Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Buttface said:
Did he actually do the whole preseason with them, bcoz he never trained a full preseason with us.
I reckon he did his career a disservice by playing international football over the offseason the last few years. He was on the down hill slide the year before we signed him, he needed to identify that, be honest with himself, and get a proper offseason training schedule in to prep himself for his last few seasons. Now he is not NRL run-on standard, and I’m not sure he is a benchy. How many years years are we chipping in? This and next?
Anyway his manager has done well.
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No it wasn't a full off season but there was a cows interview saying how well he was training with them, notice Nanai was on the bench tonight don't think it will be long before he's replaced by him.
 
Rock Hopper Steve said:
Always exceptions to the rule V but Johnny was past it for mine when he signed, hope your right about Faataape mate pretty sure he had a stinker on the wing last season.
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Re Bateman...

It wasn't that he was past it.
It was more that he was crap!

Sure if he was 300k he would slot in as a depth option for a few clubs. Kinda fits in that role at the Cows.
No way was he worth the hassle or the contract he was on.
 
Rock Hopper Steve said:
A leopard can't change his spots jr, he's had plenty of time to consider his anti social behaviour and wake up to himself there has been a few NRL redemption examples in the past.
You still sound as if you would take him if the hard nosed deal was accepted by him.
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Hmm bargain dollar? Maybe. I was never a fan of Taylan May, I can only say that I believe the output of his brother has tempered my opinion a little bit.
 
Vicious said:
Bateman is on the small side for an edge back rower, but that’s not the problem when you consider the best edge back rower on the competition currently is Briton Nikora who is barely 95kgs.
Hudson Young is also under 100kgs but is one of the Raiders best every week, so sometimes we get too carried away with size and not focus on the core skills that are running the ball hard, tackling hard and playing with energy.
The energy levels of our NRL team have improved dramatically with the inclusion of our new recruits who all play with high energy.
I can’t the same about our back up players which is my big concern, however Faatape who is supposedly filling in for Skelton tomorrow does always play with high energy, so I cannot begrudge him being called up,
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But look where Bateman played good.
In a Canberra pack with Papalii and a bunch of others.

Nikora is playing for the Sharks who have been able to train their props hard.

Hudson Young is back at Canberra, where you have Papalii and a bunch of other big props, Tapine, Horsbrough... etc.

Put a small mobile prop in a group of bigger props and it works great.
Put them in the sides we had in 2022-4, forget it. Oh yea we did, and it is most forgettable.
 
Rock Hopper Steve said:
Always exceptions to the rule V but Johnny was past it for mine when he signed, hope your right about Faataape mate pretty sure he had a stinker on the wing last season.
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I'm tipping Faataape to blitz due to still experiencing the effects of euphoria (unrivalled by any drug known to man) after today's sharks v dogs game:

He is now officially no longer the holder of the title of 'worst play the ball to an imaginary dummy half in NRL history'.
 
crazycat said:
But look where Bateman played good.
In a Canberra pack with Papalii and a bunch of others.

Nikora is playing for the Sharks who have been able to train their props hard.

Hudson Young is back at Canberra, where you have Papalii and a bunch of other big props, Tapine, Horsbrough... etc.

Put a small mobile prop in a group of bigger props and it works great.
Put them in the sides we had in 2022-4, forget it. Oh yea we did, and it is most forgettable.
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Yep Canberra have size in the pack to carry a smaller more mobile 2nd rower.
Our pack is pretty mobile. Even Twal looks to be moving more laterally this season. The starting props could both be locks.
 
TurnStyle said:
I'm tipping Faataape to blitz due to still experiencing the effects of euphoria (unrivalled by any drug known to man) after today's sharks v dogs game:

He is now officially no longer the holder of the title of 'worst play the ball to an imaginary dummy half in NRL history'.
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Hope he grows a foot taller before gametime, really worried about his arial ability.
 
Suggestion: Staines to UK, faatape to turkey, latu to the 17, naden and skeleton to Rome holy bath, on report half of the squad to Saul Goodman and Taylan May to officeworks to get a pen to sign that contract
 
They need a couple of new forwards pronto … I don’t think Taylan is going to make much difference in the short term … sign him to train and trial and get him in the NSW Cup team for 2 months …
 
Like every other year, as the grind kicks in and the injuries start we struggle. Our very best 17 with a good crack at the 50/50 calls will compete with most sides. One or two injuries and a few dusty calls and we fold like a pack of cards.

Our forward strength is terrible, we basically have no quality back rowers given Fainu is a middle and big Red is bench player at best. We are short in the frontrow.

Got a terrible feeling we could hit the wall big time as we come against the better sides.
 
Since last season ended,weve let go of Stefano,Papali,Klemmer(all 110kgs +_)...and Bateman..replaced by May(who is outperforming all of them)and Hunt(who is playing 35 mins)
But thats a lot of size and experience to lose,particularly against big packs like the Warriors Another to come next week
Still wanna see more minutes out of Royce,and less out of May,or were gonna burn him
And whilst they dont grow on trees ,we need a Klemmer sized replacement asap...and May in the backline. .hes a class above Toa/Faaatape.Naden and Douhi,and in tight games like today and Knights too,that difference really shows
We have 3 slots available..lots of $$.ets act before this season slides away with injuries
Were not going to save our way into the top 8!!!!!
 
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supercoach said:
Like every other year, as the grind kicks in and the injuries start we struggle. Our very best 17 with a good crack at the 50/50 calls will compete with most sides. One or two injuries and a few dusty calls and we fold like a pack of cards.

Our forward strength is terrible, we basically have no quality back rowers given Fainu is a middle and big Red is bench player at best. We are short in the frontrow.

Got a terrible feeling we could hit the wall big time as we come against the better sides.
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It’s hard to argue man … I shudder to think where they would be if May never fell in their laps…and even Pole re-signing has been a massive thing going our way
 
Tom Shines said:
They need a couple of new forwards pronto … I don’t think Taylan is going to make much difference in the short term … sign him to train and trial and get him in the NSW Cup team for 2 months …
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Taylan .. is an impressive centre .. he has more "grunt" in him than any other centre we have (besides Olam). Taylan is a smaller version of big brother Terrell. A bit like Turuva with all that determination of crossing the line with every run. I would see Taylan coming straight into our run on side the moment he signs with us.

And yes we are missing another prop .. and or a 2nd row forward who has little more mongrel than our current back rowers.
 
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