Fonua Pole #257

Hazelton is a myth. Some of his defensive decisions, regularly, made Fonua's lateral movement around the ruck look elite.

He's not the hype machine some people were pumping him up to be.
what about that Titans young bloke, I’ve only seen him once, how’s he go?
 
Apparently Josh King is off contact end of next year. I'd be looking to have a chat with him in 2 days.

Even if he asks 600-700k, it is fine IMO. He will probably give us 400-500k worth on the field and doesn't really bend the line. But, having someone like him take Pole, Matamua, Fainus etc under his wing could mean that our 400k players perform better.

The only forwards coach we have is Heighno and I don't have much faith in him and tbh I always found him quite overrated in our own team. We need to fill that forward leader/ mentor role and I think Josh King could give us that value.
 
So I take it; despite our decent extension offer; Fonua Pole is going to market.
As someone mentioned we have the leverage in terms of the potential salary as we can include an upgrade for next season in the extension where as no club can do that if he signs for 26. Which means money doesn’t appear to be a factor.
However it also means we may have another Alioi situation where a club will offer a three year deal on the basis he takes it from next year. Thus a similar deal to our extension offer.

Anyone heard how this is moving?
Last I heard ‘Tigers are confident, it will be resolved before going to the open market’.
 
Like Stefano before him, Pole wants assurance that we will quickly become top 8 contenders before committing to us long term.
Similar situation we will be facing with Galvin in 12 months time.
Maybe the clauses our previous management were willing tn put in players contracts in order for them to re-sign with us we’re not so bad after all. It is better to retain quality players with clauses in their contracts and hole we improve enough results wise for the clause to automatically remove from their contract, rather than lose them to other clubs and not have them at all.
 
Like Stefano before him, Pole wants assurance that we will quickly become top 8 contenders before committing to us long term.
Similar situation we will be facing with Galvin in 12 months time.
Maybe the clauses our previous management were willing tn put in players contracts in order for them to re-sign with us we’re not so bad after all. It is better to retain quality players with clauses in their contracts and hole we improve enough results wise for the clause to automatically remove from their contract, rather than lose them to other clubs and not have them at all.

These clauses are a dud idea that no other club entertains as far as I’m aware …

”hope they improve results wise “ isn’t much of a plan to run a football club
 
These clauses are a dud idea that no other club entertains as far as I’m aware …

”hope they improve results wise “ isn’t much of a plan to run a football club
So losing players we need to retain and not being able to recruit the players we need because we will not entertain these clauses is a better option ?
A little bit of hope is better than no hope.
 
So losing players we need to retain and not being able to recruit the players we need because we will not entertain these clauses is a better option ?
A little bit of hope is better than no hope.

They need to present the player with a plan as to how they are going to improve the club …it’s up to the player then to buy in ,…not to give them an incentive not to try so it makes it easier for them to jump ship …

i follow a lot of different sports and never see these sort of clauses in playing contracts …
 
They need to present the player with a plan as to how they are going to improve the club …it’s up to the player then to buy in ,…not to give them an incentive not to try so it makes it easier for them to jump ship …

i follow a lot of different sports and never see these sort of clauses in playing contracts …
Yeah but how many sporting clubs have been as unsuccessful as as for the past 12 years and how many other sporting clubs have finished stone motherless last for three straight seasons ?
We have put ourselves in a unique situation and quality players are scared committing to us because of it, therefore we need to find creative ways for them to atleast give us a chance.
 
So I take it; despite our decent extension offer; Fonua Pole is going to market.
As someone mentioned we have the leverage in terms of the potential salary as we can include an upgrade for next season in the extension where as no club can do that if he signs for 26. Which means money doesn’t appear to be a factor.
However it also means we may have another Alioi situation where a club will offer a three year deal on the basis he takes it from next year. Thus a similar deal to our extension offer.

Anyone heard how this is moving?
Last I heard ‘Tigers are confident, it will be resolved before going to the open market’.
He is gone......following the same path as Stefano
 
Yeah but how many sporting clubs have been as unsuccessful as as for the past 12 years and how many other sporting clubs have finished stone motherless last for three straight seasons ?
We have put ourselves in a unique situation and quality players are scared committing to us because of it, therefore we need to find creative ways for them to atleast give us a chance.

So you want a similar situation like Stefano where he basically deliberately plays poorly to avoid Origin selection ?

Pole should sign say another two years through to 2027 .. no doubt he will be paid the highest amount of money in the market by the Tigers and will still only be 25 and young enough to move on then…
 
So I take it; despite our decent extension offer; Fonua Pole is going to market.
As someone mentioned we have the leverage in terms of the potential salary as we can include an upgrade for next season in the extension where as no club can do that if he signs for 26. Which means money doesn’t appear to be a factor.
However it also means we may have another Alioi situation where a club will offer a three year deal on the basis he takes it from next year. Thus a similar deal to our extension offer.

Anyone heard how this is moving?
Last I heard ‘Tigers are confident, it will be resolved before going to the open market’.
He doesn't want to sell himself short, which is fair enough. I wouldn't say money isn't a factor, i'm sure it's one of the main factors.
If he wants an upgrade in 2025 then his only option is to re-sign with us, same with Galvin.
They're all young, take the money here, hope we improve, then if we're not contending then move on age 25...
 
So you want a similar situation like Stefano where he basically deliberately plays poorly to avoid Origin selection ?

Pole should sign say another two years through to 2027 .. no doubt he will be paid the highest amount of money in the market by the Tigers and will still only be 25 and young enough to move on then…
If we read between the lines, Pole is wanting massive overs in order to re-sign with us.
We are not in a position to pay him massive overs and still have the funds to try and recruit some more quality players to bring our overall playing roster up to a reasonable standard.
If it was a choice between losing him to another club at the end of next season, or having him extend with us with provisions surrounding our finishing position, I’d much rather take my chances and hope we can make the necessary improvements to remove any such clauses and make him want to stay.
 
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Apparently Josh King is off contact end of next year. I'd be looking to have a chat with him in 2 days.

Even if he asks 600-700k, it is fine IMO. He will probably give us 400-500k worth on the field and doesn't really bend the line. But, having someone like him take Pole, Matamua, Fainus etc under his wing could mean that our 400k players perform better.

The only forwards coach we have is Heighno and I don't have much faith in him and tbh I always found him quite overrated in our own team. We need to fill that forward leader/ mentor role and I think Josh King could give us that value.

I was thinking about this...
What St George and Parra are doing is Cashing up.

Saints letting go Jack Bird and Ben Hunt is them freeing up cap space.
Likewise Parramatta punting a lot of people.

We saw Flanno say to Joey Manu 1.2 Million if he came to the saints. It's clear that both teams want to snipe players they reckon would be top of the top. Meanwhile the WT seems to be picking up the rejects still.


Not saying Josh King wouldn't be a decent buy, I am saying he wont' be turning us around. He fits in at Lock and we really need a 2nd row to go with Samuela F.

Save our pennies and get someone who wins games.
 
I was thinking about this...
What St George and Parra are doing is Cashing up.

Saints letting go Jack Bird and Ben Hunt is them freeing up cap space.
Likewise Parramatta punting a lot of people.

We saw Flanno say to Joey Manu 1.2 Million if he came to the saints. It's clear that both teams want to snipe players they reckon would be top of the top. Meanwhile the WT seems to be picking up the rejects still.


Not saying Josh King wouldn't be a decent buy, I am saying he wont' be turning us around. He fits in at Lock and we really need a 2nd row to go with Samuela F.

Save our pennies and get someone who wins games.
Hmm I completely disagree. Our cap is in a good space right now and apparently we have a "war chest".

Let's be honest, we aren't making Finals next year, we aren't winning the comp in the next 3-4 years.

Winning a few extra games won't do anything. We have many issues on-field but bigger off-field. Listen to Blore, Garner, Brooks, Talau etc talk about how hard they train now than they did at Tigers.

Something Gus said in his podcast that stuck with me. Every team spends most of the cap, but the value of their players at the end of the year determines how they did that year. We have players taking a paycut to leave us because a few extra grands don't matter much when they're losing all the time. Players values are decreasing here because they aren't performing.

Obviously not winning spoons has to be a big priority, but now that our cap is somewhat balanced, we need to get our $300,$400K players to be performing better than their worth.

I think a player like Josh King does that. Similar to D Finucane/McCinnes at Sharks, Tamou at Penrith, Bromwiches at Dolphins.
 
I am with Richo , we need players that are motivated to take us off the bottom. Fight hard get paid well but really want to be in " the crocodile roll" otherwise see you later.
As we saw with Stephanie no matter how talented you are if your heart is not with the tigers them you will be a liability.
I hope Pole resigns but without weird clauses and him being 100% committed to us.
 
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