Claws Out Podcast

[batboy]

As I said he said one thing and done the opposite.
Thank god we now have blokes with a lot more common sense in charge of recruitment and retention.

I look forward to you listing his NRL CEO experience to back up this claim.
I'd be surprised if you know him from a bar of soap, and he certainly hasn't done anything for you to be bigging him up until now.

But don't let reality get in the way of some good ole Richo Bashing.

 

[mtd#2]

As I said he said one thing and done the opposite.

Like clockwork, you skip over relevant points and continue to push your agenda.

Galvin's issue was with the club, not Richo. So why are you blaming him? Surely HBG should take accountability for juniors wanting to leave, wouldnt you agree?

I look forward to you dodging the question and/or shifting the blame.

Thank god we now have blokes with a lot more common sense in charge of recruitment and retention.

So its your position that Benji and Richo recruited poorly? Despite us having the best run of recruitment in the last 10 years?

The propaganda machine is in full force today. Im surprised you don't include a "i❤️hbg" signature on every post..

 

[Vicious]

Who would that be?

Shaun Miekekamp advised it is Benji and Gallant.

 

[WestsEffTheRest]

The irony of calling Richo a poor recruiter when he's built multiple premiership winning sides is not lost.

 

[mtd#2]

No mate.
Actually, it's a lay down misere case of Balmain bias and inabilty to be accountable.
The blatant anti Wests theme throughout all of this is hilarious to see, especially when coupled with the Balmain " oh, it's not US that hold on to outdated old club affiliations". I could probably give you at least 30 examples, especially from the HBG thread alone.

No one is talking about balmain because they aren't making stupid decisions NOW that impact the club NOW...

Moving forward, let's hope HBG get their shit together and we have a better season . . . but at the end of the day, we need to accept why they are in charge. Balmain's board did 100X what HBG are doing.

And that IS something I'm disillusioned about.

The fact you are trying to compare balmains board to HBG reinforces that we are dealing with prehistoric dinosaurs...

most of us dont care about the history anymore.. I dont care about wests Magpies any more than I care about Balmain tigers..

If they both ceased to exist and fell under the "wests tigers" most of us wouldn't care... would you care?

 

[EllisFan]

I agree with @Tucker on this one. At least in terms of constant discussion about pathways.

I felt like the Podcast, could have expanded on this topic a bit more... like a bit of journalism to get the specifics out of Shaun.

What does "a stack of work mean". If it can't be fixed in the short term, what is it?...that can be fixed in the long term. Is the work being described strategic or operational? Surely if its the biggest thing our club has going for it we can hear more about what's lacking.

We opened a damn office on Blaxland Road and what's happening there day to day? Is it still there? Do we even know what we're doing with our juniors?

I know that you or I could probably volunteer to coach in that system tomorrow. That’s a starting point. And don’t get me wrong other clubs are in the same boat. SM mentioned Pat Richards being involved as a big plus, which is progress.

Meanwhile though, the Melbourne’s of the world just pick up the gold juniors from everywhere.

I don’t think it’s an easy fix, and it’s refreshing for a CEO to be honest. The honesty was my point, I know that hasn’t always been there prior to Richo.

First impressions of SM, I hope they keep him around.

 

[tigertragic]

No mate.
Actually, it's a lay down misere case of Balmain bias and inabilty to be accountable.
The blatant anti Wests theme throughout all of this is hilarious to see, especially when coupled with the Balmain " oh, it's not US that hold on to outdated old club affiliations". I could probably give you at least 30 examples, especially from the HBG thread alone.
Moving forward, let's hope HBG get their shit together and we have a better season . . . but at the end of the day, we need to accept why they are in charge. Balmain's board did 100X what HBG are doing.
And that IS something I'm disillusioned about.

I think that’s what most want, for “HBG to get their shit together” and Wests Tigers to be the primary consideration in all decisions moving forward.

Unfortunately there appear some that just want to keep defending HBG even when they obviously haven’t “got their shit together”

 

[weststigers]

Shaun Miekekamp advised it is Benji and Gallant.

So no different from last year?

 

[EllisFan]

Shaun Miekekamp advised it is Benji and Gallant.

I recall Gallant as a gritty little fullback.

Anyone got any intel on his abilities as basically a GM of football? It seems a fast track to such an important role. Hope he’s up to it.

 

[KevB]

You might be taking a bit of poetic licence there Kev...I'm not pessimistic about "all situations". 😅

My pessimism is highly targeted, but I can't thank you enough for another free character assessment. You seem to be handing those out quite liberally. Who are you again?

Mate, I am simply someone who dislikes your continued anti-everything concerning Wests Tigers. Just an opinion of your character as I see it. It appears to have struck a nerve with you, though.

I was hoping you would view this mild criticism objectively, but all you can come back with is a backhanded, subtle insult...."Who are you again?"

 

[Vicious]

Like clockwork, you skip over relevant points and continue to push your agenda.

Galvin's issue was with the club, not Richo. So why are you blaming him? Surely HBG should take accountability for juniors wanting to leave, wouldnt you agree?

I look forward to you dodging the question and/or shifting the blame.


So its your position that Benji and Richo recruited poorly? Despite us having the best run of recruitment in the last 10 years?

The propaganda machine is in full force today. Im surprised you don't include a "i❤️hbg" signature on every post..

I haven’t mentioned HBG you keep bringing them up.
I’m merely pointing out the contract negation with Galvin was one of the worst in the history of the NRL, it was badly bungled along with the promise that we were a development club.
Thank god those days are now behind us.

 

[Vicious]

So no different from last year?

Very different , the bloke who kept bungling the contract negotiations is no longer around to interfere.

 

[weststigers]

Mate, I am simply someone who dislikes your continued anti-everything concerning Wests Tigers. Just an opinion of your character as I see it. It appears to have struck a nerve with you, though.

I was hoping you would view this mild criticism objectively, but all you can come back with is a backhanded, subtle insult...."Who are you again?"

I have thanked you each time for your opinions, but I don't know you. Yet I thank you for your efforts and criticisms. You obviously feel strongly about it.

I often catch myself thinking...what qualifications does this KevB have? Do I even care what he thinks? I've met plenty of bus and truck drivers named Kev, but never a pschologist. Is he just some crazy truck driver? Is this man/woman angry due to his own bias? Did he finish school? A little thin skinned? Defensive? Lack of emotional control? It's why I ask...who are you again? You seem like a fascinating and complex character.

Then there's other questions, like if I shared my opinion on you, would you take it objectively? How consistent is your own logic? Much like me, would you even care?

Really your posts pose more questions than answers, but as you can see, they provoke thought, which in a way is what you were hoping for.

Have you achieved your objective? Should we explore these questions on a deeper level?

I don't know the answers Kev. I only know I have the questions. God bless you Kev. Whoever you are.

 

[Lestronge]

Galvin icing games for us in 2024 with less than 10 games under his belt wasn't trash mate. We were crap, rightfully so, but his output as a teenaged half in that year was stunning. He's already done more for his career in two seasons at two clubs, than Luke Brooks managed with us in 10. He's legit.

Like all the negs on here, you were quick to bag out our club out for losing Galvin (for supposedly botching his development,,,,,, and making him the main man wayyyyy to early.... that was your hobby horse)

buuuuuuutt, magically, after he's gone, you tell us, , he's trash, and that his career path amongst others, stands as evidence as to why our development pipelines are rubbish and its a bullsgh1t idea. Either the players are rubbish or the process/club is rubbish Dude You can't have both.

Find an opinion and and keep it there! If youre gonna write 1000 glib one sentence posts a month, at least base them around a coherent opinion that follows through in reality. There are grown adults on this forum capable of recalling the things you say going back years, so if you're gonna switch perspectives with the prevailing winds.... Understand that people will remember if you contradict yourself.

I’m very much a believer that Galvin is a good stats bad team guy . At least right now . The epitome of this is Jackson Hastings ! 100 touches a game .. the team scores 12 points.
I also think potentially Ponga might be that … controversial take I know . It’s half baked right now though , just getting in early . A couple more years of Knights mediocrity might have a hell of a lot more people singing that tune.
Bryce Cartwright and Matt Moylan(who was a kid for 12 years) also get a mention in this category , but like I said it’s half baked. I haven’t really defined it . I’m trying to think who else had a rep for being a gun but thier team always lost.

 

[weststigers]

Very differen, the bloke who kept bungling the contract negotiations is no longer around to interfere.

Interesting point of view.

 

[Vicious]

Interesting point of view.

At some stage the truth needs to be spoken.

 

[Lestronge]

I have thanked you each time for your opinions, but I don't know you. Yet I thank you for your efforts and criticisms. You obviously feel strongly about it.

I often catch myself thinking...what qualifications does this KevB have? Do I even care what he thinks? I've met plenty of bus and truck drivers named Kev, but never a pschologist. Is he just some crazy truck driver? Is this man/woman angry due to his own bias? Did he finish school? A little thin skinned? Defensive? Lack of emotional control? It's why I ask...who are you again? You seem like a fascinating and complex character.

Then there's other questions, like if I shared my opinion on you, would you take it objectively? How consistent is your own logic? Much like me, would you even care?

Really your posts pose more questions than answers, but as you can see, they provoke thought, which in a way is what you were hoping for.

Have you achieved your objective? Should we explore these questions on a deeper level?

I don't know the answers Kev. I only know I have the questions. God bless you Kev. Whoever you are.

Hahaha that’s one of the most patronising replies I’ve ever seen on here . The passive aggressiveness as well? First class ! That’s funny As !

 

[TheEnz]

Lachie Galvin, Tallyn Da Silva, Heamasi Makasini to name a few.
Plenty of talent has always come through the South-West region and it’s only getting stronger.
The challenge has always been and continues to be having the right connections and enough money in our budget to keep the best of them away from rival clubs.
Shannon Galkant seems to have done and continuing to do a great job, but there is always plenty of room for improvement.

A fair chunk of the Manly team are from the south west.....problem is they are getting headhunted young by other teams becasue we dont have good systems in place.

 

[whadafeck]

Some people here need to give Mielekamp a fair crack. Does he have the track record of Richo or talk a big game like he did? No. Does some of his answers sound like a LinkedIn post? Yes. but what he did do was take time out to go on a fan run podcast to be interviewed by a Wests Tigers fan. Is there any other CEO in the NRL that would do that?

Richo was the one that handpicked Shaun to come to the club, and he was the one that promoted him to manager of football and was obviously prepping him to take over as CEO once he left. Would Richo do that if Shaun was useless?

 

[Lestronge]

A fair chunk of the Manly team are from the south west.....problem is they are getting headhunted young by other teams becasue we dont have good systems in place.

That’s what the academy is about @UWS . I think the real issue is kids wanting to represent the wests tigers , especially in the MacArthur region. Until the club is successful for a sustainable period of time , then the club simply won’t resonate with kids and ultimately they will look at other clubs.
I’ll say it again , but the fact a kid from Campbelltown Warriors can’t put on the same jersey as Jahrome Luai or Terrell May , and see a clear visual path from his u16s rep team to the nrl , is a huge L the club continuously takes .
The club should be Called Wests tigers-MacArthur , and Wests tigers -Balmain . One wears the black or white jersey , the other the orange .
But I know that would mean the death of Balmain and the magpies . Sonits probably 20 years away . Maybe my grandkids if I have them , will be able to .
It’s such a step behind a kid who can walk into Moore Park and straight away see his training shirt is the same one Tedesco or Walker has on ….. anyways .