Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Bellend said:
We need hard heads and players with a tone setting attitude, go and mend the bridges burnt with Ray Stone. Get a hard head in like Josh Kerr, bring in Siliva Havili from Souths who just rips in,
Davy Moale and Viliami Fifita 24 year props who are aggressive runners looking to play more minutes.
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Can you elaborate on the story with Stone ? I don’t recall that ..

I like your suggestions 👍
 
Vicious said:
No I don’t believe Twal or Seyfarth are our major problems if used right.
Neither should be starting props, Seyfarth should not be playing back row unless we have Liam Martin on the other edge, which we do not.
With our current roster I’d go back to trying Seyfarth starting at 13 as he at least has some sort of passing game and generally defends well in the middle and I would have Twal as a genuine worker off the bench.
To start games we need a prop who runs the ball strongly and I think Sione has shown that.
That would mean we have Twal, Pole and Royce Hunt on the bench and the 4th spot would likely be Heath Mason to cone on at 9 and provide some attacking spark.
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I’m not sure why it’s relevant who is on the other side ? If it was Martin, then 95 percent of the opposition attack would be coming Seyfarth’s way ..so there is that…

Seyfarth has no business being an NRL starter in my view …. I know he does his best but he lacks the physicality…his better games this year have been off the bench , so that’s where I would consider him exclusively

There is no shame in hoping for a better player than Twal to push him out of the 17,,., if he is the first middle reserve he will still end up playing half the games minimum .. Hunt has had a go already and failed … I dont know why there would be an expectation things would be better the next time … seems like deckchairs on the Titanic planning …even last year in a better forward pack he was only playing 10-15 minutes … we need better
 
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Vicious said:
No I don’t believe Twal or Seyfarth are our major problems if used right.
Neither should be starting props, Seyfarth should not be playing back row unless we have Liam Martin on the other edge, which we do not.
With our current roster I’d go back to trying Seyfarth starting at 13 as he at least has some sort of passing game and generally defends well in the middle and I would have Twal as a genuine worker off the bench.
To start games we need a prop who runs the ball strongly and I think Sione has shown that.
That would mean we have Twal, Pole and Royce Hunt on the bench and the 4th spot would likely be Heath Mason to cone on at 9 and provide some attacking spark.
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I don’t mind the structure of this but would probably currently lean towards Tatteo instead of Hunt and Murray at 14. He is serviceable at DH and is a good defender. In my opinion, Mason should develop his game in lower grades at the moment.
 
bbobb said:
I don’t mind the structure of this but would probably currently lean towards Tatteo instead of Hunt and Murray at 14. He is serviceable at DH and is a good defender. In my opinion, Mason should develop his game in lower grades at the moment.
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Yes that sounds decent.
 
Tom Shines said:
Benji wanted to “get into the grind “ with the Panthers last night… how did that work for them 🤔… our boys had 20 minutes only in them playing this way .. why play a game style that suits the opponent ?

Also … any chance they can contest some attacking kicks every once in a while? Most other teams successfully disrupt attacking kicks and get repeat sets inside the opponent 20 .. we don’t even try… the only one all season that attempts this is Bula
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Sammy F was doing it last year but has gone away from it this season.
 
Kelce68 said:
He's been trying to instill it all year.

A conservative first 20, then stick in the game and win late.

It's a shithouse game plan and it hasn't been adapted at all over the course of the season.

It doesn't play to our strengths and there appears to be no effort put into the 1%ers that make that game plan successful.

Basic shit like line speed, ball runners receiving the ball at the advantage line, kick pressure, competing on kicks, passes out in front, operating at speed, etc, just isn't there.

Penrith did everything 10% better last night and it blew the game wide open.

Benji can recruit and can get the dressing room showing up for him. But the cookie-cutter, generic game plans that look like they've been torn out of the play book that Melbourne donated to Vinnies in 2019 is some of the most amateur shit I've seen.

They've actually started to build a squad and have actual threats on the park, but they don't use any of them.

Latu and Luai's running games have disappeared. What exactly has the Doueihi experiment achieved? Wingers shifting sides. Poor, predictable selections. No competing on high kicks even in the opposition half. No protection for the kickers. Everything at half pace.

The biggest challenge in this rebuild was the squad. That has finally started to improve.

The next will be the actual coaching.

I hope for the love of God that Richo has told Benji behind closed doors that he has a free swing the back end of this year to get combinations right long term ahead of 26, because, if not, these crack-addict selections and positional switches and redundant, derivative, half-assed plays are a ticket to nowhere.
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Yep. Getting in the grind is all well and good but they didnt even fire a shot last night. It was as meek and boring perfomance as you're ever likely to see. They at least had a plan B earlier in the year.
 
wonka said:
Richo is like the return of Sheens to long out of the game, He offered Galvin a million plus for 5 years Stefano 850 for 4 years luckily both rejected. Then signs all his sons clients from the Easts tigers.
The good clubs have a recruitment committee, we have Richo pandering to Benji.
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It's where we are at.

If we had resigned Galvin I reckon most of the forum would have flipped and said it was a good move.

Stefano on 850k would have lifted us this year if we also signed Terrell May. No I don't think he is worth that, and I don't get why he is so highly rated (he just seems solid, but not exceptional as a prop.. sometimes slow). But this year we NEEDED forwards. Teams are running right through our middle and that's why we lost 64-0 to melbourne early on.

Look, do we need a recruitment committee? maybe, maybe not. What we need is to "Harden up", tackle harder and get our defense down. Sadly 2025 is the exact opposite problem of 2024.

2024 our backline/wing-center combinations let soft tries in and we lost it in the wings who did not score.

2025 our forward pack is missing 2 players minimum. We needed a first grade forward and a reserve grade forward. Hunt was a good off the bench player, but failed as a starting forward and is going backwards. < That's what our coaching staff need to focus on.

Our recruitment has IMHO been exceptional. Our performance of those recruits and who we have on roster is the big issue. We need a training committee!
 
poopy_diaper said:
Love Bula but we are 2 and 1 with Turuva so not sure we are tbh
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Turuva isn’t a long term prospect at the back.
He is extremely one dimensional and even though that has been a breath of fresh air so far, opposition defences will soon understand that there is zero nuance to his attack. There is no deception, no ballplaying, just hard fast returns.
Bula offers a hell of a lot more and I have no doubt we’d still be 2 & 2 had he been there as those two wins were against a side missing most of their team and the worst performed side in the comp
 
Tucker said:
Turuva isn’t a long term prospect at the back.
He is extremely one dimensional and even though that has been a breath of fresh air so far, opposition defences will soon understand that there is zero nuance to his attack. There is no deception, no ballplaying, just hard fast returns.
Bula offers a hell of a lot more and I have no doubt we’d still be 2 & 2 had he been there as those two wins were against a side missing most of their team and the worst performed side in the comp
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Totally agree. He is a useful back up for a handful of games each season if need be. That is his ceiling though.
 
Vicious said:
Why ?
Staines, Laulilli and Naden all not injured, available for selection and played very well for our NSW Cup team on Friday night.
Much better options than injured players who are only running the ball at 50% capacity and struggling to make tackles,
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To'a on that dash down the sideline was a worry, poor kid pulled up like he pulled his hamstring. Absolutly no pace in him. What happened to the guy who was busting tackles earlier in the year. Even after he was moving like he was in pain. Something is definatly wrong with him. Skeltons hamstring might still be busted, but I wouldn't know i can't remember the last time I saw him gallop in some clean air.
 
I really think we are 3 middles away from a strong side.

Lock - Depending on Doueihi but honestly he probably the ideal 14. Latu can play 9 in stints if Api needs a rest.

So we need a lock. Tino out of a tree?

If Hunt was on the pace we would be sweet but need that big body impact forward. Toby Rudolf may the option as managed by Richos son plus adds a good team culture.

Backs are halves depth we are sweet. Doueihi & TayMay makes 27. Minus Sullivan is 26.

I think we need 3 players with a spare up the sleeve!
 
Tom Shines said:
I actually thought Luai’s kicking game was too long yesterday ! He has a longer boot than I thought … but seems to overreach on the bombs ..
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This. Plenty of hang time but he over cooked them. Bit more shallow and our guys could have competed for a fair few. In saying that though I don't blame Luai for kicking them too long because I don't remember one kick where I saw one of our players sprinting down field trying to get to it because it was too long. I understand a straight defensive line but still a bit of desire would have been nice to see.
 
Vicious said:
No I don’t believe Twal or Seyfarth are our major problems if used right.
Neither should be starting props, Seyfarth should not be playing edge back row unless we have Liam Martin on the other edge, which we do not. However we are very limited in our back row options, so with Samuela injured, what other choice do we have other than to play Seyfarth on an edge ? Not his fault that he’s playing out of his best position because of our playing roster stuff ups.
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How can anyone watch Twal play and think you know what this guy will make a decent starting prop.
 
Vicious said:
Either way our overall kicking game long and short along with our kick chase is currently 17th in the NRL by a long way.
Benji press conference mentioned it and then stated Luai needs help with the kicking, but then said Latu will be selected at 7 again next week ?
What is going to change in a week ?
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Hopefully the former Golden boy 5/8 teaching the 4 game halfback about the role, I'm not holding my breath though vicious.
 
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