Signing Rumours..

[magpiecol]

By The MoleSeptember 26, 2016
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WELCOME to The Mole’s Monday Scoops! Here’s the highly accurate rodent’s best work this week . . .

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**TIGERS TARGET UNWANTED DUO\
\
Wests Tigers are attempting to boost their pack for 2017 by signing experienced forwards Paul Vaughan and Michael Lichaa.\
\
Vaughan is contracted to the Raiders for next season – as Lichaa is to the Bulldogs.\
\
But both players have been told they can look around – and the Tigers are keen on the duo.\
\
The Tigers have already signed Sharks hooker Matt McIlwrick – even though it has yet to be announced – and see rookie Jacob Liddle as the long-term successor to Robbie Farah in the number nine jumper.\
\
But neither of those is a regular NRL hooker – something Lichaa has been for the past couple of seasons.\
\
Vaughan is offside at Canberra, with the likes of Elliott Whitehead, Luke Bateman and Clay Priest now ahead of him in the pecking order.\
\
But he is a real ‘goer’ who should benefit from a change of clubs and is certain to quit the Raiders over the summer.**

STORM SIGN CRONK REPLACEMENT

Cooper Cronk remains the king at the Storm – but the club has signed the man who will replace him in a couple of years.

Ryley Jacks from Sunshine Coast Falcons in the Intrust Super Cup will join the club next season. Sheer weight of tries has earned Jacks, a former Roosters lower grader, his shot at fame – he scored a club record 19 tries for the Falcons this year.

**TAYLOR IN-DEMAND\
\
Elijah Taylor NRLP\
\
The longer Elijah Taylor remains unsigned, the less chance of the Tigers hanging onto the talented Kiwi star.\
\
Several rival clubs have expressed interest in Taylor after he resurrected his career with his mid-season move from Penrith, while New Zealand rugby union is also an option.\
\
Taylor is a quality individual – on and off the field – and the Tigers are desperate to keep him… but my struggle to match the money on offer elsewhere.**

Vaughan - good news
Lichaa - I'm not sure about, but hey apparently we need a hooker…..
ET - will be a big loss, I hope he shows some loyalty... Oh wait does loyalty go both ways or is it only in a clubs favour? :smiley:

:bash :bash

 

[Tigertigertiger]

If we sign Lichaa, that will do me

 

[vlad]

I was reading the sport section in the Sunday Telegraph today and in a small section at the back of the sport that is dedicated to Newcastle there was a small snippet stating that the knights were interested in Paul Vaughn but that they wouldn't be able to compete with the money that the tiger's and dragon's were throwing at him. I live in Newcastle and I'm thinking that this section is only in papers sent up this way as it hasn't been mentioned here yet

Yes I read that too . I get the DT on my IPad & for some reason at the end of the sports section I get Barry Toohey's article about all things Newcastle .

 

[tiger05premier]

If we sign Lichaa, that will do me

Me too i think he is useless but if it's cheap with dogs paying most of contract and only for one year until liddle gets some experience than maybe and it's a big MAYBE he might actually come in handy

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Lichaa is nowhere near as bad as you guys are making him out to be. He hasn't shown much in attack because Des doesn't play an attacking hooker. He has it in him though.

On ET, i actually disagree with the article. Imo the longer it gets drawn out, the longer its more likely he will stay. If he was leaving, why hasn't he signed elsewhere by now?

 

[Newtown]

"According to The Mole's report "the Tigers have already signed Sharks hooker Matt McIlwrick" and chasing Lichaa's signature. With Liddle and Ballin already signed the club will have four hookers! Quite ridiculous when we the club is very short on cap money but are extremely short of first grade level wingers, centres and second rowers.

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

"According to The Mole's report "the Tigers have already signed Sharks hooker Matt McIlwrick" and chasing Lichaa's signature. With Liddle and Ballin already signed the club will have four hookers! Quite ridiculous when we the club is very short on cap money but are extremely short of first grade level wingers, centres and second rowers.

Yep, our priorities are still unerringly right on target. :laughing:

 

[TopTiger]

"According to The Mole's report "the Tigers have already signed Sharks hooker Matt McIlwrick" and chasing Lichaa's signature. With Liddle and Ballin already signed the club will have four hookers! Quite ridiculous when we the club is very short on cap money but are extremely short of first grade level wingers, centres and second rowers.

X2\. If the Tigers have signed McIIwrick and chasing Lichaa it doesn't bode well for Ballin's prospects of playing again after his second knee reconstruction.

 

[balmain boy]

Well it is a rumour thread i guess, but some pretty average claims for the mole. ET could have left ages ago if it was only about money, the fact he hasn't mean's its not only about that to him.

Lichaa would only be handy if Ballin was forced to retire and thus his salary was excluded from the cap. Otherwise pass.

Chances of JMK playing first grade are still slim to none. He's played maybe 15-20 games at hooker in his life, but because he played a couple of good games in the finals he's a chance at first grade? That's not how it works.

Where are we suddenly getting 3-400k to sign Vaughn? If Sirro left at his full value then maybe we could.

 

[Kavi]

nrl lurker says vaughan is likely to go to eels or titans

 

[2041]

"According to The Mole's report "the Tigers have already signed Sharks hooker Matt McIlwrick" and chasing Lichaa's signature. With Liddle and Ballin already signed the club will have four hookers! Quite ridiculous when we the club is very short on cap money but are extremely short of first grade level wingers, centres and second rowers.

Probably best if we all just pretend Ballin doesn't exist. He's very unlikely to play significant minutes, and any time he does play should be viewed as a bonus.

McIlwrick is a backup - do we even know if he's being signed on a first-grade deal?

Personally I'd be happy with Lichaa/Liddle as the first-grade rotation and McIlwrick playing 9 in reggies. None of them would be on any significant money.

 

[Fade_To_Black]

Lichaa is nowhere near as bad as you guys are making him out to be. He hasn't shown much in attack because Des doesn't play an attacking hooker. He has it in him though.

On ET, i actually disagree with the article. Imo the longer it gets drawn out, the longer its more likely he will stay. If he was leaving, why hasn't he signed elsewhere by now?

Lichaa has shown nothing in defence or attack, he is practically useless. If we sign him it would be akin to our CEO eating wads of $100 notes and then adding them to the sewerage system the next morning.

Taylor didn't like Farah as an attacking hooker so I don't know why he would want Lichaa to attempt to play that role. He just wants a straight-out distributor from dummy half apparantly. No offensive capabilities or tendencies required.

Find it very strange to say the least that it is widely reported that we cannot afford to keep Elijah, yet we can chase after Vaughn, Lichaa, McIllwrick etc. We either have money or we don't, wish they would make their mind up.

 

[Tiger4life]

A decent centre and an explosive hard running forward thst bends the defensive line (moa, evans, vaughan) is just what we need.

Please not another hooker. We have liddle, ballin, littlejohn. spend the money where needed.

Not only do we need a hooker but we probably need one who can take most of the minutes. Ballin will be lucky to get on the field. Liddle has about 20 minutes of first grade experience. And Littlejohn is an emergency backup at best.

In an ideal world Ballin would start with Liddle coming off the bench. But the chances of that being possible for even half the season are tiny, and if that's the plan the Tigers go into the season with we're all going to have to get used to seeing a lot of Jordan Rankin/Elijah Taylor/who knows at dummy half.

We absolutely do not and should not be spending any money we have to add another hooker in our team. If Ballin is not going to be able to play why is he still on our books. So we have Ballin, liddle and to me JLJ is more a hooker than a dummy half. You have marshall king a utility who has played a bit there. JT pretty much wants his dummy half to pass to the halves, so spend any money we have on a centre who can tackle or a power forward.

Ballin is on the books because he has a two-year deal, and presumably the club is hoping he'll come back from his latest injury rather than just paying him out. But realistically we all know there's next to no chance he'll be able to be the starting hooker for the bulk of the season.

Liddle has 20 minutes of first-grade experience and absolutely should not be assumed to be ready to play the bulk of the minutes.

It's lovely that you think Littlejohn is a hooker but he has zero first-grade experience in the position and the fact that he wasn't tried at nine in 2016 in the weeks we were running Halatau, Elijah Taylor and Rankin out there suggests to me that the coach doesn't see him as one either.

Ditto Marshall-King, frankly. You're talking about giving a top 25 slot to a guy who plays a bit of hooker in reggies and isn't widely considered to be a first-grade standard player full stop - let alone in a position he generally covers rather than prefers.

I'm not talking about going out and signing a big money player. What I'm saying is that the club is going to need to devote a roster spot to either a utility who's got enough experience at nine to cover the position for extended periods (like a Halatau) or a cheap specialist hooker (some sort of Danny Levi/Isaac de Gois equivalent). This is likely to be a minimum salary job and in fact it's the roster spot that'll hurt more than the contract. But it clearly makes hugely more sense to have someone in the squad who can legitimately play the position than to waste the same roster spot on the likes of Marshall-King.

Do you mean someone like Robbie Farah who we are still paying $750k for, or someone like cherrington who we didnt re-sign.

 

[Tiger4life]

"According to The Mole's report "the Tigers have already signed Sharks hooker Matt McIlwrick" and chasing Lichaa's signature. With Liddle and Ballin already signed the club will have four hookers! Quite ridiculous when we the club is very short on cap money but are extremely short of first grade level wingers, centres and second rowers.

Probably best if we all just pretend Ballin doesn't exist. He's very unlikely to play significant minutes, and any time he does play should be viewed as a bonus.

McIlwrick is a backup - do we even know if he's being signed on a first-grade deal?

Personally I'd be happy with Lichaa/Liddle as the first-grade rotation and McIlwrick playing 9 in reggies. None of them would be on any significant money.

We cant pretene Ballin doesnt exist becasue he is making up $250k of our salary cap.

As for Lichaa, proabably the second worst decision made by the bulldogs. The first being choosing Anasta over a young Thurston and letting him sign with the cowboys. Second not reSigning Ennis and paying $500k for Lichaa. He is one of the worst hookers in the game, cant kick , doesnt run, and passing is horrendous. Id rather rankin be our utility coming off the bench.

By letting go of Farah and cherrington our money and playing time is now invested in liddle and ballin. Lets hope Ballin is healthy and Liddle has what it takes.

 

[2041]

"According to The Mole's report "the Tigers have already signed Sharks hooker Matt McIlwrick" and chasing Lichaa's signature. With Liddle and Ballin already signed the club will have four hookers! Quite ridiculous when we the club is very short on cap money but are extremely short of first grade level wingers, centres and second rowers.

Probably best if we all just pretend Ballin doesn't exist. He's very unlikely to play significant minutes, and any time he does play should be viewed as a bonus.

McIlwrick is a backup - do we even know if he's being signed on a first-grade deal?

Personally I'd be happy with Lichaa/Liddle as the first-grade rotation and McIlwrick playing 9 in reggies. None of them would be on any significant money.

We cant pretene Ballin doesnt exist becasue he is making up $250k of our salary cap.

As for Lichaa, proabably the second worst decision made by the bulldogs. The first being choosing Anasta over a young Thurston and letting him sign with the cowboys. Second not reSigning Ennis and paying $500k for Lichaa. He is one of the worst hookers in the game, cant kick , doesnt run, and passing is horrendous. Id rather rankin be our utility coming off the bench.

By letting go of Farah and cherrington our money and playing time is now invested in liddle and ballin. Lets hope Ballin is healthy and Liddle has what it takes.

This discussion is ridiculous. What you're saying is that the club ought to assume a 33-year-old who hasn't recovered from back-to-back ACL injuries is going to be the first-choice hooker next year. It doesn't matter how much of the cap he's taking up: if he can't play, someone has to take his position - and trying to fake it for the entire season with a combination of kids, out of position halves and reserve-grade players would be lunacy.

The Tigers let Farah go because the coach wanted rid of him, and it let Cherrington go because it saw Liddle as the better long-term bet. The Ballin signing was a disaster from the get-go but unfortunately you don't get do-overs so yes, sadly, the Tigers will be spending a million bucks on hookers that won't play for them next year. That doesn't mean they don't need a hooker who can play for them.

Personally if the Dogs are willing to pay freight on Lichaa I think he's worth a crack. You're making a false comparison: you're comparing Lichaa to an imaginary world in which Ballin is fit or in which Littlejohn and/or Marshall-King can play extended periods as a first-grade hooker. I'm comparing Lichaa to the real world, where none of these things apply.

Let me give you a comparison. If I eat a meal and get sick then eat another meal and get sick again, it doesn't mean I ought to give up eating. It means I need to maybe try a slightly blander diet for a while until I can trust myself not to keep eating stuff that makes me sick.

 

[cqtiger]

By The MoleSeptember 26, 2016
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Email
WELCOME to The Mole’s Monday Scoops! Here’s the highly accurate rodent’s best work this week . . .

See Moley’s NRL tips for this week’s round on UBET.com

**TIGERS TARGET UNWANTED DUO\
\
Wests Tigers are attempting to boost their pack for 2017 by signing experienced forwards Paul Vaughan and Michael Lichaa.\
\
Vaughan is contracted to the Raiders for next season – as Lichaa is to the Bulldogs.\
\
But both players have been told they can look around – and the Tigers are keen on the duo.\
\
The Tigers have already signed Sharks hooker Matt McIlwrick – even though it has yet to be announced – and see rookie Jacob Liddle as the long-term successor to Robbie Farah in the number nine jumper.\
\
But neither of those is a regular NRL hooker – something Lichaa has been for the past couple of seasons.\
\
Vaughan is offside at Canberra, with the likes of Elliott Whitehead, Luke Bateman and Clay Priest now ahead of him in the pecking order.\
\
But he is a real ‘goer’ who should benefit from a change of clubs and is certain to quit the Raiders over the summer.**

STORM SIGN CRONK REPLACEMENT

Cooper Cronk remains the king at the Storm – but the club has signed the man who will replace him in a couple of years.

Ryley Jacks from Sunshine Coast Falcons in the Intrust Super Cup will join the club next season. Sheer weight of tries has earned Jacks, a former Roosters lower grader, his shot at fame – he scored a club record 19 tries for the Falcons this year.

**TAYLOR IN-DEMAND\
\
Elijah Taylor NRLP\
\
The longer Elijah Taylor remains unsigned, the less chance of the Tigers hanging onto the talented Kiwi star.\
\
Several rival clubs have expressed interest in Taylor after he resurrected his career with his mid-season move from Penrith, while New Zealand rugby union is also an option.\
\
Taylor is a quality individual – on and off the field – and the Tigers are desperate to keep him… but my struggle to match the money on offer elsewhere.**

Vaughan - good news
Lichaa - I'm not sure about, but hey apparently we need a hooker…..
ET - will be a big loss, I hope he shows some loyalty... Oh wait does loyalty go both ways or is it only in a clubs favour? :smiley:

I'm sorry but I don't believe that true loyalty exists in business or professional sport. Do people really stay loyal to a business or a club without getting anything out of it in return? Player A stayed out of loyalty (and the $500k contract). Is that loyalty?

Most fans stay loyal in good times and bad. This forum has had some rough times but most people stay loyal to the Tigers. Why? Passion I guess. We're not paid to follow our team.

My late dad was born and bred in Balmain. He took me to all home and away games when it was the old NSWRL. I stay stuck out of passion and meloncholy I guess. Some would say it's the "old dog" syndrome.

 

[mctiger]

Lichaa is nowhere near as bad as you guys are making him out to be. He hasn't shown much in attack because Des doesn't play an attacking hooker. He has it in him though.

On ET, i actually disagree with the article. Imo the longer it gets drawn out, the longer its more likely he will stay. If he was leaving, why hasn't he signed elsewhere by now?

Lichaa has shown nothing in defence or attack, he is practically useless. If we sign him it would be akin to our CEO eating wads of $100 notes and then adding them to the sewerage system the next morning

I have no opinion either way but these are his stats for the year:

PLAYER STATS P T G FG AR ARM LB HU OL TK MT E
AVERAGE 0 0.1 0 0 3.6 0 0.1 0.7 0.4 43.7 1.7 0.3
2016 TOTAL 22 3 0 0 79 725 2 16 8 962 38 6

http://www.nrl.com/telstrapremiership/playerstats/playerprofile/tabid/10898/clubid/3/playerid/2289/seasonid/44/default.aspx

Apologies for the formatting. It looked OK in preview. Basically he averaged 43.7 tackles per game and 1.7 missed tackles.

 

[magpiecol]

When will some of you people stop taking ANY notice of what is on the so called social media.

Wait until the club makes an announcement.

:crazy

 

[fulleightyminutes]

Lichaa is nowhere near as bad as you guys are making him out to be. He hasn't shown much in attack because Des doesn't play an attacking hooker. He has it in him though.

On ET, i actually disagree with the article. Imo the longer it gets drawn out, the longer its more likely he will stay. If he was leaving, why hasn't he signed elsewhere by now?

Lichaa has shown nothing in defence or attack, he is practically useless. If we sign him it would be akin to our CEO eating wads of $100 notes and then adding them to the sewerage system the next morning

I have no opinion either way but these are his stats for the year:

PLAYER STATS P T G FG AR ARM LB HU OL TK MT E
AVERAGE 0 0.1 0 0 3.6 0 0.1 0.7 0.4 43.7 1.7 0.3
2016 TOTAL 22 3 0 0 79 725 2 16 8 962 38 6

http://www.nrl.com/telstrapremiership/playerstats/playerprofile/tabid/10898/clubid/3/playerid/2289/seasonid/44/default.aspx

Apologies for the formatting. It looked OK in preview. Basically he averaged 43.7 tackles per game and 1.7 missed tackles.

In the comparison he had more try assists than e.g. Mitch Rein or Dene Halatau, and more than Cook. So he is better than what we had last year.

 

[Russell]

Tiger Come Lately said -
"Lichaa - I'm not sure about, but hey apparently we need a hooker….."

Trouble is if you sign Lichaa you still need a hooker - he is not a hookers bootlace.

Tackles ok, can't kick, can't run from dummy half (whether Des let's him or not) and has to be the worst dummy half to pass the ball in the NRL. 30% of the time he goes the wrong side and 30% of the time the passes are so bad he puts the receiver under enormous pressure. Moses and Brooks would be useless.

We have no money or very little - what we do have should be spent on ET and maybe Jamal.

We have Ballin 50 min. (it is only hypothetical most are saying he'll be lucky to play one game - just as hypothetical to say he will play every game), Liddle 30 min. As a back up we have Littlejohn who wants to play there, Marshall-King and at a very long stretch Rankin. That is 5 and if you believe "The Mole" (don't know who does) we have Mc Ilwrick to make 6\. We need Lichaa like we need a hole in the head.

Vaughn we cannot afford I would think, maybe someone similar next year.