Are Fifita and Gibbs off to the Sharks?

[Spartan117]

We could use a shake up in the Fwds,

I will be sad if Fifita and Highno move on.

I'm confident in the guys who are steering the WT ship to make the right decisions armed with all the facts and years of experience.

 

[Yossarian]

If all this is true - i.e. that we are losing Gibbs, Fulton, Rhino, A Fifita, and Lui in one go, then that is extremely poor. Throw in the fact we're signing a big name player makes it look worse. Gibbs, Fulton, and even Lui I could see - at the moment we have amazing depth and something has to give. Fifita is maybe a money thing - if someone is prepared to pay massive overs what can you do? Rhino would be extremely hard to accept. Personally I think the truth is more to do with multiple players being shopped but only some of them will be off-loaded. If Gibbs, Fifita, Lui, and Fulton are going I don’t see the need for Rhino to go. But all these guys are under contract so if one of them refused to leave I guess you need a plan B. Who knows? The silence is deafening and I’m yet to see anything from Humphries or Sheens about the whole thing.

 

[Tigerdave]

I'm a little ticked about the possibility of losing Fifita, I'd be mightily annoyed about losing Rhino as well

EDIT and if it comes to light that the club has indeed stuffed up along the way, surely heads should roll somewhere in admin?

 

[alexaki]

If all this is true - i.e. that we are losing Gibbs, Fulton, Rhino, A Fifita, and Lui in one go, then that is extremely poor. Throw in the fact we're signing a big name player makes it look worse. Gibbs, Fulton, and even Lui I could see - at the moment we have amazing depth and something has to give. Fifita is maybe a money thing - if someone is prepared to pay massive overs what can you do? Rhino would be extremely hard to accept. Personally I think the truth is more to do with multiple players being shopped but only some of them will be off-loaded. If Gibbs, Fifita, Lui, and Fulton are going I don’t see the need for Rhino to go. But all these guys are under contract so if one of them refused to leave I guess you need a plan B. Who knows? The silence is deafening and I’m yet to see anything from Humphreys or Sheens about the whole thing.

If the above is true and we must "shed" these players due to being over the Salary Cap…then I say someone in Management needs to be accountable for the mess they got the club into. It not only affects the players and their families but the supporters as well...On a second note....How do the Roosters and Dragons get away with having their talent under the cap?

 

[T-REXX]

wow there is alot of smart business man in here.

 

[fergiefurr]

wow there is alot of smart business man in here.

Well considering we appear to be losing AT LEAST 4 of our main 17 and only signing 1 for next year due to being over the cap, there's probably more on here then at WTs!!

Unconditionally Defending the club is why we need a culture change.

 

[underdog]

wow there is alot of smart business man in here.

:roll
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winning post award for "Most succinct summary of a thread" :mrgreen:

 

[2041]

Hang on a second: if the club is really going to be $1m over the cap next season and is shedding half a dozen players as a result why are they even contemplating signing Blair for several hundred thousand dollars a year? And why are they looking to shed the likes of Fifita and Lui, who presumably aren't on any serious coin at this stage in their careers anyway? Clearly some players are on their way out but there's a strong whiff of male cow's effluent about some of this chat.

 

[Colonel]

On a second note….How do the Roosters and Dragons get away with having their talent under the cap?

These conspiracy theory posts always bore me.

Plenty of other club's fans wonder how the Tigers managed to re-sign off contract players last season, not lose anyone of note and keep Marshall, Lawrence, Tuqiri, Farah and Ellis (who would all be on big money) in the same squad. In fact I recall posters on other forums wondering how the Tigers were under the cap when we signed Tuqiri at the beginning of the year last year.

As to the question of how teams like the Dragons manage to stay under the cap without shedding players, the obvious answer is **_they don't!_**

The Dragons had to shed a regular international (Jeremy Smith) and a Queensland State of Origin regular (Neville Costigan) at the end of last season and are losing Darius Boyd (who'd be on good money) to the Knights at the end of this season.

In fact if you look at the Dragons squad, they don't really have any super star style big name players outside of Gasnier, Boyd and Cooper. Most of the players in their side were average no name sort of players who have become SOO players under Bennett, blokes like Trent Merrin and Beau Scott.

Now as these players get older and establish them selves as rep players, they'll begin to demand bigger contracts and the Dragons will be forced to continue shedding players. It's how the salary cap works.

And, if the Dragons were to decide their forward pack needed a shake up and they wanted to sign a player the calibre of Adam Blair, they'd obviously need to shed more players.

None of this seems too complicated to me. It's the realities of operating under a salary cap. I don't think we need to look for conspiracies around every corner.

 

[B_B]

We better win the comp _**THIS**_ year

 

[Spartan117]

I wont be putting my Hard Earned cash on it BB.

 

[Tigerdale]

Still have a decent squad of forwards next year

Galloway
Woods
Blair
Ellis
Hieghno

It is highly likely you will need to scratch another one of those names off your list.

Absolutely disgusted in you WestsTigers!! I hope your office was turned upside down today!! And sack your stupid accountant while you're there!! :rant

what chadman said would also back this up, which CT posted a few days ago now

 

[spaceman]

Gibbs = future origin? You're kidding arent you champ. Brycie has been a great club man but nothing more. Wouldnt complain if we kept him but he would struggle to make most teams 17.
be
His defensive abaility doesnt make up for his complete inability to challenge the defensive line in attack. Robert Lui and Marshall make bigger dents.

before you blow a fuse champ….Im actually talking about Fafita...as for Gibbs he should have been punted years ago Buddy Franklin has more chance of playing origin than Gibbs

 

[spaceman]

We could use a shake up in the Fwds,

I will be sad if Fifita and Highno move on.

I'm confident in the guys who are steering the WT ship to make the right decisions armed with all the facts and years of experience.

Sorry spartan…but I have no confidence in those steering our club.....look at league in NSW at the moment
good frontrowers are as rare as virgins at a Sam Newman party...and we send a player packing.. who I feel could be a real cracker, but we keep Beau Ryan...and a halfback who cant tackle, and another halfback who aint a fullback or centre because he wants the No7 jumper....a mees in my eyes

 

[Glennb]

wow there is alot of smart business man in here.

Well considering we appear to be losing AT LEAST 4 of our main 17 and only signing 1 for next year due to being over the cap, there's probably more on here then at WTs!!

Unconditionally Defending the club is why we need a culture change.

Hell of a lot of assumptions you leaping to there. My understanding is that Gibbs & Fulton are sacrificial due to Blair. The case with Fifita is his _contract_ is up at the end of this year. Now there is an option for next year but options are tricky and none of us know what form of option that is. Some are in favour of one party, some the favour of the other party, most in both and are able to be broken unilateraly. To me thats what this sounds like. Sounds like Tigers tried to exercise their option and keep Fifita at a bargain rate under the option of the Contract, Fifita has been offered a motza from Cronulla and is therefore able to exercise _his_ option to get out. Thats what it looks like to me from the outside and if thats the case the club can not be blamed (nor can Fifita to be honest).

 

[innsaneink]

wow there is alot of smart business man in here.

Well considering we appear to be losing AT LEAST 4 of our main 17 and only signing 1 for next year due to being over the cap, there's probably more on here then at WTs!!

Unconditionally Defending the club is why we need a culture change.

Hell of a lot of assumptions you leaping to there. My understanding is that Gibbs & Fulton are sacrificial due to Blair. The case with Fifita is his _contract_ is up at the end of this year. Now there is an option for next year but options are tricky and none of us know what form of option that is. Some are in favour of one party, some the favour of the other party, most in both and are able to be broken unilateraly. To me thats what this sounds like. Sounds like Tigers tried to exercise their option and keep Fifita at a bargain rate under the option of the Contract, Fifita has been offered a motza from Cronulla and is therefore able to exercise _his_ option to get out. Thats what it looks like to me from the outside and if thats the case the club can not be blamed (nor can Fifita to be honest).

**Another piece of good news for Wests Tigers is the extension given to prop Andrew Fifita following an agreement between Andrew and the Club to exercise an option in his current contract for the 2012 season.
Fifita, 21, has been a revelation for Wests Tigers since making his NRL debut in Round Two last year after joining the Club from Griffith Waratahs. Like Woods, he too was a member of the NSW Emerging Blues squad.\
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His mobility, hard work and offloads have seem him develop into a regular member of the Wests Tigers forward pack. Fifita has played 31 NRL matches for Wests Tigers and represented Tonga last year.\
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“I’m enjoying my footy here at Wests Tigers and I’m learning every day. We have a good squad here so it is exciting to know that I will be apart of that for a while yet,'' Fifita said.\
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Wests Tigers Chief Executive Stephen Humphreys said that it was important to secure Woods and Fifita for a longer period, especially after both players progression through the Club’s development system.\
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“Aaron and Andrew are showing maturity beyond their years and are perfect examples of the depth we now have throughout our player roster,” Humphreys said.\
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“They’ve both had a lot more game time this year which will only benefit their development and the Club in the long run."**
http://www.weststigers.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=37014

Is Humpty related to that girl in melb? Kim duffy?

 

[Demps]

Can some body inbox me a simple yes or no, regarding is Fifita leaving for the Sharks?

 

[Golden]

wow there is alot of smart business man in here.

Well considering we appear to be losing AT LEAST 4 of our main 17 and only signing 1 for next year due to being over the cap, there's probably more on here then at WTs!!

Unconditionally Defending the club is why we need a culture change.

Hell of a lot of assumptions you leaping to there. My understanding is that Gibbs & Fulton are sacrificial due to Blair. The case with Fifita is his _contract_ is up at the end of this year. Now there is an option for next year but options are tricky and none of us know what form of option that is. Some are in favour of one party, some the favour of the other party, most in both and are able to be broken unilateraly. To me thats what this sounds like. Sounds like Tigers tried to exercise their option and keep Fifita at a bargain rate under the option of the Contract, Fifita has been offered a motza from Cronulla and is therefore able to exercise _his_ option to get out. Thats what it looks like to me from the outside and if thats the case the club can not be blamed (nor can Fifita to be honest).

The club is at fault simply because they want to go after Blair.. getting rid of 3 players (maybe more) to get 1 player is a joke its bad managment skills

 

[angeman]

sad to see gibbs go but understand. fifita on the other hand i'm not happy about leaving. the club officially announced his re-signing so why wouldn't they just force him to stay and cut elsewhere?

i know we re-signed and / or upgraded a few players and it sounds like blair might be on the way but didn't we also see mckinnon go early, payten retire, cayless retire, etc. surely they will let fulton, junior moors, schirnack and a few others go to keep fifita?

 

[Tigerdave]

**Another piece of good news for Wests Tigers is the extension given to prop Andrew Fifita following an agreement between Andrew and the Club to exercise an option in his current contract for the 2012 season.
Fifita, 21, has been a revelation for Wests Tigers since making his NRL debut in Round Two last year after joining the Club from Griffith Waratahs. Like Woods, he too was a member of the NSW Emerging Blues squad.\
\
His mobility, hard work and offloads have seem him develop into a regular member of the Wests Tigers forward pack. Fifita has played 31 NRL matches for Wests Tigers and represented Tonga last year.\
\
“I’m enjoying my footy here at Wests Tigers and I’m learning every day. We have a good squad here so it is exciting to know that I will be apart of that for a while yet,'' Fifita said.\
\
Wests Tigers Chief Executive Stephen Humphreys said that it was important to secure Woods and Fifita for a longer period, especially after both players progression through the Club’s development system.\
\
“Aaron and Andrew are showing maturity beyond their years and are perfect examples of the depth we now have throughout our player roster,” Humphreys said.\
\
“They’ve both had a lot more game time this year which will only benefit their development and the Club in the long run."**
http://www.weststigers.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=37014

Is Humpty related to that girl in melb? Kim duffy?

yeah that's what I don't get, either this is true or we're being treated like mushrooms. How can he now get out of an option he supposedly has already signed? or is it a case of the Sharks are throwing wads of cash at him and the Tigers are thinking what's best for Fifita money wise? So the Tigers are releasing him.