Joe Ofahengaue #240

[Tiger5150]

Lee's comments are ridiculous. Why does he talk to the media? Those comments are embarrassing. Even if we weren't soft in the JA negotiations (I think we were) it still doesn't change our recent history of being bullied by players, coaches and managers. I just don't see what benefit there is for him to announce how much impact a player airing their public grievances can have on the club's decision making process. It sounds childish. I've been uncomfortable with his openness in the past, I actually wonder about his judgement now.

He should never of shared what JA reportedly said with the media. It was a certain way to turn the fans on him and give justification for possibly releasing him. But then he talked tough and made the lawnmower references and didn't follow through.. We got an outcome from it - some believe a good one and hopefully it will be - but no solution to the problem.


He didnt share it with the media, one of his "mates" did (also the same in here). The media reported the story and asked Lee for a response.

If the chair reports every thing to the media that goes on behind closed doors then he is in the wrong position. Everything that JA has reportedly said has been second hand information. He should not have escalated it.


He didnt. Someone else did and Lee was asked. He got on the front foot and it immediately turned the media narrative in our favour. It was also the truth

***It was a rumour on the internet by an anonymous source***. Do you really want him responding to those type of questions from the media?

But that is not what you said, you said ***"He (Lee) should never of shared what JA reportedly said with the media."***. Lee didnt share what was said, someone else leaked it to the media, as you know there was someone here wanting to sjow the same information to anyone who asked. That is the whole point and there is nothing to "agree to disagree" about. Lee did not report what was said in the media, he responded to it.

As for turning the narrative in our favour Tyran Smith Alolai and Manly might see that differently. Seems like his involvement ensured they all got what they wanted.

And what does that have to do with the media narrative? The media have been very sympathetic to Tigers cause since Lee spoke up. Not really arguable and your example has nothing to do with it.



All I know is giving into dummy spits ensures one thing - more of them. At some point you have to take a hit and stop the rot. JA is not mowing lawns - tough words from our chair - he has gained a 600k contract with another club. Agree to disagree on this one.

As far as Smith & Aloiai "getting what they wanted", Aloiai was offered $200K more from Manly than Tigers, he was always going there, good luck to everyone. Lee/Pascoe/Hartigan/Madge turned a bad situation into a positive for the club, surely thats "What **we** wanted?".

The alternative? An expensive player sulking in CC, with no replacement and no cash to try to get Laurie early. Thats the way you would have gone?

Respond to it he poured petrol on it and set it alight - up until then it was still a rumour, so he did share it and confirmed it. Do you really want sympathy from the media for being taken advantage of again - because that is what the sympathy is for? Id rather be admired for taking a stand. Lee talked tough and all emotion aside we buckled. You don't agree all good.

In this case your agree to disgree is simply a cop out. You are objectively wrong. Lee clearly said (your "talked tough") that we would not release JA unless we receive a commercial agreement to our advantage. We did,more than $ 100K which may be used to get Laurie here early. "All emotion aside" these are plain facts, not emotional rubbish.

Lee spoke up, it changed the medias rhetoric to the Tigers, not to sympathy but support. Lee said he would do something and then did EXACTLY what he would said he would do which is to the clubs advantage, we end up in a better place, the media have widely reported it so. Simple facts that cause cognitive dissonance for a few here.

 

[Blake]

Lee is so ridiculously inept in commercial judgement it's embarrassing. I absolutely agree with others on here. Having been in business for 20 years, the fact that he has come out and said "it was untenable because of the comments he made" absolutely gives others (players and agents) the playbook on how to leave.

More than anything it shows Lee for who he is, and who we are as a club - insecure about our perception in the market as someone who is a pushover.... If you are not a pushover, you don't tell people how you're not a pushover, you just don't get pushed over. Period. He is like a nerdy school kid who has been bullied and now wants to tell everyone how good he is, and at the same time just revealed how to get out if you want. "Look at me I did this great deal and didn't get pushed over"! ... He could've just said "we got a financial settlement and we move forward"

It's like he wants to protect his image because he is insecure of his ego. I've dealt with many people like him in negotiations and once you know they are ego-centric, you play along to it - tell them how great they are when you want something, or tell them how much you dislike them - it's all EGO.

Honestly dude. Do the deal. Shut up. Move on. That's how you don't get screwed in the future.

Your analysis is inept.

Everyone has always known that if you attack the coach or the club, they will want to get rid of you, Lee did not give away any secrets. Acting like a spoilt child to get out of a contract is very risky because it can affect your future negotiations, people remember how you got out of a previous contract.

The reason Lee is speaking publicly about this and making noise is to get everyone's attention that there is a problem and increase pressure on the NRL to make changes that discourage players from breaking their contracts.

 

[Tigerbuck63]

I saw a post on some social media platform that put Wests Tigers fans as the biggest whingers in the comp. I go for us and i actually agree. We get rid of potential cancer for at least 100k. for all we know its 350k. We get a yoiung forward who has in the past played for qld so is a rep player. and our management still gets slammed. Its a crazy old world. Heaven forbid giving some props to a handcuffed management on their ability to deal with these rubbish situations.

The problem is management states that JA will be mowing the lawns and they let him go. Rather them say nothing and let it run its course. Whingers well lets ask a few ? how things are run with the club.

Has Madge put pen to paper for 2 years?
Chasing JAC again when we know he wants to play at souths.
We have 3 highly paid players not performing and Pascoe was around when these were signed.
We currently train out of make shape facilities until COE is completed big plus when it is - When ?????
We are the longest club not playing finals football.
There just a few of the gripes but i think we have been a badly managed club for a number of seasons.

 

[Telltails]

Lee's comments are ridiculous. Why does he talk to the media? Those comments are embarrassing. Even if we weren't soft in the JA negotiations (I think we were) it still doesn't change our recent history of being bullied by players, coaches and managers. I just don't see what benefit there is for him to announce how much impact a player airing their public grievances can have on the club's decision making process. It sounds childish. I've been uncomfortable with his openness in the past, I actually wonder about his judgement now.

He should never of shared what JA reportedly said with the media. It was a certain way to turn the fans on him and give justification for possibly releasing him. But then he talked tough and made the lawnmower references and didn't follow through.. We got an outcome from it - some believe a good one and hopefully it will be - but no solution to the problem.


He didnt share it with the media, one of his "mates" did (also the same in here). The media reported the story and asked Lee for a response.

If the chair reports every thing to the media that goes on behind closed doors then he is in the wrong position. Everything that JA has reportedly said has been second hand information. He should not have escalated it.


He didnt. Someone else did and Lee was asked. He got on the front foot and it immediately turned the media narrative in our favour. It was also the truth

***It was a rumour on the internet by an anonymous source***. Do you really want him responding to those type of questions from the media?

But that is not what you said, you said ***"He (Lee) should never of shared what JA reportedly said with the media."***. Lee didnt share what was said, someone else leaked it to the media, as you know there was someone here wanting to sjow the same information to anyone who asked. That is the whole point and there is nothing to "agree to disagree" about. Lee did not report what was said in the media, he responded to it.

As for turning the narrative in our favour Tyran Smith Alolai and Manly might see that differently. Seems like his involvement ensured they all got what they wanted.

And what does that have to do with the media narrative? The media have been very sympathetic to Tigers cause since Lee spoke up. Not really arguable and your example has nothing to do with it.



All I know is giving into dummy spits ensures one thing - more of them. At some point you have to take a hit and stop the rot. JA is not mowing lawns - tough words from our chair - he has gained a 600k contract with another club. Agree to disagree on this one.

As far as Smith & Aloiai "getting what they wanted", Aloiai was offered $200K more from Manly than Tigers, he was always going there, good luck to everyone. Lee/Pascoe/Hartigan/Madge turned a bad situation into a positive for the club, surely thats "What **we** wanted?".

The alternative? An expensive player sulking in CC, with no replacement and no cash to try to get Laurie early. Thats the way you would have gone?

Respond to it he poured petrol on it and set it alight - up until then it was still a rumour, so he did share it and confirmed it. Do you really want sympathy from the media for being taken advantage of again - because that is what the sympathy is for? Id rather be admired for taking a stand. Lee talked tough and all emotion aside we buckled. You don't agree all good.

In this case your agree to disgree is simply a cop out. You are objectively wrong. Lee clearly said (your "talked tough") that we would not release JA unless we receive a commercial agreement to our advantage. We did,more than $ 100K which may be used to get Laurie here early. "All emotion aside" these are plain facts, not emotional rubbish.

Lee spoke up, it changed the medias rhetoric to the Tigers, not to sympathy but support. Lee said he would do something and then did EXACTLY what he would said he would do which is to the clubs advantage, we end up in a better place, the media have widely reported it so. Simple facts that cause cognitive dissonance for a few here.

You can sugar coat it all you like. The media rhetoric to the WTs is no different now to when Cleary and Matterson did the dirty on us. It is a repeat pattern of behaviour and we can continue to hate on all those who have done the dirty on us and convince ourselves we are in a better position for it but results show that is not the case at this point - and until that changes the sympathy will continue.

 

[earl]

Has Madge put pen to paper for 2 years?
Chasing JAC again when we know he wants to play at souths.
We have 3 highly paid players not performing and Pascoe was around when these were signed.
We currently train out of make shape facilities until COE is completed big plus when it is - When ???
We are the longest club not playing finals football.
There just a few of the gripes but i think we have been a badly managed club for a number of seasons

Your last point is a subjective opinion. The facts above don't necessarily support your opinion.

I don't believe you can just wave a wand and fix things. I'm not sure if it's incompetent management at all. I'm not even sure if some of those facts are even relevant. Are the facilities really a reason for losses ? I don't think so. What was wrong with chasing JAC ? Why is not having Madge sign a new contract a huge issue ?

Look at Aloiai leaving. It could be construed as bad but I think the club did the best it could in a bad situation. That isn't bad management.

I also don't know what you are going to do.

 

[earl]

results show that is not the case at this point

The results aren't in yet. We lost Tedesco and we didn't go backwards. I don't think we really went backwards when we lost Matterson. Maybe Aloiai won't be a huge loss.

 

[Spud_Murphy]

We can get rid of the sooks though, when it is to our advantage. In both those cases we came out better off.

I agree with your post but would we better with Matterson and Aloiai in our team now ? I think we would be.

Those guys had great seasons for us. They carried us. They were then targeted by other clubs who want quality players and they left early because they wanted more money. The same thing happened with Harry Grant but he was simply a loan to us.

The club has managed recruitment and retention extremely well when you consider the quality of players they've lost.

It's a bad situation. **I don't like seeing players act like that and getting rewarded.**

This is the bottom line in the whole thing, regardless of who we sign in their place. It sets a terrible precedent that is becoming an annual occurrence at our club.

 

[sleeve]

Lets not cry about spilt milk.Whats done is done,time to go ahead'.

 

[Tigerbuck63]

Has Madge put pen to paper for 2 years?
Chasing JAC again when we know he wants to play at souths.
We have 3 highly paid players not performing and Pascoe was around when these were signed.
We currently train out of make shape facilities until COE is completed big plus when it is - When ???
We are the longest club not playing finals football.
There just a few of the gripes but i think we have been a badly managed club for a number of seasons

Your last point is a subjective opinion. The facts above don't necessarily support your opinion.

I don't believe you can just wave a wand and fix things. I'm not sure if it's incompetent management at all. I'm not even sure if some of those facts are even relevant. Are the facilities really a reason for losses ? I don't think so. What was wrong with chasing JAC ? Why is not having Madge sign a new contract a huge issue ?

Look at Aloiai leaving. It could be construed as bad but I think the club did the best it could in a bad situation. That isn't bad management.

I also don't know what you are going to do.

Agree always subjective, as a long term supporter disappointing how the club has been managed at the Top over many years when i compare to other clubs.

Farah ambassador role salary cap issue over last 2 years. Pascoe then sitting out 6 months??

Facilities never said reason for losses just when will the new facilities be ready seems original figure $58m now $75m
Completion date - ??????????????
Its called transparency with facts than a photo opportunity to have with a shovel and dirt.

JA - The management needed to say nothing about mowing lawns just stick to the script you have a contract if you want to leave find a like for like replacement. Its not good culture having things played out negative in the media.

Yes they announced Madge tabled an offer for 2 years nothing Signed well players who have signed for longer than 2021 want to know if the coach will be around.

In all Honesty my verdict is 50/50 with Madge he has not really changed anything around yet, off season signing nothing special just hype. Surprised we make the 8 this year.

We what am i going to do is make my thoughts known on this forum, review my membership when it becomes due next season and see how things pan out, Cheers.

 

[hugggarz]

where's @tiga4eva? He usually has the poor Josh stories and is not afraid to air them in public.

Maybe tiga4eva was Josh.

80 odd posts in a month then not a peep...
More than likely it's his manager, who's way too busy counting $$ right now to bother updating the forum folk on baby Joshies current state of wellbeing.

 

[twentyforty]

We wouldn't have released Josh if we didn't have Joe or someone of a similar stature lined up. The way it worked out this time was very convenient for us and stopped things getting nasty. It usually doesn't happen that conveniently.
If Joffa had a;ready signed elsewhere and there was a real gap in the market for decent props then a simple transfer fee wouldn't have been enough to get a release as our squad as a whole would have been worse off. I have no doubt we would have forced Aloiai to be present yesterday if no replacement had yet been provided or sourced.

Very convenient? Or by design? The more Madge, Pascoe et al talk about Aloiai’s departure, with specific references to JO makes me wonder if it was a conspiracy plotted by Lee, Madge, Pascoe and Hartigan? Which other forward would you want moved on? And before you answer that think about the guys who haven’t been re-signed. OK, pure speculation on my part and perhaps I’m giving these guys too much credit, but what if I’m on track with this? In which case we will possibly see Nofa throwing the toys out of the cot before Christmas. What if everything these guys are doing is by design? I mean with the full intention of getting another premiership?

 

[jadtiger]

We wouldn't have released Josh if we didn't have Joe or someone of a similar stature lined up. The way it worked out this time was very convenient for us and stopped things getting nasty. It usually doesn't happen that conveniently.
If Joffa had a;ready signed elsewhere and there was a real gap in the market for decent props then a simple transfer fee wouldn't have been enough to get a release as our squad as a whole would have been worse off. I have no doubt we would have forced Aloiai to be present yesterday if no replacement had yet been provided or sourced.


Very convenient? Or by design? The more Madge, Pascoe et al talk about Aloiai’s departure, with specific references to JO makes me wonder if it was a conspiracy plotted by Lee, Madge, Pascoe and Hartigan? Which other forward would you want moved on? And before you answer that think about the guys who haven’t been re-signed. OK, pure speculation on my part and perhaps I’m giving these guys too much credit, but what if I’m on track with this? In which case we will possibly see Nofa throwing the toys out of the cot before Christmas. What if everything these guys are doing is by design? I mean with the full intention of getting another premiership?

I honestly think you have massively overead the situation.

 

[jirskyr]

Here’s the big question. Why? Not why did he say it, but why did he think he could get away with saying it? The comparison that we should be like Storm, in this regard I completely agree. JAC wanted out, they said wait a year then we’ll talk. He waited a whole year. They still said no. They upgraded his contract a bit and that was it. Even after all that, no way was JAC going to bad mouth Storm in public, he wasn’t game. And why not? Why do players feel they can bad mouth us, but not Storm? That is what WT should be looking at, players know they can talk rubbish on us, and we will roll over. That is what we have to work out how to stop. That is what I wanted us to stand tough over, because I thought us standing tough and refusing to give in to Josh A’s childish tantrum wpuld hopefully stop other players treating us like that. But we let him go. We let him get away with it. Yes we got some compensation, got another player, but to the next whingeing brat who wants out, they will just rinse and repeat.
Josh A wasn’t that great, but he was our best forward last year, and the year before that we lost our best forward for that year as well. I think our effort to release Josh A was soft, because we gave in to his demands. Why did people get behind Leo’s threat to retain Josh A and not care when he backed down? Soft again I say, because we had a chance to stand strong, to tell these players and player managers we won’t be trodden on, but instead let them get away with it.

It's called "cutting off your nose to spite your face".

Josh A got what he wanted, only after Tigers got what they wanted. The alternative was neither party got what they wanted.

It does Tigers no good to have several hundred thousand dollars sitting in reserves or out mowing lawns, to make a point. It would be nice to make that point and I'd certainly enjoy it, but it's an expensive point to make.

Lee made strong comments but he always said Tigers would not entertain a release unless we were compensated. He then came out and confirmed, seconded by by Pascoe, that Tigers were adequately compensated and it's time to move on. The strong initial position helps move along the compensation.

Doesn't anyone find it interesting how quickly Manly agreed to monetary compensation to get Aloiai across? Tigers were in the box seat as Manly clearly wanted the move to happen as soon as possible and Tigers could afford to wait. The fact that it all coalesced within a few weeks tells you that the strong comments in the media didn't damage Tigers' plan to be compensated for Aloiai.

wrt JAC, why didn't he bad mouth Storm? Clearly he has a superior character to Josh A. Ryan Matterson didn't officially badmouth Tigers when he left, he only made comments about his departure months after the fact. Matterson and Aloiai are close friends, so it makes sense their behaviour would be similar if they both are trying to agitate for a release for more money.

Even AFB, he backstabbed Manly entirely, but he did it in private at least. The issue of players trying to pull out of their contracts is an NRL-wide issue, not just limited to Tigers. Nobody can be "tough" or "soft" when you have hundreds of thousands of dollars tied up in players who no longer want to perform. It's lose-lose.

It's a mistake to think that Storm got they way wrt JAC, because they didn't. JAC managed to earn himself a 33% pay rise on his existing contract simply by agitating to leave. He did so in a polite manner, but he pulled the "compassionate grounds" card, which puts clubs in a difficult "humantarian" situation. And Addo-Carr is going to leave anyway in 2022.

Imagine if all players agitated to leave and earned themselves 33% pay increase within an existing contract? Would fans have been happy had Tigers given Aloiai a 33% pay rise in his final year of contract?

Storm wanted a like-for-like trade on JAC but didn't get one. They ended up with Reimis Smith, who whilst being a back, isn't in the same league as JAC.

I think you are incorrect in saying Aloiai and Joe O aren't equivalent. Aloiai is not a classic prop, he is more wide-running. In fact Aloiai did not start at prop until his 3rd season in grade; his first 43 appearances were lock or second-row.

Similarly, Joe O was starting prop in 14 of his last 43 appearances. 17 of those 43 were off the bench.

 

[Lauren]

Not to be contentious, but there are some valid points getting lost in semantics.
We've witnessed the degradation of the club, team and our image for over a decade and those quoting the club's inability to "put their foot down" should be entitled to express this on the forum, without receiving such hostility.
I also share some of this view.
It's fantastic that we've managed to recuperate or recover however it's still frustrating as hell to watch players quite capably force the hand of our club.

People stating we're on a road to nowhere until the NRL fix this may be accurate but I recall the same type of arguments about clubs getting away with rorting, so why can't this conversation be explored in the same capacity.
Teams have adjusted their operations and methods, and are more strategic in counterattacking this specifically.
So could @trippa101 AND @BAGNF05 simply be making an attempt to open the conversation with how we can manage it from within the club?

 

[jirskyr]

Needs more Bryce Cartwright…

Doesn't help my argument.

 

[Tiger5150]

Not to be contentious, but there are some valid points getting lost in semantics.
We've witnessed the degradation of the club, team and our image for over a decade and those quoting the club's inability to "put their foot down" should be entitled to express this on the forum, without receiving such hostility.
I also share some of this view.
It's fantastic that we've managed to recuperate or recover however it's still frustrating as hell to watch players quite capably force the hand of our club.

People stating we're on a road to nowhere until the NRL fix this may be accurate but I recall the same type of arguments about clubs getting away with rorting, so why can't this conversation be explored in the same capacity.
Teams have adjusted their operations and methods, and are more strategic in counterattacking this specifically.
So could @trippa101 AND @BAGNF05 simply be making an attempt to open the conversation with how we can manage it from within the club?

No problem with anyone posting their opinion but if it’s not based on facts, like Bagnf05 claim that Lee leaked Aloiais comments to the media then they can and should be pulled up.

It’s a public forum. Discussion of opposing opinions is the territory and healthy but it’s not healthy when people make things up to push an agenda.

 

[Lauren]

Not to be contentious, but there are some valid points getting lost in semantics.
We've witnessed the degradation of the club, team and our image for over a decade and those quoting the club's inability to "put their foot down" should be entitled to express this on the forum, without receiving such hostility.
I also share some of this view.
It's fantastic that we've managed to recuperate or recover however it's still frustrating as hell to watch players quite capably force the hand of our club.

People stating we're on a road to nowhere until the NRL fix this may be accurate but I recall the same type of arguments about clubs getting away with rorting, so why can't this conversation be explored in the same capacity.
Teams have adjusted their operations and methods, and are more strategic in counterattacking this specifically.
So could @trippa101 AND @BAGNF05 simply be making an attempt to open the conversation with how we can manage it from within the club?

No problem with anyone posting their opinion but if it’s not based on facts, like Bagnf05 claim that Lee leaked Aloiais comments to the media then they can and should be pulled up.

It wouldn't be the first comment based on pure speculation though, the majority of posts are personal opinions applied to facts. But I think I understand where you're coming from.

 

[jirskyr]

Not to be contentious, but there are some valid points getting lost in semantics.
We’ve witnessed the degradation of the club, team and our image for over a decade and those quoting the club’s inability to “put their foot down” should be entitled to express this on the forum, without receiving such hostility.
I also share some of this view.
It’s fantastic that we’ve managed to recuperate or recover however it’s still frustrating as hell to watch players quite capably force the hand of our club.

My point is some folks are arguing it's only about Tigers. Yes it's frustrating to watch players force the hand of a club - any club.

Frankly I'm almost as frustrated about Josh A as I am about Suaalii, who has manipulated Souths into a release to Roosters. My reason for this is I was never a super Josh A fan and I thoroughly detest the Roosters, so the two events have equivalence to me.

Tigers don't win enough football games, that's the centrepoint of all this nonsense. You can't be a strong club if you don't win football games. Obviously the Catch-22 is you struggle to win football games if you aren't a strong club.

Some of our fans complain every time the club endures a challenge. Challenges are commonplace for teams that don't win enough football. So there's a lot of complaining. But in my opinion it very quickly ceases to be constructive commentary, it simply becomes whinging borne out of a desire to magically win more football.

So in respect to "winning more football". I think Tigers management are on the right path. The loss of Aloiai is another challenging step in the long haul of bringing Tigers out of the losers circle. It's an art, not a science.

It's interesting you say "degradation of the club, team and image for over a decade" - I find that to be of very short memory to be honest. When has Tigers ever had a prominent or admirable image or reputation? For about 3 seasons yes. The rest of the seasons have been a long litany of bad decisions and weak performances. To say nothing of the Terry Lamb era, the post-Sheens failures, the backstabbing of Ivan Cleary etc.

Madge, Pascoe, Hartigan, they are about forging a respectable Tigers identity. IMO we've never really had a positive image to lose, so consistent has our inability been to play finals football.

But I see in 2020 more "light at the end of the tunnel", IMO, than I have in the past decade (since 2011/2012). Good foundations, smart roster management, strong coach, a flood of targeted junior purchases (nationally, not just beholden to our own geography), increased sponsorship, increased memberships.

The downside has been the constant media scrutiny and that only seems to get worse. But the scrutiny in the media applies to all battling clubs not just Tigers - Bulldogs, Dragons, Manly, Titans don't have it any better. So I ignore the media stuff, because it has nothing to do with winning football. Whether or not Lee was soft, or whether he should or should not have said certain things doesn't impact winning football.

Josh A can agitate all he likes, he's not the difference between winning or losing in 2021. He is REPLACEABLE.

 

[Russell]

Lee's comments are ridiculous. Why does he talk to the media? Those comments are embarrassing. Even if we weren't soft in the JA negotiations (I think we were) it still doesn't change our recent history of being bullied by players, coaches and managers. I just don't see what benefit there is for him to announce how much impact a player airing their public grievances can have on the club's decision making process. It sounds childish. I've been uncomfortable with his openness in the past, I actually wonder about his judgement now.

He should never of shared what JA reportedly said with the media. It was a certain way to turn the fans on him and give justification for possibly releasing him. But then he talked tough and made the lawnmower references and didn't follow through.. We got an outcome from it - some believe a good one and hopefully it will be - but no solution to the problem.


He didnt share it with the media, one of his "mates" did (also the same in here). The media reported the story and asked Lee for a response.

If the chair reports every thing to the media that goes on behind closed doors then he is in the wrong position. Everything that JA has reportedly said has been second hand information. He should not have escalated it.


He didnt. Someone else did and Lee was asked. He got on the front foot and it immediately turned the media narrative in our favour. It was also the truth

***It was a rumour on the internet by an anonymous source***. Do you really want him responding to those type of questions from the media?

But that is not what you said, you said ***"He (Lee) should never of shared what JA reportedly said with the media."***. Lee didnt share what was said, someone else leaked it to the media, as you know there was someone here wanting to sjow the same information to anyone who asked. That is the whole point and there is nothing to "agree to disagree" about. Lee did not report what was said in the media, he responded to it.

As for turning the narrative in our favour Tyran Smith Alolai and Manly might see that differently. Seems like his involvement ensured they all got what they wanted.

And what does that have to do with the media narrative? The media have been very sympathetic to Tigers cause since Lee spoke up. Not really arguable and your example has nothing to do with it.



All I know is giving into dummy spits ensures one thing - more of them. At some point you have to take a hit and stop the rot. JA is not mowing lawns - tough words from our chair - he has gained a 600k contract with another club. Agree to disagree on this one.

As far as Smith & Aloiai "getting what they wanted", Aloiai was offered $200K more from Manly than Tigers, he was always going there, good luck to everyone. Lee/Pascoe/Hartigan/Madge turned a bad situation into a positive for the club, surely thats "What **we** wanted?".

The alternative? An expensive player sulking in CC, with no replacement and no cash to try to get Laurie early. Thats the way you would have gone?

Respond to it he poured petrol on it and set it alight - up until then it was still a rumour, so he did share it and confirmed it. Do you really want sympathy from the media for being taken advantage of again - because that is what the sympathy is for? Id rather be admired for taking a stand. Lee talked tough and all emotion aside we buckled. You don't agree all good.

Entitled to your opinion Mate. Don't want to press the dislike button.

Safe to say I think you are well off the mark.

 

[jirskyr]

Storm can’t prevent it, Penrith can’t prevent it, Souths can’t prevent it. Doesn’t matter how hard or soft line they are. Releases happen all the time.

You are right but Melbourne have been able to retain talent much better than we have. They lose players but they tend to lose them at the end of their contracts. I think they retain talent better than we do because they are winning.

Yes and they have the all-time best coach going around, plus arguably the most influential footballer of all time.

Storm lose a tonne of players, no better or worse than Tigers IMO. But they have been successful in keeping their core best players together for long periods and, their true success, has been in the smart replacement of the inevitable losses. So Slater became Paps, Widdop became Munster, Cronk became Hughes etc.

However we also should not forget that a decade ago Storm managed to keep their roster together by radical cheating, so it's not entirely admirable.