Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[jirskyr]

Shawn Blore. Stefano Utoikamanu and Tommy Talau have all made the Emerging Blues 29 man squad ??

Good acknowledgment for these guys but does anyone know if there are any classifications to who is eligible for the emerging blues? Moses Leota is 25 years old and played 81 NRL games. He might want to fully emerge soon if he’s going to get many origin years in before he retires.



You make a very good point about eligibility for the Emerging Blues Squad, but as far as I can tell there are no set guidelines or restrictions on who may qualify for the squad other than them being possible future selections and giving them a little bit of exposure to the highest level of the NRL.

Having a look at the list theres no slouches taking up space on it. Highly rated and promising players the lot of them, should give us a lot of confidence and pride 3 of our squad managed to make it in.

I agree and congratulations to all 3 of our boys who have been terrific signings for us, but unless I am mistaken, none of the 3 are actually our local juniors, which reinforces my concern about abandoning growth/junior areas.

Does it really matter about the development of "local juniors" if you can sign up good juniors from anywhere in Australia?

There's a real discussion to be had about the benefit of focusing on a specific geographical area or simply casting your net as wide as possible.

For example, of all the historical association Wests have had with Macarthur since 1987, how many actual first-class juniors has the region yielded for Magpies or WT? Would the answer be, honestly, more than 20 or 30 players in the past ~35 years?

The best junior Macarthur has arguably ever produced plays for Bondi now, as simple as new teeth and some brown paper bags.

I actually think creating genuine pathways from the the area is better than anything else in capturing players. If we are talking about generating fans in the area that seems more difficult and is something we have struggled with.

Right but those pathways exist already. 100% of kids and young men playing in Macarthur and Balmain districts will funnel into the Wests Tigers junior rep sides, then the FG club - unless they choose to move elsewhere.

My question is whether or not you are able to hold onto all those potential juniors if other clubs come calling, and if you yourself shouldn't be picking the eyes out of the best juniors nationally. In which case you just buy the best talent available, yes in your local area if possible, but less important than having a strategy to get juniors wherever they exist.

Melbourne Storm have debuted I think 2 Victorian players ever, so they are proof you don't need to develop a local geographical junior powerhouse to be a successful club, so long as you know where to get the best juniors from elsewhere.

 

[Harvey]

Don't care if RTS joins rugby, good luck to him. I don't watch the sport and he's dead to me if he leaves.

Rugby is on its knees in Australia. There's far less money to be had in international rugby, even prior to COVID, but certainly devastated by COVID.

It's institutionalised in New Zealand but the entire country has less population than Sydney. I'm not surprised young Kiwis have dreams to play for the All-Blacks, good for them.

Also the fact that they lose at most other sports, so if you want to be a successful kiwi sportsman, rugby is the most attractive sport.

 

[cochise]

Shawn Blore. Stefano Utoikamanu and Tommy Talau have all made the Emerging Blues 29 man squad ??

Good acknowledgment for these guys but does anyone know if there are any classifications to who is eligible for the emerging blues? Moses Leota is 25 years old and played 81 NRL games. He might want to fully emerge soon if he’s going to get many origin years in before he retires.



You make a very good point about eligibility for the Emerging Blues Squad, but as far as I can tell there are no set guidelines or restrictions on who may qualify for the squad other than them being possible future selections and giving them a little bit of exposure to the highest level of the NRL.

Having a look at the list theres no slouches taking up space on it. Highly rated and promising players the lot of them, should give us a lot of confidence and pride 3 of our squad managed to make it in.

I agree and congratulations to all 3 of our boys who have been terrific signings for us, but unless I am mistaken, none of the 3 are actually our local juniors, which reinforces my concern about abandoning growth/junior areas.

Does it really matter about the development of "local juniors" if you can sign up good juniors from anywhere in Australia?

There's a real discussion to be had about the benefit of focusing on a specific geographical area or simply casting your net as wide as possible.

For example, of all the historical association Wests have had with Macarthur since 1987, how many actual first-class juniors has the region yielded for Magpies or WT? Would the answer be, honestly, more than 20 or 30 players in the past ~35 years?

The best junior Macarthur has arguably ever produced plays for Bondi now, as simple as new teeth and some brown paper bags.

I actually think creating genuine pathways from the the area is better than anything else in capturing players. If we are talking about generating fans in the area that seems more difficult and is something we have struggled with.

Right but those pathways exist already. 100% of kids and young men playing in Macarthur and Balmain districts will funnel into the Wests Tigers junior rep sides, then the FG club - unless they choose to move elsewhere.

My question is whether or not you are able to hold onto all those potential juniors if other clubs come calling, and if you yourself shouldn't be picking the eyes out of the best juniors nationally. In which case you just buy the best talent available, yes in your local area if possible, but less important than having a strategy to get juniors wherever they exist.

Melbourne Storm have debuted I think 2 Victorian players ever, so they are proof you don't need to develop a local geographical junior powerhouse to be a successful club, so long as you know where to get the best juniors from elsewhere.

I believe it is a combination of both that is important, we are in the process of strengthening those pathways, these are roles both Palmer and Farah are involved in. This is an area where Marshall will be utilised in the future as well.

Yes you want to be able to attract the best talent from across the game but you also want the kids who come from an area you have a connection to to choose you as well. You do that by showing them a clear path to 1st grade at the club and by showing them you will provide them with the support to get there. That was what Hodgo's role was going to be about and it is what using Farah and Palmer will aim to achieve.

 

[tony soprano]

Don't care if RTS joins rugby, good luck to him. I don't watch the sport and he's dead to me if he leaves.

Rugby is on its knees in Australia. There's far less money to be had in international rugby, even prior to COVID, but certainly devastated by COVID.

It's institutionalised in New Zealand but the entire country has less population than Sydney. I'm not surprised young Kiwis have dreams to play for the All-Blacks, good for them.

Worst part is we are going to have to hear about rts all year wish he left now gone down hill after leaving roosters

 

[sleeve]

Interesting.
And so the Development players are still restricted to Round 16?

The move makes sense, I’m not sure there will be much stock piling.
You’d be hard pressed trying to fit all 30 into the 16 squads without taking a few of the up and comers or knock abouts from the reserve grade.
Talent depth is low.

Also means you don’t have players like Jack Johns, Drew Hutchinson etc signed to Dev contracts, club to club.

Hopefully this opens up the opportunity to fix up the development player loophole that teams have been exploiting. By enforcing a rule that they haven’t debuted for any NRL club prior!

Round 11...don’t know where Round 16 came from

Yes i thought from reading develoment news previously rd 16 was the time,.But just checked and you are right it's after rd 10.Obviously has been changed.

 

[happy_tiger]

Shawn Blore. Stefano Utoikamanu and Tommy Talau have all made the Emerging Blues 29 man squad ??

Good acknowledgment for these guys but does anyone know if there are any classifications to who is eligible for the emerging blues? Moses Leota is 25 years old and played 81 NRL games. He might want to fully emerge soon if he’s going to get many origin years in before he retires.



You make a very good point about eligibility for the Emerging Blues Squad, but as far as I can tell there are no set guidelines or restrictions on who may qualify for the squad other than them being possible future selections and giving them a little bit of exposure to the highest level of the NRL.

Having a look at the list theres no slouches taking up space on it. Highly rated and promising players the lot of them, should give us a lot of confidence and pride 3 of our squad managed to make it in.

I agree and congratulations to all 3 of our boys who have been terrific signings for us, but unless I am mistaken, none of the 3 are actually our local juniors, which reinforces my concern about abandoning growth/junior areas.

Does it really matter about the development of "local juniors" if you can sign up good juniors from anywhere in Australia?

There's a real discussion to be had about the benefit of focusing on a specific geographical area or simply casting your net as wide as possible.

For example, of all the historical association Wests have had with Macarthur since 1987, how many actual first-class juniors has the region yielded for Magpies or WT? Would the answer be, honestly, more than 20 or 30 players in the past ~35 years?

The best junior Macarthur has arguably ever produced plays for Bondi now, as simple as new teeth and some brown paper bags.

I actually think creating genuine pathways from the the area is better than anything else in capturing players. If we are talking about generating fans in the area that seems more difficult and is something we have struggled with.

Right but those pathways exist already. 100% of kids and young men playing in Macarthur and Balmain districts will funnel into the Wests Tigers junior rep sides, then the FG club - unless they choose to move elsewhere.

My question is whether or not you are able to hold onto all those potential juniors if other clubs come calling, and if you yourself shouldn't be picking the eyes out of the best juniors nationally. In which case you just buy the best talent available, yes in your local area if possible, but less important than having a strategy to get juniors wherever they exist.

Melbourne Storm have debuted I think 2 Victorian players ever, so they are proof you don't need to develop a local geographical junior powerhouse to be a successful club, so long as you know where to get the best juniors from elsewhere.

Wasn't one of them Mahe ??

 

[JC99]

Shawn Blore. Stefano Utoikamanu and Tommy Talau have all made the Emerging Blues 29 man squad ??

Good acknowledgment for these guys but does anyone know if there are any classifications to who is eligible for the emerging blues? Moses Leota is 25 years old and played 81 NRL games. He might want to fully emerge soon if he’s going to get many origin years in before he retires.



You make a very good point about eligibility for the Emerging Blues Squad, but as far as I can tell there are no set guidelines or restrictions on who may qualify for the squad other than them being possible future selections and giving them a little bit of exposure to the highest level of the NRL.

Having a look at the list theres no slouches taking up space on it. Highly rated and promising players the lot of them, should give us a lot of confidence and pride 3 of our squad managed to make it in.

I agree and congratulations to all 3 of our boys who have been terrific signings for us, but unless I am mistaken, none of the 3 are actually our local juniors, which reinforces my concern about abandoning growth/junior areas.

Does it really matter about the development of "local juniors" if you can sign up good juniors from anywhere in Australia?

There's a real discussion to be had about the benefit of focusing on a specific geographical area or simply casting your net as wide as possible.

For example, of all the historical association Wests have had with Macarthur since 1987, how many actual first-class juniors has the region yielded for Magpies or WT? Would the answer be, honestly, more than 20 or 30 players in the past ~35 years?

The best junior Macarthur has arguably ever produced plays for Bondi now, as simple as new teeth and some brown paper bags.

I actually think creating genuine pathways from the the area is better than anything else in capturing players. If we are talking about generating fans in the area that seems more difficult and is something we have struggled with.

Right but those pathways exist already. 100% of kids and young men playing in Macarthur and Balmain districts will funnel into the Wests Tigers junior rep sides, then the FG club - unless they choose to move elsewhere.

My question is whether or not you are able to hold onto all those potential juniors if other clubs come calling, and if you yourself shouldn't be picking the eyes out of the best juniors nationally. In which case you just buy the best talent available, yes in your local area if possible, but less important than having a strategy to get juniors wherever they exist.

Melbourne Storm have debuted I think 2 Victorian players ever, so they are proof you don't need to develop a local geographical junior powerhouse to be a successful club, so long as you know where to get the best juniors from elsewhere.

I mean they invest pretty heavily in those QLD feeder clubs they have. They do a lot of work scouting juniors and training them up, it's just not in their own state they're doing it

 

[Speed2burn]

Don't care if RTS joins rugby, good luck to him. I don't watch the sport and he's dead to me if he leaves.

Rugby is on its knees in Australia. There's far less money to be had in international rugby, even prior to COVID, but certainly devastated by COVID.

It's institutionalised in New Zealand but the entire country has less population than Sydney. I'm not surprised young Kiwis have dreams to play for the All-Blacks, good for them.

Worst part is we are going to have to hear about rts all year wish he left now gone down hill after leaving roosters

RTS is a stats man, has a high work rate and a consistent one at that but I don't believe he has the x factor or class to turn a game on it's head like a Teddy, Paps, Brimson or Turbo. I would take any 4 of them over him

I would call him a pretty good fullback but I don't view him as elite

 

[ConePuncher]

Don't care if RTS joins rugby, good luck to him. I don't watch the sport and he's dead to me if he leaves.

Rugby is on its knees in Australia. There's far less money to be had in international rugby, even prior to COVID, but certainly devastated by COVID.

It's institutionalised in New Zealand but the entire country has less population than Sydney. I'm not surprised young Kiwis have dreams to play for the All-Blacks, good for them.

Also the fact that they lose at most other sports, so if you want to be a successful kiwi sportsman, rugby is the most attractive sport.

They're #1 in Cricket at the moment and have a fantastic team.

 

[jirskyr]

Shawn Blore. Stefano Utoikamanu and Tommy Talau have all made the Emerging Blues 29 man squad ??

Good acknowledgment for these guys but does anyone know if there are any classifications to who is eligible for the emerging blues? Moses Leota is 25 years old and played 81 NRL games. He might want to fully emerge soon if he’s going to get many origin years in before he retires.



You make a very good point about eligibility for the Emerging Blues Squad, but as far as I can tell there are no set guidelines or restrictions on who may qualify for the squad other than them being possible future selections and giving them a little bit of exposure to the highest level of the NRL.

Having a look at the list theres no slouches taking up space on it. Highly rated and promising players the lot of them, should give us a lot of confidence and pride 3 of our squad managed to make it in.

I agree and congratulations to all 3 of our boys who have been terrific signings for us, but unless I am mistaken, none of the 3 are actually our local juniors, which reinforces my concern about abandoning growth/junior areas.

Does it really matter about the development of "local juniors" if you can sign up good juniors from anywhere in Australia?

There's a real discussion to be had about the benefit of focusing on a specific geographical area or simply casting your net as wide as possible.

For example, of all the historical association Wests have had with Macarthur since 1987, how many actual first-class juniors has the region yielded for Magpies or WT? Would the answer be, honestly, more than 20 or 30 players in the past ~35 years?

The best junior Macarthur has arguably ever produced plays for Bondi now, as simple as new teeth and some brown paper bags.

I actually think creating genuine pathways from the the area is better than anything else in capturing players. If we are talking about generating fans in the area that seems more difficult and is something we have struggled with.

Right but those pathways exist already. 100% of kids and young men playing in Macarthur and Balmain districts will funnel into the Wests Tigers junior rep sides, then the FG club - unless they choose to move elsewhere.

My question is whether or not you are able to hold onto all those potential juniors if other clubs come calling, and if you yourself shouldn't be picking the eyes out of the best juniors nationally. In which case you just buy the best talent available, yes in your local area if possible, but less important than having a strategy to get juniors wherever they exist.

Melbourne Storm have debuted I think 2 Victorian players ever, so they are proof you don't need to develop a local geographical junior powerhouse to be a successful club, so long as you know where to get the best juniors from elsewhere.

I mean they invest pretty heavily in those QLD feeder clubs they have. They do a lot of work scouting juniors and training them up, it's just not in their own state they're doing it

Exactly. If Storm can do it in QLD, anyone can realistically do it anywhere if they are ready to invest.

 

[jrtiger]

Don't care if RTS joins rugby, good luck to him. I don't watch the sport and he's dead to me if he leaves.

Rugby is on its knees in Australia. There's far less money to be had in international rugby, even prior to COVID, but certainly devastated by COVID.

It's institutionalised in New Zealand but the entire country has less population than Sydney. I'm not surprised young Kiwis have dreams to play for the All-Blacks, good for them.

Worst part is we are going to have to hear about rts all year wish he left now gone down hill after leaving roosters

RTS is a stats man, has a high work rate and a consistent one at that but I don't believe he has the x factor or class to turn a game on it's head like a Teddy, Paps, Brimson or Turbo. I would take any 4 of them over him

I would call him a pretty good fullback but I don't view him as elite

disagree with that one mate. he's better than Paps and Brimmo every day of the week. can break a game wide open with his footwork and acceleration and his ballplaying is very underrated. add his priceless leadership qualities and there's a reason why the warriors paid top dollar for him. the kicking is the issue for him in union but I'm sure he'll succeed.

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

Shawn Blore. Stefano Utoikamanu and Tommy Talau have all made the Emerging Blues 29 man squad ??

Good acknowledgment for these guys but does anyone know if there are any classifications to who is eligible for the emerging blues? Moses Leota is 25 years old and played 81 NRL games. He might want to fully emerge soon if he’s going to get many origin years in before he retires.



You make a very good point about eligibility for the Emerging Blues Squad, but as far as I can tell there are no set guidelines or restrictions on who may qualify for the squad other than them being possible future selections and giving them a little bit of exposure to the highest level of the NRL.

Having a look at the list theres no slouches taking up space on it. Highly rated and promising players the lot of them, should give us a lot of confidence and pride 3 of our squad managed to make it in.

I agree and congratulations to all 3 of our boys who have been terrific signings for us, but unless I am mistaken, none of the 3 are actually our local juniors, which reinforces my concern about abandoning growth/junior areas.

Does it really matter about the development of "local juniors" if you can sign up good juniors from anywhere in Australia?

There's a real discussion to be had about the benefit of focusing on a specific geographical area or simply casting your net as wide as possible.

For example, of all the historical association Wests have had with Macarthur since 1987, how many actual first-class juniors has the region yielded for Magpies or WT? Would the answer be, honestly, more than 20 or 30 players in the past ~35 years?

The best junior Macarthur has arguably ever produced plays for Bondi now, as simple as new teeth and some brown paper bags.

Ryan Hoffman
Israel Fallau
Tedesco

 

[jrtiger]

Shawn Blore. Stefano Utoikamanu and Tommy Talau have all made the Emerging Blues 29 man squad ??

Good acknowledgment for these guys but does anyone know if there are any classifications to who is eligible for the emerging blues? Moses Leota is 25 years old and played 81 NRL games. He might want to fully emerge soon if he’s going to get many origin years in before he retires.



You make a very good point about eligibility for the Emerging Blues Squad, but as far as I can tell there are no set guidelines or restrictions on who may qualify for the squad other than them being possible future selections and giving them a little bit of exposure to the highest level of the NRL.

Having a look at the list theres no slouches taking up space on it. Highly rated and promising players the lot of them, should give us a lot of confidence and pride 3 of our squad managed to make it in.

I agree and congratulations to all 3 of our boys who have been terrific signings for us, but unless I am mistaken, none of the 3 are actually our local juniors, which reinforces my concern about abandoning growth/junior areas.

Does it really matter about the development of "local juniors" if you can sign up good juniors from anywhere in Australia?

There's a real discussion to be had about the benefit of focusing on a specific geographical area or simply casting your net as wide as possible.

For example, of all the historical association Wests have had with Macarthur since 1987, how many actual first-class juniors has the region yielded for Magpies or WT? Would the answer be, honestly, more than 20 or 30 players in the past ~35 years?

The best junior Macarthur has arguably ever produced plays for Bondi now, as simple as new teeth and some brown paper bags.

Ryan Hoffman
Israel Fallau
Tedesco

Liam Fulton and Bryce Gibbs were Campbelltown juniors that won a competition in 2005 for a team called the Wests Tigers too I believe. not too bad. Dally M winger of the year David Nofoaluma was a special for a beer and a dart at Ruse pub before he became a first grade regular for us too.

 

[jrtiger]

also forgot about 3 of the greatest to pull on our jersey in Hodgo, Skando and Chris Lawrence. point is the Campbelltown area needs to be properly nutured and we will reap the rewards from it.

 

[JC99]

Shawn Blore. Stefano Utoikamanu and Tommy Talau have all made the Emerging Blues 29 man squad ??

Good acknowledgment for these guys but does anyone know if there are any classifications to who is eligible for the emerging blues? Moses Leota is 25 years old and played 81 NRL games. He might want to fully emerge soon if he’s going to get many origin years in before he retires.



You make a very good point about eligibility for the Emerging Blues Squad, but as far as I can tell there are no set guidelines or restrictions on who may qualify for the squad other than them being possible future selections and giving them a little bit of exposure to the highest level of the NRL.

Having a look at the list theres no slouches taking up space on it. Highly rated and promising players the lot of them, should give us a lot of confidence and pride 3 of our squad managed to make it in.

I agree and congratulations to all 3 of our boys who have been terrific signings for us, but unless I am mistaken, none of the 3 are actually our local juniors, which reinforces my concern about abandoning growth/junior areas.

Does it really matter about the development of "local juniors" if you can sign up good juniors from anywhere in Australia?

There's a real discussion to be had about the benefit of focusing on a specific geographical area or simply casting your net as wide as possible.

For example, of all the historical association Wests have had with Macarthur since 1987, how many actual first-class juniors has the region yielded for Magpies or WT? Would the answer be, honestly, more than 20 or 30 players in the past ~35 years?

The best junior Macarthur has arguably ever produced plays for Bondi now, as simple as new teeth and some brown paper bags.

Ryan Hoffman
Israel Fallau
Tedesco

Liam Fulton and Bryce Gibbs were Campbelltown juniors that won a competition in 2005 for a team called the Wests Tigers too I believe. not too bad. Dally M winger of the year David Nofoaluma was a special for a beer and a dart at Ruse pub before he became a first grade regular for us too.

Nathan Hindmarsh, Sean Keppie, Beau Scott all from the group 6 competition which feeds to WT too. There's others I can't think of too.

 

[Fade.To.Black]

I’d actually love to see Cameron Smith at The Broncos.
I wonder if he could make them a genuine premiership threat.
Maybe he wants to do the Tom Brady ,Cooper Cronk thing.

So would I. NRL just won't be the same without that maggot to despise😂.
Gives someone another season to fill him in with a bone-rattler.
Or chicken wing, rolling pin, cannonball etc etc etc.

 

[Harvey]

also forgot about 3 of the greatest to pull on our jersey in Hodgo, Skando and Chris Lawrence. point is the Campbelltown area needs to be properly nutured and we will reap the rewards from it.

Jarrod Hayne, The Paea brothers, Hodkinson, Lafai, the Pritchard brothers

 

[Harvey]

McGuiness brothers, Mickey Lett, Krisnan Inu, Shannon Gallant, Jacob Loko, Dean Collis, Simon Dwyer,

 

[Holden]

Man we have been copping it in facebook and most social media since the benji signing. Dunno how I feel about it, he’s my childhood favourite but I’m a huge supporter of the club. This sucks.

 

[finnzo]

Man we have been copping it in facebook and most social media since the benji signing. Dunno how I feel about it, he’s my childhood favourite but I’m a huge supporter of the club. This sucks.

Who cares you don’t have to support the bunnies just hope that benji goes well and enjoys his final year in the nrl just be happy for him I’m thrilled he didn’t have to retire a clubless looser and gets to go out on his terms