Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[magpies forever]

I'd like to see WT go hard for Mariner & Gagai- probably getting one of them or hopefully both. Doueihi shouldnt be renewed and Toa may not extend his contract beyond next year. BUT, we have to find a dedicated goal kicker.

Edit- I know May is coming in but Gagai can be good depth if we dont get Mariner

 

[Tom Shines]

If we do lose Da Silva, what are everyone’s thoughts on Lachlan Illias as our number 14 ?
He’s a tough bugger, a very good defender and strong runner of the ball, he should be very effective as an interchange hooker who could also potentially play a bit of 13 and be good cover for the halves.

Hard pass from me

 

[Tom Shines]

I'd like to see WT go hard for Mariner & Gagai- probably getting one of them or hopefully both. Doueihi shouldnt be renewed and Toa may not extend his contract beyond next year. BUT, we have to find a dedicated goal kicker.

Edit- I know May is coming in but Gagai can be good depth if we dont get Mariner

I would prefer to keep Toa … but I’m guessing we will know soon if he is here for 2027 or not …. If he wants to go to the market he is very likely out the door ..

 

[Tom Shines]

Technically Api will be 33 when his contract expires.

Technically he will be 34 and four months when he plays his first game under his new contract

 

[Needaname]

34 for the season he extends on and turning 35 later in that first year.

Yes but as the rugby league ^season runs from November to November Api would turn 35 in the 2nd year if he was to extend for 2.
It’s not horrible when you consider Cook is 34 as of last week and is contracted till the end of next year.
Hunt will be now playing hooker is already 35 and is contracted for another year.

 

[Juice]

I have heard rumours Brooks gets moved along at the end of this season … makes sense to me …Manly fans hate him

Surely no other NRL team would take him? Not the worst player obviously but with his age it might be time he wins a man of steel 💪

 

[tigahhh]

Yes but as the rugby league runs from November to November Api would turn 35 in the 2nd year if he was to extend for 2.
It’s not horrible when you consider Cook is 34 as of last week and is contracted till the end of next year.
Hunt will be now playing hooker is already 35 and is contracted for another year.

means we will probably need to go to market then to find another 9 to share the roll with api

 

[Tom Shines]

Surely no other NRL team would take him? Not the worst player obviously but with his age it might be time he wins a man of steel 💪

Parramatta was the rumour I heard to play with his best mate Mitch M … Mitch runs that club doesn’t he ?

 

[Tigerdazz2]

Fitzy was a lot better.

Everyone held their breath as gasped whenever Fitzy was under the high ball back in the day 😂

However he was a very dynamic player and a speed machine, he added more than what Mason has shown at this stage of his career.

 

[Needaname]

means we will probably need to go to market then to find another 9 to share the roll with api

Maybe.
For cover yes but I don’t see too many specialist hookers on team benches these days.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Technically he will be 34 and four months when he plays his first game under his new contract

So roughly 3 years younger then when Cameron Smith retired.

 

[Juice]

Parramatta was the rumour I heard to play with his best mate Mitch M … Mitch runs that club doesn’t he ?

Yea wow that’s not a bad shout actually, I could see that happening

 

[Tom Shines]

So roughly 3 years younger then when Cameron Smith retired.

What’s the relevance to arguably one of the greatest players to ever play the game ?

 

[Needaname]

Heath Mason is the new Daniel Fitzhenry.😬

Oh my god, I can’t unsee it.
In our premiership year we’ll have Mason on 1 wing with a big lump of lad and goal kicking winger in Makinhisi on the other!
Already got the Marshall clone just need Latu to spend some kicking sessions with Scotty Prince.
Is Terrell May our new Payton?
Can’t find a Hodgson in our squad though. Maybe that’s Laulii and Bula becomes our Elford.

Haha love it!

 

[Vicious]

I would prefer to keep Toa … but I’m guessing we will know soon if he is here for 2027 or not …. If he wants to go to the market he is very likely out the door ..

The teams on top have good quality outside of their best 17 which creates competition to break into the top 17, that’s what we ideally need to create also.
We all know Doueihi won’t stay with us a back up and as much as I like him, I cannot call him a top quality centre.
So if we sign one more high quality centre such as Mariner or Cobbo, it would mean we have Taylan May competing with To’a and the new signing for our starting centre positions and we would also have Taylan May competing with Turuva and Skelton for our starting wing positions.
That would be good solid competition and even then we would have young up and comers such as Luke Laulilli and Heamasi Makasini also pushing their case as a starting centre or winger.
So to me it’s a no brisker that we still need one more top quality centre/winger.

 

[Tom Shines]

The teams on top have good quality outside of their best 17 which creates competition to break into the top 17, that’s what we ideally need to create also.
We all know Doueihi won’t stay with us a back up and as much as I like him, I cannot call him a top quality centre.
So if we sign one more high quality sentry such as Mariner or Cobbo, it would mean we have Taylan May competing with To’a and the new signing for our starting centre positions and we would also have Taylan May competing with Turuva and Skelton for our starting wing positions.
That would be good solid competition and even then we would have young up and comers such as Luke Laulilli and Heamasi Makasini also pushing their case as a starting centre or winger.
So to me it’s a no brisker that we still need one more top quality centre/winger.

Not sure how this is relevant to my statement about Toa choosing to stay or not… but if he leaves then yeah,,,don’t have a problem with signing Mariner …

My problem as stated earlier is paying Mariner like $500k plus to get him to the club and he is behind May and Star and only sees the field through injury …

Let’s wait and see how May looks later this season …if that means Mariner signs elsewhere than so be it

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

What’s the relevance to arguably one of the greatest players to ever play the game ?

If his body & mind are still in good knick, it's possible he could still play at a high level for another 2 seasons until 36.

 

[Tom Shines]

If his body & mind are still in good knick, it's possible he could still play at a high level for another 2 seasons until 36.

Yeah ..it’s possible … let’s hope he does … but my point is that just because Smith did doesn’t mean he will …Api plays a more physical style as well …

 

[barnsta]

He's a good player.
His brother just joined Canberra, on a reserve grade contract.

He hasn't looked out of place in first grade.
I've watched him closely since he's made grade because he's somewhat of a family friend through his partner.

One of his brothers is a teacher

 

[jirskyr]

This place is getting like X/Twitter/Truth Social. It's just conspiracy theory of conspiracy theory - and about as much truth to them as there are on those platforms.

@Grok who is TDS going to play for in 2026?