Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Interesting. I never knew that.
My old man was a local...well we all were, was a member of WA and spent a LOT of time at Ashfield pub.
Lots of players were locals too and it seemed common knowledge locally.
Words spread after the 4th schooner.
Late 50s early 60s they were the millionaires...1 premiership but nearly 10 years finalists but up against the record breaking dragons.
70s they were the battlers, fibros which Masters used well but it was not just psychology it was real.
80s = they were busted, broke and kicked out of the comp three times.
Fund raising concerts at Lidcombe and Burwood, raffles etc to remain viable meanwhile the blazer brigade stuffed their snouts at the trough.
 
My old man was a local...well we all were, was a member of WA and spent a LOT of time at Ashfield pub.
Lots of players were locals too and it seemed common knowledge locally.
Words spread after the 4th schooner.
Late 50s early 60s they were the millionaires...1 premiership but nearly 10 years finalists but up against the record breaking dragons.
70s they were the battlers, fibros which Masters used well but it was not just psychology it was real.
80s = they were busted, broke and kicked out of the comp three times.
Fund raising concerts at Lidcombe and Burwood, raffles etc to remain viable meanwhile the blazer brigade stuffed their snouts at the trough.
Bloody hell. Some good stories and insight there mate. I never realised it was so good...and so bad at different times for Wests.

Maybe there is a correlation between money and competitiveness.
 
Maybe, he is only SG Ball age this year though
The other 3 halves from this years u/19’s SOO being Ben Black at the Broncos, Toby Rodwell at the Roosters and Michell Woods at the Bulldogs are all top 30 contracted from 2026 onwards, so I very much doubt Javon Andrew’s would have signed with us unless we have him top 30 contracted from 2026 onwards.
 
I'll make my last comment to you on this matter, polite. In the post that B Boy responded to I was talking about recruitment. I cannot believe that we are slow to identify and move on recruitment needs because of funding. Equally I don't believe players don't come here because we're underfunded by HBG. We were told players didn't come because we didn't have a C of E. Now we do and we still have recruitment issues. We were told that we needed a majority-independent Board to fix our issues. We've had one for a couple of months and nothing has changed or shows promise of change.
The thing about funding which you and I don't know is whether we have enough funding to do the job. I would disregard newspaper stories on the topic because I don't believe in the integrity of very many journalists. The HBG grant is not the only source of funding for WT. We have money from quite a number of sponsorships. I have no clue whether we have enough money but neither does anyone else and, from my business experience, more money doesn't necessarily produce better outcomes.
I can honestly say I have not heard anyone say a lack of money was a big issue for us. You would have thought Justin P or Lee H might have said something on their departure if funding was a big issue.
In closing and, perhaps by way of an olive branch to you, I should say that anyone who has issues with B Boy is OK by me,
You seem to have some vendetta against me. I don't even know who you are, or if I've ever commented on yours posts before.

What I do know is that you're an ignorant, arrogant diehard Wests fan. Stuck in the past, and removed from reality. If my user name was Wests boy you'd probably love every post of mine. Nothing I've said it's pro Balmain, i'm simply pro Wests Tigers.

Apparently you're also completely unaware of our financial struggles. Richo himself has made a point of saying the club needs to improve a lot on the business side of things because we just don't have enough money to compete with other clubs. He can't control HBG, he can impact sponsorship and memberships.

Your blind support for Wests and apathy towards Wests Tigers is telling.

The fact is, we are a loser club. Mens and womens footy we're a joke. An embarrassment. We need to be realistic and acknowledge this fact, which Richo has done. We cannot keep doing the same things and expect different results.
We don't have enough scouts, we don't have enough staff, we don't generate enough money, we don't play finals footy in any grade, we don't have a culture of success, excellence and development, we repeatedly make terrible decisions. We need change.

Enough now, take any further replies to the Magpies thread where you belong.
 
He will probs just go back to England and willingly. Would be a lonely existence being this far away from home to run around Lidcombe Oval and that.
He's got 700000 reasons to stay for another couple of years. Not a bad deal, hang in eastern suburbs, get paid well to do nothing. Souths will chip in at least 400k to move him on
 
He is basically a Benji clone, speed and a wicked step mixed with a passing/kicking game. Just abit more size.
I really like bringing Andrews back to the club, but we also need to be realistic. He's not on an NRL deal, and he's still young.
I just watched the u19s origin and honestly he was the least involved of the 4 halves on the field. Touched the ball maybe 4-5 times in the first half. Yes he will solid in the last 10 mins but in reality he put in two good grubbers and kicked a goal from the sideline. How he got mom is beyond me.
As a 5/8 I'm not sure where he would fit at wt long term. While I'm not one for moving players I do think he could be a very good centre, or maybe even lock in the future. He's got the size and strong defence, not sure how much pace he has. We already have two running 5/8s at the club long term
I doubt he's even on a development contract for next year. I'd say train and trial, then maybe development in 2027. If he were top 30 or development straight away the club would have mentioned so, like with Murray, Godinet etc.
He's a great prospect to have at the club, he's versatile and skilled. We need more players like that in all grades, and it's great to see us sign a junior from outside our pathways regions. This is what all good clubs do..!
 
I really like bringing Andrews back to the club, but we also need to be realistic. He's not on an NRL deal, and he's still young.
I just watched the u19s origin and honestly he was the least involved of the 4 halves on the field. Touched the ball maybe 4-5 times in the first half. Yes he will solid in the last 10 mins but in reality he put in two good grubbers and kicked a goal from the sideline. How he got mom is beyond me.
As a 5/8 I'm not sure where he would fit at wt long term. While I'm not one for moving players I do think he could be a very good centre, or maybe even lock in the future. He's got the size and strong defence, not sure how much pace he has. We already have two running 5/8s at the club long term
I doubt he's even on a development contract for next year. I'd say train and trial, then maybe development in 2027. If he were top 30 or development straight away the club would have mentioned so, like with Murray, Godinet etc.
He's a great prospect to have at the club, he's versatile and skilled. We need more players like that in all grades, and it's great to see us sign a junior from outside our pathways regions. This is what all good clubs do..!
Agree with this. I watched him and he certainly didn't dominate or look particularly outstanding.

I've seen some Q Cup highlights and he has a bit of Benji about him at times so maybe something to work with there, but a lot of NSW/QLD u19's never go on to make anything of themselves.

Time will reveal all, but you're right, we have no impediment other than our own resources to find the best kids in the country and flood our lower grades with them. Some will succeed and some will fail, but we need to keep feeding the topmof the funnel with talent.
 
I’m ok with bringing in some skilled kids as we can then keep developing some quality but we are struggling in the nrl and are not even a top 10 team we also struggle in reserve grade although been good recent we need players of nrl quality now , Andrew’s and Madden are not those guys , Richo give us a couple more nrl guys ,this tree rubbish is that rubbish Stewart and Mooney would be in our team this week , there’s a start
 
My old man was a local...well we all were, was a member of WA and spent a LOT of time at Ashfield pub.
Lots of players were locals too and it seemed common knowledge locally.
Words spread after the 4th schooner.
Late 50s early 60s they were the millionaires...1 premiership but nearly 10 years finalists but up against the record breaking dragons.
70s they were the battlers, fibros which Masters used well but it was not just psychology it was real.
80s = they were busted, broke and kicked out of the comp three times.
Fund raising concerts at Lidcombe and Burwood, raffles etc to remain viable meanwhile the blazer brigade stuffed their snouts at the trough.
Yep i went to one of those concerts at Lidcombe oval , was a great day but they were always going to push Wests out to Campbelltown
 
Our model of building a junior pathways system to supply the majority of our playing needs is doomed to fail without having the financial investment other clubs are pumping into their pathways systems.

Kids are getting scouted younger and younger, with clubs like the Dogs snapping up every kid they can get their hands on, many of which will be discarded a few years on and the cream kept. It would appear there is no limitation to the money a club can invest in recruiting junior talent.

It is funny how we have a salary cap and one of it’s objectives is get all clubs closer in ability, yet it’s open slather with juniors. Anyway we probably have to treble the money we are putting into our football operations to ever be competitive for any length of time.
 
Interesting.

Obviously Tigers have had their eye on him for a while, including him in some pathways camps a few years ago.

Seems a bit like Benjis timeline where he was at Keebra but the Tigers had their hooks in early.

I gotta feeling he's one to watch.
 
I’m ok with bringing in some skilled kids as we can then keep developing some quality but we are struggling in the nrl and are not even a top 10 team we also struggle in reserve grade although been good recent we need players of nrl quality now , Andrew’s and Madden are not those guys , Richo give us a couple more nrl guys ,this tree rubbish is that rubbish Stewart and Mooney would be in our team this week , there’s a start
Stewart is a fullback isn't he? Would you flick Bula? Mooney would definitely make the team. Agree with that.

Also not sure if Andrews is even on a top 30 contract. The club usually mentions that and they didn't.

On Madden, someone needs to have played a few NRL games and be willing to be the backup each week in state cup. Who would you sign that is prepared to play that role?

Ilias would also be available, but he's already upset he's not in firsts...you think he'd come here and sit in reserves?

I think you oversimplify the challenge of buying depth at times.
 

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