Returning Rankin focussed on NRL goal..

[Russell]

Has a feel of the Blake Austin's about him.

From what I have seen of him - I think he is a lot better than Blake Austin.

I also believe he has more to offer than just being a runner.

If you look at the reel that was posted on here a while ago - I saw him make numerous breaks and then spend plenty of time waiting for back up runners to set up.

That is a lot more to offer than "show and go"

Welcome Mate! hope your hard work and aspirations pay off for you and for the Wests Tigers.

 

[Tigermama]

Rankin wasn’t shy about his excitement to work under Head Coach Jason Taylor, a player who he says he watched a lot growing up as a young playmaker.
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“For me, the biggest thing was that JT put faith in me and told me that there was an opportunity for me in first-grade if I knuckled down and worked hard,” he said.
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“I really do look forward to working under him. I spoke to a lot of people and heard really good things about him as a coach, and that excited me a lot about joining this Club.
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“The media don’t portray that enough,” he continued.
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“I’ve been here for five weeks now and I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about JT, and the entire coaching staff. Every conversation I’ve had shows how thoughtful he is about the game, and about making sure we keep improving going forward.”

It's what you want to see…keen and hungry wanting to prove himself an NRL player....I hope he does put pressure on the halves from the highlights I've seen from his Hull days can handle wing and centre as well...

May be that surprise inclusion...It's good to have depth...

Absolutely right Geo!

 

[MacDougall]

Has a feel of the Blake Austin's about him.

From what I have seen of him - I think he is a lot better than Blake Austin.

I also believe he has more to offer than just being a runner.

If you look at the reel that was posted on here a while ago - I saw him make numerous breaks and then spend plenty of time waiting for back up runners to set up.

That is a lot more to offer than "show and go"

Welcome Mate! hope your hard work and aspirations pay off for you and for the Wests Tigers.

I meant less about his play style and more about him in general.

Prodigious junior talent that struggled to find feet in first grade, comes to Tigers for redemption.

 

[Tim Sheens]

The one thing I like to hear and read about next year is these young blokes who are keen for an opportunity and are enjoying their time at the club. Some really good positive stories in the past few weeks among all the negative ones.

^^^^^ this ^^^^^ is the key to our season and the future of the coach, provided he can get rid of or past the white anting.

Happy to have swapped the polished biceps for a group happy to get grazed on their elbows and knees that will put enormous pressure on incumbents and try to force the coaching staff into giving them a shot. WT are much better off depth wise this season.

 

[Tim Sheens]

Yep, i called this as soon as we signed him. He should be tried at centre, having Nofa and Naiqama on the wings with Simona and Rankin in the centres would be great.

Unless he has some experience at centre lets not try that

The amount of time you would invest in him to learn how to play centre and then find out he can't cut it would be absolutely wasted

He's played centre for Hull FC…

Can't have done it too well , NRL clubs would of swooped from everywhere to sign a quality centre

We are part Magpie.

 

[Tiger_Watto]

Can't see him getting a run in the halves unless Brooks/Moses are injured. I really haven't seen enough of Rankin to know where he's best suited, or if he'll start the season in FG. He's saying all the right things though so if he's training the house down and leading the way for others to follow, he'll get his chance.

Yes, that's pretty much my view on the scenario also.

However, if he being groomed as a Halves choice, he must play Reggie's and wait his turn. If he is being considered in the back 5, he must stay there also. I don't want to see him at Centre and once an injury occurs, he is switched to the halves. Our biggest problem over the past few years is the number of switches in our defensive pattern, and we must stick solid moving forward.

Good to hear him say it straight "I didn't come back to play reserve grade"

Fire Up Kid

 

[The_Tooth]

Hope we see him at centre in the trials. Looks good with the ball but gotta see how his defense holds up. Could be a good addition for the nines depending on who else they take.

Definitely got that bit of Austin about him.

He would have to be ahead of Drinkwater and Littlejohn as backup for the halves. Probably 1st drop for Tedesco also. Then theres the centre option which I'd imagine is his best hope for a regular 1st grade spot.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Didn't Drinkwater move on?

 

[jirskyr]

He plays a lot of positions, which is a real positive for us.

 

[The_Tooth]

Didn't Drinkwater move on?

Pretty sure I saw him in pre season training pics.

 

[Goose]

This could be the buy of the season.

He has oodles of talent, if he is able to get it together, could be enormous.

But there is a question mark over him as well, and to this point he has turned talent into consistent performance, but he is still very young.

Played first grade so early they changed the rules!

 

[king_sirro]

Didn't Drinkwater move on?

No Drinkwater is still here which is great. It was good having him as back up last year but to think we now have Littlejohn and Rankin as well adds great competition in the lower grades to be considered next in line if there is injury or loss of form.

The one thing that no one can doubt Taylor for is how he has strengthened competition all all positions. It's a smart thing to do when you have limited funds. Different story if we were cashed up and this was our recruitment method, but considering our finances and cap status it's a great thing.

 

[mresky]

Looks like Rankin has some good reads in attack, ability to bust tackles, good speed and some brusing Defence

https://youtu.be/H-vtyfZPt5o

 

[Russell]

Has a feel of the Blake Austin's about him.

From what I have seen of him - I think he is a lot better than Blake Austin.

I also believe he has more to offer than just being a runner.

If you look at the reel that was posted on here a while ago - I saw him make numerous breaks and then spend plenty of time waiting for back up runners to set up.

That is a lot more to offer than "show and go"

Welcome Mate! hope your hard work and aspirations pay off for you and for the Wests Tigers.

I meant less about his play style and more about him in general.

Prodigious junior talent that struggled to find feet in first grade, comes to Tigers for redemption.

Ok Mac - misunderstood.

Agree with your thoughts then - apologies

 

[Chainlink]

Any chance he mights start at fullback in reserves? You never know what could happen in terms of Teddy being an option for SOO so be good to know who would step up in that scenario.

 

[Snake]

Looking at those highlites he would be my first choice centre …Simona can only dream of having a highlite package like that even considering it is ESL he seems to be a very promising crowd favourite .

 

[Guest]

He's got pretty good speed from the look of it.

 

[Snake]

He's got pretty good speed from the look of it.

It is not just his speed it is also his strength when tackled to carry players… very interesting type will be keen to see how he goes a very good pick up.

 

[cktiger]

If he gets a run in the centres we will be fielding a VERY FAST backline with our full strength team on the park.

 

[Tiger_Watto]

Thanks for that… Good speed & vision, but is all hands/arms in defense.

He will be a 6 or 1

Hate to suggest it, but have we considered Teddy at Centre?