Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[batboy]

The two kids you speak of did successfully traverse the pathway.
They were NRL players by the time it went pear-shaped

Maybe before their time, in a team that wasn't ready for them
- Pathways are somewhat responsible for that.
(Pathways / Development doesn't finish at an NRL Debut)

 

[bptiger 0]

Are we bloody mad , we all agree on this forum we need FORWARDS, so what does the club do we sign 2 halfbacks , we got one on loan to Souths , this is why I think Richo and benji have lost the plot, it has been stated that mooney from raiders has been told he can go , Fermor from Gold Coast wants to leave , how about snapping them up rather than picking up halfbacks

 

[Bus 2 Terrigal]

Shannon Gallant was pretty much doing the job anyway from all reports. It's just a job title change at the end of the day.

The "changes" in the recruitment area still amount to 1 recruitment guy vs the Dogs 7.

It's not enough.

You talking about recruitment or are you talking about talent scouts?

Because you look at the Canterbury team and most of their players were established when they headed to Belmore. Of the others - Kiraz & Preston had shown plenty of promise at Flegg level (Newcastle & Easts).

Yes they have some good halves in their lower grades but I don’t see they’ve done much better than us in terms of scouting for kids who weren’t already in other clubs pathway systems

 

[Demps]

Talent scout, what a job.

What's the salary?

 

[Vicious]

Back to our edge back row dilemma.
The general consensus is Samuela Fainu with the addition of KPP is strong enough and we don’t need any more recruitment in this area.
So assuming that is true, are we happy with Seyfarth, Sukkar and Saukuru as our back ups and the players to apply pressure for the starting NRL positions ?
No disrespect to these players, I like Seyfarth as a player, but similar to the views of many others, I see him as someone who is competing with Twal for a bench spot.
Sukkar and Saukuru are both promising young players with plenty of size, but are they ready to throw down a genuine challenge to Samuela and KPP ?
I’ve mentioned Simi Sasagi many times, however he is not officially off contract until 2027, others have mentioned Billy Burns and Kayliss Fatialofa who both look to be available for 2026 at the moment and I agree both of them would be players who offer that little bit of extra speed and footwork that we don’t currently have in this position.

 

[Bus 2 Terrigal]

Maybe before their time, in a team that wasn't ready for them
- Pathways are somewhat responsible for that.
(Pathways / Development doesn't finish at an NRL Debut)

Yeah I agree with that, It’s tricky when the NRL squad is weak and the talent coming through is rich. I do however think Galvin and Da Silva had gone beyond the debut stage.

 

[Vicious]

Talent scout, what a job.

What's the salary?

50k and a couple of country pub feeds at Wests Tigers, you would be great Demps.
Quite a few people on here would be very good in all seriousness, I have heard they generally do not get paid a lot.

 

[weststigers]

Maybe before their time, in a team that wasn't ready for them
- Pathways are somewhat responsible for that.
(Pathways / Development doesn't finish at an NRL Debut)

Quoting your post, but only because it's topical.

Philosophically speaking, how does a club manage the balance between having NRL quality, or more importantly, top 4 quality players and develop the next crop underneath them if they aren't willing to wait for their turn in your system.

Da Silva is a good example. Varying opinions, but some may argue he wasn't 100% ready and it meant letting Api gona little early, so it creates an experience gap in that position while Da Silva develops further.

Alternatively, you keep Da Silva, who is 20 years old, and then the next quality kid comes through and sees a guy with a 15 year career in front of him, isn't he going to leave for a clearer pathway? I don't know how you can manage that effectively and keep all the best ones. Inevitably some will leave and you may not make the right pick in 100% of cases.

For example, it's likely we lose Haywood if Da Silva stays...or Haywood would overtake him and we'd lose Da Silva anyway. Weren't we always going to lose one?

 

[weststigers]

You talking about recruitment or are you talking about talent scouts?

Because you look at the Canterbury team and most of their players were established when they headed to Belmore. Of the others - Kiraz & Preston had shown plenty of promise at Flegg level (Newcastle & Easts).

Yes they have some good halves in their lower grades but I don’t see they’ve done much better than us in terms of scouting for kids who weren’t already in other clubs pathway systems

Recruitment and talent scouting for us is one and the same. We've got one guy doing it all.

 

[jadtiger]

Are we bloody mad , we all agree on this forum we need FORWARDS, so what does the club do we sign 2 halfbacks , we got one on loan to Souths , this is why I think Richo and benji have lost the plot, it has been stated that mooney from raiders has been told he can go , Fermor from Gold Coast wants to leave , how about snapping them up rather than picking up halfbacks

What makes you so sure that we are not talking to forwards?,since Richo arrived the leaks have all but dried up and i have far more faith in his ability to get us the players we need than i have ever had since the JV started.

 

[batboy]

You talking about recruitment or are you talking about talent scouts?

Because you look at the Canterbury team and most of their players were established when they headed to Belmore. Of the others - Kiraz & Preston had shown plenty of promise at Flegg level (Newcastle & Easts).

Yes they have some good halves in their lower grades but I don’t see they’ve done much better than us in terms of scouting for kids who weren’t already in other clubs pathway systems

They've got fingers in Pies everywhere,
Mid Coast, North Coast, Queensland- NZ
Since Gus has been there, They've announced plenty of Club Affiliations throughout the State and into QLD / NZ

Gus mentions often on his pods when he's been out and about advising and meeting with Kids and parents.

 

[batboy]

Recruitment and talent scouting for us is one and the same. We've got one guy doing it all.

Talent Scouts are literally everywhere - Working for Free.
There's a mad Roosters fan on Twitter called Alan Katzman, Goes to all Roosters Games in Every Grade.
Gus said he's been using him as a Talent Scout for 30 Years.

That's one example,
But most clubs have contacts / affiliations everywhere, and put them to good use.

I'm not saying we don't also have that - But who are they reporting to?
Those guys seem fairly skint. I think we might take the south west for granted a little bit.
I reckon it would be similar in the Newcastle area - A hell of a lot of Juniors seem to pass them by.

 

[weststigers]

Talent Scouts are literally everywhere - Working for Free.
There's a mad Roosters fan on Twitter called Alan Katzman, Goes to all Roosters Games in Every Grade.
Gus said he's been using him as a Talent Scout for 30 Years.

That's one example,
But most clubs have contacts / affiliations everywhere, and put them to good use.

I'm not saying we don't also have that - But who are they reporting to?
Those guys seem fairly skint. I think we might take the south west for granted a little bit.
I reckon it would be similar in the Newcastle area - A hell of a lot of Juniors seem to pass them by.

It's weird that we had this big focus on juniors under Sheens and we seemed to have this generational crop come through then we totally neglect it and get nothing for years and all of a sudden when we focus on it again, we start bringing in generational talent again.

Something hasn't been right there, but I'm not close enough to the situation to make any meaningful contribution as to why.

 

[Tom Shines]

So assuming that is true, are we happy with Seyfarth, Sukkar and Saukuru as our back ups and the players to apply pressure for the starting NRL positions ?

Yeah ..I’m happy with that …it’s adequate depth with some NRL experience … you don’t want to be spending even more money on reserve graders when their are multiple bigger needs in the middle

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

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 like the signing, he has natural attacking instincts. Speed and game breaker which we need. I’m not concerned about involvement right now more focused on the difference his involvement has when the ball is in his hands.

My view is we need quality depth in our ranks that as a whole allows us to drive the right standards (you can’t do that if we have crap players), creates competition which then drives the teams as a whole to lift and it also then let’s the kids develop in their correct pathways rather than all being accelerated.

I like how Richo and Benji are uplifting our squad, we still have alot of gaps but the changes made in 12mths is significant.

 

[Bus 2 Terrigal]

Recruitment and talent scouting for us is one and the same. We've got one guy doing it all.

Surely recruitment involves a whole bunch of people - with the coach having a huge say.

Talent scouting on the other hand used to be largely ex players, fans, contacts etc out in the country. I can remember back in the early 1990s I even turned my hand to a bit of talent scouting. I remember trying my darnedest to get the Magpies to sign Mal Peckham. The kid was a genius. Little did I know at the time, Arthur Beetson who was at Cronulla then, was similarly keen. Apparently Artie had identified Peckham ahead of Dave Peachey but the young three quarter simply wasn’t interested in leaving Moree (he did later play one season with Redcliffe however). Many years on and after all the dust has settled - stories of the great Mal ‘Sunboy’ Peckham are still told far and wide in NSW country circles 👍

 

[tigahhh]

Yep - Get that too...
Our pathways is hardly killing it at the moment (Considering we just lost 2 of the best kids in forever)

if you knew anything about our pathways you’d know they’re actually very strong atm & there is NRL talent coming through

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Good to hear another assessment of Andrews' talent. Vicious and BWG raved how good he was when I asked the question as the U 19 highlight real didn't reveal MOM feats.
Will be interesting to follow his development and make my own assessment.

Adel Hage provides some positive intel on Javon in the latest Wests Tigers Life podcast (out last night) for those interested (in the first 20 mins of the show).

 

[batboy]

Quoting your post, but only because it's topical.

Philosophically speaking, how does a club manage the balance between having NRL quality, or more importantly, top 4 quality players and develop the next crop underneath them if they aren't willing to wait for their turn in your system.

Da Silva is a good example. Varying opinions, but some may argue he wasn't 100% ready and it meant letting Api gona little early, so it creates an experience gap in that position while Da Silva develops further.

Alternatively, you keep Da Silva, who is 20 years old, and then the next quality kid comes through and sees a guy with a 15 year career in front of him, isn't he going to leave for a clearer pathway? I don't know how you can manage that effectively and keep all the best ones. Inevitably some will leave and you may not make the right pick in 100% of cases.

For example, it's likely we lose Haywood if Da Silva stays...or Haywood would overtake him and we'd lose Da Silva anyway. Weren't we always going to lose one?

Not that I want to get into one of your endless tirades,
But you do it the same way the Good Clubs do it.
Build a pathways and development system that they can believe in.
No one believes in us - and ours, that's why we're signing 17 year olds to NRL Contracts - If they could get them elsewhere, They probably would.

How long has the game been talking about Jonah Pezet?
(Has a dozen games to his name)
You're referencing the outcome, I'm referencing the miles before the outcome.

At what other club (System),
Does an 18 year old Kid whos signed for 3+ years request a release before he even Debuts in NRL because he doesn't see a future at the Club?
That's on Development / Pathways - The only place he'd been before the Pre-Season.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Havili set to move as NRL veterans wait on contracts

Almost 90 NRL players are facing uncertain futures with close to one-sixth of the league still unsigned beyond October.

aapnews.aap.com.au

Unless we have another bench utility who can play dummy half up our sleeve, I damn well hope we're talking to Havili who can cover hooker & be a powerful middle off the bench. This is 100% an area of need for us next season as Hope doesn't have the versatility & Haywood is at least 12-18 months away.