RLW rated our recruitment and we are a ....

[GNR4LIFE]

Melbourne B- ???
Cheyse Blair (Manly Sea Eagles, 2016), Jeremy Hawkins (Canberra Raiders, 2017), Mark Nicholls (Canberra Raiders, 2016), Matt White (Gold Coast Titans, 2016)

I would take our F recruits over Storm's B- any day :slight_smile:

With the record the Storm have of signing average players who turn out to be world beaters i'd say they get cut a lot of slack.

Just who are these 'world beaters' you speak of. Fair enough they take some average players who perform quite a bit better in the Storm side( playing with 4 or 5 Origin players every week might have a little to do with that as well you would think), but I can't think of any nuffies who have turned into superstars after signing with Storm.

Its like when Batman sees the bat signal

 

[Fade_To_Black]

Sure is. Now who are these 'world beaters' Joker?

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Nah, not feeding into your rubbish

Good day

 

[Fade_To_Black]

Hahaha. Have fun hanging out with those world beaters of yours.
Nothing wrong with providing some evidence to a statement every now and again…...unless you wanna work for RLW at some stage?

 

[jirskyr]

Sure is. Now who are these 'world beaters' Joker?

I don't think he means it literally, I think he means what you said, that they are able to take some fairly average first graders and get compelling performances out of them.

I can easily think of a number of footballers who I did not rate very highly at all, who Storm were getting surprisingly good performances out of - Brian Norrie, Blake Green, Jaiman Lowe, Ben Roberts, Dane Nielsen, Maurice Blair.

Not always a success obviously, there are still blokes like Junior Moors, Junior Sau, Tom LL, Luke Kelly, Kostjasyn, Robbie Rochow, Troy Thompson, Adam Woolnough who didn't do much of anything at the Storm.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Cheers Jirskyr

I don't expect that evidence to be sufficient however

 

[Fade_To_Black]

Thought you werent here Gun? :unamused: Agree with you jirskyr, they have had plenty of duds also…..the myth that they transform plodders into supermen is amusing media-driven tripe.
Every club can strike it lucky re: recruitment surprise- packets,hell even WT hit the jackpot a few times.

 

[TrueTiger]

The biggest recruitment failure that I have seen is Adam Blair,came to us with big expectations and on big dollars….as you say jirskyr,there have been good and bad recruitment from lots of clubs over the years,however,this year I think the WTs have got it right,not big signings for not big money,but the talent could be there,Tim Grant being the most renowned player of the new buys...I hope these guys have a very good year for us,mainly to shut the critics up...especially if we are lucky enough to at least touch on the 8....

 

[Sabre]

I'd class Cooper Cronk as a World Beater.
Wasn't he discovered playing hooker off the bench for a QLD Cup side?
Sure he was young, but still a signing that paid off for them.

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

I'd have said more like:

Manly (A+)
Warriors (A+)
Parramatta (A)
Cronulla (A-)
Penrith (B+)
Brisbane (B) (including the signing of Tevita Pangai Jnr even though that's for 2017)
Canberra (B-)
Saints (B-)
Tigers (C+)
Titans (C+)
Souths (C)
Roosters (C)
Knights (C-)
Bulldogs (D)
Melbourne (D)
Cowboys (D)

I don't know that I could give the Tigers signings much higher than a C+ at this stage given only one (Grant) is guaranteed a spot in the 17, but there is a lot of potential there and if some of it is realised then C+ might become A in hindsight.

I think that we've picked up a few guys that will push for first grade.
However while it would be good to see Grant kill it, his last two years form doesn't point to him getting in the 17.
It will take a major reversal for him to make it

 

[GNR4LIFE]

I'd class Cooper Cronk as a World Beater.
Wasn't he discovered playing hooker off the bench for a QLD Cup side?
Sure he was young, but still a signing that paid off for them.

Not to mention a young guy who was training to be a jockey.

 

[TrueTiger]

I'd class Cooper Cronk as a World Beater.
Wasn't he discovered playing hooker off the bench for a QLD Cup side?
Sure he was young, but still a signing that paid off for them.

Not to mention a young guy who was training to be a jockey.

..

GNR, Slater was also a very good track rider as well when he decided to take on leagues big arena…

 

[Fade_To_Black]

I'd class Cooper Cronk as a World Beater.
Wasn't he discovered playing hooker off the bench for a QLD Cup side?
Sure he was young, but still a signing that paid off for them.

Not to mention a young guy who was training to be a jockey.

Really GNR? Let's list every single bloke then that has ever played 1st grade- they all came from somewhere originally. Newcastle recruited well when they took a punt on a fella that used to weigh 8 pounds and turned into the greatest player of all time. Sheesh.

 

[jirskyr]

Thought you werent here Gun? :unamused: Agree with you jirskyr, they have had plenty of duds also…..the myth that they transform plodders into supermen is amusing media-driven tripe.
Every club can strike it lucky re: recruitment surprise- packets,hell even WT hit the jackpot a few times.

I personally don't think they work miracles with nobodies, but I do think Melbourne have a terrific recruitment system. Not just the scouts to pick up Smith, Inglis, Folau, Slater, Chambers, even newer guys like Munster, Bromwich who they are able to get to good first-grade standard rather quickly.

They are also probably the benchmark for recruiting cheap players to fulfill an exact role. They have enough duds, though I'd probably say I struggle to think of any prominent failures either. They seem to be very good at getting certain juniors to elite level, then padding the team with no-nonsense cheaper options.

 

[851]

Our recruitment stacked against other teams like Manly, Parra, Cronulla, Warriors just to name a few looks really poor, we may have a few gems in our new boys, but on the surface it looks pretty poor.
Why we signed Ballin I don't know, sure he may have been discounted, but we didn't need him, when you have limited funds you buy what you need, not what is cheap.

 

[stevetiger]

Why we signed Ballin I don't know, sure he may have been discounted, but we didn't need him, when you have limited funds you buy what you need, not what is cheap.

Ballin was a terrible signing. It might turn out well for us but only if we get an injury at hooker or something like that.

 

[Nelson]

I'd have said more like:

Manly (A+)
Warriors (A+)
Parramatta (A)
Cronulla (A-)
Penrith (B+)
Brisbane (B) (including the signing of Tevita Pangai Jnr even though that's for 2017)
Canberra (B-)
Saints (B-)
Tigers (C+)
Titans (C+)
Souths (C)
Roosters (C)
Knights (C-)
Bulldogs (D)
Melbourne (D)
Cowboys (D)

I don't know that I could give the Tigers signings much higher than a C+ at this stage given only one (Grant) is guaranteed a spot in the 17, but there is a lot of potential there and if some of it is realised then C+ might become A in hindsight.

I think that we've picked up a few guys that will push for first grade.
However while it would be good to see Grant kill it, his last two years form doesn't point to him getting in the 17.
It will take a major reversal for him to make it

I wasn't in favour of the Grant signing and agree that his form has been ordinary but he will definitely be in the 17 come round 1 (probably starting). He went to Souths on a big money contract ($400-$450K). They released him when they have little depth at prop. They would not have released him if they were going to be saddled with paying $250-300K for him to play elsewhere when they still could have used him. We are paying the difference and it is unlikely to be small. We would not have recruited him for that kind of money to play reserve grade. He will be in the side come round 1\. Whether he stays there will hopefully be a question of form into the future.

 

[Nelson]

Why we signed Ballin I don't know, sure he may have been discounted, but we didn't need him, when you have limited funds you buy what you need, not what is cheap.

Ballin was a terrible signing. It might turn out well for us but only if we get an injury at hooker or something like that.

We already have one - Ballin!

 

[Fade_To_Black]

Ballin's value will no doubt be felt off the field at least. The professionalism he will bring over from Manly will prove invaluable to our youngsters who have seen more than their fair share of childish spats and excuses for continued poor results from many of our squad for years.
Ballin is a total professional from all reports around the NRL and he will instill a winning culture into our youngsters if they are willing to take it on board. That will be Ballin's valuable contribution so he is worth having at the club for that alone. They obviously thought it was a given that Robbie wasn't going to be at WT this season when Ballin was signed so he would of served more of an on-field purpose if Robbie had walked obviously.

 

[Masterton]

I rate RLW: D-. Geebs, you don't get much for over $5.