Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[innsaneink]

Context: Robbie Farah is a club legend. He was a warrior for us and I miss having him in our team.

However. Robbie is not so much of a people person. That doesn’t make him a bad person. It does create an obvious talent gap for an aspiring coach.

I would prefer it stay out of specifics and I am sure plenty of others on here would have heard the examples.

Tommy Raudonikis was a legend for the Magpies... Not many tougher and with a greater will to win... But he was a shite coach

 

[batboy]

That's what he spent all of 2023 doing

Not with the pudding he seems to have put on he didn’t…

 

[Chipofftheoldblock]

Exactly I love Matamua and he is doing heaps of great things for our attack right now but he doesn’t take as many strong carry’s as he probably needs to right now

As a ball playing lock you need to mix up your game.
I have never rated Matamua. Big body player with a pea heart.
His work rate is low and impact even lower sometimes i forget he is playing.

The best lock forward that has ever played our game was Bradley Clyde. That is what every single player in the position should aspire to be.
Clyde had the body of a prop with a huge work rate mixed in with ball skills and speed. He understood when to ball play and when to take a hit up.
Matamua has the body type to play NRL but he is far from that stage.
Sometimes you need to mix it up like Yeo does for the Panthers (who is playing his best football at present).

 

[Todd Packer]

Sofa Solomon last night.
20 runs 176 metres in 41 minutes. 73 post contact metres.
Nah we don't want him, we'd rather have the sook.

 

[crazycat]

Totally agree with the existing and generation next will NOT get us into the top 8.
It's becoming a pipe dream. We need to get some 1st grade muscle and IQ, ASAP.
The up and coming showed us today they are nowhere near ready. So we must fill the current gap for 2025 now. Starting with the forwards.
We just got totally flogged in the lower grades today.
Penrith had a team of KOE players knocking on the NRL door.
We gloss over our few hopefuls who had a chance to impress but failed to live up to the hype. Time to face reality. We need a few hard headed forwards if we expect to progress.

Totally agree.

We need at least 2x forward/props who can run gaps and be dangerous. I.e. Samuel Fainu style.

The other focus is our training. We have had way too much talent reach us and almost everyone we have signed has dropped form. Our training is clearly missing key components that Penrith, Easts, Melbourne and Manly get. Why aren't our hopefulls fulfilling our Hope in them? They can't all be duds, lets fix our training and work out how to make ferocious Tigers.

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

Tommy Raudonikis was a legend for the Magpies... Not many tougher and with a greater will to win... But he was a shite coach

so was Wayne Pearce, fitter than the rest with the talent he had but not a good coach

 

[Todd Packer]

Tommy Raudonikis was a legend for the Magpies... Not many tougher and with a greater will to win... But he was a shite coach

Tommy coached Ipswich to their first Grand Final in 1988.
He coached Norths Brisbane to the grand final in his first season as coach in1990.
He coached the Magpies, the worst squad of players in the comp. to the semi finals in 1996.
He coached the great Alfie Langer to become a legend of the game.
Maybe think twice before you choose to denigrate the most inspirational figure to ever be involved in the game.
The word you used and Tommy in the same sentence is sacrilege.

 

[Bellend]

Skills development coach,strength coach, kicking coach. New reserve grade coach,New Flegg coach,Sprint coach.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Skills development coach,strength coach, kicking coach. New reserve grade coach,New Flegg coach,Sprint coach.

It seems that way @Bellend .

Until we get our high performance unit at the level of the big boys by way of personnel & processes, we are not giving every chance for our highly-touted juniors to develop to maximise their ability.

I am sure Richo sees this & there will be many changes/additions probably in the off-season.

 

[tiger_one]

so was Wayne Pearce, fitter than the rest with the talent he had but not a good coach

And don't leave out Terry Lamb!

 

[Tom Shines]

Sofa Solomon last night.
20 runs 176 metres in 41 minutes. 73 post contact metres.
Nah we don't want him, we'd rather have the sook.

Incredible stats … yet why does Melbourne want to move him on mid contract then ? just like our mate Olam with his gimpy knee …yet on the other hand … they are chasing Stef (aka The Sook) as well.. what gives?

You better send a very nasty email to Bellamy informing him he knows nothing about Rugba Leeg

 

[426Tlgerland]

Totally agree.

We need at least 2x forward/props who can run gaps and be dangerous. I.e. Samuel Fainu style.

The other focus is our training. We have had way too much talent reach us and almost everyone we have signed has dropped form. Our training is clearly missing key components that Penrith, Easts, Melbourne and Manly get. Why aren't our hopefulls fulfilling our Hope in them? They can't all be duds, lets fix our training and work out how to make ferocious Tigers.

Morris is there and his days at Cronulla were pretty good , solid strong and fit players , maybe our guys aren’t doing the 1% extra to help them selfs out ,

 

[Tucker]

Likely all true but my point is more that having players that are even average NRL level is not going to get us into the top 4 or winning a premiership.

It can if you prepare those players to perform in a “next man up” strategy.
If Benji can be confident that he will get a very consistent level from them, than he can plan around those efforts.
I.e., he loses a star to suspension. The replacement is a 6/10 player and he knows he will get that. He can adjust the games of those around him to compensate. This reduces the impact of the star’s loss as well as makes the replacement feel he is an important cog rather than a mere fill in for a couple of weeks.

 

[Fish88]

Looks like Guler to dogs

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

Tommy coached Ipswich to their first Grand Final in 1988.
He coached Norths Brisbane to the grand final in his first season as coach in1990.
He coached the Magpies, the worst squad of players in the comp. to the semi finals in 1996.
He coached the great Alfie Langer to become a legend of the game.
Maybe think twice before you choose to denigrate the most inspirational figure to ever be involved in the game.
The word you used and Tommy in the same sentence is sacrilege.

Tommy coached NSW also but a good coach can transcend with the times, Tommy couldn't neither could Timmy.

 

[Vicious]

Tommy coached NSW also but a good coach can transcend with the times, Tommy couldn't neither could Timmy.

What about Benji ?
Do you think a good emerging NRL coach should turn up to watch his emerging players play NSW Cup ?

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

Absolutey. Was he there?

 

[Vicious]

Absolutey. Was he there?

No, never at the ground to watch them, too busy with family matters.
I don’t expect him to necessarily be there all day and watch Jersey Flegg also, but surely taking 2 hours out of his day to watch and support his top 30 and emerging players and provide them with some valuable feedback should be a pre requisite when your club is in a massive struggle to achieve some success.

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

Cant comment on family thing. But you would like to think he was there. But im no professional. You guys know a lot more about footy than myself.

 

[Tucker]

No, never at the ground to watch them, too busy with family matters.
I don’t expect him to necessarily be there all day and watch Jersey Flegg also, but surely taking 2 hours out of his day to watch and support his top 30 and emerging players and provide them with some valuable feedback should be a pre requisite when your club is in a massive struggle to achieve some success.

He should definitely be there