Hi Team
Tough to be a tigers faithful atm. I wanted to break down everything that has been happening and get people opinions on our situation and path going forward. Please feel free to add anything constructive.
**Salary Cap**
Appears to be in a rough place with a lot of contracts being reportedly more expensive then we initially heard.
Packer 650
Mats 700
Reynolds 750 -900 (backended maybe?)
Brooks 550
Rowdy 300
Mbye 500k??
These are picked up from various places, how true im not sure. The concerning it bit including the fine is that we appear to have zero cap space left. With most of our highly paid players on the books for a few years it doesn't appear to be getting any smoother soon.
As a result we really only have a couple of opitions that i see. Firstly we recruit fringe players on small contracts for minimal time. This is similar to the Tim Mannah deal. Short contracts to cover holes while the cap is resurrected.
Sign young kids in the hope a few pan out. Similar to the young hooker we have just signed from Queensland. I like this tactic even though it will take time to reach fruition.
Promote juniors into cc faster in a sink or swim mentality.
In summary our caps in a bad place and i expect Madge will be brutal and a lot of negative headlines will probably surface this year in a bid for him to get rid of some of the expensive contracts. Cleary really did do a number on us.
**Playing Group**
If im being honest our playing group is the weakest in the competition imo. As many people have stated we lack size, speed and mongrel.
We tend to hang on to fringe first graders way to long and become enamored with players that have genuine deficiencies. The list is based on first grade players this year not up and comers.
Keepers/ Solid First graders/ Build arounders.
Matto - Best player at the club period.
Twal - First full year at prop Looks like he has a large motor and tackles everything.
Jennings - Controversial but is big, pretty quick, and will do well with a decent backline.
Marsters - Having a down year but is still super talented and a game changer when on.
Mikaele
Potentials/ Good but not greats
Thompson - all heart, limited mistakes, just struggles with punch out of the back field and size.
Garner - Young made huge strides this year needs to improve defensively
Brooks - Amazing runner of the ball, improved defender , brilliant on his day, but just very inconsistent for mine and needs an organising half next to him.
Liddle - I still feel like he is worth a shot, has looked good in flashes this year, huge talent just needs a year or two without injuries.
Garlic sauce - i think he would be awesome with a solid forward pack around him
Take them or leave them
Mats - Is ok but hasnt really impressed. Not a huge meter eater and appears to regress on impatful hits in defense.
Reynolds- i love the bloke but unfortunately we are paying top dollar for a cheerleader. IF fit i would move him up a notch but at the moment he kind would do more for us not on the roster.
Mbye - For me another guy that can be awesome and you can see why the hype is there, but like brooks he is just so inconsistent.
Momo - Kid seems to have talent but is yet to really show it.
Nofo - love him is an amazing tiger but has serious deficiencies in his game. Another small winger which we have plenty of.
Clark - again not seeing enough to judge but if you cant make the squad with our current forwards are you going to make it going forward.
Rowdy - Tiger through thick and thin and like mannah and the eels are painful loss. Is he still good enough we will see i guess.
Chee kam - Utility i guess
Would move on
Packer - Obvious issues here so need him gone.
Robbie and benji - retiring i would hope)
Huth - just doesnt have enough impact for me nice dude solid plodder but we need to do better to compete.
Taylor - great tackler horrible runner.
Mcqueen - solid but we need more impact moving forward.
Rochow - solid cc player just doesnt translate to nrl imo
Anyone else i havent mention can be moved on.
**Coaching**
I feel like i want to give madge a few years to get the team he wants. The team he has is pretty ordinary imo. In saying that id like him to go and get the assistant coaches he values.
**Venues**
I feel like we need to getaway from multiple grounds. In the long run the fans will stick with the tigers, i mean we have until now and i dont think which ground we play at matters as much as we like to think. I could deal with 2 but 4 sometimes 5 is no good for us as a team ( maybe financially)
Anyway like every year i think we are a few years away from anything (Thanks Ivan) but im willing to ride it out with madge. I think its going to get worse in most ways before it gets better.
Tough to be a tigers faithful atm. I wanted to break down everything that has been happening and get people opinions on our situation and path going forward. Please feel free to add anything constructive.
**Salary Cap**
Appears to be in a rough place with a lot of contracts being reportedly more expensive then we initially heard.
Packer 650
Mats 700
Reynolds 750 -900 (backended maybe?)
Brooks 550
Rowdy 300
Mbye 500k??
These are picked up from various places, how true im not sure. The concerning it bit including the fine is that we appear to have zero cap space left. With most of our highly paid players on the books for a few years it doesn't appear to be getting any smoother soon.
As a result we really only have a couple of opitions that i see. Firstly we recruit fringe players on small contracts for minimal time. This is similar to the Tim Mannah deal. Short contracts to cover holes while the cap is resurrected.
Sign young kids in the hope a few pan out. Similar to the young hooker we have just signed from Queensland. I like this tactic even though it will take time to reach fruition.
Promote juniors into cc faster in a sink or swim mentality.
In summary our caps in a bad place and i expect Madge will be brutal and a lot of negative headlines will probably surface this year in a bid for him to get rid of some of the expensive contracts. Cleary really did do a number on us.
**Playing Group**
If im being honest our playing group is the weakest in the competition imo. As many people have stated we lack size, speed and mongrel.
We tend to hang on to fringe first graders way to long and become enamored with players that have genuine deficiencies. The list is based on first grade players this year not up and comers.
Keepers/ Solid First graders/ Build arounders.
Matto - Best player at the club period.
Twal - First full year at prop Looks like he has a large motor and tackles everything.
Jennings - Controversial but is big, pretty quick, and will do well with a decent backline.
Marsters - Having a down year but is still super talented and a game changer when on.
Mikaele
Potentials/ Good but not greats
Thompson - all heart, limited mistakes, just struggles with punch out of the back field and size.
Garner - Young made huge strides this year needs to improve defensively
Brooks - Amazing runner of the ball, improved defender , brilliant on his day, but just very inconsistent for mine and needs an organising half next to him.
Liddle - I still feel like he is worth a shot, has looked good in flashes this year, huge talent just needs a year or two without injuries.
Garlic sauce - i think he would be awesome with a solid forward pack around him
Take them or leave them
Mats - Is ok but hasnt really impressed. Not a huge meter eater and appears to regress on impatful hits in defense.
Reynolds- i love the bloke but unfortunately we are paying top dollar for a cheerleader. IF fit i would move him up a notch but at the moment he kind would do more for us not on the roster.
Mbye - For me another guy that can be awesome and you can see why the hype is there, but like brooks he is just so inconsistent.
Momo - Kid seems to have talent but is yet to really show it.
Nofo - love him is an amazing tiger but has serious deficiencies in his game. Another small winger which we have plenty of.
Clark - again not seeing enough to judge but if you cant make the squad with our current forwards are you going to make it going forward.
Rowdy - Tiger through thick and thin and like mannah and the eels are painful loss. Is he still good enough we will see i guess.
Chee kam - Utility i guess
Would move on
Packer - Obvious issues here so need him gone.
Robbie and benji - retiring i would hope)
Huth - just doesnt have enough impact for me nice dude solid plodder but we need to do better to compete.
Taylor - great tackler horrible runner.
Mcqueen - solid but we need more impact moving forward.
Rochow - solid cc player just doesnt translate to nrl imo
Anyone else i havent mention can be moved on.
**Coaching**
I feel like i want to give madge a few years to get the team he wants. The team he has is pretty ordinary imo. In saying that id like him to go and get the assistant coaches he values.
**Venues**
I feel like we need to getaway from multiple grounds. In the long run the fans will stick with the tigers, i mean we have until now and i dont think which ground we play at matters as much as we like to think. I could deal with 2 but 4 sometimes 5 is no good for us as a team ( maybe financially)
Anyway like every year i think we are a few years away from anything (Thanks Ivan) but im willing to ride it out with madge. I think its going to get worse in most ways before it gets better.
