Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Tigerwould]

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

He certainly has the teeth to rival other group one winners

 

[Tigerwould]

In terms of culture the coach and WT management are leading the way now. Tedesco was here when the players had more say than the coach.

 

[jadtiger]

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.

With all due respect i disagree strongly with this.Farah had many faults but he was always a loyal clubman and never tried to leave the club.Yes he did leave the club at one stage but certainly not by choice,Benji showed zero loyalty when he was still a good footballer and the 2nd time around hung his dirty washing in the media.Extremely poor form from one who has imo been WT best player.

 

[earl]

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 .......

I get it. It's just that some people are like that and it's hard to deal with. Something little happens and it gets blown out of perspective.

Lewis was a champion player and I find him likable but my impression is that he has been a nightmare to deal with at times.

 

[rihannafan1]

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.


With all due respect i disagree strongly with this.Farah had many faults but he was always a loyal clubman and never tried to leave the club.Yes he did leave the club at one stage but certainly not by choice,Benji showed zero loyalty when he was still a good footballer and the 2nd time around hung his dirty washing in the media.Extremely poor form from one who has imo been WT best player.

Marshall showed plenty of loyalty. He was with us from 2003 - 2013. There were a couple of contract extensions there. He left after 2013 and joined another code, not another club. Yes, he carried on like a pork chop at that time but he was plenty loyal. And honestly, he was always our best or second best player between 2006-2011. Watch the games from that time. We fielded some average teams, even in 2011 we really weren't a great side but he carried us.
He had reasons to expect more from the club that he gave his prime to.

 

[Leichardt61]

Gotta love the medias incompetence. Aj gets in trouble and they throw up a pic of tommy talau instead.

 

[Tigerbuck63]

Gotta love the medias incompetence. Aj gets in trouble and they throw up a pic of tommy talau instead.

DT get your cheque book out for Tommy....
Rothfield again????

 

[Deleted member 3518]

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


He certainly has the teeth to rival other group one winners

I’m going to have to call triple 0, there’s definitely been a homicide ..ouch .

 

[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 .

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

That’s super arrogant . It’s so arrogant I actually think it’s funny . It’s like something out of Any given Sunday . As much as I’d hate the bloke , I’d respect the hustle . Sometimes you’ve gotta talk it before you can walk it .

 

[sleeve]

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 .......

I get it. It's just that some people are like that and it's hard to deal with. Something little happens and it gets blown out of perspective.

Lewis was a champion player and I find him likable but my impression is that he has been a nightmare to deal with at times.

Yeah,Bennet dropped him.

 

[Regan]

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 ??

His is on 1.6 million at East and gets 10K of home masseuse sessions a year who would say no to that

 

[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.


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 ??

No offence but that's all hearsay. Why would the Tigers ignore the Tedescos when he was always one of our key juniors? Why did Tedesco end up at the club he supported as a kid? Why did Tedesco sign with both Raiders and Roosters at every contract opportunity?

Grant Mayer left WT in June 2015. Did his successor fail to engage the Tedescos as well, during the two years between June 2015 and May 2017 when he signed for Roosters?

Even - to what extent did Raiders not take Tedesco for granted, but he reneged on them anyway?

Of course any player will be tempted to go to an organisation with a better track record of success, more money, more clout within the NRL fraternity, arguably more clout in local business and sponsorship, more rep players, a highly-credentialed coach. That's a no-brainer. But Roosters can't have all 500 NRL footballers and rugby league has never been about brains, it's been about heart.

Came from John Tedesco ..not heresay ..unless John was lying or bending the truth

And Tedesco preferred Taylor as a coach over Potter .....

Happy, I've had to say this before on this forum, but that is the EXACT definition of hearsay. You are submitting testimony on behalf of someone else.

 

[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 ??



His is on 1.6 million at East and gets 10K of home masseuse sessions a year who would say no to that

How do they hide the 500k . It’s registered as 1.1 mil isn’t it ? That’s a lot of money to wash right there .

 

[Guest]

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 ??



His is on 1.6 million at East and gets 10K of home masseuse sessions a year who would say no to that

How do they hide the 500k . It’s registered as 1.1 mil isn’t it ? That’s a lot of money to wash right there .

He's not on 1.6 mil.

 

[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 .......

I get it. It's just that some people are like that and it's hard to deal with. Something little happens and it gets blown out of perspective.

Lewis was a champion player and I find him likable but my impression is that he has been a nightmare to deal with at times.

What happens when at a very young age and you are treated like a God like figure

My 1st dealing with him was when the QRL sent him ,Bennett and Miles to a XXXX elite squad at Tallebudgera in 86 and then after we beat NSW for the 1st time at Open Schoolboy level ..from there I had occasionally meetings when I was at the same bar the Broncos were at obviously would have been completely different if I hadn't known many of the younger Broncos then coming through with the Ipswich boys ...I'm was pretty shocked he sort of remembered me (not my name )

To be honest I was much more awestruck meeting Tommy and sitting at his house reading all the cuttings his Mum had kept from his career at a Jets BBQ lol

 

[the_third]

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 ??



His is on 1.6 million at East and gets 10K of home masseuse sessions a year who would say no to that

How do they hide the 500k . It’s registered as 1.1 mil isn’t it ? That’s a lot of money to wash right there .

He's not on 1.6 mil.

Cronk had a $300k personal sponsor

 

[Guest]

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 ??



His is on 1.6 million at East and gets 10K of home masseuse sessions a year who would say no to that

How do they hide the 500k . It’s registered as 1.1 mil isn’t it ? That’s a lot of money to wash right there .

He's not on 1.6 mil.

Cronk had a $300k personal sponsor

Tedesco is not Cronk.

 

[the_third]

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 ??



His is on 1.6 million at East and gets 10K of home masseuse sessions a year who would say no to that

How do they hide the 500k . It’s registered as 1.1 mil isn’t it ? That’s a lot of money to wash right there .

He's not on 1.6 mil.

Cronk had a $300k personal sponsor

Tedesco is not Cronk.

Agreed but my point is the TPA amounts. It’s not all the contract.

 

[Regan]

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 ??



His is on 1.6 million at East and gets 10K of home masseuse sessions a year who would say no to that

How do they hide the 500k . It’s registered as 1.1 mil isn’t it ? That’s a lot of money to wash right there .

He's not on 1.6 mil.

That's a direct quote from the mouth of a Wehbe not Joe but a cousin of his

 

[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.


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 ??



His is on 1.6 million at East and gets 10K of home masseuse sessions a year who would say no to that

How do they hide the 500k . It’s registered as 1.1 mil isn’t it ? That’s a lot of money to wash right there .

He's not on 1.6 mil.



That's a direct quote from the mouth of a Wehbe not Joe but a cousin of his

lol