Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

stephen said:
Quite concerning if it's true that the push for Latu to 13 is coming from Benji. We brought him here as a half & due to injuries, haven't really seen him & Luai together for any significant time. I'm not against it if we can secure a traditional game managing 7, but really think Benji's priority should be adding much more fire-power to our pack.
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Smells of Sheenius dosnt it. He’s been a fantastic half through alll grades, lets play him at lock in a team that already struggles in forwards 🤦🏻‍♂️
 
Vicious said:
Thoughts on Connelly Lemuelu and Simi Sasagi as potential signings ?
Connelly was with us for a couple of seasons after we signed him as schoolboy from Keebra Park and has since transitioned from a fullback/centre to an edge back rower.
He has not been able to nail down a regular starting spot, but his form in recent weeks has been off the charts. Obviously with the success the Dolphins are now having he would likely be keen to stay with them, but once they get Tom Gilbert back from injury his position in their team becomes shaky.
I reckon he would only be on a contract of 250-300k and is more valuable than that based on his genuine attacking threat and line breaking ability. I think he and Samuela sharing our left edge back row role, with the flexibility of Samuela also able to play in the middle and Lemuelu able to cover as a centre if required would add some real value to our team and give us a fast and dangerous edge back row option.
Simi Sasagi is an almost identical player and could do the same job.
Both currently available for 2027, but neither are guaranteed to be in their current teams top 17 when at full strength, so I’d be thinking a good money offer might entice them to try and get out of their contracts a year early.
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Thought Sasagi was extended for another 2yrs.
 
tigahhh said:
i was actually thinking while watching the game it would be so funny if Mahoney and sexton just never passed the ball to him lol
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It’s only one full game as a data point, but he got no where near the number of touches yesterday than he did in just about every game he played at WT. That probably just reflects that he will be slotted into the system at the Bulldogs, whereas at the Tigers he was the system.
 
Canadian Club said:
Any talk of Latu being anything other than a long term half is crazyyyy.

Theres probably only 3-4 halves under the age of 21 that look like they will be a half in the NRL for 10+ years and Latu is one of them. Even Galvin has question marks over his long term position in the halves.

Might be bias but I see Latu, Katoa and Strange as certainties. Galvin, Fletcher Sharpe and Purdue are definitely 10 year first graders but long term position is a question mark.

Pezet, Sanders, Talagi and King-Tongia all possibles/looking likely.
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Fletcher Sharpe is a fullback, which is where he will slot in when Ponga bails on the Knights. Tremendous running threat.
 
stephen said:
Quite concerning if it's true that the push for Latu to 13 is coming from Benji. We brought him here as a half & due to injuries, haven't really seen him & Luai together for any significant time. I'm not against it if we can secure a traditional game managing 7, but really think Benji's priority should be adding much more fire-power to our pack.
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Where dis this come from?
 
watersider said:
And my last ABC related post (I was in the garden today) is that carayannis also said that while there's been no deal yet, that Bud was definitely not coming back to the tigers.

People asking about the Jonah Glover rumour...I posted earlier that carayannis had said today that we were after him and they see Latu as more of a lock (hence their unsuccessful pursuit of Reynolds - which carayannis thought was good for us that we missed out on him). All the commentators thought we should play Latu at half (I agree).

I don't know whether carayannis knows anything, just wanted to contribute to the rumour thread with a rumour. He sounded pretty certain about all of that, saying firmly that is what we're doing rather than those journalists who sound more like they're speculating.
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Kinda glad...

Look Sullivan seems like a class person and I hope he finds a long term deal. That said, he did not get treated well here by us and it's better he part ways. It just is.

Latu at Lock is interesting, but not where the player is at for now. He isn't playing 80 minutes as a half. He will get gassed at lock. Need a hard trainer.
 
Tired Tiger said:
The best solution to our problems at lock would to be to recruit an actual ball playing lock and not turn one of the most talented ball playing halves the tigers have had in a long time into a forward weakening two positions, it makes no sense.

For those that bleet on about Latu's injuries have look at Metcalf at the warriors or Blore at the storm ..... Sometimes players just have a run of injuries and that is all it is full stop.

Not like we are overflowing with talent in or top 30 or have a line up of it at Concord, yet so many on here want to throw away the good players we have or change the position they are strong in for no good reason ..... I mean while we are at it why don't we turn Bulla Into a prop and then recruit Walsh to play fullback....
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Agree. I don’t get this obsession with weakening a key spine position to manufacture a lock forward. Sure Yeo is a weapon for Penrith, but he’s a generational talent who can also go into front row rotation, whack a bloke in defence, make 20 impactful hit ups and 40 tackles a game. How many other teams have a guy that can do all that and read a game like a halfback and have the ball distribution skills to execute it. Answer? None. And before anyone suggests Cam Murray and Victor Radley, they’re not ball playing locks. They are small, mobile, workhorse middle forwards who can play 80 minutes (when not injured or in HIA) who do a ton of the blue collar work and occasionally throw a good ball. The fact they are always injured and battered tells you every reason why lock is no place for Latu. He will get pummeled every week like Murray and Radley do. Good players but always out injured. Put him at halfback, let he and Luai run the plays and game manage, get another decent specialist middle forward who can play lock and also prop rotation.
 
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/around-the-clubs-nrl-round-16-20250614-p5m7gl.html

Why Reynolds rejected Wests Tigers, and an extra $1 million
ByRobert Dillon and Christian Nicolussi
Updated June 16, 2025 — 10.54am first published June 15, 2025 — 1.35pm

Adam Reynolds said the appeal of being coached by Benji Marshall – and playing alongside Jarome Luai – seriously tempted him to join the Wests Tigers, but ultimately could not bring himself to leave his young family in Brisbane, even if it meant sacrificing close to $1m.

Reynolds is expected to ink a one-year extension with the Brisbane Broncos in the coming weeks, then later move into a coaching role at Red Hill, but only after the Tigers went to great lengths to try and convince him to return home to Sydney on a two-year deal worth around $750,000 a season.

Tigers CEO Shane Richardson made a hit-and-run visit to the Queensland capital last week to see Reynolds’ the Tigers’ dream, while Marshall also spoke to the veteran half on how he thought he and Luai would work together.

The Tigers picked up the phone to Reynolds the moment Lachie Galvin made it known he was headed for the early exit, and while it was always going to take something big to prize the halfback, who turns 35 next month out of the Queensland capital, Richardson knew he had to at least try.

Reynolds spent six years playing in the Balmain competition as a junior, including five seasons with Leichhardt Juniors. He also played with Marshall at Souths and remains friends with Richardson after their time together at the Bunnies.

“Yes, I was seriously tempted,” Reynolds said. “Benji is a great coach, I’ve always had a lot of time for him – I idolised him as a player when I was growing up – but at the end of the day, family is the most important thing, and if I did leave for Sydney, it would have been without the family, and that was going to be too hard.

“The Tigers have a great spine, and I spoke to Benji about how me and Jarome could have worked. He’s an instinctive player who brings a lot of energy and plays off the cuff, while I’m that organising half.

“The biggest thing for me was I believed I could have added a lot to that team – that I could have added a lot of value to the Tigers.

“But with a wife and four young kids, and being away from them for the best part of two years, I just couldn’t do it to them. No amount of money could have changed my mind. I read reports I was giving up $1m by wanting to stay with Brisbane, and it probably wasn’t far off.

“But I love Brisbane, I’ve been on this journey with the boys here the past four years, and we’ve got some unfinished business.”

Reynolds is keen to move into coaching once he retires, and that is a genuine option should he stay at Red Hill.
 
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