For all the people moaning about signings

[2041]

This is the confirmed signings tracker from NRL.com - just player movements, no re-signings at current club. Can anyone honestly say the Tigers haven't at least held their own? There just aren't a whole heap of game-changing players moving at the moment.

I think the problem is that we all tend to look at players as having two options: the Tigers, and Anyone Else. In those terms, of course we're going to miss out on more than we win. But if you look at the list below I don't see any single club that's clearly out-signed what the Tigers have done since June. Sure, there are a couple of players on here that might have been nice. But if your standard is "every single good player on the market has to sign for the Tigers or I'm going to sulk" you're being wildly unreasonable. We don't know what kind of stupid money Parra threw at Blake Ferguson, say - coming off the back of his first decent season in years.

Tl;dr: calm your s-.

9/10: Nene McDonald to Cowboys
9/10: Jonas Pearson, Mikaele Ravalawa and Jason Saab to Dragons
9/10: Ryley Jacks to Titans
25/9: Ben Barba to Cowboys
25/9: Mason Lino to Knights
11/9: Ryan Matterson to Tigers
5/9: Bayley Sironen, Junior Tatola, Mark Nicholls, Jacob Gagan and Kurt Dillon to Souths
3/9: Corey Harawira-Naera to Bulldogs
1/9: Tom Opacic to Cowboys
31/8: Paul Momirovski to Tigers
13/8: Sauaso Sue to Bulldogs
11/8: Kane Elgey to Manly
9/8: Tyrone Roberts to Titans
9/8: John Bateman to Raiders
8/8: Dunamis Lui to Raiders
25/7: Brett Morris to Roosters
18/7: Korbin Sims to Dragons
9/7: Josh Morris to Sharks
9/7: Leeson Ah Mau to Warriors
4/7: Blake Ferguson to Eels
4/7: Tim Grant to Panthers
29/6: Matt McIlwrick to Souths
28/6: Nick Meaney to Bulldogs
27/6: JJ Felise to Knights
26/6: Aaron Woods to Sharks
25/6: Edrick Lee to Knights
20/6: Robbie Farah to Tigers
15/6: Moses Mbye to Tigers

 

[earl]

Honestly I think we've done better than basically every club. Mbye and Matterson are two of the best signings in that list. Barba, CHN, Ferguson & Woods are at about the same level. I think Barba is the best player on that list but he is a risk.

I think our squad looks decent. We need a couple of signings but we should be competitive next season assuming a good luck with injuries and no major off field dramas.

 

[2041]

Honestly I think we've done better than basically every club. Mbye and Matterson are two of the best signings in that list. Barba, CHN, Ferguson & Woods are at about the same level. I think Barba is the best player on that list but he is a risk.

I think our squad looks decent. We need a couple of signings but we should be competitive next season assuming a good luck with injuries and no major off field dramas.

The other thing we have to consider is circumstances. We weren't going to sign Barba less than four months after we signed Mbye. We weren't going to sign Woods full stop. I suspect the Cleary nonsense probably torpedoed any shot we had at CHN (and anyway, we signed Matterson pretty soon afterwards and he's probably a better player). So basically we "missed out" on Blake Ferguson who is, let's not forget, an expensive winger in his late 20s who has been playing for the best team in the comp. I'll live.

 

[Doc_Tiger]

Tim Grant - must be ready to neck himself should IC head over there early. lol

 

[bp_tiger]

Honestly I think we've done better than basically every club. Mbye and Matterson are two of the best signings in that list. Barba, CHN, Ferguson & Woods are at about the same level. I think Barba is the best player on that list but he is a risk.

I think our squad looks decent. We need a couple of signings but we should be competitive next season assuming a good luck with injuries and no major off field dramas.

gees ur easily pleased, think if i offered u 2 five dollar notes for a 20, u would be happy. lol

 

[2041]

Honestly I think we've done better than basically every club. Mbye and Matterson are two of the best signings in that list. Barba, CHN, Ferguson & Woods are at about the same level. I think Barba is the best player on that list but he is a risk.

I think our squad looks decent. We need a couple of signings but we should be competitive next season assuming a good luck with injuries and no major off field dramas.

gees ur easily pleased, think if i offered u 2 five dollar notes for a 20, u would be happy. lol

Name a club that's signed better based on the list. I _might_ give you the Cowboys, but probably not.

 

[old_man_tiger]

Honestly I think we've done better than basically every club. Mbye and Matterson are two of the best signings in that list. Barba, CHN, Ferguson & Woods are at about the same level. I think Barba is the best player on that list but he is a risk.

I think our squad looks decent. We need a couple of signings but we should be competitive next season assuming a good luck with injuries and no major off field dramas.

gees ur easily pleased, think if i offered u 2 five dollar notes for a 20, u would be happy. lol

I get your frustration BP. However in your example that would be the end of the deal. In our real situation we have 8 or 9 months to finalise the squad and $$$.

 

[hammertime]

I agree with the OP. Holding 2 spots when there was no decent talent left on the market last year worked out very well for us. Not sure why so many people are up in arms.

Sure, we could try to move on blokes like McQueen, but that's not an easy task.

There is a significant advantage tactically in seeing where our injuries fall at the start of the year, or how individuals perform and recruiting on that basis. At the start of last year, we didn't know Lolo would be a shocker. So we brought in MBye.

I hope that management hold their nerve. They're playing the smart game.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

Yeah I can appreciate the line of thinking that there’s not much available talent wise. I think the frustration is that historically we have not retained or recruited well so currently a lack of good signings brings about frustration. I know I’m frustrated regarding Brooks but the club are probably active with his manager. We all want the same thing - at top 17 that can compete for the top 4\. Oh, and a coach who gives a sh#%

 

[AL The Tiger]

We might have done better than every other club for signings, but our squad and depth is still so ridiculously weak that we really do need more than that. Especially when there were players on that market who would have been good for us

 

[2041]

Yeah I can appreciate the line of thinking that there’s not much available talent wise. I think the frustration is that historically we have not retained or recruited well so currently a lack of good signings brings about frustration. I know I’m frustrated regarding Brooks but the club are probably active with his manager. We all want the same thing - at top 17 that can compete for the top 4\. Oh, and a coach who gives a sh#%

But we haven't got a lack of good signings currently. We've signed Mbye, Momirovski and Matterson in the past four months - clearly a better crop of signings than any other club has made. What I'm saying is that there are people on here whose response to any half-decent player signing for any other club is to spit the dummy. Which is patently ludicrous.

 

[gallagher]

That's a small period of three months so you can't take much away from that stat either way.

Will our round 1 team be much better than this year's round 1 team? Not by much at this stage if you ask me.

 

[2041]

We might have done better than every other club for signings, but our squad and depth is still so ridiculously weak that we really do need more than that. Especially when there were players on that market who would have been good for us

We ca't sign every player going. There's a comment up this thread about how much sense it makes to keep some cap and roster space free for the good players who always - as in, without fail - become unexpectedly available, often for below market price. And yet here's people on this forum whingeing on about missing out on, I dunno, Edrick Lee.

I 100% agree that the roster still needs a significant upgrade to threaten anything more than scraping the eight. But look at the signings we made a year ago when the club was in a hurry to boost morale after losing all those players - people like Reynolds, Packer and McQueen. Overpaid makeweights. Look who we signed when we played the long game: Mbye and Matterson.

People are acting like five year olds a week out from Christmas. Just calm down. Nothing is final yet.

 

[2041]

That's a small period of three months so you can't take much away from that stat either way.

Will our round 1 team be much better than this year's round 1 team? Not by much at this stage if you ask me.

Well, it's the vast bulk of players who have been signed for 2019 so actually I'd say you can take a lot from it. You can go back a year and add Crichton and a couple of others, but that's basically the improvements for next season - which is, fundamentally, what we're talking about here.

The point I'm making is that saying the squad doesn't look much better for next year is one thing, but saying we should have signed a lot more of the available players is not the only conclusion to draw. If we'd spunked all our cap on Blake Ferguson and some of the other nuffies on that list would you now say we're a premiership threat? No. We can only sign (some of) the talent that's actually available, and I'd have thought Tigers fans of all people would have long enough memories to know what happens if you panic buy purely based on what happens to be available at the time.

 

[gallagher]

I'd say the Morris twins, Ferguson, Lee, Macdonald, Sims, Ah Mau, CHN and Woods woukd all help improve our squad .

What's wrong with discussing it? It's the off season, if you don't like speculation come back in March because it sounds like your the one who needs to settle down.

 

[Nelson]

Yeah I can appreciate the line of thinking that there’s not much available talent wise. I think the frustration is that historically we have not retained or recruited well so currently a lack of good signings brings about frustration. I know I’m frustrated regarding Brooks but the club are probably active with his manager. We all want the same thing - at top 17 that can compete for the top 4\. Oh, and a coach who gives a sh#%

But we haven't got a lack of good signings currently. We've signed Mbye, Momirovski and Matterson in the past four months - clearly a better crop of signings than any other club has made. What I'm saying is that there are people on here whose response to any half-decent player signing for any other club is to spit the dummy. Which is patently ludicrous.

Yeah going into 2018 the weakest looking positions were fullback (we've upgraded with Mbye), 2nd row (we've upgraded with Matterson), hooker (we now have Farah as depth and he's probably also an upgrade on Liddle at this stage TBH) and the centres (Momirovski is an unknown). They have done well but I don't think they can afford to sit on the last 2 squad spots - for 2019 we look weakest at prop/lock and left centre. Unfortunately one of the signings from late in the year that was brought in to cover prop (Clark) looks like a bit of a dud and a waste of a spot. We really need another big body and if we have the cash and the right player is available we need more strike power in the back line. Nofo, Momirovski, Marsters and Thompson just don't look like they're going to pose enough threat…

 

[AL The Tiger]

We might have done better than every other club for signings, but our squad and depth is still so ridiculously weak that we really do need more than that. Especially when there were players on that market who would have been good for us

We ca't sign every player going. There's a comment up this thread about how much sense it makes to keep some cap and roster space free for the good players who always - as in, without fail - become unexpectedly available, often for below market price. And yet here's people on this forum whingeing on about missing out on, I dunno, Edrick Lee.

I 100% agree that the roster still needs a significant upgrade to threaten anything more than scraping the eight. But look at the signings we made a year ago when the club was in a hurry to boost morale after losing all those players - people like Reynolds, Packer and McQueen. Overpaid makeweights. Look who we signed when we played the long game: Mbye and Matterson.

People are acting like five year olds a week out from Christmas. Just calm down. Nothing is final yet.

I agree. The point you make is a sensible one, and like you I'd much rather us wait to sign better players than rush anything. My original post was simply countering those who believe we have come out the better in the competition for signings. We have made good signings so far, but our squad is still very out of depth and we're going to need a lot more.

 

[WT2K]

Good post OP. We really haven't missed out on much when you break it down like that.
Having two spots still open does add some flexibility in terms of potential mid season signings like we saw with farah and mbye this season.

 

[Muzzy]

That's a small period of three months so you can't take much away from that stat either way.

Will our round 1 team be much better than this year's round 1 team? Not by much at this stage if you ask me.

Um, Our Round 1 team in 2018 defeated the 2018 Premiers and then the 2017 Premiers/2018 runners-up in Week 2 - 5 wins of 6 (dodgy Broncos game). Our problem wasn't round 1 Team but depth once Packer & hooking/dummy half problems emerged.

 

[2041]

I'd say the Morris twins, Ferguson, Lee, Macdonald, Sims, Ah Mau, CHN and Woods woukd all help improve our squad .

What's wrong with discussing it? It's the off season, if you don't like speculation come back in March because it sounds like your the one who needs to settle down.

I don't mind discussing potential signings. I just think it's ludicrous to suggest that anything short of signing basically every first-grade-standard player on the market by early October dooms the club to the wooden spoon next year.

The list you've come up with would have chewed up every bit of cap space the Tigers have and more, and after spunking all the cash for the next three years we'd have added an ageing and injury prone winger, an ageing and injury prone centre, a good winger, a fringe first-grade winger, another winger, a bench prop, another bench prop, a promising back row forward and a very good prop the club clearly didn't want to re-sign.

So we'd have plenty of depth on the wing at least.