Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

We never have any line speed when defending and it pisses me off. All the good teams sprint off the line, WTs barely move off the line.
Why the hell haven't our coaches addressed this?

Benji seems to be very much into the "fast footy" gameplan of Sheens and you look at his squad he is actually improving on Sheen's plan....

So why the slow line speed? We have a fast-ish team. Are there slow pokes in the line and Benji is trying to get us to hold the line?? That I would get as we need the line to move together so that gaps don't form... but we need to be quick into the opposition else they get room to move and plan. We had this sorted at the start of the year.

Far too much experimentation going on. Keep it simple.
 
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.
OMG THIS!

You have completely nailed it.

AD should have been told "you are safe here. Your position is right center, that is where you will stay and build from now on". OR "you don't want to be Center, sure... but your going utility and we are keeping someone else at right Center".
The AD experiment has achieved nothing and I don't blame AD for this. (I do blame him for signing with Issac Moses and he should walk for that alone).

It created a strange attack and ruined our defensive structures. We need players to stay at Center and own the damn spot. Guys who know when their winger can take the attacker in front of them and when they need to move in/out.
 
Two weeks in a row I've noticed a real poor attacking approach.

Predictable and everything targeted to the middle. Our edges are so underutilised.

Embarrassment.

We need to utilise the entire field and all attacking angles, not just trying to score under the posts every time.

Send every set to the left, get em comfortable, thinking the left is on, then go right. Idk... surely there's some kind of intelligence in the coaching room that can see what we're doing isn't working and we need to DO MORE.
 
Plath is another great player that is going to be a star.

I actually saw Kurt a few days ago.
Must be in town visiting his family, whilst dolphins have the bye.

He came through the same team as Grant Anderson, Central in the Newcastle comp.

They've recruited well.
Kurt or Ray, it'd be a massive signing for us if we could land either. Doubt both would be an option though. Kurt is locked in until 2027 and Ray's on till end of 2026.
I’ve heard a whisper that Ray Stone is looking for a move back to Sydney and it could be for 2026.
If true we have to make a play for him for his aggressive defence alone.
 
Two weeks in a row I've noticed a real poor attacking approach.

Predictable and everything targeted to the middle. Our edges are so underutilised.

Embarrassment.

We need to utilise the entire field and all attacking angles, not just trying to score under the posts every time.

Send every set to the left, get em comfortable, thinking the left is on, then go right. Idk... surely there's some kind of intelligence in the coaching room that can see what we're doing isn't working and we need to DO MORE.
Spot on, but we need more speed within our team to allow this to work effectively.
I like your call to sign Sione Finau, I hope someone is listening.
 
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A few of us can see it… Api and Luai must be able to as well having been part of successful sides previously… surely they must be letting BM know ?
Youd think so, right?

I think they already have one eye on 2026...

In the post match presser, it sounded like the tigers wanted to play a Penrith style of football yesterday. The only reason you'd do that is if you were at the same calibre (which we aren't) or you wanted to test yourselves against the 4 time premiers who have won 6 in a row...

Its like douhei to #13.. they seem to be trying things to set them up for next year. If that's the case I don't mind, as long as we don't get the spoon this year and it reaps some reward in 2026.
 
Klemmer was a better option than Twal, let that sink in.
The figures disagree with you.
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They are similar, Twal has done twice as many offloads and over 3x as many Tackle breaks. His errors are higher, but you look at our forwards and they are being flogged playing long minutes. If they both played the same minutes the error rate may be less.

Ofcourse we should have kept one of Paps, Bateman, Klem or Stefano and Klem was probably the most realistic chance of keeping.

But we should have kept Klemmer out of desperation for needing a front row. On balance, Twal is just outperforming Klem. Add the Salary cap in and Klem is clearly on far more coin. There is nothing in Klem's onfield performance that shows a more then average first grade effort.
 
Given their current positions in their respective squads, the two guys I would be enquiring about for next season are Trey Mooney (bench middle) and J’maine Hopgood (lock).

With Papali’i looking likely to stay at Canberra, they may be willing to let Mooney go. We enquired about Mooney before June 30 but were knocked back, however that was when Canberra thought Papali’i would be leaving.

Hopgood has been moved to prop in recent weeks with Ryles preferring Dylan Walker in the lock role.

These two would improve our 17 immensely and leave guys like Seyfarth, Twal, Bird and Doueihi all fighting for one bench spot and the others in Cup (depth).
Absolutely yes on Hopgood. When he first moved to Parra his form was unbelievable- he hasn’t hit those heights this season but I still think he is an above average lock forward.

IMO lock is our biggest weakness for next season. I think Douiehi is capable of turning into the lock we need, but wouldn’t hesitate for even half a second to buy Hopgood instead if he was available.
 
Why the hell haven't our coaches addressed this?

Benji seems to be very much into the "fast footy" gameplan of Sheens and you look at his squad he is actually improving on Sheen's plan....

So why the slow line speed? We have a fast-ish team. Are there slow pokes in the line and Benji is trying to get us to hold the line?? That I would get as we need the line to move together so that gaps don't form... but we need to be quick into the opposition else they get room to move and plan. We had this sorted at the start of the year.

Far too much experimentation going on. Keep it simple.
It's like the team hasn't got the fitness or muscle to do it. Get the Fu.king defensive coach to make sure we move harder off the line for the whole game and I think we will notice a real difference in how we can attack. We can't keep allowing teams to make 40m on us and us make 20-30m. We need to move hard off the line and slow the oppositions attack down in the wrestle. These pricks train enough and earn enough money to do it. If they can't handle it, then piss them off.
 
Why the hell haven't our coaches addressed this?

Benji seems to be very much into the "fast footy" gameplan of Sheens and you look at his squad he is actually improving on Sheen's plan....

So why the slow line speed? We have a fast-ish team. Are there slow pokes in the line and Benji is trying to get us to hold the line?? That I would get as we need the line to move together so that gaps don't form... but we need to be quick into the opposition else they get room to move and plan. We had this sorted at the start of the year.

Far too much experimentation going on. Keep it simple.
The line speed yesterday from tackle 1 was terrible at its been all year I don't see how tge coaching staff don't do anything abt it. There are Areas in our game that regardless of talent we just don't do. Moving up in defence is one that is unacceptable
 
The line speed yesterday from tackle 1 was terrible at its been all year I don't see how tge coaching staff don't do anything abt it. There are Areas in our game that regardless of talent we just don't do. Moving up in defence is one that is unacceptable
Line speed is often a mentality. I honestly believe we lack 'aggressive' footballers who crave the collision.

Everyone has valid points on here.

For mine- the way to win at Rugby League hasn't changed, despite trends.

You still win in the trenches. And the Tigers do not win the trenches.

We have a collection of pretty good middles. May, Pole, Fainu, Twal, Seyfarth, Hunt...all of them have their good values.

But not one of them is aggressive in contact. No hitters. No JWH style guys. Nobody that, when the game is turning against us, can grab the team & lead the way.

Hunt is the guy that MIGHT have been able to do it, but he plays too few minutes & too few involvements.

If we cannot win the ruck, the collision...if we cannot turn momentum when it's against us...if we cannot throw something at a team like the Panthers when they are shutting us down- it doesn't matter how good your halves & centres are.

I don't know a better way of saying it...I think we need a couple of thugs in the middle to make teams NOT want to play us.
 
Line speed is often a mentality. I honestly believe we lack 'aggressive' footballers who crave the collision.

Everyone has valid points on here.

For mine- the way to win at Rugby League hasn't changed, despite trends.

You still win in the trenches. And the Tigers do not win the trenches.

We have a collection of pretty good middles. May, Pole, Fainu, Twal, Seyfarth, Hunt...all of them have their good values.

But not one of them is aggressive in contact. No hitters. No JWH style guys. Nobody that, when the game is turning against us, can grab the team & lead the way.

Hunt is the guy that MIGHT have been able to do it, but he plays too few minutes & too few involvements.

If we cannot win the ruck, the collision...if we cannot turn momentum when it's against us...if we cannot throw something at a team like the Panthers when they are shutting us down- it doesn't matter how good your halves & centres are.

I don't know a better way of saying it...I think we need a couple of thugs in the middle to make teams NOT want to play us.
💯 correct, but these types of players are becoming very rare.
 

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