumeth, Matamua, Feledy and Douihei all only contracted for this year, 2025.

Starford Toa has 2025 and 2026 on the books.

That's a lot of ordinary players on the way out.
Hopefully some upgrades incoming.
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Was it a selling trip?
He didn’t manage to do a deal with anyone over there did he?
 
Demps said:
So Shane Richardson's UK trip, he was shopping;

John Bateman - Gone (NQ)
David Klemmer - All but gone (Dragons)
Jayden Sullivan - Temporarily Gone (Souths)
Charlie Staines - Contracted for 2025 only
Brent Naden - contracted for 2025 only

 We've also got Justin Olam, potentially retiring pending medical.

Tumeth, Matamua, Feledy and Douihei all only contracted for this year, 2025.

Starford Toa has 2025 and 2026 on the books.

That's a lot of ordinary players on the way out.
Hopefully some upgrades incoming.
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I would offer if top 30 spots allow it Staines and Naden contracts for next year 200k max each both played 50 NRL games
 
OptimisticTiger said:
With Klemmer gone it is clear we need to bolster up the back row and centers.

If I was Richo I would obviously be targeting Taylan May for the centers.

My pick for a back rower would be Simi Sasagi from the Raiders, fairly sure he is off contract at the end of this year and will be very cheap.

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Just re-signed today
 
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