Are Wests Tigers recruiting the right players?

First no one would sign with the Tigers. Next we are overpaying for Reynolds/Matulino/Packer. Now are we recruiting the right players? The media bias both online and via fox/MMM, DT is alarming. They raise this with depth signings Fonua/Thompson and not with the bigger names. I pay no attention to anything but SMH these days and PHIL Gould.
 
I dont really care for the writers opinion if we are recruiting the right players or not…to me Ivan is putting a team together that will be a consistent NRL standard team with reasonably solid depth..something we havent had for awhile,the players that have signed with us are very good prospects and experienced in areas we have been lacking in..
We could also say 2 of the big 4 were grossly overpaid on potential and it got us nowhere,at least most of these players coming to us have some sort of writing on the wall as far as performances go..
For me,we dont have individual superstars in the top 17 as of next year..we will have the BIG 30 HEADING TOWARD THE FINALS...love Ivans work at the moment...

NEGATIVITY WILL NOT BE TOLERATED ON THE BUS.... :imp:

Could someone send GCT an opal card for the bus,I would hate for him to miss out on an invigorating trip. :laughing:
 
I think the recruitment has been excellent, add in another forward or two and Rona and the bus is heading in the right direction.
 
Intetesting bit in the paper today about Des and the dogs, McGregor says they are where saints were 12 months ago.
Mary say's Des needs to do what he did, stop trying to coach like every other team, stop trying to implement your preconceived ideas and coach what players you have. Coach around the team you have not what you think is a good model, this is what brought JT undone, he wanted to coach a style that we didn't have the players to implement.
Mary said it was hard to change but he had to do it or he would have been let go, sound familiar, but Des might be to stubborn to do it.
Good luck Woods, the dogs are not a settled place, especially when more players will be tapped on the shoulder to fit him, Foran and the recently re-signed players under the cap
 
@ said:
Intetesting bit in the paper today about Des and the dogs, McGregor says they are where saints were 12 months ago.
Mary say's Des needs to do what he did, stop trying to coach like every other team, stop trying to implement your preconceived ideas and coach what players you have. Coach around the team you have not what you think is a good model, this is what brought JT undone, he wanted to coach a style that we didn't have the players to implement.
Mary said it was hard to change but he had to do it or he would have been let go, sound familiar, but Des might be to stubborn to do it.
Good luck Woods, the dogs are not a settled place, especially when more players will be tapped on the shoulder to fit him, Foran and the recently re-signed players under the cap
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It's weird what you say because the one comment I have heard on Des is that he coaches to the players, worked out the strategy and matched it…. I don't think he is getting the dogs to fit his patter personally.

Totally agreed that JT coached to the team/model he wanted. Totally agreed that many in the NRL are just copying either Melbourne, Brisbane or someone else. I don't think Des is doing this.

Personally I think Des has brought big and not so wisely. 600k for Brett Morris, 900k(i think) for Woods, Hopoate playing 1/2 the time, Backended contracts for Graham and others. He also backed big forwards like Kasiano who arn't suited to the current rules. The team needs a scalpel and that's messed their mojo. They will be top 4 next year.

People would hate me saying this but I would take Des in a heartbeat over Cleary. That being said happy to love the one were with and be loyal if their faithful.
 
On our recruitment… I don't exactly get the idea at the moment.

I think zerotackle has a point. If all our new players play to their potential we will have an awesome back line, they wont. You have to count to 6 to find someone with experience (they are wrong Reynolds is awesome and can't carry his team every weak). Sure Rona (if coming) and Nofu have experience, but I can't see them making a strong backline and getting the fullback and centers in the right places. Hope I am wrong and that we gel in defense, I don't think we will.

Up front were doing the best we can, with the money we have. Can't fault the choices.

My biggest worry is that you have a lot of new players that were rejected or on the outer at their current clubs. At least one or two of those are going to have personal problems, if that spreads it could ruin the careers of many players. Ivan will put this out far faster then Taylor would, but it is still a gamble.

Hope it pays off.
 
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Let me see, I need to have a real good think about this. **Do we listen to Zero Tackle or to Ivan Cleary?** That article is a piece of trash. There is one thing that I do know, if players respect the coach they always rise to the occasion. I trust Ivan implicitly and without qualification and I am excited by the team he is assembling.
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cant agree with this ,this is the same guy who thinks little john is a better half than rankin even though rankin played well in front of him vs broncos
 
@ said:
@ said:
Let me see, I need to have a real good think about this. **Do we listen to Zero Tackle or to Ivan Cleary?** That article is a piece of trash. There is one thing that I do know, if players respect the coach they always rise to the occasion. I trust Ivan implicitly and without qualification and I am excited by the team he is assembling.

cant agree with this ,this is the same guy who thinks little john is a better half than rankin even though rankin played well in front of him vs broncos
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Right so it was **that** particular game that decided once and for all time that Rankin is better than Littlejohn?
 
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My biggest worry is that you have a lot of new players that were rejected or on the outer at their current clubs. At least one or two of those are going to have personal problems, if that spreads it could ruin the careers of many players. Ivan will put this out far faster then Taylor would, but it is still a gamble.
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There's glass half empty, and then there's this.
Many careers ruined, please.
 
We're recruiting better players than we currently have We missed out on a few big names but by and large i think we've done well with what was on the market. This is a side that can get us off the bottom of the ladder while we get a few other things sorted and will give good young players a decent side to graduate into.
 
@ said:
On our recruitment… I don't exactly get the idea at the moment.

I think zerotackle has a point. If all our new players play to their potential we will have an awesome back line, they wont. You have to count to 6 to find someone with experience (they are wrong Reynolds is awesome and can't carry his team every weak). Sure Rona (if coming) and Nofu have experience, but I can't see them making a strong backline and getting the fullback and centers in the right places. Hope I am wrong and that we gel in defense, I don't think we will.

Up front were doing the best we can, with the money we have. Can't fault the choices.

My biggest worry is that you have a lot of new players that were rejected or on the outer at their current clubs. At least one or two of those are going to have personal problems, if that spreads it could ruin the careers of many players. Ivan will put this out far faster then Taylor would, but it is still a gamble.

Hope it pays off.
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Who are the players …"new players that were rejected or on the outer at their current clubs".
McQueen, Matulino, Packer, Milne, Fonau, Thompson, Twal, Gamble... no it's not any of these as they were all wanted by their respective clubs. Maybe your referring to Reynolds that just about every Dogs supporter is livid about him being let go, Oh! it must be Lolohea because he was playing in reserve grade
but hang on they didn't want to let him go.

Who are the players that are going to ......"At least one or two of those are going to have personal problems. We need to know these so we can tell Cleary and jump on these problems before they surface. Do you have a crystal ball?

The only Gamble for Wests Tigers in 2018 is Tyson Gamble I think. Lol
 
I think Cleary's recruitment strategy shows where his head is. He could have looked to bring in 1 or 2 big name players, but instead is bringing in closed to 10 first graders. To me it says that he just doesn't rate a lot of the squad as first graders, and he is bringing in anyone he can find at the level required (especially in the outside backs). I think having the bodies in will see us move in the right direction, which will allow him to attract the right players going forward.

You only need to look at what he did at Penrith, where he lost star players yet got the team within a game of the grand final. He's also the coach that had the Warriors playing consistent footy (missed 2 finals in his 6 seasons there, one due to a salary cap breach from a previous year), and took them to a grand final in his final year. At both clubs he has made some excellent purchases which if nothing else make me trust his judgement.
 
I saw the same post on facebook and thought it was laughable.

I'm really looking forward to our 2018 season, we've recruited a team and Cleary is not wanting to depend on a couple of individuals week in week out like this year.

Matulino - Getting back to the form from a few years ago which saw him in the top 3 props in the game.
Packer - Enforcer who will bring some grunt to the pack and get our sets rolling on the front foot.
Reynolds - Gives 110% every game and lifts the players around him.
Chris McQueen - Gets those 1% plays right and a great tackler on the edge to help our halves.
Mahe Fonua - Great runner out of dummy half and reminds me a bit of Matty Utai (but is good in the air).
Corey Thompson - Will be a depth player so I don't expect him to play much first grade unless injuries.
Tui Lolohea - Damaging with the ball in hands but needs a full preseason under his belt to lose those extra kilos he's put on and get back to full fitness.
Taane Milne - Very strong and powerful player but will definitely need to work on a late offload in the offseason.
 
@ said:
On our recruitment… I don't exactly get the idea at the moment.

I think zerotackle has a point. If all our new players play to their potential we will have an awesome back line, they wont. You have to count to 6 to find someone with experience (they are wrong Reynolds is awesome and can't carry his team every weak). Sure Rona (if coming) and Nofu have experience, but I can't see them making a strong backline and getting the fullback and centers in the right places. Hope I am wrong and that we gel in defense, I don't think we will.

Up front were doing the best we can, with the money we have. Can't fault the choices.

My biggest worry is that you have a lot of new players that were rejected or on the outer at their current clubs. At least one or two of those are going to have personal problems, if that spreads it could ruin the careers of many players. Ivan will put this out far faster then Taylor would, but it is still a gamble.

Hope it pays off.
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Were they really? We trumped the GC for McQueen, NZ for Matulino, Saints for Milne and Packer.

Thompson and Fonua wanted home.

Reynolds and Lolo were the only two that were on the outer, and Reynolds was likely squeezed out because they took an expensive gamble on Mbye.
 
@ said:
@ said:
On our recruitment… I don't exactly get the idea at the moment.

I think zerotackle has a point. If all our new players play to their potential we will have an awesome back line, they wont. You have to count to 6 to find someone with experience (they are wrong Reynolds is awesome and can't carry his team every weak). Sure Rona (if coming) and Nofu have experience, but I can't see them making a strong backline and getting the fullback and centers in the right places. Hope I am wrong and that we gel in defense, I don't think we will.

Up front were doing the best we can, with the money we have. Can't fault the choices.

My biggest worry is that you have a lot of new players that were rejected or on the outer at their current clubs. At least one or two of those are going to have personal problems, if that spreads it could ruin the careers of many players. Ivan will put this out far faster then Taylor would, but it is still a gamble.

Hope it pays off.

Were they really? We trumped the GC for McQueen, NZ for Matulino, Saints for Milne and Packer.

Thompson and Fonua wanted home.

Reynolds and Lolo were the only two that were on the outer, and Reynolds was likely squeezed out because they took an expensive gamble on Mbye.
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If the Dogs had their time over, they'd much rather be playing Reynolds at hooker next year rather than Mbye. They seem to be going down the same road we did with our cap 3 or 4 years ago. They're going to struggle for a couple years imo. Enjoy Woodsy.
 
@ said:
@ said:
On our recruitment… I don't exactly get the idea at the moment.

I think zerotackle has a point. If all our new players play to their potential we will have an awesome back line, they wont. You have to count to 6 to find someone with experience (they are wrong Reynolds is awesome and can't carry his team every weak). Sure Rona (if coming) and Nofu have experience, but I can't see them making a strong backline and getting the fullback and centers in the right places. Hope I am wrong and that we gel in defense, I don't think we will.

Up front were doing the best we can, with the money we have. Can't fault the choices.

My biggest worry is that you have a lot of new players that were rejected or on the outer at their current clubs. At least one or two of those are going to have personal problems, if that spreads it could ruin the careers of many players. Ivan will put this out far faster then Taylor would, but it is still a gamble.

Hope it pays off.

Were they really? We trumped the GC for McQueen, NZ for Matulino, Saints for Milne and Packer.

Thompson and Fonua wanted home.

Reynolds and Lolo were the only two that were on the outer, and Reynolds was likely squeezed out because they took an expensive gamble on Mbye.
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Click to expand...

Yeah the Dogs did make an offer to Reynolds, they just didn't have enough cap space to make it competitive because a) they were spending a lot on Foran and b) they'd spent too much on Mbye. If they'd had the option you can be guaranteed they would've got rid of Mbye ahead of Reynolds, but Mbye had a contract…

Lolo the Warriors obviously didn't rate for whatever reason but a number of other clubs were keen. Horses for courses I guess - the Warriors have enough flashy players with deficiencies in their back line like Johnson, RTS, Kata, Vatuvei...another one is not what they felt they needed. We needed an x factor player capable of breaking a game open and he is that.
 
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