Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Tom Shines]

something a bit wholesome abt ex-tigers players returning to the club. shows to me the club is in a different place now

Hi … I’ll ask this a bit more directly this time … do you know if the mooted Bird swap for Brown is still happening ? What have you heard exactly ?

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

something a bit wholesome abt ex-tigers players returning to the club. shows to me the club is in a different place now

I want to win & play finals, don’t want us to have a weekly reunion to remember that game we won in some year which was against the grain.

 

[WesternSuburbsBoy]

Hi … I’ll ask this a bit more directly this time … do you know if the mooted Bird swap for Brown is still happening ? What have you heard exactly ?

DT reported this morning that it could still be on but have just updated the article & removed any mention of Brown to WT's so I'd say it's not happening anymore.

 

[upthetigers]

DT reported this morning that it could still be on but have just updated the article & removed any mention of Brown to WT's so I'd say it's not happening anymore.

Damn, Bird is such a wasted roster spot

 

[Ecto-1]

Hi … I’ll ask this a bit more directly this time … do you know if the mooted Bird swap for Brown is still happening ? What have you heard exactly ?

According to Foxsports. If we get Brown it doesn’t look like on a swap deal for Bird.

 

[Tom Shines]

Thanks to the guys who posted further info …👍

My opinion is that considering there are only two roster spots left ..: I don’t particularly like signing Brown to take up one of those spots

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

View attachment 28888
According to Foxsports. If we get Brown it doesn’t look like on a swap deal for Bird.

If the swap deal is off thinking I'd prefer Elliot from the knights, even though in the past he seemed like a dick, hopefully he's woken up to himself.

 

[Vicious]

If the swap deal is off thinking I'd prefer Elliot from the knights, even though in the past he seemed like a dick, hopefully he's woken up to himself.

Whether it’s Elliott or someone else, surely we start looking at forwards with variety such as a passing game or footwork when running the ball as an option.
We currently have too many forwards who are one dimensional with limited ability to pass the ball and when running straight is the only option it becomes easy for opposing teams to handle.

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

Whether it’s Elliott or someone else, surely we start looking at forwards with variety such as a passing game or footwork when running the ball as an option.
We currently have too many forwards with limited ability to pass the ball and when running straight is the only option it becomes easy for opposing teams to handle.

Depending on how effective they are at bending the defense I think, but if it was a swap for Bird, I think Brown was a moderate upgrade.

But if you have Bird, Brown and Seyfarth in your top 30 in my opinion you're not improving the squad and it shouldn't be contemplated.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

no mention of Brown to WT in this Fifita article.

Yeah they have removed it. Probably Riccio assuming and then he got a call from either the club or Tartak.

 

[Lestronge]

He's already getting paid 750k. He's not going to take less and will be seeking more. Especially the longer the contract is.
Brimson on 800k.

Brimson has played origin , and should be the Pommy fullback if not for northern hemisphere politics .

 

[Tito Santana]

Based on my analysis below we need coverage at FB, Hooker and Lock.

There is a huge difference in the best players in those positions and the next man up.

The halves you can shuffle with. Madden is a competent first grader.

FB: Bula/Mason

OB: Turuva/Skelton/May/Toa/Makasini/L Laulili/Saukuru

5/8: Luai/Andrews

HB: Douhei/L. Fainu/Madden

Prop: May/Pole/Twal/Hunt/Brown/Afoa/K Laulili

HK: Koroisau/Hope/Haywood

BR: Sam Fainu/Sione Fainu/KPP/Roberts/Geyer/Seyfarth/Sukkar/Godinet/Taupau-Moors

Lock: Bird

 

[balmain boy]

'Hundreds per month' 😆😆😆

Is that my only option is it?

Why can it not be changed back? Specifically, why?

And, why, does @Kul not bother, even privately, to respond to respectful posters who would like to ask direct questions or query certain decisions?

The forum is a cash cow for Kul. He makes a bucket load of money of us, and so long as the basics are working he doesn't care about making our experience better. It's all about ad views for him.

And no I don't know why someone changed my post in the quote.

 

[balmain boy]

Should be trying to play hard ball & get Laiafi who is free to negotiate in a week anyway. Brown had a good comeback year in 2024 but he looked completely washed before injury this season

Yes, we should be targetting Laiafi not Brown! He's exactly the kind of player we need!

 

[Betterdays22]

Us - Certainty, the ability the plan long term, and a good value the longer the contract goes if not ratchetted.

Them - Certainty over future, Moses gets his revised cut in 26 and 27, etc.

There's plenty. That's not to say it's the best outcome for either party, but there are benefits to a deal like that.

I'd say, IF we get a deal done, it'd be more in the 3/4 years territory would be my bet.

poorly worded on my part. I see limited benefits of a contract of that length for both parties over a 3 year deal.

i think a deal around that money for 26, 27, 28 with no backending but the opportunity to renegogiate and extended in 2027 for 28 and beyond would be the best outcome for all.

I love Bula, his ceiling is enormous, but he is far from a sure thing

 

[innsaneink]

Is replacing Jack Bird with Nathan Brown going to catapult us into the top 8 ?
Even Walt Disney couldn’t dream this **** up.
We plan to get rid of average players who are somewhere between position 16-20 on our roster and replace them with other average players who will only be somewhere between position 16-20 on our roster and that’s going to make the world of difference with our results?

We.could try and replace Bird with Keon or Tino....but there goes our cap.

So which is it?

You constantly whine about both scenarios

 

[Ecto-1]

Based on my analysis below we need coverage at FB, Hooker and Lock.

There is a huge difference in the best players in those positions and the next man up.

The halves you can shuffle with. Madden is a competent first grader.

FB: Bula/Mason

OB: Turuva/Skelton/May/Toa/Makasini/L Laulili/Saukuru

5/8: Luai/Andrews

HB: Douhei/L. Fainu/Madden

Prop: May/Pole/Twal/Hunt/Brown/Afoa/K Laulili

HK: Koroisau/Hope/Haywood

BR: Sam Fainu/Sione Fainu/KPP/Roberts/Geyer/Seyfarth/Sukkar/Godinet/Taupau-Moors

Lock: Bird

Remember Turuva can play fullback.

 

[Vicious]

We.could try and replace Bird with Keon or Tino....but there goes our cap.

So which is it?

You constantly whine about both scenarios

You have answered your own question.
The successful NRL clubs manager to get the right balance in having top quality players who are influential and help their team achieve success on the field and lower tier players who play their role and help them stay under the Salary Cap.
The NRL ladder over the past 10 or so years clearly indicates Wests Tigers do not get this right.
I have been banging my head against the wall constantly explaining on this forum, if our highly paid influential players cannot get us enough wins to be successful, it means there is clearly a problem.
I read many uninformed comments trying to say players such as Alex Seyfarth or Alex Twal are the ones causing us to fail, I’ve never heard so much crap in my life.
That is like saying we could bring in Corey Jensen, Kobe Hetherington and Tyson Smoothy from the Broncos premiership winning team in place of Seyfarth, Twal and one other and we automatically become successful.
For the hundredth time the lower tier squaddies on lower tier contracts do not determine a teams success, it is the highly paid players that determine how successful a team is.
If that doesn’t break it down in plain English as to why our bigger name players come under the spotlight from myself and quite a few others, than I don’t know what will.

 

[MothMan]

Bulas played 57 games so far won 15 lost 32 - maths don't add ?

I think they’re the 10 games that we got absolutely flogged in and we’re all trying to forget.

 

[Tom Shines]

You have answered your own question.
The successful NRL clubs manager to get the right balance in having top quality players who are influential and help their team achieve success on the field and lower tier players who play their role and help them stay under the Salary Cap.
The NRL ladder over the past 10 or so years clearly indicates Wests Tigers do not get this right.
I have been banging my head against the wall constantly explaining on this forum, if our highly paid influential players cannot get us enough wins to be successful, it means there is clearly a problem.
I read many uninformed comments trying to say players such as Alex Seyfarth or Alex Twal are the ones causing us to fail, I’ve never heard so much crap in my life.
That is like saying we could bring in Corey Jensen, Kobe Hetherington and Tyson Smoothy from the Broncos premiership winning team in place of Seyfarth, Twal and one other and we automatically become successful.
For the hundredth time the lower tier squaddies on lower tier contracts do not determine a teams success, it is the highly paid players that determine how successful a team is.
If that doesn’t break it down in plain English as to why our bigger name players come under be spotlight from myself and quite a few others, than I don’t know what will.

Ok - so tell me what “top quality”players you want the Wests Tigers to sign for the 2026 season ?