Blair

[TigerMoz]

I read where Blair has been given the shoulder tap and has been shopped around the clubs. Anyone know the latest? He performed better when moved to prop but not $500,000 worth of better.
Imagine what we could do with another $500,000 a season as I think the Benji $ have been spent well on the young guns.

 

[phil1986]

Mate,

I did hear that potter believed he was essential to our side and did not want to let him go.

It's all he said, she said atm though.

Nothing in concrete.

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[Eye_Of_Da_Tiger]

Everything seemed to crumble when this guy came on the scene. Coincidence or not?

 

[Goose]

coincidence.

 

[Eye_Of_Da_Tiger]

coincidence.

Maybe, maybe not. We lost Fafita cause of him.He under performed in 2012 and if I was on a lower wage but performed better I would not be happy( like most of our forwards) If it was not for his big wage we would not expect so much as supporters.He did improve for the later part of 2013 but still was he worth the $600k he is reported to be earning?. No

 

[phil1986]

coincidence.

Maybe, maybe not. We lost Fafita cause of him.He under performed in 2012 and if I was on a lower wage but performed better I would not be happy( like most of our forwards) If it was not for his big wage we would not expect so much as supporters.He did improve for the later part of 2013 but still was he worth the $600k he is reported to be earning?. No

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$500k lol

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[Fumbles]

He improved from park footballer to part time 1st grader. The sooner Blair is out of here the better.
Mick Potter please stick with our local juniors no more high priced players who just come here for the money.

 

[happy_tiger]

coincidence.

x 2 We were on the downward spiral for many reasons when Blair arrived

No Lui ,Lawrence's injury , Payten's retirement ,Ellis injuries Sheens not being able to find the right buttons anymore

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

coincidence.

Maybe, maybe not. We lost Fafita cause of him.He under performed in 2012 and if I was on a lower wage but performed better I would not be happy( like most of our forwards) If it was not for his big wage we would not expect so much as supporters.He did improve for the later part of 2013 but still was he worth the $600k he is reported to be earning?. No

The club made an active decision to chase Blair and they cleared the decks to get him. Clubs do it all the time to sign players with a decent price tag. Fifita is gone because of those in charge of recruitment, not because of Blair.

 

[tigertye]

Man it's getting annoying when people bring up Blair's big "500k" price tag. That price tag was a media beat up.

I'm no huge fan of Blair's but seriously, anyone who still brings up the "we lost Fifita and Gibbs because of him argument" is completely missing the point.

Fifita had a terrible attitude at the Tigers and to be honest wasn't coached correctly. Flanagan has gotten him playing straight, fitter and brought out his strengths. At the Tigers he was crabbing across field and had the occasional good game, he had potential but Sheens couldn't unlock it. Similar to how Potter has now identified BMM's strengths and that's why I believe we have seen a huge improvement. Gibbs was shopped around because of behavioral issues which he has publicly stated and honestly we are better off considering his injuries, so I think we dodged a bullet there. We also ran the risk of losing a young Woods if we kept Fifita/Gibbs and signed Blair, something had to give. These things happen in football. You win some, you lose some.

Back when we signed Blair, he was in career best form and one of the games most sought after players. Everyone was pumped when we got him and he was one of the reasons we were premiership favourites in 2012\. If we new how things would've gone with Fifita, sure we probably would have kept him over the current Blair, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I've seen improvement in Blair since he went to prop. He does a lot off the ball and has been playing a Glen Stewart "link man" type role between the pivots and around the middle of the field but I would like to see him making more metres per game or probably come off the bench with an impact prop type role.

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[system]

Man it's getting annoying when people bring up Blair's big "500k" price tag. That price tag was a media beat up.

I'm no huge fan of Blair's but seriously, anyone who still brings up the "we lost Fifita and Gibbs because of him argument" is completely missing the point.

Fifita had a terrible attitude at the Tigers and to be honest wasn't coached correctly. Flanagan has gotten him playing straight, fitter and brought out his strengths. At the Tigers he was crabbing across field and had the occasional good game, he had potential but Sheens couldn't unlock it. Similar to how Potter has now identified BMM's strengths and that's why I believe we have seen a huge improvement. Gibbs was shopped around because of behavioral issues which he has publicly stated and honestly we are better off considering his injuries, so I think we dodged a bullet there. We also ran the risk of losing a young Woods if we kept Fifita/Gibbs and signed Blair, something had to give. These things happen in football. You win some, you lose some.

Back when we signed Blair, he was in career best form and one of the games most sought after players. Everyone was pumped when we got him and he was one of the reasons we were premiership favourites in 2012\. If we new how things would've gone with Fifita, sure we probably would have kept him over the current Blair, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I've seen improvement in Blair since he went to prop. He does a lot off the ball and has been playing a Glen Stewart "link man" type role between the pivots and around the middle of the field but I would like to see him making more metres per game or probably come off the bench with an impact prop type role.

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So, what did we pay for Blair ?

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[stevetiger]

Fifita had a terrible attitude at the Tigers and to be honest wasn't coached correctly.

Agreed. His attitude was terrible with him busting the line and causing havoc for us out there. The coaching was also a factor because sometimes despite obviously being the forward most likely to bust the line sometimes he wasn't picked and then he was let go.

Letting Fifita go is the worst recruitment and retention decision the Wests Tigers have ever made and it was obvious that is was a poor decision.

As for Blair I hadn't seen enough of him prior to recruiting him but he has been a dud buy. He is playing better this year but he will have to be let go in 2 years time if not earlier. We overpaid for him and I'm not sure if he even makes our top team injury free on performance.

 

[MightyMaggy]

Fifita had a terrible attitude at the Tigers and to be honest wasn't coached correctly.

Agreed. His attitude was terrible with him busting the line and causing havoc for us out there. The coaching was also a factor because sometimes despite obviously being the forward most likely to bust the line sometimes he wasn't picked and then he was let go.

**Letting Fifita go is the worst recruitment and retention decision the Wests Tigers have ever made and it was obvious that is was a poor decision.**

As for Blair I hadn't seen enough of him prior to recruiting him but he has been a dud buy. He is playing better this year but he will have to be let go in 2 years time if not earlier. We overpaid for him and I'm not sure if he even makes our top team injury free on performance.

With hind-sight giving you 20/20 eye-sight, it is easy to say NOW this was a poor decision. However, I suggest you refer to the information about Fifita's performance for the last half of his last season with the Tigers. He was lethargic, running across field all the time and slow to move into position. His numbers were poor.
With hind-sight, I would rather have kept Woods and lost Fifita.

 

[Tiger_Watto]

Yeah agreed… Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but many forget the club did plenty to try and keep him.

And if anyone thought back in 2011 that Fifita was worth $120k more than Woods, they are dreaming.

It isn't mentioned very often, but we also had Keith Galloway play for NSW & Australia in 2011... No doubt there were upgrades to his contract as well?!

 

[tigertye]

Fifita had a terrible attitude at the Tigers and to be honest wasn't coached correctly.

Agreed. His attitude was terrible with him busting the line and causing havoc for us out there. The coaching was also a factor because sometimes despite obviously being the forward most likely to bust the line sometimes he wasn't picked and then he was let go.

Letting Fifita go is the worst recruitment and retention decision the Wests Tigers have ever made and it was obvious that is was a poor decision.

As for Blair I hadn't seen enough of him prior to recruiting him but he has been a dud buy. He is playing better this year but he will have to be let go in 2 years time if not earlier. We overpaid for him and I'm not sure if he even makes our top team injury free on performance.

How often did he cause havoc and break the line for us stevetiger? I didn't see it too often. As I said, he had load of potential but Sheens couldn't unlock. Credit goes to Flanagan for this.

At the time there were better options available and we took them. We kept Woods, Groat, Galloway and signed Blair and lost Fifita and Gibbs, you can't keep them all.

And for your information prior to recruiting Blair, he was one of the best forwards in the game. At that stage he was 10 times better than Blair. He has been a dud buy, but the original decision with all these points taken in was the correct one AT THE TIME.

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[Gold_Coast_Tiges]

Man it's getting annoying when people bring up Blair's big "500k" price tag. That price tag was a media beat up.

I'm no huge fan of Blair's but seriously, anyone who still brings up the "we lost Fifita and Gibbs because of him argument" is completely missing the point.

Fifita had a terrible attitude at the Tigers and to be honest wasn't coached correctly. Flanagan has gotten him playing straight, fitter and brought out his strengths. At the Tigers he was crabbing across field and had the occasional good game, he had potential but Sheens couldn't unlock it. Similar to how Potter has now identified BMM's strengths and that's why I believe we have seen a huge improvement. Gibbs was shopped around because of behavioral issues which he has publicly stated and honestly we are better off considering his injuries, so I think we dodged a bullet there. We also ran the risk of losing a young Woods if we kept Fifita/Gibbs and signed Blair, something had to give. These things happen in football. You win some, you lose some.

Back when we signed Blair, he was in career best form and one of the games most sought after players. Everyone was pumped when we got him and he was one of the reasons we were premiership favourites in 2012\. If we new how things would've gone with Fifita, sure we probably would have kept him over the current Blair, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I've seen improvement in Blair since he went to prop. He does a lot off the ball and has been playing a Glen Stewart "link man" type role between the pivots and around the middle of the field but I would like to see him making more metres per game or probably come off the bench with an impact prop type role.

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_

I hope Potter also identifies BMM'S problems with his hands and does something about it in the offseason.
I dont think I have seen another first grader ever .butcher so many tries in such a short time ,as he has this year(and all in the same way) At least he does run hard every time, something some of our other forwards should take note of,and stop the tippy toe running that we see so often

 

[weststigers]

Fifita had a terrible attitude at the Tigers and to be honest wasn't coached correctly.

Agreed. His attitude was terrible with him busting the line and causing havoc for us out there. The coaching was also a factor because sometimes despite obviously being the forward most likely to bust the line sometimes he wasn't picked and then he was let go.

Letting Fifita go is the worst recruitment and retention decision the Wests Tigers have ever made and it was obvious that is was a poor decision.

As for Blair I hadn't seen enough of him prior to recruiting him but he has been a dud buy. He is playing better this year but he will have to be let go in 2 years time if not earlier. We overpaid for him and I'm not sure if he even makes our top team injury free on performance.

How often did he cause havoc and break the line for us stevetiger? I didn't see it too often. As I said, he had load of potential but Sheens couldn't unlock. Credit goes to Flanagan for this.

At the time there were better options available and we took them. We kept Woods, Groat, Galloway and signed Blair and lost Fifita and Gibbs, you can't keep them all.

And for your information prior to recruiting Blair, he was one of the best forwards in the game. At that stage he was 10 times better than Blair. He has been a dud buy, but the original decision with all these points taken in was the correct one AT THE TIME.

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_

Can't agree with you there mate…Fifita was constantly breaking the line and busting tackes...

To be honest, Blair didn't excite me when we announced it. Couldn't really figure out what all the fuss was about.

Just my opinion...I welcome yours

 

[stevetiger]

Can't agree with you there mate…Fifita was constantly breaking the line and busting tackes...

To be honest, Blair didn't excite me when we announced it. Couldn't really figure out what all the fuss was about.

I really don't know how anyone couldn't see how good Fifita was when he was playing with us.

 

[Tigersmurf]

Can't agree with you there mate…Fifita was constantly breaking the line and busting tackes...

To be honest, Blair didn't excite me when we announced it. Couldn't really figure out what all the fuss was about.

I really don't know how anyone couldn't see how good Fifita was when he was playing with us.

Disagree. When I sat on the hill at CO and watched him make a break from our own quater line against the panthers which led to a try I was satisfied that this kid had it! He tore the 20's competition to pices and was always going to be special.

Worst thing Sheens did was to let him go.

 

[Basil_Tiger]

.
Fifita had a terrible attitude at the Tigers and to be honest wasn't coached correctly..
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FWIW i agree,no great wraps on him when he was with us,Beau,(before he left) Robbie and others are all Monday Quarterbacking to my way of thinking,similar situation to JT at the Dogs except Fifita seems to like the Sharks supplement programme.