Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Tiger_Yoshi]

Let’s be completely honest …,Luke’s weakness is his height and taking high balls …he is going to be getting bombed all his career .., so I hope he is working on this as a prior

Wests Tigers rising star Tallyn Da Silva has been given permission to negotiate with rival clubs immediately after interest from Newcastle.
The talented hooker has been granted permission from the Tigers which will allow him to test the open market despite his contract ending at the end of next year. Da Silva was free to chat with rivals from November 1 but the move has been fast-tracked following a surprise overture from the Knights.

Media-link

A raft of discussions in the past 72 hours included:

* Newcastle originally looked to loan Da Silva for the rest of the season to help deal with their growing casualty ward in their forwards.

* Talks progressed to a potential immediate player swap between the Knights and the Tigers which would see Da Silva arrive at Newcastle on a long-term deal. The Tigers are open to securing back-rower Kai Pearce-Paul. Pearce-Paul has already agreed to join the Tigers from next year on a three-year contract. Both parties are considering this.

* Da Silva’s agent has asked for and been granted permission to speak with other clubs, not just the Knights.

NRL 2025 RD06 Newcastle Knights v Wests Tigers - Tallyn Da Silva
The Tigers have already been told that Da Silva will leave the club should they re-sign co-captain Api Koroisau.

Both hookers are off-contract at the end of the next year and the Tigers have already met with the players. There is a belief that the Tigers are torn on which player to keep. At just 20, Da Silva is considered a decade long player and is a local junior.

Koroisau is still among the best players in the game but will be 33 by the time his new deal kicks into place.

The situation differs to that highly publicised fallout between Lachie Galvin and the Tigers with Da Silva wanting to remain at the club – provided he is their no. 1 hooker.

Where does Phoenix Crossland fit at the Knights going forward? Picture: Getty Images
The Knights’ pursuit of Da Silva is an interesting one given Kiwi rake Phoenix Crossland has re-signed until the end of 2028 while Matt Arthur is also contracted to the club until the end of 2027. Long-term hooker Jayden Brailey is Canberra bound at the end of the season.

If Da Silva does sign with Newcastle it may mean Crossland plays more lock given the Knights are struggling to find replacements for a host of forwards departing at the end of the season. Pearce-Paul, Brailey and Leo Thompson will all move on while Adam Elliott, Jack Hetherington and Tyson Frizell face uncertain futures.

Da Silva had been relegated to NSW Cup in recent weeks but has been recalled to the bench to take on the Raiders on Friday night.

Shame to lose him....

 

[Wiz]

Fairdinkum. Do we give up the next 18 months of Da Silva to get KPP half a season early?

 

[das tigers]

wtf is going on?? This is insane

Looks like TDS is already out the door.

Be nice for fans to have some clarity about our direction moving forward.

 

[Bellend]

You can't make this bad press like the West Tigers can.

 

[Its me… hi]

Don’t know why we’d be so keen to offload tallyn now, we have heaps of spots and $ available, what if api goes down?

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Benji needs a minder.

 

[jrtiger]

Wests Tigers rising star Tallyn Da Silva has been given permission to negotiate with rival clubs immediately after interest from Newcastle.
The talented hooker has been granted permission from the Tigers which will allow him to test the open market despite his contract ending at the end of next year. Da Silva was free to chat with rivals from November 1 but the move has been fast-tracked following a surprise overture from the Knights.

Media-link

A raft of discussions in the past 72 hours included:

* Newcastle originally looked to loan Da Silva for the rest of the season to help deal with their growing casualty ward in their forwards.

* Talks progressed to a potential immediate player swap between the Knights and the Tigers which would see Da Silva arrive at Newcastle on a long-term deal. The Tigers are open to securing back-rower Kai Pearce-Paul. Pearce-Paul has already agreed to join the Tigers from next year on a three-year contract. Both parties are considering this.

* Da Silva’s agent has asked for and been granted permission to speak with other clubs, not just the Knights.

NRL 2025 RD06 Newcastle Knights v Wests Tigers - Tallyn Da Silva
The Tigers have already been told that Da Silva will leave the club should they re-sign co-captain Api Koroisau.

Both hookers are off-contract at the end of the next year and the Tigers have already met with the players. There is a belief that the Tigers are torn on which player to keep. At just 20, Da Silva is considered a decade long player and is a local junior.

Koroisau is still among the best players in the game but will be 33 by the time his new deal kicks into place.

The situation differs to that highly publicised fallout between Lachie Galvin and the Tigers with Da Silva wanting to remain at the club – provided he is their no. 1 hooker.

Where does Phoenix Crossland fit at the Knights going forward? Picture: Getty Images
The Knights’ pursuit of Da Silva is an interesting one given Kiwi rake Phoenix Crossland has re-signed until the end of 2028 while Matt Arthur is also contracted to the club until the end of 2027. Long-term hooker Jayden Brailey is Canberra bound at the end of the season.

If Da Silva does sign with Newcastle it may mean Crossland plays more lock given the Knights are struggling to find replacements for a host of forwards departing at the end of the season. Pearce-Paul, Brailey and Leo Thompson will all move on while Adam Elliott, Jack Hetherington and Tyson Frizell face uncertain futures.

Da Silva had been relegated to NSW Cup in recent weeks but has been recalled to the bench to take on the Raiders on Friday night.

thanks I hate it.

 

[jrtiger]

really hoped we could've sorted a deal that suited both parties, likely a TDS loan in 2027 and giving him the majority of the minutes in 2028.

guess not. sigh.

 

[Canadian Club]

Absolutely terrible decision.

The club hasn’t learnt anything.

 

[Betterdays22]

TDS last month in cup should have convinced the Tigers to do whatever they can to keep him and Api.

I think Api had to stay, as at the moment Benji is very reliant on Api's style.

I was really hoping something could be sorted here.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

It’s not really surprising. Benji adores Api. And he’s prepared to sacrifice a 20 year old who could be anything, just to get an extra year out of him. Insane.

 

[tigahhh]

really hoped we could've sorted a deal that suited both parties, likely a TDS loan in 2027 and giving him the majority of the minutes in 2028.

guess not. sigh.

smart thing would’ve been to loan him to the knights and get him back . no instead let’s just give him away completely

god this club drives me nuts , the kid loves the club so lets give him away

 

[Betterdays22]

I also think Tigers should be angling for a different player if we are going down this path. KPP is on his way here anyway. Gagai replacing Doueihi would improve our team right now. Frizell would also be handy.

 

[Kelce68]

Nothing like a 'test the market' story to send everyone into a panic.

We may or may not end up retaining Tallyn.

But literally all this does is allow transparency.

Tartak can do his research and come back to the Tigers with a real understanding of Tallyn's choices, giving the Tigers the opportunity to present the best offer they can, with full knowledge of what's out there and the choice he is having to make.

It also expedites the process, meaning that if the outcome is not ideal, we can move on quickly.

Richo seems to be very bandaid-off in his last roll of the administrator dice. He's more than happy to push through any uncomfortable changes or conversations as quickly as possible so that the club can keep moving and look to the next step in the rebuild.

We saw him expedite the exits of Bateman, Papali'i, Klemmer, rightly or wrongly.

He's put timeline ultimatums on Leichhardt Oval and it's development (which has paid off) and is attempting to do the same with Campbelltown.

He pushed through an outcome for Olam's retirement.

He exposed the Galvin situation early once the writing was on the wall, again, whether you agree or not, which the club has now (mostly) put behind us. Well, the club has, many fans haven't.

Now, rather than wait until November, he's giving them early permission to see what interest they'll get with Talllyn, so that they can decide, again, with time on their side, whether they can competitively counter or if it's too expensive for them to retain him.

We don't have to agree with everything he does. In fact, we won't; I don't.

But Richo makes moves. He's dynamic, efficient and can pivot extremely well when required. If a situation looks like dragging out or lingering, he'll nip it in the bud, even in the face of short-term pain, if he thinks the club will benefit in the long-term.

I have absolutely no problem with it and hope we are more upfront, honest and swift with all our club moves moving forward, both in recruitment or otherwise.

All that being said, I think the sell of the transition of Tallyn from support act to lead must simply have been poor. I can't believe that a Wests Junior who loves the club, has been in the top grade 5 minutes and who inevitably would have the starting 9 jersey inside of 2/3 years for effectively as long as he wants, in a club on the rise, would completely flip his career on it's head for an entire change of system.

The ONLY thing I can think, is that the local, young boys, who were sold the pathways vision, have seen the culture shift in the last couple of years and aren't being red-carpeted into the NRL roles they were potentially earmarked for since Harold Matts. Not to say the culture isn't for the better, but appears more built on a winning mindset brought in from external recruits, rather than a solely, build-from-within, 'locals only' ethos.

Galvin looked to have fallen out with the new in-crowd. Very possible Tallyn has had similar thoughts.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

smart thing would’ve been to loan him to the knights and get him back . no instead let’s just give him away completely

god this club drives me nuts , the kid loves the club so lets give him away

Yeah, but what’s his family like? That’s the main thing these days. Any press release regarding a player, we get shoved down our throats how great his family is.

 

[Betterdays22]

Nothing like a 'test the market' story to send everyone into a panic.

We may or may not end up retaining Tallyn.

But literally all this does is allow transparency.

Tartak can do his research and come back to the Tigers with a real understanding of Tallyn's choices, giving the Tigers the opportunity to present the best offer they can, with full knowledge of what's out there and the choice he is having to make.

It also expedites the process, meaning that if the outcome is not ideal, we can move on quickly.

Richo seems to be very bandaid-off in his last roll of the administrator dice. He's more than happy to push through any uncomfortable changes or conversations as quickly as possible so that the club can keep moving and look to the next step in the rebuild.

We saw him expedite the exits of Bateman, Papali'i, Klemmer, rightly or wrongly.

He's put timeline ultimatums on Leichhardt Oval and it's development (which has paid off) and is attempting to do the same with Campbelltown.

He pushed through an outcome for Olam's retirement.

He exposed the Galvin situation early once the writing was on the wall, again, whether you agree or not, which the club has now (mostly) put behind us. Well, the club has, many fans haven't.

Now, rather than wait until November, he's giving them early permission to see what interest they'll get with Talllyn, so that they can decide, again, with time on their side, whether they can competitively counter or if it's too expensive for them to retain him.

We don't have to agree with everything he does. In fact, we won't.

But Richo makes moves. He's dynamic, efficient and can pivot extremely well when required. If a situation looks like dragging out or lingering, he'll nip it in the bud, even in the face of short-term pain, if he thinks the club will benefit in the long-term.

I have absolutely no problem with it and hope we are more upfront, honest and swift with all our club moves moving forward, both in recruitment or otherwise.

Knights will be offering him a starting 9 spot on starting 9 coin. If TDS was going to be convinced by Benji's vision for him he would of decided already IMO. We can't match what the Knights are offering.

 

[WesternSuburbsBoy]

Honestly conflicted as to how to feel here... on one hand Tallyn trying to dictate to the club over what to do with Api is kind of setting me the wrong way but at the same time anyone who's watched TDS knows the player he's gonna be in the future & is going to be a huge loss for us.

 

[weststigerman]

I can only hope that article is incorrect. We can’t be that stupid.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Honestly conflicted as to how to feel here... on one hand Tallyn trying to dictate to the club over what to do with Api is kind of setting me the wrong way but at the same time anyone who's watched TDS knows the player he's gonna be in the future & is going to be a huge loss for us.

I don’t see it as trying to dictate. I think he’s within his right to explore his options. The bigger question is why is the club prioritising a guy north of 30 over a 20 year old? No other club would.

 

[Flippedy]

I can only hope that article is incorrect. We can’t be that stupid.

Oh yes we can lol