Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Betterdays22]

We are most definitely the slowest team in the comp. By a long long way. Overstating this is not possible. The only player web have who can compete with pace is Bula, who's quite lazy as to when he applies himself.

On a weekly basis all of our backs would be slower than their opposite, 99% of the time. We desperately need to sign pace, in every single grade. Our complete disrespect towards the games most important attribute is astonishing

Can you actually provide any evidence to support this?

Gold Coast would have one of the "fastest" backlines in the comp btw. Didn't seem to help them much this year.

Boiling things down to not having fast or strong enough players is such an oversimplification, particularly when the differences across the board are so small (apart from your odd outlier).

 

[tigahhh]

Can you actually provide any evidence to support this?

Gold Coast would have one of the fastest backlines in the comp btw. Didn't seem to help them much this year.

Boiling things down to not having fast or strong enough players is such an oversimplification, particularly when the differences across the board are so small (apart from your odd outlier).

yeah AD has out ran weekes, rinikama, kiraz all before 😂

 

[Fish88]

We're in big trouble then. Basically going to need a whole new team.

Imagine signing Turuva, Taylan May, Luai and Skelton and not being happy.

I'll let the forum recruitment experts work out who the right players are because clearly the club have no idea how to sign guys with "elusive zip".

I didn't think our biggest issue was scoring points though. Defensively, we copped too many 24+ games that we were right in with a shot of winning.

From the Bulldogs game, we won 2 from 5 where our style looked much better. We were run down in 2 of those games with big leads. We also lost to Souths because Galvin drops it over the line. We were run down by the Warriors 26-24. There's 4 very winnable games lost which puts us on 32 points. Round 1 also run down by Newcastle up 8 nil to lose 10-8. There's 5 ganes we could have won.

We are not playing for 80 minutes and cannot close out games when we are in the lead because of defence.

So true, everyone always wants a fast, tackle busting machine but forget that were losing games based on being run over in defence and not being able to win contact. We win much more games if we can rely on our defence ot hold up at the back end of games or when momentum is against us - especially our right side defence.

Id be happy with a couple of mongrels in the middle that love the contact, get up quickly at marker and look to hit again.

 

[Kelce68]

Our blokes are slow when it comes to pure acceleration. Only Mason and Api have that speed off the mark that causes linebreaks. The rest of our linebreaks occur due to power. Our back 5 hit the line hard but they don’t have that elusive zip. Most other sides do have that.

Latu is lightning off the mark.

 

[Jux]

Would love to get Ray Stone back. Always rated him in the juniors. Reminds me of a modern day version of Ray Price (for all the oldies like me out there 😁).

 

[Betterdays22]

So true, everyone always wants a fast, tackle busting machine but forget that were losing games based on being run over in defence and not being able to win contact. We win much more games if we can rely on our defence ot hold up at the back end of games or when momentum is against us - especially our right side defence.

Id be happy with a couple of mongrels in the middle that love the contact, get up quickly at marker and look to hit again.

This is a much more pressing issue than simply having "faster" players.

 

[Fish88]

This is a much more pressing issue than simply having "faster" players.

Im hoping Richo sees this as well, he has mentioned in the past about "it all starts in the middle with forwards".

 

[Betterdays22]

Im hoping Richo sees this as well, he has mentioned in the past about "it all starts in the middle with forwards".

Aggressive and dominant middles create the space for the outside backs to do their thing.

I don't think our outside backs have the opportunity to get into open air as much as other teams do, but guys like Bula, To'a, Latu and May have shown they can move if given the chance.

 

[Telltails]

You have to limit your error rate, be able to make metres with ball in hand, and or rely on a player with a great kicking game. No teams win games by trying to play out of their own half. We still lack some go forward with little impact off the bench when our starters become fatigued. The squad still needs some strengthening just not sure where those players are going to come from given the competition for players

 

[Vicious]

This is a much more pressing issue than simply having "faster" players.

The issue is that we limit our ability to successfully shift the ball from within our own half and either make line breaks or score tries.
Yes we done it very successfully in Bula’s try against the Cowboys at Leichhardt, but it does not happen often enough.
Not only that we very rarely make line breaks from our forwards. This got better over the past 5 rounds with Samuela looking injury free and confident, but we need at least one more line breaking threat in our forward pack. Hopefully KPP can provide that, but I can’t say I’m confident as he doesn’t hit top speed often enough for my liking.

 

[Aceshigh]

The issue is that we limit our ability to successfully shift the ball from within our own half and either make line breaks or score tries.
Yes we done it very successfully in Bula’s try against the Cowboys at Leichhardt, but it does not happen often enough.
Not only that we very rarely make line breaks from our forwards. This got better over the past 5 rounds with Samuela looking injury free and confident, but we need at least one more line breaking threat in our forward pack. Hopefully KPP can provide that, but I can’t say I’m confident as he doesn’t hit top speed often enough for my liking.

I think KPP is a much better option than Seyfarth & Sukkar

 

[weststigers]

Had the teams below us not been decimated with injuries, we would have gone very close to getting another wooden spoon.
IF we add two good quality forwards and one back to our top 17 we would have the quality and depth to genuinely be in the fight for a top 8 finish in 2026, however if we do not add 2-3 good quality players we will struggle again and likely finish lower than 13th.

Only 1 team was decimated with injury and that was Souths. Either way, the comp this year had 8th spot get 32 points...that is a high cut-off and indicates a comp with a clear gap between top and bottom 8.

Even if the bottom teams were more competetive, it actually increases our chances to make the 8 because the cut-off for the 8 is lower, for example Gold Coast in 2016 made it with 27 points.

The only team we beat that was "decimated" was the Roosters, but they made the 8 anyway. We were not handed a season of easy wins because of injury.

Secondly, your recruitment chat is all over the shop. Speed has been your issue and now you say we need 2 forwards and 1 back. You've got a new idea every hour.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

The issue is that we limit our ability to successfully shift the ball from within our own half and either make line breaks or score tries.
Yes we done it very successfully in Bula’s try against the Cowboys at Leichhardt, but it does not happen often enough.
Not only that we very rarely make line breaks from our forwards. This got better over the past 5 rounds with Samuela looking injury free and confident, but we need at least one more line breaking threat in our forward pack. Hopefully KPP can provide that, but I can’t say I’m confident as he doesn’t hit top speed often enough for my liking.

I think Samuela will become a greater tackle buster as he gets stronger & more powerful with each pre-season. I think the value we'll get from KPP is his ability to stand in tackles and get an offload away hopefully to a Bula at speed.

But with the players we have got, it seems our attacking threat will be through our system (like Dogs & Panthers) not on any individual x-factor brilliance though I think we'll see it time to time from Latu, Taylan & Makasini.

It would be good to have a player who can break a game open through explosive speed though like a Faalogo, Brimson, Kini, Fuller, Papz, Walsh etc etc. I know Mason is meant to be that player for us but he is nowhere near NRL defensive level yet. Jake Averillo would be a good get imo although others are right in saying he's probably not a target nor would he want to come here when To'a has a lock on right centre it seems.

Are there any other explosive fast outside backs down the depth chart at their current club who possibly could look for another opportunity?

 

[Buttface]

Discipline has been a problem at our club for yonks and this year we actually made some real progress in fixing it up. To bring NAS into the team who is a serial offender would be madness. Also refs already enjoying riding us with the whistle imagine if they had a target like NAS to focus on

Imagine Nas with a club that doesn’t get the rub of the green from the ref???
Gawd, he’s been protected down there and he is still one of the most penalised.
We need the blokes Bellend is replacing Nas with. Except mighty boy.

 

[Demps]

I think Samuela will become a greater tackle buster as he gets stronger & more powerful with each pre-season. I think the value we'll get from KPP is his ability to stand in tackles and get an offload away hopefully to a Bula at speed.

But with the players we have got, it seems our attacking threat will be through our system (like Dogs & Panthers) not on any individual x-factor brilliance though I think we'll see it time to time from Latu, Taylan & Makasini.

It would be good to have a player who can break a game open through explosive speed though like a Faalogo, Brimson, Kini, Fuller, Papz, Walsh etc etc. I know Mason is meant to be that player for us but he is nowhere near NRL defensive level yet. Jake Averillo would be a good get imo although others are right in saying he's probably not a target nor would he want to come here when To'a has a lock on right centre it seems.

Are there any other explosive fast outside backs down the depth chart at their current club who possibly could look for another opportunity?

Always liked Averillo.
High value player in regards to how many positions he can play.

Him and Stone [or Donoghoe] would be outstanding recruitment.

I hope we continue to add and improve the roster because it's essential.

 

[Vicious]

I think KPP is a much better option than Seyfarth & Sukkar

As a right edge back rower there is noubt KPP is an upgrade.
However we need him to be a genuine line breaking and try scoring threat. He has shown he is capable of this in the past, but he’s become very half paced and predictable in recent times, let’s hope that was just a result of him going through the motions and he will run the ball with much more speed and purpose now he’s with us for the next few seasons.

 

[Tiger Stripes]

Our blokes are slow when it comes to pure acceleration. Only Mason and Api have that speed off the mark that causes linebreaks. The rest of our linebreaks occur due to power. Our back 5 hit the line hard but they don’t have that elusive zip. Most other sides do have that.

Are you saying Mason has that elusive zip? Delusional. It goes nowhere.

 

[Wezt]

I am pleased Hetherington has signed with Manly. He is not the player we need.

A front-rower who has leg speed off the bench is something we don’t need?

 

[Vicious]

Only 1 team was decimated with injury and that was Souths. Either way, the comp this year had 8th spot get 32 points...that is a high cut-off and indicates a comp with a clear gap between top and bottom 8.

Even if the bottom teams were more competetive, it actually increases our chances to make the 8 because the cut-off for the 8 is lower, for example Gold Coast in 2016 made it with 27 points.

The only team we beat that was "decimated" was the Roosters, but they made the 8 anyway. We were not handed a season of easy wins because of injury.

Secondly, your recruitment chat is all over the shop. Speed has been your issue and now you say we need 2 forwards and 1 back. You've got a new idea every hour.

Incorrect my view on what is required with our recruitment strategy has remained the same.
One back such as Jake Averillo or Jesse Athurs who would add attacking threat, speed and versatility. One utility forward such as Siosifa Talakai or Ray Stone who would add much needed leg speed, aggression on both sides of the ball and versatility. One good quality tough middle forward such as Braden Hamlin-Uele or Davvy Moale.

 

[Demps]

A front-rower who has leg speed off the bench is something we don’t need?

Think he's more of a lock / backrower that gets folded more than a napkin.