OFFICIAL Luke Garner [Discussion]

[Rowdy12]

Tatola has been playing first grade for 3 years and barely a boo out of anyone. Then he scores a couple of tries in a semi when his team is already up by 20 and suddenly the world is falling because we didn’t retain him when he had missed an entire year due to an ACL

Would you swap him for Aloiai or Twal? I wouldn’t and in his limited time on field Musgrove looked stronger then him too

Anyways back to LG. He is frustrating because he has some great assets to his game, however huge flaws aswell. Unfortunately after 2 and a half years of first grade he hasn’t improved any of his flaws. In a strong side like the Roosters etc those flaws can be hidden, however in a middle/lower rung team like ours they get exposed to the extreme and can literally be the difference between winning and losing a game.

 

[tigerap]

If we let Garner go without a comparable replacement in return, then we have learnt nothing from our past sins....Tevita Tatola, Curtis Sironen, Nathan Brown, Ryan Matterson all let go while under contract and look where they are now..stars for their new club....same will happen with Garner as he develops.

Tatola wasn't released early from his contract, he was cut.

He was not retained...now he is a gun!...

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Garner is ok, but the club needs to be aiming higher

 

[earl]

I'll happily swap Garner for Schuster.

I'm also happy to let garner go just to free up space.

I like that swap idea. I reckon Garner is a bit inconsistent and I'm happy for the club to be looking for better options. I reckon he'd go well at Manly though.

 

[balmain boy]

Garner lets in as many tries as he scores. One of the weakest defenders in the team. Yes i'd rather lose MCK than LG, but MCK is on 150k half as much as Garner on 300k, letting him go also frees up more cap space. Both are bench/backup second row/centres

 

[NT_Tiger]

Looking at the squad we would want have a direct replacement (internal or external) if we let him go. .

Probably a shoot out between Garner, Huth and Mcintyre for a spot. Packer, MCK, garner (or other) show the gap between our best players and replacements. Utikamanu is an unknown quantity in this regard, Miakele is marginal on current for (was he injured?)

Next year: 12 forwards, inc 1 hookers in the squad with the FG team having 6 starters (inc hooker) and 3-4 on the bench for 9/10 each week Seems to be a decent number based on other NRL Squads

Ive left out Walters and Reynolds as I see them as utilities, but the reality is they will probably take a bench spot most games and cover hooker for us as it's only Liddle in the squad. Fingers cross he over his run of injuries.

On the books:
Props (and probably Twal at lock)
Aloiai, Miakele, Musgrove, Packer, Tamou, Utikamanu, Twal

Second Row
LL, Blore, MCK, Garner

Hooker
Liddle (Simpkin still development)

Gone:
Lawrence, McIntyre, Seyfarth, Eisenhuth, Clark, McQueen, Taylor, Grant

McIntyre gone? Have I missed something?

 

[Newtown]

I would rather let MCK go too but nobody wants him manly want Garner, if we can somehow get schuster then that is outstanding

How about offering MCK and Garner as a package deal?

 

[Harvey]

I am in no hurry to lose Garner. He is a decent depth player, but not up to first grade standard. His defence is terrible.

There are only 2 reasons to get rid of him:
- he is on a big contract and you want to free up funds
- you have a better player ready to play.

 

[Geo]

I don't think we can afford to lose Garner as @hobbo1 would only have 1 player left that he likes ..that is too much pressure on Luciano..

 

[ElleryHanley]

Moses drifted across field today and it was the backrower who should have smashed him...but Garner came weakly with an arm grab.

Garner slow off the line for another try.

Hit ups? Garner went for 55 m...least of any Tiger's forward except Twal, who basically matched him in 30 mins.

**Has anyone 'ever' seen Garner do a dirty hit up? A 'give me the ball, let me work here" hit up?**

Yet he plays 80 mins a week.

Some nice cover late, but your standard backrower could have done that. Garner is good for 3-4 bad plays a week and, again, has anyone ever seen him do a hard hit up when we are on the back foot? At the very most, he is a bench player. Really, he is a state cup player who covers for you a few games a year.

Fatally...he does not cover for his half also. Whoever he is paired with gets isolated way too often on the line.

Can anyone make a case for him? I feel like 3-4 players are holding us back right now. We are close to a good team, but carrying some liabilities. He is one of them.

 

[Deleted member 3518]

He’s just keeping the jumper warm for Blore . There’s a reason he wanted out in the off-season. I have a funny feeling, that our right side issues in defence will clear up when Blore gets out there . Until then , we just have to deal .

 

[oldschooltiger]

Moses drifted across field today and it was the backrower who should have smashed him...but Garner came weakly with an arm grab.

Garner slow off the line for another try.

Hit ups? Garner went for 55 m...least of any Tiger's forward except Twal, who basically matched him in 30 mins.

**Has anyone 'ever' seen Garner do a dirty hit up? A 'give me the ball, let me work here" hit up?**

Yet he plays 80 mins a week.

Some nice cover late, but your standard backrower could have done that. Garner is good for 3-4 bad plays a week and, again, has anyone ever seen him do a hard hit up when we are on the back foot? At the very most, he is a bench player. Really, he is a state cup player who covers for you a few games a year.

Fatally...he does not cover for his half also. Whoever he is paired with gets isolated way too often on the line.

Can anyone make a case for him? I feel like 3-4 players are holding us back right now. We are close to a good team, but carrying some liabilities. He is one of them.

I got nothing good about Garner. Garner is a one hit wonder. He is a depth player at best.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

He's a shark.

Throw the ball to him 10-15m out and he can find the line.

 

[Tigerboy]

I feel like agreeing with you, but his defence has been great - aside from the incidents you’ve mentioned. He is definitely not gonna win a big game on his own and we have nobody better...

So, what do you do?

 

[mike]

Moses drifted across field today and it was the backrower who should have smashed him...but Garner came weakly with an arm grab.

Garner slow off the line for another try.

Hit ups? Garner went for 55 m...least of any Tiger's forward except Twal, who basically matched him in 30 mins.

**Has anyone 'ever' seen Garner do a dirty hit up? A 'give me the ball, let me work here" hit up?**

Yet he plays 80 mins a week.

Some nice cover late, but your standard backrower could have done that. Garner is good for 3-4 bad plays a week and, again, has anyone ever seen him do a hard hit up when we are on the back foot? At the very most, he is a bench player. Really, he is a state cup player who covers for you a few games a year.

Fatally...he does not cover for his half also. Whoever he is paired with gets isolated way too often on the line.

Can anyone make a case for him? I feel like 3-4 players are holding us back right now. We are close to a good team, but carrying some liabilities. He is one of them.

That first try Moses ran across field and behind at least two of his own players. Should have been a penalty to Wests

 

[ElleryHanley]

He's a shark.

Throw the ball to him 10-15m out and he can find the line.

Been a long time since he did that also.

I will agree he has had the odd moment...but you have to do a hell of a lot more to be an automatically picked NRL backrower.

The 'only' hit up he seems to do is run off Brooks. He 'never' gets in there and works.

 

[ElleryHanley]

Moses drifted across field today and it was the backrower who should have smashed him...but Garner came weakly with an arm grab.

Garner slow off the line for another try.

Hit ups? Garner went for 55 m...least of any Tiger's forward except Twal, who basically matched him in 30 mins.

**Has anyone 'ever' seen Garner do a dirty hit up? A 'give me the ball, let me work here" hit up?**

Yet he plays 80 mins a week.

Some nice cover late, but your standard backrower could have done that. Garner is good for 3-4 bad plays a week and, again, has anyone ever seen him do a hard hit up when we are on the back foot? At the very most, he is a bench player. Really, he is a state cup player who covers for you a few games a year.

Fatally...he does not cover for his half also. Whoever he is paired with gets isolated way too often on the line.

Can anyone make a case for him? I feel like 3-4 players are holding us back right now. We are close to a good team, but carrying some liabilities. He is one of them.

That first try Moses ran across field and behind at least two of his own players. Should have been a penalty to Wests

Possibly...but a tough backrower still would have smashed Moses there. He was a very easy shot. Garner put in a really weak arm grab.

 

[Snake]

Another pretender that thinks he is a top level performer ...injury cover at best!

 

[ElleryHanley]

Another pretender that thinks he is a top level performer ...injury cover at best!

The hard to fathom thing is Madge dropped him a year or so back...for all these reasons.

Yet, with not a single thing changed or improved, Madge now picks him every single week AND plays him 80 mins...

 

[Alex Seyfarth's #1 Fan]

Another pretender that thinks he is a top level performer ...injury cover at best!

The hard to fathom thing is Madge dropped him a year or so back...for all these reasons.

Yet, with not a single thing changed or improved, Madge now picks him every single week AND plays him 80 mins...

We don't have any one to replace him. If you think his defensive efforts are bad, his replacement, Chee Kam, once missed 12 tackles in a game. Our only hope is that Blore comes in and immediately does well.