Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Nelson]

Is that Damian McKenzie looking to switch from Union to League .. ??

No


Not that I'm aware off _ he was just an example of the quality of players in rugby for that position plus he appears to be on the outer with the All Blacks at the moment

What I was saying, the club should try to find somebody similar to him outside of the normal players we look at within the NRL or Super League

He's not in the All Blacks because he tore his ACL earlier this year, otherwise he'd be an incumbent and probably be very happy there. I'm not being critical of the left field suggestion - I like them - but I don't see an incumbent All Black switching codes. That's a very hard poach, especially when he hasn't had a chance to play at a World Cup.

 

[In_Like_Flynn]

Is that Damian McKenzie looking to switch from Union to League .. ??

No


Not that I'm aware off _ he was just an example of the quality of players in rugby for that position plus he appears to be on the outer with the All Blacks at the moment

What I was saying, the club should try to find somebody similar to him outside of the normal players we look at within the NRL or Super League

He's not in the All Blacks because he tore his ACL earlier this year, otherwise he'd be an incumbent and probably be very happy there. I'm not being critical of the left field suggestion - I like them - but I don't see an incumbent All Black switching codes. That's a very hard poach, especially when he hasn't had a chance to play at a World Cup.

Agreed a very hard poach but he only has a year or so to go on his contract

There are lots of good rugby fullbacks running around in UK and France even SA, it may be worth a look as the talent pool in the NRL is absolutely zilch at present

 

[cqtiger]

Correct me if I’m wrong but a lot of people used to say that Koirobete and JAC were very quick but couldn’t tackle. They both seem to have improved in that department.

I wonder why Dufty can’t improve?

 

[2041]

What perception would that be?

For whatever reason, it appears WT are not overly high on the list of potential destinations for top line players. I believe this to be the case because we don't seem to ever sign any. I like Leilua and I think he'll be a good signing, but if that is our offseason big name signing, we're in a bit of trouble. That's not me being negative either, i'm even ok with signing Moylan. We just need to do something.

It's not for 'whatever' reason - it's because we haven't had any money to spend. The one year we did, we signed plenty of high-profile free agents. They were just rubbish.

 

[Tiger5150]

Perhaps so but if we are to chase someone as a replacement

If we don't sign a fullback we should give Mbye another shot at fullback. 2018 Mbye is significantly better than CT at fullback imo.

Except he cant catch. he will bombed senseless and give up 1-2 trys a game.

 

[Tiger5150]

Perhaps so but if we are to chase someone as a replacement

If we don't sign a fullback we should give Mbye another shot at fullback. 2018 Mbye is significantly better than CT at fullback imo.


Except he cant catch. he will bombed senseless and give up 1-2 trys a game. He is better at centre for mine.

 

[avocadoontoast]

Except he cant catch. he will bombed senseless and give up 1-2 trys a game.

In your opinion.

 

[Tiger5150]

Except he cant catch. he will bombed senseless and give up 1-2 trys a game.


In your opinion.

Weird, I actually edited my post to say that ..."for mine". But it isnt edited above, but is in your quote. Weird.

 

[tigertye]

A lot of people seem keen to stick the boot into Thompson.....and sure he's not a tedesco calibre fullback, but name other players in our team who go out every week and belt themselves and slog their guts out like he does......
Sure he's not the best fullback going around, but he has certainly done enough to get a bit of recognition around the place.

I love Thompson. All heart and deserves a spot in the team. The tackle on Taumalolo when he made a line break was insane. It was literally the biggest and hardest player on the field up against the smallest and I can just remember him throwing absolutely everything he had into him and belted him.

 

[avocadoontoast]

What perception would that be?

For whatever reason, it appears WT are not overly high on the list of potential destinations for top line players. I believe this to be the case because we don't seem to ever sign any. I like Leilua and I think he'll be a good signing, but if that is our offseason big name signing, we're in a bit of trouble. That's not me being negative either, i'm even ok with signing Moylan. We just need to do something.

It's not for 'whatever' reason - it's because we haven't had any money to spend. The one year we did, we signed plenty of high-profile free agents. They were just rubbish.

This is going back to 2012 though. We've had money to spend since then. We also have $1.5m now.

 

[2041]

What perception would that be?

For whatever reason, it appears WT are not overly high on the list of potential destinations for top line players. I believe this to be the case because we don't seem to ever sign any. I like Leilua and I think he'll be a good signing, but if that is our offseason big name signing, we're in a bit of trouble. That's not me being negative either, i'm even ok with signing Moylan. We just need to do something.

It's not for 'whatever' reason - it's because we haven't had any money to spend. The one year we did, we signed plenty of high-profile free agents. They were just rubbish.

This is going back to 2012 though. We've had money to spend since then. We also have $1.5m now.

Yes, we had money before the 2018 season and we signed lots of high-profile, proven first-grade players. They were all crap, but they were all willing to sign for the Tigers. Who did we miss out on in 2018? James Tedesco? Have a look at the signings that year and tell me which top names turned us down. We weren't in for Ponga (we should have been, obviously, but we weren't). It's here: https://www.nrl.com/news/2017/12/07/2018-nrl-player-movements/

Other than that, this is the only time we've had cap space in living memory. So there's no history at all of the Tigers chasing high-profile free agents and them refusing to sign.

 

[tigertye]

What happened to the talk of us signing Nathan Brown? That went deadly silent.

 

[avocadoontoast]

we signed lots of high-profile, proven first-grade players.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you.

 

[TheDaBoss]

u know wat

my christmas wish list is for us to offically acquire Stefano from the SLimer, AND make them release him to us ASAP


and also maybe acquire LM or JAC :smirk:

 

[swag_tiger]

u know wat

my christmas wish list is for us to offically acquire Stefano from the SLimer, AND make them release him to us ASAP


and also maybe acquire LM or JAC :smirk:

Better hurry up and write to santa then

 

[avocadoontoast]

What happened to the talk of us signing Nathan Brown? That went deadly silent.

It was only reported on here by someone. Don't think there was ever anything to it.

 

[TheDaBoss]

u know wat

my christmas wish list is for us to offically acquire Stefano from the SLimer, AND make them release him to us ASAP


and also maybe acquire LM or JAC :smirk:

Better hurry up and write to santa then

im afraid he has put me on the naughty list after last NRL season........

 

[2041]

we signed lots of high-profile, proven first-grade players.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you.

I'm afraid it's not something you can choose to disagree with because it's not an opinion. We signed Josh Reynolds, Russell Packer and Ben Matulino before the 2018 season. They were all high-profile, first-grade standard free agents. If you squinted you could make a case for Chris McQueen, Benji Marshall and Mahe Fonua as well, though frankly it's not necessary to do so.

I'm not saying these players were good. They weren't; with the honourable exception of Marshall they were all flops. But if you look at that 2018 signing list you simply won't find a lot of higher profile players the Tigers attempted to sign but failed. Did we make a big bid for Tohu Harris, Ben Hunt, Kieran Foran, Dane Gagai, James Maloney, Mitchell Peace, Kane Evans, Josh Dugan, Matt Moylan or Jack Bird?

(as an aside, doesn't that list tell you that trying to build a roster by chasing top free agents is almost certainly going to end in disaster? How many of the clubs that signed that lot didn't end up with massive buyers' remorse? Harris and Maloney the only half-decent signings of the lot).

The Tigers have had significant cap room before the season precisely once in the past decade, and when they did the players they wanted to sign were happy to do so. Yes, that's probably because no-one else wanted those players. But it's not the case that there's a consistent track record of he Tigers making offers to top-flight free agents from other clubs and them refusing to sign for the Tigers.

 

[avocadoontoast]

’m afraid it’s not something you can choose to disagree with because it’s not an opinion. We signed Josh Reynolds, Russell Packer and Ben Matulino before the 2018 season.

It is an opinion. I don't consider the three you mentioned to be particularly high profile players. Reynolds was discarded by the Dogs, Packer has a high profile for non playing reasons, and Matulino was past his best. The only thing high profile about them was what they were getting paid.

 

[Tiger5150]

What perception would that be?

For whatever reason, it appears WT are not overly high on the list of potential destinations for top line players. I believe this to be the case because we don't seem to ever sign any. I like Leilua and I think he'll be a good signing, but if that is our offseason big name signing, we're in a bit of trouble. That's not me being negative either, i'm even ok with signing Moylan. We just need to do something.

It's not for 'whatever' reason - it's because we haven't had any money to spend. The one year we did, we signed plenty of high-profile free agents. They were just rubbish.

This is going back to 2012 though. We've had money to spend since then. We also have $1.5m now.

We also had those massive drawcards Mick Potter & Jason Taylor since then.