Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Russell]

Another thing with simpkin is that he hasnt played footy in a long time...harry came off a year of CC

He's barely even played reserve grade. People want to throw him in early and will be disappointed and attack him when he's not an instant star. Gotta let him play against men in reserves for a few weeks at least before putting him in top grade there's no rush

People can't expect Harry Grant 2.0. Harry is just on another level, can't remember a rookie season that good for a long long time

Maybe not talent wise but I see a lot of the Tyson Gamble scenario in what people want to do with Simpkin.

Gamble was touted to be a real good prospect whilst playing in QLD, came to Tigers, played cc for a little while and then they shoved him into the NRL (not much of a team at the time) side to play Canberra in the Capital.

Our team was pathetic and was thrashed; Gamble had no experience of NRL and was crucified by all and sundry.

Never played NRL for us again, was let go - selected in the NRL again (for Donkeys I think) - injured before the game and still has not played another NRL game.

Keep pushing for Simpkin to play NRL too soon boys. Makes it all the easier for our No. 1 DH to permanently seal his spot.

Go get 'em Jake.

Yeah Gamble got a lot of unwarranted hate that night. Don't think it has to be a battle of Liddle vs Simpkin both can play a role in our team we just don't need to have mega expectations of a kid who's barely played reserves.

Got to disagree . His defence and lack of shoulder when tackling was exposed by of all people , 1 legged Kieren Foran . In fact that was the knock on him the whole time through the grades, his defence was benji Marshall level poor. Except benji could give you the points to make up for it.
Simpkin , has been the best 9 prospect to come through qld in a while . His name came up in passing convo , like 4 years ago. He has a barge arse , which means power and strength , plus acceleration . His game is predicated on power , and at 18 he was running over 30 year olds. The kid is special .
To me Tyson gamble , was a late first round early second round draft pick . His flaws , are so bad , you can’t take him higher in the draft , but if he could figure it out , he could be a handy role player.
Jake Simpkin , is a potential number 1 draft pick . He’s strong , has a decent passing game , and can find a line break, in a key position .

Gamble had his flaws, what I meant was people seemingly blamed him and him alone for our loss - despite getting absolutely spanked by Canberra that night as we always do.

I thought it was the dogs ? I remember being at that game with my son , who made me leave with 20 mins to go cause he was bored. Maybe you’re right and it was Canberra . It was at C town wasn’t it ?
Maybe I’m getting the games mixed up .

My memory is not great, but I think it was in Canberra.

 

[JC99]

Just on my previous post,I will give you a small example of what Im talking about...
Many years ago back when I was playing,we had a great kid playing in our juniors,he was strong,quick and loved playing rugby league..he went through to being an outstanding young player from u/12 through to u/18s..
Our fg needed a fullback to play for us as ours was out injured,they opted to give him a shot at fg because of how great he was playing..he played well the first week and he was given another chance the following week against the team who were leading the comp,he got hammered a couple of times and played completely opposite than the week before..
He went back to his age group and didnt even do well there...why ? he had his confidence knocked out of him by bigger hardened fgraders and never really recovered...
thats why you dont put all your faith into the young guys until they can prove they can handle the big arena....

I hear what your saying mate , and in principle I agree to an extent . Where I differ is , these kids are training with the first grade squad in full contact from the moment they get identified as being elite. Look at all the SG ball kids who were there all pre season . Throw in diet , training regimen, off field stuff , like how to deal with media , fans , leeches , their money etc , they just arnt even the same as 10 years ago , let alone 20 .
And even then most teams (not us under previous coaches not named sheens) will still blood them slowly . I think Simpkin will be an impact player. I think Laurie is too small at the moment , and Simpkins needs to hit the gym hard , as he has the natural size , but I would doubt the strength . Blore is ready to go , so is Stefano. I don’t know about Madden. We will see in the trials .
It’s

I agree withLaurie comment, but he was targeted by the club and they appeared to be keen to have him this season.

So, I thinking the club knew what they were getting (we’ve had small FB before), he will get a go somewhere this season, then I guess we will know?

I'm very wary of calling any player 'too small'. There's been so many good players rejected by clubs for being too small only for them to go on to have very good careers in the NRL elsewhere. You can't judge someone on their size

I feel like the rule changes that started last year and continuing on in 2021 will benefit the "smaller" players who are quick and agile. If Laurie has the talent and skill level, his size might help pick apart tiring defences rather than pose a problem.

Even without the rule changes the little man was alive and well in the NRL, just look at the Dally M winners in this decade. The new rule changes promotes a lot more one out footy but there's more fatigue in the ruck to be exploited

 

[finnzo]

Only just realised Russell
Packer is 1 of the starting front rows for Maori all stars what on earth is going on there haha

 

[jadtiger]

Only just realised Russell
Packer is 1 of the starting front rows for Maori all stars what on earth is going on there haha

Maybe someone at the club is hoping he gets injured so we can apply for cap relief

 

[bathursttiger1]

Only just realised Russell
Packer is 1 of the starting front rows for Maori all stars what on earth is going on there haha

All the Storm players are in quarantine and can't play, so they needed a good decoy runner.

 

[gallagher]

Only just realised Russell
Packer is 1 of the starting front rows for Maori all stars what on earth is going on there haha


Maybe someone at the club is hoping he gets injured so we can apply for cap relief

That would be an unfortunate turn of events

 

[Leck]

Just on my previous post,I will give you a small example of what Im talking about...
Many years ago back when I was playing,we had a great kid playing in our juniors,he was strong,quick and loved playing rugby league..he went through to being an outstanding young player from u/12 through to u/18s..
Our fg needed a fullback to play for us as ours was out injured,they opted to give him a shot at fg because of how great he was playing..he played well the first week and he was given another chance the following week against the team who were leading the comp,he got hammered a couple of times and played completely opposite than the week before..
He went back to his age group and didnt even do well there...why ? he had his confidence knocked out of him by bigger hardened fgraders and never really recovered...
thats why you dont put all your faith into the young guys until they can prove they can handle the big arena....

I hear what your saying mate , and in principle I agree to an extent . Where I differ is , these kids are training with the first grade squad in full contact from the moment they get identified as being elite. Look at all the SG ball kids who were there all pre season . Throw in diet , training regimen, off field stuff , like how to deal with media , fans , leeches , their money etc , they just arnt even the same as 10 years ago , let alone 20 .
And even then most teams (not us under previous coaches not named sheens) will still blood them slowly . I think Simpkin will be an impact player. I think Laurie is too small at the moment , and Simpkins needs to hit the gym hard , as he has the natural size , but I would doubt the strength . Blore is ready to go , so is Stefano. I don’t know about Madden. We will see in the trials .
It’s

I agree withLaurie comment, but he was targeted by the club and they appeared to be keen to have him this season.

So, I thinking the club knew what they were getting (we’ve had small FB before), he will get a go somewhere this season, then I guess we will know?

Daine's not that short, he's 181cm. In comparison - Teddy is 184, RTS is 182, Kalyn is 184, Ryan Pap is 181 and Mybe is 180.

What I've seen from Daine is that he has an excellent vertical leap, which makes up for any height disadvantage.

I'm more keen to see how safe his hands are, how he organises our defense on the line and how he runs meters from our own half and breaks tackles.

 

[jadtiger]

Only just realised Russell
Packer is 1 of the starting front rows for Maori all stars what on earth is going on there haha


Maybe someone at the club is hoping he gets injured so we can apply for cap relief

That would be an unfortunate turn of events

That would have to be poor bait you are using because i dont think anyone on here expects to see Packer playing FG this year

 

[bathursttiger1]

Only just realised Russell
Packer is 1 of the starting front rows for Maori all stars what on earth is going on there haha


Maybe someone at the club is hoping he gets injured so we can apply for cap relief

That would be an unfortunate turn of events


That would have to be poor bait you are using because i dont think anyone on here expects to see Packer playing FG this year

I think that Packer will be in the front row, (of the Grandstand) with a blanket covering his legs.

 

[JRDee]

Only just realised Russell
Packer is 1 of the starting front rows for Maori all stars what on earth is going on there haha

Maybe they need some good decoy runs

 

[tigger19]

Laurie’s size is abit of a concern,Papenhuyzen being such a lightweight his head and body have been put in some very dangerous positions when getting tackled.Tedesco is much bigger in size than Laurie or Paps,Sivo ran over Teddy last year,he wasn’t the same player when he returned

 

[twentyforty]

Only just realised Russell
Packer is 1 of the starting front rows for Maori all stars what on earth is going on there haha

Maybe they need some good decoy runs

They’re short on troops due to the Victorian snap lockdown.

 

[The-moP]

Laurie’s size is abit of a concern,Papenhuyzen being such a lightweight his head and body have been put in some very dangerous positions when getting tackled.Tedesco is much bigger in size than Laurie or Paps,Sivo ran over Teddy last year,he wasn’t the same player when he returned

if you have a good tackling technique .. i dont care how big the guy is .. i played with a kid in 1st grade back out in the bush (Gilgandra) .. we called him "Snake" Naden he was very small, light weight but super quick though .. and he would always tackle the player right around the boot laces .. he was like a snake in the grass, and never missed, chopped them like falling trees .. !! I was confident to have a fullback like him cleaning up some of my missed tackles .. thanks Snake where ever you are now bro ..!!

 

[Leck]

Laurie’s size is abit of a concern,Papenhuyzen being such a lightweight his head and body have been put in some very dangerous positions when getting tackled.Tedesco is much bigger in size than Laurie or Paps,Sivo ran over Teddy last year,he wasn’t the same player when he returned

I agree Daine probably needs to gain 5kg in muscle (currently 83kg) to hold his own. However he'll be 22 this year and will fill out over the next couple.

In saying that, Brett Hodgson one of our favourite sons and one of the best fullbacks in the 2000 era played his career at 78kg.

 

[Speed2burn]

Laurie’s size is abit of a concern,Papenhuyzen being such a lightweight his head and body have been put in some very dangerous positions when getting tackled.Tedesco is much bigger in size than Laurie or Paps,Sivo ran over Teddy last year,he wasn’t the same player when he returned

Yeah teddys technique was just bad in that tackle, seen much smaller blokes take down sivo that close to the line. Lauries size would only be a worry if he didn't have a huge skill set. Tamou came out and mentioned before that at training Daine used to regularly carve up the 1sts team at Penrith

 

[happy_tiger]

Only just realised Russell
Packer is 1 of the starting front rows for Maori all stars what on earth is going on there haha

They only wanted someone to play half a game and could then leave at HT .....Packer fit the bill

 

[JC99]

Laurie’s size is abit of a concern,Papenhuyzen being such a lightweight his head and body have been put in some very dangerous positions when getting tackled.Tedesco is much bigger in size than Laurie or Paps,Sivo ran over Teddy last year,he wasn’t the same player when he returned

Yeah teddys technique was just bad in that tackle, seen much smaller blokes take down sivo that close to the line. Lauries size would only be a worry if he didn't have a huge skill set. Tamou came out and mentioned before that at training Daine used to regularly carve up the 1sts team at Penrith

Brad Parker took down Sivo in the same spot and he's built like a local bloke at my pub but did it because his technique was good

People need to stop worrying about size. If they're a good player that's all that matters, Laurie has a heap of aspects that favour him despite his smaller stature.

 

[JC99]

Laurie’s size is abit of a concern,Papenhuyzen being such a lightweight his head and body have been put in some very dangerous positions when getting tackled.Tedesco is much bigger in size than Laurie or Paps,Sivo ran over Teddy last year,he wasn’t the same player when he returned

I agree Daine probably needs to gain 5kg in muscle (currently 83kg) to hold his own. However he'll be 22 this year and will fill out over the next couple.

In saying that, Brett Hodgson one of our favourite sons and one of the best fullbacks in the 2000 era played his career at 78kg.

Paps debuted at 82kg. He doesn't need to gain any weight if he can play well and Laurie has already held his own in first grade.

 

[Cairnstigers]

Only just realised Russell
Packer is 1 of the starting front rows for Maori all stars what on earth is going on there haha


Maybe someone at the club is hoping he gets injured so we can apply for cap relief

Or he absolutely kills it and other teams come knocking

 

[weststigerman]

Laurie’s size is abit of a concern,Papenhuyzen being such a lightweight his head and body have been put in some very dangerous positions when getting tackled.Tedesco is much bigger in size than Laurie or Paps,Sivo ran over Teddy last year,he wasn’t the same player when he returned

I agree Daine probably needs to gain 5kg in muscle (currently 83kg) to hold his own. However he'll be 22 this year and will fill out over the next couple.

In saying that, Brett Hodgson one of our favourite sons and one of the best fullbacks in the 2000 era played his career at 78kg.

Paps debuted at 82kg. He doesn't need to gain any weight if he can play well and Laurie has already held his own in first grade.

Agree.

How big was Ben Barba? His size wasn’t what kept him out of NRL.

If he was playing any other position than fullback I’d be concerned about his size but I think skinny zippy fullbacks are the future with the rule changes as long as they can leap okay for bombs and have a willing attitude in defence.