Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Lestronge]

There is only one reason Richo loves talking profit, to justify his own over inflated wage.
No idea how so many get sucked in to believing most of the crap that comes out of his mouth.
Richo needs to focus on building us a genuine top 8 playing roster, otherwise we are wasting our time and money paying his monsterous wage.

I liked what he had to say ! Was concise , to the point gave insight into the KPis around his and Benjis role (win or you’re gone) . I enjoyed hearing about the clubs philosophy around players , and why guys like Hope and Murray are being elevated , and how those performance based pathways for journeymen will strengthen the lower grades , and apply pressure to the nrl team . Hopefully meaning a rising tide will raise all ships . It’s a clear , strategy around development and retention .
This idea raised by people like @cochise on the wests tigers podcast that if we recruit better players , we retain our existing players and they shuffle down . Sounds great in theory . It’s just unrealistic especially as 2 new teams come into the comp .
The only way we are getting players to supplant the incumbents is through development . I think we have a clear idea on where the top end of our cap will be spent over probably the next 5-10 years , with guys like Hayward , Bula, Fainu brothers ,May Brothers and Makasini , progressively chewing up more and more of the cap as the older guys like api and eventually Romey find thier salaries reducing on the other side of 30.

 

[Lestronge]

Don’t expect anymore big signings. The depth is improved. Talked up KPP fixing right side defence.

Talked up the squad clean out and how settled the roster is for the next 2 years.

Looks like club will develop Makasini, Moors and Godinet.

Said he believes the squad can be up with the best within 3 years or Benji and him will be out of a job…

I’m telling everyone Robert’s is a gun ! He will take Sukkar /Seyfarth spot in that 17 .

 

[twentyforty]

I’m telling everyone Robert’s is a gun ! He will take Sukkar /Seyfarth spot in that 17 .

With ease

 

[crazycat]

Can we afford Burton or not with the current cap situation ? The original comment I responded to also wants to play him at 13… according to you we can’t have our general play kicker playing that position …

I’ll say this again …I don’t believe Sayfarth belongs in our Top 17…. But he is still in that situation if they don’t add to the squad …Twal is fine …improved out of sight this year …

I think the big quesiton is:
"how badly do we want Burton?"

I mean, you look at the Bulldogs and go "we want Stephen Crichton" .. Not happening.
Then you go Kikau or Burton.

Burton is a game organiser and a kicker. we need that though I am not sure how he fits.
Kikau would provide the Oomph we need up front and be an awesome mentor.

 

[jirskyr]

Imagine how Sirro is feeling right now.
“How lucky am I to have played for the greatest state, and the 2nd greatest club and fans, (that ones for you @BZN). - and, my fans still mob me half way around the world!!! How good is that Mrs Sirro?”
Mrs: Sirro, “Yes Paul” while muttering “bloody football, bloody blues hat from 1986, thinks it’s his Baggy Green.”

That’s pretty Kool Skins.

I met Sirro as a young fella at an NRL refs function, Poppy-BF took me as his plus one. Sirro was really a nice bloke, he knew I was the tag along, but still had a little chat with me and made me feel welcome - and this was at a time when I was starting to see these footballers becoming more and more unapproachable to the own fans, not Sirro.
So I hope Sirro does feel the love.

I met Siro when I was a kid and he was in his prime, really good guy, like you said, took time to have a chat and he could tell I was star-struck.

Blocker too. My Dad's uncle was mentally handicapped, mad Balmain fan, hanging around the club and they were super nice to him, always made time to speak to him, give him a pat on the back.

That being said I've met a bunch of the more recent players and they were mostly really polite humble guys as well, you can tell they've had PR training, but some of them are real genuine humble guys like Stefano, Blore. I was actually super impressed with Billy Walters when he was at the club, really well spoken for a bloke who wasn't getting much first grade at the time.

I think really there's only the odd arsehole, or sometimes there are only so many randoms you can cop in one day.

 

[Vicious]

I’m telling everyone Robert’s is a gun ! He will take Sukkar /Seyfarth spot in that 17 .

Well he is big, strong, fast and has footwork and skill.
With all those attributes all you need to do is run hard, tackle hard, don’t be lazy and you have all the characteristics of an elite player.
So there is plenty of hope for him to progress very quickly if he is ready tho run hard, tackle hard and not be lazy.

 

[innsaneink]

If you think what I'm saying means I think everything is fine or I'm happy to be 13th there's no helping you. We came last three years running, including at least one where every team in every grade came last, and you're whining like a spoiled baby because we didn't win the comp this year. The joint was a debacle from top to bottom, mate - it's just not fixable in 12 months. Just endlessly demanding new or different free agent signings is the kind of strategy I'd expect to hear from an 11 year old.

Richo has changed his tune from mid year where he told James Graham we have a shitload of money and we theyll announce new signings in the next few weeks = KPP.
I think most got the impression there would be several. Thats whats annoyed me

I didnt realise we are back to being a development club once again, it quite difficult to keep up with what we are doing after signing Luai, Turuva, Skelton Terell etc etc...we are back to relying on the juniors such as Galvin TDS Mason Murry Sukkar etc...I hope Makasini hangs around.
This is nothing new people have been having this discussion for the last 15 years where its always next year or the year after

 

[innsaneink]

Players don't want to come here

Not that hard to understand

Doesn't matter who we hire to change that

That face a fxxxxn uphill battle to change that

Anyone who doesn't understand needs help

Even you

Says the mental midget who doesnt even watch our games.

Seven players came here this year

 

[jrtiger]

The NRL fund every dollar we spend on players within our salary cap.
If Richo and Benji can’t get that right I don’t see how that’s the fault of the HBG ?

great. that’s the salary cap, not the football department, pathways or junior recruitment.

where do you think the money for that comes from?

 

[Vicious]

turuva is appropriately paid if not on unders. he’s our #1 winger, second choice fullback and chief energy officer

That depends on who you want to compare him to ?
If you can believe the recent contract figures that were published for Brisbane Broncos players, it listed players such as Deine Mariner and Jesse Arthurs being paid 150k less than Turuva and others such as Karapani and Shibasaki being paid more tha 250k less than Turuva.
Then factor in that we re-signed To’a for not much less than what we are paying Turuva.
Although I don’t agree, I can see a valid argument as to why some people might believe Turuva is a better player than the Broncos players I have named above, there cannot be a valid argument that To’a is better than any of them.
Why is this relevant?
We over rate and over pay too many of our players which then effects what we have left available in our salary cap spend.

 

[innsaneink]

Who knows mate

You dont watch our games and you havent listened to the podcast we are discussing....
....back to your cartoons sonny

 

[innsaneink]

What did he say

He said he and benji will toddle off into the sunset in 3 years if we arent a top NRL team

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

That depends on who you want to compare him to ?
If you can believe the recent contract figures that were published for Brisbane Broncos players, it listed players such as Deine Mariner and Jesse Arthurs being paid 150k less than Turuva and others such as Karapani and Shibasaki being paid more tha 250k less than Turuva.
Then factor in that we re-signed To’a for not much less than what we are paying Turuva.
Although I don’t agree, I can see a valid argument as to why some people might believe Turuva is a better player than the Broncos players I have named above, there cannot be a valid argument that To’a is better than any of them.
Why is this relevant?
We over rate and over pay too many of our players which then effects what we have left available in our salary cap spend.

Yes it is frustrating to see these supposed figures for the Broncos compared to what we pay players of similar if not less ilk.

I guess a few things … are players are attracted to the Broncos for its standing as nearly always being a top 4 thus premiership chance; cheaper cost of living in SEQ than Sydney; and, the 3rd party deals which are heavy at the Broncos.

We just have to be smart & shrewd and bank on better performance getting us to the point where players will take ‘unders’ to come to us or stay with us.

Richo is working hard cutting back on the overpaid it seems. And at the moment we’re trying to attract players through 1) opportunity, 2) the Benji factor & his family first mantra & 3) the Luai/Api/Terrell connections. That’s our sell until our performance on the field has agents knocking down our door.

 

[Leica_Tiger]

I always thought getting off the bottom of the ladder was our number 1 goal for this year and any Supercoaches thinking we can just flip a squad in a season will remain disappointed.
Expecting a moneybags club type rise up the table would be great but it’s just not us, we are toilers with some flashes of brilliance as Benji himself would have us.
We have cut a bunch of deadwood, have recruited in some positions of dire need and have some exciting juniors coming into grade.
I have enough to be positive about going into next year and will welcome any additions BM and SR see fit to help us improve again in ‘26, a new (#13 and Prop) seem the required priority pozzies to recruit .

 

[2041]

Richo has changed his tune from mid year where he told James Graham we have a shitload of money and we theyll announce new signings in the next few weeks = KPP.
I think most got the impression there would be several. Thats whats annoyed me

I didnt realise we are back to being a development club once again, it quite difficult to keep up with what we are doing after signing Luai, Turuva, Skelton Terell etc etc...we are back to relying on the juniors such as Galvin TDS Mason Murry Sukkar etc...I hope Makasini hangs around.
This is nothing new people have been having this discussion for the last 15 years where its always next year or the year after

Didn't he say we had a million bucks or so? As in, roughly KPP plus May's extension? I specifically recall him saying we needed more in the back row and at centre, which is exactly what's been delivered. OK, you don't like KPP. I'm not sold on him myself. But we're sort of restricted to what's on the market. We can't just go and get prime Sonny Bill Williams from thin air.

But a couple of free agents aren't what's important here. Like I say, the joint was a shambles. We had practically no decent players, so step one was bringing in some competence in the free agent market. That was the easy bit, and it moved us from embarrassment to mediocre.

I'll say it AGAIN, as it's obviously not sinking in: that isn't how you build a long term successful club. The best clubs are all "development clubs": they bring through their own players, who are cheaper than free agent signings and who learn your way of doing things from day one.

This has always been the plan Richardson has elaborated: clean out the dead wood, establish standards, build good habits and good culture, bring through our own talent.

I'm not guaranteeing it'll work. But I know two things for absolute certain: it is the only way we are ever going to be successful, and it isn't going to happen overnight.

Pissing and moaning because you wanted more Christmas presents is so meaningless it's almost laughable. The people running the club are trying to build something that looks like the Panthers and you're having a tantrum because you want to be more like the Titans. It's embarrassing.

 

[Mccarry]

I am gutted that Latu needs a shoulder reconstruction. That is terrible. We needed him building combinations with Luai all offseason.

 

[innsaneink]

It wont happen overnight?

As i said this discussion has been done time and time again by everyone for the past 15 years

Thanks.for the patronising "it wont happen overnight" quip...thats reaĺy something thats news to someone born this year.

For some reason i get a bit snarky in september watching all the other teams year after year after year

 

[The Chad]

I think the Tigers make the 8 next season.

Richo didn't say 'no more signings'. Just no more 'major' signings.

There really isn't too much in the way of 'major' signings left anyway.

Upgrade the quality of the KOE squad so that guys in that team are pushing the guys in the top squad. Competition will create performance.

Adding KPP strengthens the top squad. Geyer & Roberts adds depth to push the likes of Sukkar & Seyfarth & Charlie Murray etc.

For mine- we need to add body types & attitude. Taller guys, or faster guys, or angry hard men. Add some variety to the squad to change what we throw at the opposition. There's 1 or 2 top spots available & a few KOE spots free. Have to get the right guys filling spots & then develop the guys below them to push those guys.

Pressure creates diamonds.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

It wont happen overnight?

As i said this discussion has been done time and time again by everyone for the past 15 years

Thanks.for the patronising "it wont happen overnight" quip...thats reaĺy something thats news to someone born this year.

For some reason i get a bit snarky in september watching all the other teams year after year after year

It’s only been 15 years mate. We can’t wallow.

 

[Tom Shines]

Richo didn't say 'no more signings'. Just no more 'major' signings.

There really isn't too much in the way of 'major' signings left anyway.

I went back and watched again to see exactly what he said ..

“The playing squad is now locked in virtually for the next two years.

We won’t be signing any …Don’t get excited fans waiting for the end of next year and we gunna sign…

We are locked in because we think the players we got can take us to the top of the NRL… if we’re wrong then Benji and I will be signing off into the sunset…”