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Yeah the injury thing has been bothering me - as in, if we're even somewhat unlucky with injuries next season it could make it tough to take the next step forward. That said, my suspicion is that most of the roster activity from here is going to be about shoring up players 18-25 on the list -...

Fans always think of the narrow losses and believe they were "that close" to being much higher up the ladder. But that's not really accurate for the Tigers. Our for and against is by far the worst of the top 12 teams and while it's easy to remember the tough losses we've also jagged some...

The idea that players leave the Tigers and immediately get better is such bullshit. There are a few who everybody basically knew were going to be good, left and then continued developing as expected - Moses is the obvious one, this is where Galvin and Utoikamanu will go if they realise their...

I think 9th is actually very unlikely. There's going to be a logjam of teams on 28 points and if we're one of them we'll be right at the bottom of it due to for and against. Any less than 28 and we won't be close to 9th, any more (which involves winning all four remaining games) and we'll...

The argument is: - While Doueihi had a career game last week he has a track record going back to his time at Souths of being a mediocre half most of the time. The likelihood that the 'real' Adam Doueihi is what we saw last week versus the rest of his career in the halves is pretty tiny. - While...

It's not 2019 anymore, though. Asofa-Solomona will be 30 by the time next season starts, he's missed more than half this season and hasn't played a full season since 2022. Signing him on any money at this stage is a huge, massive, red light flashing risk - he could easily be a guy who barely...

Is he really on that much money? Surely props who only play 20-30 minutes a game aren't that expensive, even if their impact is significant.

But none of the things you're talking about would be solved by a draft. In theory, clubs can already negotiate whatever they want if another club tries to sign a player who is under contract - money, player exchange, whatever. The reason it doesn't happen isn't because there aren't draft picks...

It always amazes me to hear people talking about a draft as if that's something that would be positive for the Tigers - I assume it's just because we've been crap for so long that people start to assume any other system would have to be better. Literally the one advantage this club should have...

It's possible to develop good pathways and a production line of talent without being a destination club for established first graders, though. Penrith and Canberra are the most obvious examples, also the Warriors.

It's pretty hard to say at this stage that the team hasn't improved. Obviously the cattle is better but I think an honest assessment of the squad's quality at the start of the season would have pegged us round about where we are now: clear of spoon danger but just as far from finals. FWIW I have...

After round 18: - In 2023, we were 3-12 with a for and against of -155. - In 2024, we were 4-12 with a for and against of -151. - In 2025, we are 6-10 with a for and against of -82. I think it's pretty clear that we're better this year - by roughly a try a game according to the for and against...

People like flashy things - "big name" signings, especially ones with good attacking reputations. This doesn't apply in Young's case but the other one you see on here a lot are people advocating signing players who were really good years ago but clearly aren't any more. There were some who...

I had a chat with someone who I'll describe as a very, very senior decision maker at a very important sponsor of the Wests Tigers earlier this season, who told me that HBG are 100% letting Richardson get on with running the club without interference or even demands for constant flow of...

I read some interesting analysis in 2023 making the case that Fifita gets punished for high expectations - basically, if he doesn't run over the top of people for two tries in a game and also put in the type of base numbers you'd expect from an elite middle, people say he's not trying. At the...

I agree, but it's also worth noting that they really don't have anything anyone ought to want. If I'm running roster construction for the Perth Bears, who am I genuinely interested in out of Parra? Moses isn't going anywhere and Lomax has only just signed - really what else is there? Iongi is a...

If you're not sure how to pronounce it, remember that it sounds like "Nawaqanitawase".

The idea is that, over time, expansion franchises add talent to the comp by building pathways in places the game isn't currently reaching. It's going to take time, of course: the playing base in Perth is tiny and it'll be years before they are finding more players than they need to be signing...

This is where I don't think the "drop him immediately" view is accurate. Players aren't stupid (well, kinda). If the club offers someone five million bucks then drop him the next week it's pretty obvious that they didn't suddenly decide he's not up to first grade. If he was the best 5/8 at the...

100% agree with this. The other thing no-one ever thinks of is how much dropping Galvin out of spite would piss off the rest of the squad. Players think differently about these things to fans: they know that people leave and that nine times out of 10 their colleagues are going to take the best...