Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Tiger5150]

Our best kids on the books in 2021 are not from Tigers territory.


But 75% of our spine is....

Liddle isn't from Tigers territory.... he's from Wyong. We signed him when he was young though. Brooks and Doueihi are ours though

Got me on a technicality....brings into the question of how young makes a junior

 

[JC99]

Our best kids on the books in 2021 are not from Tigers territory.


But 75% of our spine is....

Liddle isn't from Tigers territory.... he's from Wyong. We signed him when he was young though. Brooks and Doueihi are ours though


Got me on a technicality....brings into the question of how young makes a junior

That's the big argument ? what counts as a junior and what doesn't

 

[happy_tiger]

Why would the Tigers ignore the Tedescos when he was always one of our key juniors?

One thing I noticed about Tedesco is that he appears to be a pretty sensitive person in that he expects everyone to bow down to him. Maybe that is a family trait.

I remember at a young age the Tigers threw him into first grade on the wing. We were clearly backing him.

I view him as a primma donna. The same issues are apparent in his relationship with his managers and his horse whisperer pyschologist.

If his attitude was a little different he would have stayed with us but that isn't the way people like that view the world. They have chips on their shoulders about all sorts of stuff. Happy's comments to me just show what he was like. The tiniest little slight becomes something significant.

We offered him top dollar. We bent over backwards for him. We gave him a shot early in first grade. We supported him throughout his injuries. None of that matters to him because he has been slighted.

Great player. I wouldn't want him anywhere near my daughter.

A few champion players over the years have had sensitivity / prima donna issues .... Lewis hated being called King ....blokes like Miles ,Dowling and Vautin would call him that when they thought he was getting too bigheaded .....I can remember being at a One day game between NSW and Qld about a month before the Broncos 1st game and Lewis was there ...actually in the crowd ...word obviously got round pretty quick ...anyway NSW bat 1st and you blokes were cleaning us up ...anyhoo someone in the crowd started a Bat Wally Next chant ....which obviously the entire crowd on the old grassed area took up .....he stood up and went off his tree abused everyone and literally turned around and gave everyone that stare he gave Geyer .......

 

[Spartan117]

Facebook comment section

U are entitled to my opinion.

People need real lives.

Benji was sounded out on an ambassadorial role but wanted to play on.

 

[jadtiger]

Why would the Tigers ignore the Tedescos when he was always one of our key juniors?

One thing I noticed about Tedesco is that he appears to be a pretty sensitive person in that he expects everyone to bow down to him. Maybe that is a family trait.

I remember at a young age the Tigers threw him into first grade on the wing. We were clearly backing him.

I view him as a primma donna. The same issues are apparent in his relationship with his managers and his horse whisperer pyschologist.

If his attitude was a little different he would have stayed with us but that isn't the way people like that view the world. They have chips on their shoulders about all sorts of stuff. Happy's comments to me just show what he was like. The tiniest little slight becomes something significant.

We offered him top dollar. We bent over backwards for him. We gave him a shot early in first grade. We supported him throughout his injuries. None of that matters to him because he has been slighted.

Great player. I wouldn't want him anywhere near my daughter.

A few champion players over the years have had sensitivity / prima donna issues .... Lewis hated being called King ....blokes like Miles ,Dowling and Vautin would call him that when they thought he was getting too bigheaded .....I can remember being at a One day game between NSW and Qld about a month before the Broncos 1st game and Lewis was there ...actually in the crowd ...word obviously got round pretty quick ...anyway NSW bat 1st and you blokes were cleaning us up ...anyhoo someone in the crowd started a Bat Wally Next chant ....which obviously the entire crowd on the old grassed area took up .....he stood up and went off his tree abused everyone and literally turned around and gave everyone that stare he gave Geyer .......

Yet you Queenslanders wonder why NSW supporters used to give Wally the more well known chant,it was well deserved judging by what you just said

 

[happy_tiger]

Facebook comment section

U are entitled to my opinion.

People need real lives.

Benji was sounded out on an ambassadorial role but wanted to play on.

And I bet Spartan Benji will show up once the Rabbitohs and whatever other club he might end up at finishes and expect us to give him whatever he wants post footy ....and that will be a huge mistake if we do .....you chose your highway Benji ....it's blocked now ...flooded ...do not cross

 

[cochise]

Facebook comment section

U are entitled to my opinion.

People need real lives.

Benji was sounded out on an ambassadorial role but wanted to play on.

And I bet Spartan Benji will show up once the Rabbitohs and whatever other club he might end up at finishes and expect us to give him whatever he wants post footy ....and that will be a huge mistake if we do .....you chose your highway Benji ....it's blocked now ...flooded ...do not cross

I don't agree, if he wants to be involved you bring him in. He is going to be involved in the game for a long time.

 

[Spud_Murphy]

Are we there yet?

 

[happy_tiger]

Facebook comment section

U are entitled to my opinion.

People need real lives.

Benji was sounded out on an ambassadorial role but wanted to play on.

And I bet Spartan Benji will show up once the Rabbitohs and whatever other club he might end up at finishes and expect us to give him whatever he wants post footy ....and that will be a huge mistake if we do .....you chose your highway Benji ....it's blocked now ...flooded ...do not cross

I don't agree, if he wants to be involved you bring him in. He is going to be involved in the game for a long time.

Then some other pack of idiots can waste money on him ...no way he will be able to coach what he had ......and if he was my host at the footy I'd ask him about the Stains ,Rugby ,Broncs and souths just to make him look like the clown he is

 

[ElleryHanley]

Looks like Dean Whare is off to the UK.

That means Penrith will clear cap room 'and' need a center for depth.

Hopefully means Momo heads there and the swap gets done.

 

[getagrip]

Thank you. Refreshing to read something about a signing and not old news and what might have been.

 

[Deleted member 3518]

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.


Thats a good point - however that junior you mention did play for WT - it was poor on field performances and bad management plus the paper bags and new teeth that ended up with him leaving. So maybe its more a retention problem. I suppose the real question is how many of the juniors from Macarthur or Balmain go on to NRL level without going through the WT system.

Wasn’t that junior a mad roosters supporter ? And Minnicello was his idol ? I think there’s some extenuating circumstances there as much as how bad we mismanaged it .


I spoke to his Uncle at around the time of his first grade debut and they were in the process of trying to renew his contract. His Uncle told me then that Teddy was not in love with the Tigers and wanted to leave. His Uncle loves the Tigers.(long term sponsor).

One of the biggest issues in my opinion that was expressed to me was he felt under appreciated by top level management at the WT's

Grant Mayer telling another WT's official "he couldn't see all the fuss in Tedesco was big in him signing with Canberra "

And clubs would fall head over heels to talk to Teddy and his Dad about any issues or question they had .....the Tigers stopped answering John Tedesco's calls at one stage ....

When your employer starts taking you for granted ...how do you feel ...used ..abused ..underappreciated ....difference for us is usually we don't have 15 other employers banging the door down wanting to offer us better conditions and better employees to work with ...pay you the same and make your job easier ...hell ..where do I sign ??

Grant Mayer was the worst executive we ever had . And we had Stephen Humphris as well. No surprise both guys , have at some point been ceo for the NRL corporate abyss called the manly sea Eagles . Such Z grade ways of looking at things .
Still , in all that , it’s a little bit Diva ish for Tedesco and his family , to get upset because they weren’t on speed dial , and able to talk to the club whenever they want . Who knows how much power they tried to get of the club, especially bearing in mind that Moses was his manager at the time , and has now imploded , us , the warriors and the broncos with his shenanigans.
I wonder how much garbage he was filling their heads with . It’s a hard one , maybe we should have given teddy the Power we gave Robbie and benji . He’d definitely still be here , so who knows if we’d be in an even worse position , or better .
I will say this . Our culture must have been absolute garbage , for players and their families to try and assert any power what so ever . Could you imagine the Slater’s trying to do that at the storm . The Mitchell’s tried it at the roosters , 12 months later he’s wearing a myrtle and green jersey .

 

[Tiger5150]

Facebook comment section

U are entitled to my opinion.

People need real lives.

Benji was sounded out on an ambassadorial role but wanted to play on.

And I bet Spartan Benji will show up once the Rabbitohs and whatever other club he might end up at finishes and expect us to give him whatever he wants post footy ....and that will be a huge mistake if we do .....you chose your highway Benji ....it's blocked now ...flooded ...do not cross

I don't agree, if he wants to be involved you bring him in. He is going to be involved in the game for a long time.

What skillset does Benji possess that implies that he is worth having around the club to pass onto future generations?

IMO Benji was a freak prodigy and I will always be grateful for everything he did for us pre-2011. His greatest asset was speed off the mark, step and occassionally a great pass. Was always rocks & diamonds but early in his career the ratio was in the psitive whilst he still possessed the speed and step.

Relatively early he lost the speed and then had to rely on good passing and a moderately good kicking game. Still servicable but that ratio tipped significantly towards the negative.

One aspect of his game that remained unchanged throughout his entire career, was his uncoachability. From day 1 there has been talk of the rocks:diamonds ratio and coaches capacity to tip the ratio and stop the brain snaps (kicking on the 2nd/3rd etc) and Sheens, Bennett, Cleary, Madge have been unable to shift this at all. For mine this uncoachability demonstrates an inability to coach and as a result I think he would be worthless around a squad. Wine and dine sponsors, sure but I dont want him talking to players.

 

[cqtiger]

Facebook comment section

U are entitled to my opinion.

People need real lives.

Benji was sounded out on an ambassadorial role but wanted to play on.

And I bet Spartan Benji will show up once the Rabbitohs and whatever other club he might end up at finishes and expect us to give him whatever he wants post footy ....and that will be a huge mistake if we do .....you chose your highway Benji ....it's blocked now ...flooded ...do not cross

I don't agree, if he wants to be involved you bring him in. He is going to be involved in the game for a long time.

Then some other pack of idiots can waste money on him ...no way he will be able to coach what he had ......and if he was my host at the footy I'd ask him about the Stains ,Rugby ,Broncs and souths just to make him look like the clown he is

100%
When he left for Yawnion and made his speech about never playing for another NRL team I thought he’s a Tiger through and through.

He found out quick smart he wasn’t going to cut it in yawnion and signed with St George.
Back then I thought he’s just one of those people who will say anything to make a story.

Nothing changes with Benji, now he’s like a little schoolboy again being so excited to sign with Souths.

Good player in his day, tickets all over himself.

Doesn’t mean a word he says.

 

[BZN]

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.

I read a comment on Facebook this morning on one of those tigers pages ... it read along the lines of "I can't believe Benji wasn't offered a coaching / ambassador role. Madge is a disgrace." It had 10+ likes on it...can't believe how clueless some people are

Facebook comment section regarding us is usually quite toxic, it would turn you nearly insane reading them all lol

I reckon since Farah has now taken up his **Ambassador**/**Coach** positions and the precedent has now been set, the same dual roles should be offered to Benji next year, as he would have just as much to give as Farah has.

 

[happy_tiger]

Are we there yet?

Shut up and stop dinting the boot .....

 

[Tiger5150]

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.

I read a comment on Facebook this morning on one of those tigers pages ... it read along the lines of "I can't believe Benji wasn't offered a coaching / ambassador role. Madge is a disgrace." It had 10+ likes on it...can't believe how clueless some people are

Facebook comment section regarding us is usually quite toxic, it would turn you nearly insane reading them all lol

I reckon since Farah has now taken up his **Ambassador**/**Coach** positions and the precedent has now been set, the same dual roles should be offered to Benji next year, as he would have just as much to give as Farah has.

Ambassador maybe....coach NO! Farah at least could actually try to coach what he actually did eg. pass to 500mm in front from as low as you can, on the 4th tackle watch for the A & B defenders for weaknesses, on the last have your 6 and 7 at x and y and watch for....

What is Benji going to teach?..."Whatever the first thing that enters your head...>DO THAT AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!"

 

[PJ_]

Facebook comment section

U are entitled to my opinion.

People need real lives.

Benji was sounded out on an ambassadorial role but wanted to play on.

And I bet Spartan Benji will show up once the Rabbitohs and whatever other club he might end up at finishes and expect us to give him whatever he wants post footy ....and that will be a huge mistake if we do .....you chose your highway Benji ....it's blocked now ...flooded ...do not cross

I don't agree, if he wants to be involved you bring him in. He is going to be involved in the game for a long time.

Then some other pack of idiots can waste money on him ...no way he will be able to coach what he had ......and if he was my host at the footy I'd ask him about the Stains ,Rugby ,Broncs and souths just to make him look like the clown he is

100%
When he left for Yawnion and made his speech about never playing for another NRL team I thought he’s a Tiger through and through.

He found out quick smart he wasn’t going to cut it in yawnion and signed with St George.
Back then I thought he’s just one of those people who will say anything to make a story.

Nothing changes with Benji, now he’s like a little schoolboy again being so excited to sign with Souths.

Good player in his day, tickets all over himself.

Doesn’t mean a word he says.

Agree. How long before we hear the players at Souths are eggshelling it around Bennett ?

 

[mike]

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.

I read a comment on Facebook this morning on one of those tigers pages ... it read along the lines of "I can't believe Benji wasn't offered a coaching / ambassador role. Madge is a disgrace." It had 10+ likes on it...can't believe how clueless some people are

Facebook comment section regarding us is usually quite toxic, it would turn you nearly insane reading them all lol

I reckon since Farah has now taken up his **Ambassador**/**Coach** positions and the precedent has now been set, the same dual roles should be offered to Benji next year, as he would have just as much to give as Farah has.

Absolutely not. I hope Benji has nothing to do with the club, ever. Can't trust a word he says, it means nothing. If he said it was raining outside I'd pull the blinds to see if it really was.

 

[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.


Thats a good point - however that junior you mention did play for WT - it was poor on field performances and bad management plus the paper bags and new teeth that ended up with him leaving. So maybe its more a retention problem. I suppose the real question is how many of the juniors from Macarthur or Balmain go on to NRL level without going through the WT system.

Wasn’t that junior a mad roosters supporter ? And Minnicello was his idol ? I think there’s some extenuating circumstances there as much as how bad we mismanaged it .


I spoke to his Uncle at around the time of his first grade debut and they were in the process of trying to renew his contract. His Uncle told me then that Teddy was not in love with the Tigers and wanted to leave. His Uncle loves the Tigers.(long term sponsor).

One of the biggest issues in my opinion that was expressed to me was he felt under appreciated by top level management at the WT's

Grant Mayer telling another WT's official "he couldn't see all the fuss in Tedesco was big in him signing with Canberra "

And clubs would fall head over heels to talk to Teddy and his Dad about any issues or question they had .....the Tigers stopped answering John Tedesco's calls at one stage ....

When your employer starts taking you for granted ...how do you feel ...used ..abused ..underappreciated ....difference for us is usually we don't have 15 other employers banging the door down wanting to offer us better conditions and better employees to work with ...pay you the same and make your job easier ...hell ..where do I sign ??

Grant Mayer was the worst executive we ever had . And we had Stephen Humphris as well. No surprise both guys , have at some point been ceo for the NRL corporate abyss called the manly sea Eagles . Such Z grade ways of looking at things .
Still , in all that , it’s a little bit Diva ish for Tedesco and his family , to get upset because they weren’t on speed dial , and able to talk to the club whenever they want . Who knows how much power they tried to get of the club, especially bearing in mind that Moses was his manager at the time , and has now imploded , us , the warriors and the broncos with his shenanigans.
I wonder how much garbage he was filling their heads with . It’s a hard one , maybe we should have given teddy the Power we gave Robbie and benji . He’d definitely still be here , so who knows if we’d be in an even worse position , or better .
I will say this . Our culture must have been absolute garbage , for players and their families to try and assert any power what so ever . Could you imagine the Slater’s trying to do that at the storm . The Mitchell’s tried it at the roosters , 12 months later he’s wearing a myrtle and green jersey .

I'll give you the best example I can remember .....pretty sure I've told this one before so sorry to bore some with the story

While the management weren't returning John Tedesco's
call ...Ricky Stuart told John Tedesco whenever he wanted to ask a question fire away ...John rang Ricky late one night expecting Ricky to ring back the next day ....when he went back to his phone after a shower he had a missed call from Stuart ..who then rang again and spoke to John to end his concerns

I know they probably went overboard (the Tedescos) and the last chat I had was over the comments in regards to Ryan James .....about Tedesco being the player who people came to watch over Ryan James ...fractured his jaw if some may remember ......

But in saying that I might quote Bart Cummings ..you get horses who might bite stable hands , give the jockeys hell on the training track ....but if they win morevweeks than often he will still feed them every week ...maybe Tedesco fit into that category .....but he'd have been more likely to help us win a premiership than Mbye or probably 13-14 other fullbacks in the comp