Confirmed: Matterson released from Wests Tigers.

[Furious1]

I found it interesting last night on Fox across a couple of different shows they were talking about Manly and how nobody had seen it coming. The question was raised how does Dessie do it? From different people associated with the club ( Ballin and Toovey) it came back clear, **hard work, full physical contact training right through the off season and accountability** In other words the harder they have worked, the luckier they have become. Of course they have a few good players there too, but they also have players people wouldn't have fed at the beginning of the season who have all lifted.

Matto is at a pivotal point here, he can knuckle down and accept the Maguire way, which had him playing good consistent footy and be a leader at this club for many years to come, or he can look for the soft way out.

 

[Don Kershane]

@jirskyr Matto obviously believes he is a star--Perhaps present him with a Grace Kelly/ Jimmy Barnes award.

 

[yeti]

We've seen other clubs, (the Storm for one with both Scott and Munster), reportedly having players not happy with their situation, but once the club has drawn the line in the sand, and they don't get what they want, they knuckle down and it all works itself out.
Hopefully, the same situation occurs here. The club holds all the aces here and I don't see Maguire being manipulated by anyone.
I would expect to see Matterson playing next season in Tigers colours.

 

[hsvjones]

@yeti I think we stand firm on him as well and believe if we can get a few quality players signed and we are looking up he will stay.. Fingers crossed anyway

 

[jirskyr]

After watching Madge on MJ Show, the one thing i took out of it is Matto won't be going anywhere and if he does, i don't see Madge being the kind of bloke to be bent over. I think it would end favourably for us. Still, from the clubs point of view it would be much better for us if Matto wanted to stay and be talking the place up.

All this stuff is bad publicity for the cub

Not necessarily. The Cleary debacle ended up being pretty good publicity for Tigers, holding fast and Cleary coming out looking like the snake that he is.

This could be an ideal situation for us, as Brent Read alluded to, to show we won't be pushed around.

 

[Spida]

@hsvjones I hope we stand strong too.players like him haven’t been at the Tigers too often and when they do come along they leave (Teddy,Tapau,Fifita etc) and we let them,with nothing in return.

Ryan has a massive opportunity here to help lead this club to where its threatened to be for so long. If he sees the position he plays on the field, money he gets per year or weather he likes the coach as more important than he and the team will struggle to reach any great heights.

 

[Spud_Murphy]

We've seen other clubs, (the Storm for one with both Scott and Munster), reportedly having players not happy with their situation, but once the club has drawn the line in the sand, and they don't get what they want, they knuckle down and it all works itself out.
Hopefully, the same situation occurs here. The club holds all the aces here and I don't see Maguire being manipulated by anyone.
I would expect to see Matterson playing next season in Tigers colours.

Big difference between us and the Storm though. They win most of their games and always have a good tilt at winning the comp, makes for a happier team environment.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

If he is desperate to go, get Ethan Parry and one other top junior in exchange. Or give him a conditional release stipulating that he is unable to play in the NRL for the next two years.

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

I don’t want him leaving and think he is future captain material. He is one we could build the club around.

If our club is serious about changing the culture and winning we need to prove we can resolve differences with players and keep the good ones at the club.

This will be a great test for Madge and Pascoe, but also a crucial call on how we manage our future.

 

[851]

I don’t want him leaving and think he is future captain material. He is one we could build the club around.

If our club is serious about changing the culture and winning we need to prove we can resolve differences with players and keep the good ones at the club.

This will be a great test for Madge and Pascoe, but also a crucial call on how we manage our future.

I agree, Madge is supposedly a good coach, he should be able to coach the teams best player, if not questions need to be asked. After the JT fiasco because he couldn't coach Robbie, we do not need another round of that, Madge surely can handle it better and coach the players he has, that's his job after all

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Up to Matto really. Does he keep turning up and having a crack, or does he want to be an ISP player for the next two years.

We all pine for a hard edged coach like Bellamy who demands nothing less than the best from his players. Apparently Curtis Scott has issues at Melbourne yet he's still there. We have one of Bellyaches proteges trying to do the same thing. He's been happy to drop players all year. Back him.

If the approach is from Easts make him play state cup. Don't come here and then want back when they come knocking because their other big name purchase didn't work out.

 

[Madge]

@Cultured_Bogan OATH

 

[2041]

@hsvjones I hope we stand strong too.players like him haven’t been at the Tigers too often and when they do come along they leave (Teddy,Tapau,Fifita etc) and we let them,with nothing in return.

Ryan has a massive opportunity here to help lead this club to where its threatened to be for so long. If he sees the position he plays on the field, money he gets per year or weather he likes the coach as more important than he and the team will struggle to reach any great heights.

Bit harsh on Taupau and Fifita TBF. Fifita left because Sheens didn't fancy him. Taupau was probably always going to be a one-year rental - he was available to us because the Dogs were clueless and he wasn't being paid anything, but it was during a period where we had zero capacity to upgrade his contract. It would have been a pretty bad look to deny a player what was their first chance to make a really decent living.

 

[2041]

I don’t want him leaving and think he is future captain material. He is one we could build the club around.

If our club is serious about changing the culture and winning we need to prove we can resolve differences with players and keep the good ones at the club.

This will be a great test for Madge and Pascoe, but also a crucial call on how we manage our future.

I agree, Madge is supposedly a good coach, he should be able to coach the teams best player, if not questions need to be asked. After the JT fiasco because he couldn't coach Robbie, we do not need another round of that, Madge surely can handle it better and coach the players he has, that's his job after all

I generally take the players' side in these sort of debates - I don't think they're mindless automata who should just shut up and do what they're told. I don't even generally begrudge them wanting to earn more money: careers are short and unpredictable, and the numbers involved aren't generally enough to set them up for life.

In this case, though, I have to say I don't think Matterson looks good. He's played basically one year of first grade, he's on a decent wage (though one he probably out-earned in 2019) and no-one else in the squad seems to have the same issues with the coach (who has a strong pedigree and has delivered pretty good results on the park for the quality of roster he had to work with).

I'd actually understand if it all turned out to be about money. Players are entitled to ask for what they think they're worth, and clubs are entitled to decide if they want to offer it or not. But whinging about how hard Maguire works the players and how much nicer Trent Robinson was is BS. Yeah, managers have different styles. Someone with a bit more experience would know that and be able to handle it.

 

[TCL]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned here or not but does anyone else think there maybe a link to the knights with Adam O’brien going there next year?

 

[earl]

I don’t want him leaving and think he is future captain material. He is one we could build the club around.

If our club is serious about changing the culture and winning we need to prove we can resolve differences with players and keep the good ones at the club.

This will be a great test for Madge and Pascoe, but also a crucial call on how we manage our future.

I think we need to re-think the captaincy role. We handed that to Woods and he proved that he didn't have the character for the role. Matterson has clearly shown he probably doesn't have the character for the role as well.

 

[tiger_one]

@TCL

I like your thinking TCL. But really, at this stage, everything's speculation.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

@TCL

I like your thinking TCL. But really, at this stage, everything's speculation.

Knights finished off worse than us. I can understand him wanting to go to Easts, but Newcastle after they underachieved with the squad they had?

 

[tiger_one]

@Cultured_Bogan

But like most things NRL, it's always about the $$$$$.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

@Cultured_Bogan

But like most things NRL, it's always about the $$$$$.

Easts would have plenty of $$$$$ both on and off the books, they never miss out on a player they want.