Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[tigermate]

No one at the club is happy. If anyone at the club is happy they should be sacked. It's pretty simple stuff.
We still have the worst roster on the comp this season, no one expects us to win more than 4-5 matches this season. We've still been close, which given the weakness of our roster is promising

Agree!!

 

[Oldman]

Just got around to watching the replay of the Cowboys game,
Still impressed with how two of our youth policy (S.Fainu & Galvin)
are performing, teenagers playing NRL and holding their own 👍
I can see Galvin turning into a Lock in a couple of years when he’s body naturally fills out and a couple of off season’s in the gym.
Hoping the plan for S.Fainu is to keep his body shape as is and not bulk him up and lose speed.
Don’t treat him as a player that can cover middle as well, just leave him as an edge.
Let’s hope when we finally see his brother (the half) for 4 or 5 games in a row he gives us some more positives for the future.

 

[Tito Santana]

Hes probably gotten onto workers comp for stress leave.

Needs to come get on the tools with the real OGs. Doesn’t get built if we don’t build it. Then everyone says costs are so high. No one wants to do a trade. Suck it up.

 

[BAGNF05]

Just got around to watching the replay of the Cowboys game,
Still impressed with how two of our youth policy (S.Fainu & Galvin)
are performing, teenagers playing NRL and holding their own 👍
I can see Galvin turning into a Lock in a couple of years when he’s body naturally fills out and a couple of off season’s in the gym.
Hoping the plan for S.Fainu is to keep his body shape as is and not bulk him up and lose speed.
Don’t treat him as a player that can cover middle as well, just leave him as an edge.
Let’s hope when we finally see his brother (the half) for 4 or 5 games in a row he gives us some more positives for the future.

That pair are my highlight of the 2024 season.

Can’t see one of the best young halves in the game converting to a forward, halves are too valuable these days.

 

[balmain boy]

Maybe they just see something in a player and take a chance, unlike us we don’t seem to want to take a chance , if Richo can’t find at least 3-4 players over there then he really not there to recruit anyone

Nope, more to it than that. When you think of all the poms who've come out in the last decade, and then think that the Raiders signed Bateman, Hodgson, Whitehead, Sutton, Smithies, Williams and possibly the next back rower...

Sure Souths got the Burgess boys and there's Dom young and Herbie. But the majority have all gone for the boring, cold, wet, grey city..

 

[Camel2281]

Targets:
Wing: Skelton, Wilson, Cotric . These are nice to haves but depends if there is room.
Centre: Euan Aitken (#1 target), Averillo, Kayal Iro, Jack wardle.Gabrael. Harry newman We need two from this list.
Halves: Think we invested already.
Prop: Mikaele, Wallace. Kavan Rothwell
2nd Row. Crichton (#2 target) Coen Hess (unrealistic though)
Lock: nathan brown(cheap) Doug Hutchison

What's your fascination with Euan Aitken. Bloke is trash. Why should he be our number 1 centre target? He barely played centre in years because he slow, a weak ball runner, has limited ball playing skills and is a poor defender at centre

 

[BAGNF05]

Nope, more to it than that. When you think of all the poms who've come out in the last decade, and then think that the Raiders signed Bateman, Hodgson, Whitehead, Sutton, Smithies, Williams and possibly the next back rower...

Sure Souths got the Burgess boys and there's Dom young and Herbie. But the majority have all gone for the boring, cold, wet, grey city..

I remember Ricky having a massive sook in a presser when the Raiders were nearly as bad as us because they couldn’t sign or retain good players. Next minute he went all in on England and wound up in a GF. Richo going over there might not be as silly as it seems. The Poms often stay in the fight with Australian sides for large parts of games and they’re famous for being competitive buggers.

 

[AceofSpades]

How old is he? And does he have the measurables to make it? I’ve seen his name mentioned for a while now, must be getting close to playing some footy verse the men.

He's a 20yr old middle for us which means hes got plenty of time to get right and from what I've seen he's got what it takes to make it. Still a bit rough round the edges similar to all our juniors but has been tested in RMC against men which is a good thing

 

[BAGNF05]

He's a 20yr old middle for us which means hes got plenty of time to get right and from what I've seen he's got what it takes to make it. Still a bit rough round the edges similar to all our juniors but has been tested in RMC against men which is a good thing

I look forward to seeing him come through. Hope he’s not reading into the hype.

 

[BZN]

I remember Ricky having a massive sook in a presser when the Raiders were nearly as bad as us because they couldn’t sign or retain good players. Next minute he went all in on England and wound up in a GF. Richo going over there might not be as silly as it seems. The Poms often stay in the fight with Australian sides for large parts of games and they’re famous for being competitive buggers.

Agree 💯BAGNF05. The Poms are certainly competitive.
They gave the Nazis are rite hiding 👊💪in WW2.

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

True, but does he have a point in what he stated tonight ?
I was excited when Benji was announced as our new coach and I’m hopeful he will turn us around and become the long term coach we need.
But I agree when Blocker, Braith & Co question why he’s chosen to head on holidays with his family when the club he’s coaching is in crisis having lost 8 straight games, offloaded one of our best forwards and now have a fight on our hands to retain our emerging forward leader.
I understand he simply wants to refresh, but put your shoes in his position and I know if it was me o would not be resting until I put together playing roster I was happy with.
Same goes for Richo, there is next to no talent in the UK Super League that is worth persuing and why do you physically need to be over there to offer players we are wanting to offload ?
Plenty of talk about our traditional home grounds not generating enough revenue, then why go on unnecessary overseas trips ?

Who else goes of not Richo?
We don’t have a recruiting manager atm.
If we are aiming to offload players we need to wine and dine - Richo is our best sales person.

Re Benji I get the optics but lets be real how does him spending 3-4 days in fiji change anything when the rest of the squad is off as well? Do we honestly think he won’t be talking to Richo or thinking about footy.

Bennet heads to his farm to break away and does it often. Bellemy goes to QLD often. Cleary went to NZ and Bali the last 12mths during the byes. They all breakaway. Fiji is a 3hr flight, basically same distance to the farm/brisbane to those - it’s just the optics fiji presents to the others.

It’s important to sometimes take a breath for yourself. Post the bye we head into the 2nd half of the season but a massive player drive out which will destabilize the team, he will no doubt bring rookies in and he has experienced heads injured for extended periods. All things considered his head is probably spinning.

 

[Jolls]

Who else goes of not Richo?
We don’t have a recruiting manager atm.
If we are aiming to offload players we need to wine and dine - Richo is our best sales person.

Re Benji I get the optics but lets be real how does him spending 3-4 days in fiji change anything when the rest of the squad is off as well? Do we honestly think he won’t be talking to Richo or thinking about footy.

Bennet heads to his farm to break away and does it often. Bellemy goes to QLD often. Cleary went to NZ and Bali the last 12mths during the byes. They all breakaway. Fiji is a 3hr flight, basically same distance to the farm/brisbane to those - it’s just the optics fiji presents to the others.

It’s important to sometimes take a breath for yourself. Post the bye we head into the 2nd half of the season but a massive player drive out which will destabilize the team, he will no doubt bring rookies in and he has experienced heads injured for extended periods. All things considered his head is probably spinning.

100% this is just media hype. WTF is Benji supposed to do when everyone has a mandated three days off? What does it matter if hes watching the kids in the pool writing notes and pondering how to improve his coaching style in Fiji or in Sydney. Optics my arse - simply trash journos writing shit to reel in big fish. They could fill the Sydney Fish market based on some of the comments on this forum.

For those that are "outraged" WTF would you have him doing when there is no one about?

 

[weststigers]

I remember Ricky having a massive sook in a presser when the Raiders were nearly as bad as us because they couldn’t sign or retain good players. Next minute he went all in on England and wound up in a GF. Richo going over there might not be as silly as it seems. The Poms often stay in the fight with Australian sides for large parts of games and they’re famous for being competitive buggers.

I can't understand why ESL is so often dismissed as a talent pool.

The best of Q Cup and NSW Cup can usually make the step up to NRL and ESL is a cut above that. They even dominate the world club challenge each year...albeit with an advantage, but if we were that much better, we would roll them easily every time.

The best of ESL usually do pretty well here, especially forwards. There's been more successes than failures from a cursory glance. Here's a list since 1998...

Every British-born player to have graced the NRL since inaugural 1998 season

There's a strong British contingent who have played in the NRL over the years, with more players than you probably realise having headed Down Under.

www.loverugbyleague.com

Some pretty decent names there.

The guys that were elite in ESL, usually took that form to NRL except Hardaker and Tomkins in my opinion.

 

[Snidest 0]

I don't actually have a problem with Benji and the players having a short break. It's bloody demoralising watching it. I can't imagine how horrible it would be for them. A few days away, wherever the hell they want, might just be the tonic they need to come back, refreshed and ready to go.

Noone is putting this into perspective in regards to our former CEO....

Pascoe literally had an annual family holiday to NT mid-season EVERY YEAR!

Going back to 2016 - this unprofessional dope literally cost us Addo-Carr when he was uncontactable in the NT while Josh's extension laid on his desk unsigned...

Melbourne took three days to seal the deal in JP's absence!!

And the embarassing HEADS OF AGREEMENT they had him sign to COMMIT to return back to the club "IF RELEASED in 2021" and made a media announcement about was even more farcical:

Wests Tigers statement on Josh Addo-Carr

NRL 2021: Wests Tigers statement on Josh Addo-Carr

www.weststigers.com.au

I assume most people know how that turned out.

Pascoe's regular absences got a heap of managers offside and impacted too many players including young Sam McIntyre at the end of 2020 - when he was off contract & was no longer receiving income from the club - but had an extension on Pascoe's desk while he was on yet another HOLIDAY!!

Titans pounced - and we lost another kid who had his heart in the club - and who the coach wanted to retain!

But for some reason a proven performer in Richardson has become the media target....

I wonder why.... surely it's not the bitter and twisted EX throwing dirt for his parasitic long-lunching media "mates" to parrot ad nauseum....

 

[The Chad]

He's a 20yr old middle for us which means hes got plenty of time to get right and from what I've seen he's got what it takes to make it. Still a bit rough round the edges similar to all our juniors but has been tested in RMC against men which is a good thing

Pretty sure he was in high school last year- just around the corner from my place.

No way he's 20. 18 I think.

 

[twentyforty]

1. yallah you know Cotric is 25?
2. Olam we have, yes, but firstly, I dont trust the guy. I think he will be vulnerable to slip into lazy or just expire. But even so, we need depth, because of injuries. So let's say we have a Iro and Olam combo, Aitken can be on the bench to cover back row and slot into centre when needed or if they are out long term he comes in as starting centre. Depth has been our issue.
3. Nathan yes a one year deal, Manly gave him a train and trial and upgraded him and he is playing well. He is a good moneyball signing.
4. Back row are going to be a critical issue next year. There are a few out there to buy though, Give Angus the million. I'd still keep Bateman too.

I think Olam could easily develop aspirations for coaching PNG.

 

[twentyforty]

Do it on NRL 360 like Blocker, on again tonight bagging Benji, Richo and the club again, the knob wonders why they don’t invite him to club functions

Because they’re too sensitive ? Can’t handle some constructive criticism?

 

[Needaname]

I remember Ricky having a massive sook in a presser when the Raiders were nearly as bad as us because they couldn’t sign or retain good players. Next minute he went all in on England and wound up in a GF. Richo going over there might not be as silly as it seems. The Poms often stay in the fight with Australian sides for large parts of games and they’re famous for being competitive buggers.

2014. Might of even been after we played them. He mentioned until I put some quality around these blokes we are going no where. Mind you he already had Josh Papali’i in origin at the time. We need internationals and Origin players.

Haven’t we done that recently?

This is a bigger problem then what Canberra had.

 

[batboy]

2014. Might of even been after we played them. He mentioned until I put some quality around these blokes we are going no where. Mind you he already had Josh Papali’i in origin at the time. We need internationals and Origin players.

Haven’t we done that recently?

This is a bigger problem then what Canberra had.

You’d reckon….
At least Sticky had some coaching experience - and staff with coaching experience…

 

[supercoach]

It seems I am in the minority when it comes to Benji’s trip. Personally I think it’s a smart idea for everyone involved with the team to get away from football and freshen up and have some fun.

I think Benji could spend 24 hours a day and nothing much will change till our roster is overhaulEd both in quality and depth. I also think all the media criticism is all about creating drama to get ratings.