@Tigerdave said in [Signing Suggestions & Rumours](/post/1095546) said:
"They look at the list of top players who left the Tigers – James Tedesco, Aaron Woods, Mitch Moses, Josh Addo-Carr – and wonder what drove them out."
I really hate this type of list.
**We did everything we could do to keep Teddy and Woods, they didn't want to stay**. Adding to that, we weren't winning much with them in the squad.....
Moses was not a top player at the time either and didn't want to stay. This is a guy who blatantly tanked it in his last few games too and shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as any other player listed.
The Fox yes, that's completely on the club, but he actually wanted to stay.
That’s the entire point of the article.
It's a pointless article.
You don't need to stand in front of a mirror, take a long hard look at yourself and wonder why James Tedesco left. Everyone knows why he left, because Easts came calling and that may have something specifically to do with culture or winning, but it also may be to do with brown paper bags.
Tedesco was also 15 seconds from leaving to Canberra 3 years prior, so clearly he always had one eye on the door. That's about personal success and personal brand, not the club. He said he reneged on the Raiders for his teammates, but 3 years later, that same consideration didn't matter as much anymore. So clearly his commitment to his teammates only extends so far, within the context of being successful.
I get that Tedesco might have been tired of failure, but if you are really that good a footballer and you believe it, surely leaving isn't going to help the club or your teammates. So we can all agree, at some point, be it the first year or the 6th, he decided the toil wasn't worthwhile vs improving his own brand at the expense of his club and teammates. At some point he was caring more about himself than his teammates/club. He's human, I can understand that without respecting it.
You can't really bring Jason Taylor into the Tedesco argument, because Tedesco signed with Canberra months before Jason Taylor became the head coach. Maybe he contributed to Tedesco leaving, but Tedesco has been mentally out the door every time his contract ended.
So Breen raises a circular argument as old as the hills, which is why his article is pointless - how can losing sides sign up top players, if the top players want to join winning sides? You can't create a winning culture if you haven't got the talent first. This isn't chicken and egg, you must have talent before you can win, the question then becomes how to sculpt and combine that talent on a consistent winning basis.
And the answer is simple actually - you need to either pay overs / have mad perks / cheat, or have players who are willing to toil and struggle to transform the club from failure to winning. You can't just have players joining winning teams, otherwise the comp is forever lopsided.
Specifically to the Taylor-Cleary period, unfortunately for the Tigers that one period basically stands-in as a "lifetime failure" concept for many people, when really that's too simplistic. In other words, Breen asks why Tedesco, Woods, Moses and JAC left, when they all left within 12 months of each other (or just a few weeks, if you take out JAC).
It's like asking "why are there so many floods in Australia" just after the great Brisbane flood. It isn't necessarily true that "all the good players leave Tigers", rather, at one particular point in our history we lost a few good players all at once.
The main problem, as I see it, is that year-on-year players are becoming more brand oriented rather than being a "great clubman". It used to be all about the club success and winning with your mates, now it's more about getting ads with Coke and merchandising deals with Nike. So how do the struggling clubs get players to join without the lure of success? And being struggling clubs, normally their other opportunities are also hamstrung - advertising, gate receipts, TPAs etc. It's lose-lose for players who want an easier path.
Jai Arrow is just the Tedesco issue all over again. Legitimate Gold Coast junior, joined the lure of Broncos as soon as he was up for a senior contract, went "home" to Titans on a strong offer and not being at the top of the Broncos pecking order, had standout years and broke into Origin, then left for the lure of Sydney at the next opportunity. Is that the Titans' fault? Somewhat yes, but Arrow has only been there 5 minutes and now he wants out for more money and better chance of finals. And, apparently, his girlfriend is a model and wants to further her career in Sydney. Don't we all!?
What are Titans supposed to do? Sink all their money into keeping Arrow and put themselves into further harm?
