Kelma Tuilagi Signs With Manly

[balmain boy]

This is the problem - they are all disposable but at the cost of burning out young talent who then have zero chance to develop the right way.

We need old horse especially ones who know what it takes to make it in our side. Joffa might be surplus but every game he is having a dig and leaving it out on the field. If he played like Tamou or Garner wouldn’t hesitate but he doesn’t. I would prefer to hold him for another year unless we can bring in another experienced head to allow us to slowly bring in the younger kids than any of our other off contract forwards currently.

It’s all about roster management over the next 2-3 seasons and we need the right balance of 5-6 players deep for backrow and prop to allow the kids to mature on their own time. Joffa I think is an important one for us this and next season.

But some of our current younger/less experienced players will be replacing these older heads too. The development these current players will allow us to ease the youngsters into first grade.

We'll have Twal, Korisau, Papali'i, Musgrove, Peachey, Liddle, Stefano and perhaps Joffa or Mikaele too. That's a whole pack of experienced first graders, and no doubt a few more will join and some of these may leave.

And then the young guns like Pole, Matamua, Guyan, Tumeth, O'Kane, Tofaeno etc filling out the forwards squad.

Signing an experienced back rower for this season and next is the priority.

I can see Matamua playing first grade in 2023 for starters. If you're good enough you're old enough.

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

But some of our current younger/less experienced players will be replacing these older heads too. The development these current players will allow us to ease the youngsters into first grade.

We'll have Twal, Korisau, Papali'i, Musgrove, Peachey, Liddle, Stefano and perhaps Joffa or Mikaele too. That's a whole pack of experienced first graders, and no doubt a few more will join and some of these may leave.

And then the young guns like Pole, Matamua, Guyan, Tumeth, O'Kane, Tofaeno etc filling out the forwards squad.

Signing an experienced back rower for this season and next is the priority.

I can see Matamua playing first grade in 2023 for starters. If you're good enough you're old enough.

I will be very surprised if we get an experienced backrower that will add value for this season join.

Twal, Musgrove, Stefano are props. Musgrove has shown nothing for us yet. If he doesn’t get on the park and perform I’m writing him off = right now we have 2/3 of a 5/6 prop rotation needed

Papa should play backrow but he is a crash and play type which Madge loves up front and high risk he plays Prop for us. Even if he plays backrow we are still 5/6 rotational backrowers short

Peachy isn’t a backrower, Api isn’t.

Backrowers are a specialist role now they are outside defense blockers and inside 3rd man workhorses most the time with ability to run lines. The work effort and attacking structures they play very vital roles. Expecting a rookie bunch to all hold their own in NRL at the sametime is a disaster.

I have zero doubts some of these kids will kick on but only if we don’t rush them all together and expect miracles. We need to be a selfish club and provide a gradual injection for these kids - most of which BTW can’t even play for half the year at best anyway = next year becomes at best their rookie year. These kids are 3yrs away from cracking NRL fulltime. Look at Seyfarth, Tui, Blore etc they all struggle as the season grows & then the body breaksdown. The speed of the game is getting faster we need to be smarter.

Joe O is a walk up starter any day of the week for us and we would be stupid not taking the 1yr option up unless we have a quality replacement for him locked in.

 

[Geo]

No to Ofahengaue in the back row..he sucks there..Middle forward for me

 

[Demps]

No to Ofahengaue in the back row..he sucks there..Middle forward for me

100%

Tried / failed.

 

[palms]

Feel like a lot of people are more disappointed than they should be.

At this stage he is nothing more than a reserve player IMO. Sure he showed signs, but nothing to suggest it's as big a blow as some are making.

We'll replace him with someone of the same quality, at the very least.

I think the big reason many people are disappointed is the loss of Blore really compounds the loss of Kelma.
We now have to give Kelma plenty of game time knowing he will be leaving us next year.

 

[tiger_one]

".....................
We now have to give Kelma plenty of game time knowing he will be leaving us next year."

But that's a problem across all teams since clubs can pick up players way ahead of time.
Players just have to honour their contracts.
The hard part is for fans to come to terms with it all.

 

[Merlot]

I think the big reason many people are disappointed is the loss of Blore really compounds the loss of Kelma.
We now have to give Kelma plenty of game time knowing he will be leaving us next year.

Kelma can go now,why bother

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Kelma can go now,why bother

Cos our backrow is already shot enough. Least we can sign a replacement for 2023.

 

[Cobarcats]

We are showing a culture, a Sheens culture. Recent re/signings of guns plus potential stars has his fingerprints all over it.
I'm glad in a way that this is happening because along with Covid disruptions, we will be forced to give younger players a go. Without these disruptions Madge might have been reluctant to do so with his job on the line.
Relax, 2023 is our year!
This year the only thing we demand is:
Increased effort-don't throw the towel in.

 

[weststigerman]

Disappointed to lose him, but with Sheens, Maguire and Kimmorley we now have enough expertise at the club to determine a player's worth. Hopefully they're right.

Plenty of time for good backrowers to become available between now and 2023 to target. How many expected TPJ to leave Broncos this time last year?

 

[diedpretty]

I think the big reason many people are disappointed is the loss of Blore really compounds the loss of Kelma.
We now have to give Kelma plenty of game time knowing he will be leaving us next year.

Thats the nature of the game these days - our 2 big signings for next year will both play the full season for their clubs. Admittedly we will be giving Kelma valuable experience that won't help us in the future but the alternative is to be like Parra and restrict a young guys development because he got a better deal elsewhere. I'd like to think we are above that.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Hopefully Sheens is in the background having a word. Would prefer to hang on to him.

 

[Harvey]

He was head and shoulders above Tuki from what I saw, and the best of the younger players we had coming through. Obvious replacement if we did not keep Luci.

You don't know what happens behind the scenes, but generally successful clubs don't lose these sorts of players.

 

[TillLindemann]

He was head and shoulders above Tuki from what I saw, and the best of the younger players we had coming through. Obvious replacement if we did not keep Luci.

You don't know what happens behind the scenes, but generally successful clubs don't lose these sorts of players.

But keep in mind Tuki is two years younger than Kelma, he was still a teenager last season.

 

[tig_prmz]

Manly is a top 4 team and they've poached Taupau, Sirronen, Aloiai, Paseka and now Kelma in the last 4-5 years. I don't think we fought hard for any of these guys.

Kelma definitely showed more than Tuki in the 4 or 5 games they played for us. Kelma seemed a lot more professional whereas Tuki still very raw. However, I remember most of us thought McIntyre at the end of 2019 or 2020 showed a lot more than Seyfarth but I think we're all glad we kept Alex now.

As I said in the Hoffman thread, if Kelma goes on to play 100+ games for a top 8 side then we know we made a mistake.

However, it truly sucks to see so many of our Juniors playing at different clubs. I wonder how many players from our SG ball/ Harold Matthews sides are playing for WT in the NRL compared to playing for other clubs? Would be interesting to find out..

 

[AnonTiger]

Manly is a top 4 team and they've poached Taupau, Sirronen, Aloiai, Paseka and now Kelma in the last 4-5 years. I don't think we fought hard for any of these guys.

Kelma definitely showed more than Tuki in the 4 or 5 games they played for us. Kelma seemed a lot more professional whereas Tuki still very raw. However, I remember most of us thought McIntyre at the end of 2019 or 2020 showed a lot more than Seyfarth but I think we're all glad we kept Alex now.

As I said in the Hoffman thread, if Kelma goes on to play 100+ games for a top 8 side then we know we made a mistake.

However, it truly sucks to see so many of our Juniors playing at different clubs. I wonder how many players from our SG ball/ Harold Matthews sides are playing for WT in the NRL compared to playing for other clubs? Would be interesting to find out..

Kelma isn't a junior we got him from Melbourne

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Manly is a top 4 team and they've poached Taupau, Sirronen, Aloiai, Paseka and now Kelma in the last 4-5 years. I don't think we fought hard for any of these guys.

Kelma definitely showed more than Tuki in the 4 or 5 games they played for us. Kelma seemed a lot more professional whereas Tuki still very raw. However, I remember most of us thought McIntyre at the end of 2019 or 2020 showed a lot more than Seyfarth but I think we're all glad we kept Alex now.

As I said in the Hoffman thread, if Kelma goes on to play 100+ games for a top 8 side then we know we made a mistake.

However, it truly sucks to see so many of our Juniors playing at different clubs. I wonder how many players from our SG ball/ Harold Matthews sides are playing for WT in the NRL compared to playing for other clubs? Would be interesting to find out..

Sirronen was just out of favour, and really he had to go, because he was floundering and living off his last name at this club. Taupau was here right in the middle of us not having a cent to spare, our cap was a mess. He got a great offer from Manly, we couldn’t match it and let him look after himself.

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

Manly is a top 4 team and they've poached Taupau, Sirronen, Aloiai, Paseka and now Kelma in the last 4-5 years. I don't think we fought hard for any of these guys.

Kelma definitely showed more than Tuki in the 4 or 5 games they played for us. Kelma seemed a lot more professional whereas Tuki still very raw. However, I remember most of us thought McIntyre at the end of 2019 or 2020 showed a lot more than Seyfarth but I think we're all glad we kept Alex now.

As I said in the Hoffman thread, if Kelma goes on to play 100+ games for a top 8 side then we know we made a mistake.

However, it truly sucks to see so many of our Juniors playing at different clubs. I wonder how many players from our SG ball/ Harold Matthews sides are playing for WT in the NRL compared to playing for other clubs? Would be interesting to find out..

Tapau was paid a huge salary over many years which I’m glad we didn’t match. He struggled towards the end of the year and was talk Manly wanted him traded but his salary no one wanted to take onboard.

Aloiai got a great package over many years and was clear he wanted out on his terms like Matterson. He also didn’t have a great year last year & battles injuries more than most props.

Kelma we poached from the Storm, he is 23 end of Feb, so 24 next season starts. He is a nrl squad member currently not a starter. We have had very little involvement in his development. Again looks like Manly have paid more and over a longer period. As to his future and value who knows but he isn’t a kid anymore.

Sirro looked out of place with us

My biggest issue is the timing, atm for next year our backrow rotation is only Blore and maybe Papa if he doesn’t play prop. Garner & Lucy are gone and now our depth in Kelma is as well. We are at least an experienced backrower short and reserve/fill in NRL bencher short as well. Yes we have kids but they are years off.

 

[momo_amp_medo]

I think having Stephen Humphreys appointed as Sea Eagles CEO since November 2019 May have something with the flow of players from WT.
He is still pretty tight with things around our club.

 

[Geo]

Tapau was paid a huge salary over many years which I’m glad we didn’t match. He struggled towards the end of the year and was talk Manly wanted him traded but his salary no one wanted to take onboard.

Aloiai got a great package over many years and was clear he wanted out on his terms like Matterson. He also didn’t have a great year last year & battles injuries more than most props.

Kelma we poached from the Storm, he is 23 end of Feb, so 24 next season starts. He is a nrl squad member currently not a starter. We have had very little involvement in his development. Again looks like Manly have paid more and over a longer period. As to his future and value who knows but he isn’t a kid anymore.

Sirro looked out of place with us

My biggest issue is the timing, atm for next year our backrow rotation is only Blore and maybe Papa if he doesn’t play prop. Garner & Lucy are gone and now our depth in Kelma is as well. We are at least an experienced backrower short and reserve/fill in NRL bencher short as well. Yes we have kids but they are years off.

Has Garner signed elsewhere..?