Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[TigerSJ]

On Hastings- give the guy a chance before rubbishing him. If he brings some desire, direction and competitiveness to our squad he will be an improvement.

With Hodgson i am more hopeful and have seen what he is capable of. If he brings the right attitude i think he will really help our younger forwards to step up a level. What we have been missing from dh ( both Liddle and Simpkin) is direction and the ability to bring guys onto the ball at the line so we build that rolling momentum. Hodgson will do this for us and it will make a huge difference in our game.

Finally on Woods- he has been a myth for years. Never been a good leader or a tough hard running prop. Just a stats frontrower with little heart. Sorry if that sounds nasty but i am glad he’s not coming back.

 

[PJ_]

Oh to be an nrl player.

 

[2005magic]

Just remembered that Hodgson and Hastings played together for the Lions in 2019. That’ll be handy with combinations.

Hastings is a GB international but has never been able to secure a starting NRL position. It is purely coincidence of course!

Hastings turn is it?

When has he ever secured a starting NRL position?

Mate this is a ridiculous argument. He's been over in Super League, therefore unable to secure a starting spot. Not fair at all.

When he was in the NRL he was young and inexperienced, and if you've watched him play since then you'd realise the absurdity of your argument. He's an NRL standard half.

He had been to what three NRL clubs prior to going to the UK because no club wanted anything to do with him. The revision of history surrounding Hastings does not surprise me at all. There were many halves which were young and inexperienced yet handled the NRL but Hasting could not. That in itself should be enough of an indicator.

Alright I get it you dont like him. At least let him get on the field and work with the club before ou condemn him for this time. Yes, he was a young d**head but that was then we can only judge that since going to England and the ESL he has sorted himself out and is playing well. Everyone has a chance of redemption and hasnt he earnt it with his actions in England? We've got to give people a chance if theyve earnt it. (not just football)

Whether I like him or not is irrelevant. There are plenty of players I do not warm too but that doesn't mean I do not believe they are fine players. My view is not only based on games he has played in the NRL. In my view he was underwhelming in his junior days in the Illawarra. Nothing much has changed and without being disrespectful to the ESL, it is not the standard of the NRL.

PS I've seen far more in Kade Hill from our Jersey Flegg than Hastings at the same age.

Fair enough, everyone has an opinion. Cheers

 

[Fade.To.Black]

Just remembered that Hodgson and Hastings played together for the Lions in 2019. That’ll be handy with combinations.

Hastings is a GB international but has never been able to secure a starting NRL position. It is purely coincidence of course!

Hastings turn is it?

When has he ever secured a starting NRL position?

Mate this is a ridiculous argument. He's been over in Super League, therefore unable to secure a starting spot. Not fair at all.

When he was in the NRL he was young and inexperienced, and if you've watched him play since then you'd realise the absurdity of your argument. He's an NRL standard half.

He had been to what three NRL clubs prior to going to the UK because no club wanted anything to do with him. The revision of history surrounding Hastings does not surprise me at all. There were many halves which were young and inexperienced yet handled the NRL but Hasting could not. That in itself should be enough of an indicator.

Alright I get it you dont like him. At least let him get on the field and work with the club before ou condemn him for this time. Yes, he was a young d**head but that was then we can only judge that since going to England and the ESL he has sorted himself out and is playing well. Everyone has a chance of redemption and hasnt he earnt it with his actions in England? We've got to give people a chance if theyve earnt it. (not just football)

Whether I like him or not is irrelevant. There are plenty of players I do not warm too but that doesn't mean I do not believe they are fine players. My view is not only based on games he has played in the NRL. In my view he was underwhelming in his junior days in the Illawarra. Nothing much has changed and without being disrespectful to the ESL, it is not the standard of the NRL.

PS I've seen far more in Kade Hill from our Jersey Flegg than Hastings at the same age.

"Junior days" can be misleading. Don't forget Brooks was a gun junior and even got referred to once as the next Andrew Johns.
We need a halfback with fire in his guts, a desire to take the game by the scruff and a competitive win-at-all-costs attitude. If Hastings can provide that he doesn't have to be a superstar, those things alone will improve our on-field performances until we hopefully jag the recruitment of a genuine superstar 7.

For all the criticisms levelled at Brooks and Moses, both were in the NRL from the start and remain in it.

Let's not kid ourselves though that Brooks would be in that position if he wasn't playing for WT. He has been given more chances than most. I'm not bagging the guy, I think he is a good bloke just not what we need now as a halfback.
Hastings might have been a tool as a youngster but the fact is he came through the Roosters and Manly, players don't get as much leeway for underperformance at those clubs.

 

[Harvey]

The Dragons have added depth to their forward pack with the double signing of front-rower Aaron Woods and back-rower Jack Gosiewski, while have also picked up Tautau Moga to bolster their outside back ranks.

The trio are each on one-year deals.

I don't think any of them are what we need at the moment

 

[JC99]

The Dragons have added depth to their forward pack with the double signing of front-rower Aaron Woods and back-rower Jack Gosiewski, while have also picked up Tautau Moga to bolster their outside back ranks.

The trio are each on one-year deals.

I don't think any of them are what we need at the moment

Yeah they're all pretty average

 

[TheDaBoss]

The Dragons have added depth to their forward pack with the double signing of front-rower Aaron Woods and back-rower Jack Gosiewski, while have also picked up Tautau Moga to bolster their outside back ranks.

The trio are each on one-year deals.

I don't think any of them are what we need at the moment

Yeah they're all pretty average

Ik a few sainrs fans who think them getting sharon is the biggest joke ever ??

 

[tonza]

Just remembered that Hodgson and Hastings played together for the Lions in 2019. That’ll be handy with combinations.

Hastings is a GB international but has never been able to secure a starting NRL position. It is purely coincidence of course!

Hastings turn is it?

When has he ever secured a starting NRL position?

Mate this is a ridiculous argument. He's been over in Super League, therefore unable to secure a starting spot. Not fair at all.

When he was in the NRL he was young and inexperienced, and if you've watched him play since then you'd realise the absurdity of your argument. He's an NRL standard half.

He had been to what three NRL clubs prior to going to the UK because no club wanted anything to do with him. The revision of history surrounding Hastings does not surprise me at all. There were many halves which were young and inexperienced yet handled the NRL but Hasting could not. That in itself should be enough of an indicator.

Alright I get it you dont like him. At least let him get on the field and work with the club before ou condemn him for this time. Yes, he was a young d**head but that was then we can only judge that since going to England and the ESL he has sorted himself out and is playing well. Everyone has a chance of redemption and hasnt he earnt it with his actions in England? We've got to give people a chance if theyve earnt it. (not just football)

Whether I like him or not is irrelevant. There are plenty of players I do not warm too but that doesn't mean I do not believe they are fine players. My view is not only based on games he has played in the NRL. In my view he was underwhelming in his junior days in the Illawarra. Nothing much has changed and without being disrespectful to the ESL, it is not the standard of the NRL.

PS I've seen far more in Kade Hill from our Jersey Flegg than Hastings at the same age.

Fair enough, everyone has an opinion. Cheers

Kade Hill must be pretty good. According to Wikipedia Hastings played for NSW under 16s, 18s, and 20s. Junior Kangaroo in 2015 and signed with Roosters for 2014 after rejecting offers from Saints, NQL, and Newcastle. Must have some ability and has obviously matured. Lets give him a go and dont death ride him.

 

[Camel2281]

Hodgson will be 32 but his game has never been about speed. Many players, even Farah, depend a lot on speed and so couldn't play to the same level when they got older. Others who play with craft sometimes even get better at this age. You can't just say he's 32 so he's rubbish.

Examples:
Cameron Smith played another excellent five years after turning 32.
Cooper Cronk was another who seemed to get better.
Cliffy Lyons was another, Jason Smith also played well in his mid 30s.
Ben Kennedy helped change the culture of Manly when he joined them in his early 30s.
Luke Lewis was in great form throughout his 30s.
Alfie Langer too.

Hodgson is the exact sort of player who should be able to maintain good form for at least a couple years. His game is quality passing, good direction, competitiveness and craft. I think he's a great player for us to have a go on. If it doesn't work out I don't see it being that big a deal. Hate the negativity around every move we make.

If he didn't work out it would be a disaster.

Eg. Game 3 next year - he does his ACL again,

Oh! no problem put Liddle in there, unfortunately we let him go, because we put faith in an old man.

Not to worry we can bring up Simpkin, unfortunately he won't be ready for another 2 years if ever.

Now your talking - we can play the Peach.

Oh! God, unfortunately I can see this happening.

Yeah, if he gets a season ending injury he'll obviously not be very valuable to us. I think we're talking about whether he can still play or not.

If we're ruling out any player who can potentially get injured, or has had injuries in the past, we're going to struggle.

Also, we haven't even signed him and you're assuming we've not only signed him but also releasing Liddle and forecasting this all being a bad move because he's going to get an ACL early next year.

The Forum in it's majority has him signed. sealed and delivered as they do with most players that someone says "he'd be good" only to get raked off when the club don't get the player.

I am advocating NOT signing him, not moving Liddle on, letting Simpkin stay in reserves to learn his craft hopefully, I have not seen the potential a lot have seen apparently.

However to go, with eyes wide open to sign a cotcase is not my idea of good recruitment. DH is a crucial spot to be missing someone because of injury (if it happens). I am not talking about a player getting injured - I am talking about a player that is 32 and has had 3 ACL injuries.

Posters on here have spent most of the season applauding the fact that we are not now a club that is signing players seeking a retirement fund or are injury prone - obviously thay make exceptions when it suits them.

But he is no more injury prone than Liddle. In fact, he's gotten through alot more footy around those injuries than Liddle who is made of glass, and not delivering NRL standard play for 80mins a week

 

[weststigerman]

The revision of history surrounding Hastings does not surprise me at all. There were many halves which were young and inexperienced yet handled the NRL but Hasting could not. That in itself should be enough of an indicator.

I don't see that as revisionism. I'm sure even his most ardent fans admit there was a reason he went to England. How much that was to do with playing ability opposed to personality factors is what is disputed.

Everyone has a different view. My comments are related to his playing ability from juniors. I've never been impressed. I have steered clear of his other issues.

Playing ability from juniors? He ended up in first grade, so had some ability. As for a second rate comp there have been no complaints from the clubs who had english players on their roster. Canberra, wt. Canterbury, Norths.

Hastings will be very good for us. His kicking game is first class and you don*t get the man of steel award for nothing, Before putting the boot in, let*s wait and see.

I did not refer to ESL as a second rate competition. Take the time to read what I wrote. Yes, I've seen Hastings in his Illawarra days. I've posted that Kade Hill from our JF demonstrates far more than Hastings did.

He’s coming here whether you like it or not. Most people on the forum want to give him a chance and see what he has to offer.

The way I see it you have 3 options:
1. Continue to deathride him and hope whenever he plays he has a shocker and you can tell everyone I told you so.
2. Give him a chance and if he’s as bad as you say he is, he won’t get to first grade.
3. Support another club. You do seem to like Ivan, so maybe the Panthers.

 

[Camel2281]

This forum is full of people who wanna put the slipper in , give Hastings a go before bagging the bloke you clowns

Almost everyone puts the slipper in. Some give it to Hastings, some give it to Brooks and Noffa. The latest one is Liddle.

Brooks and Nofo have played enough games for one to form an opinion on. Hastings has not.

I can only speak for myself. I only believe he’s unproven, not that he’s going to fail. The issue I have is how much he gets talked up for his form in a second tier competition. A lot of comments saying “you must not have seen him play over there”. Imo, you don’t have to, because it isn’t a true form guide. Coming up against the Storm and Roosters is a big step up from facing Huddersfield and Castleford.

That may be true about being unproven, however I (and I think many others) am happy to give him a chance and take that gamble over Brooks who is a proven failure.

 

[cktiger]

Just remembered that Hodgson and Hastings played together for the Lions in 2019. That’ll be handy with combinations.

Hastings is a GB international but has never been able to secure a starting NRL position. It is purely coincidence of course!

Hastings turn is it?

When has he ever secured a starting NRL position?

Mate this is a ridiculous argument. He's been over in Super League, therefore unable to secure a starting spot. Not fair at all.

When he was in the NRL he was young and inexperienced, and if you've watched him play since then you'd realise the absurdity of your argument. He's an NRL standard half.

He had been to what three NRL clubs prior to going to the UK because no club wanted anything to do with him. The revision of history surrounding Hastings does not surprise me at all. There were many halves which were young and inexperienced yet handled the NRL but Hasting could not. That in itself should be enough of an indicator.

He played close to 50 NRL games, so effectively two full seasons. Left at 22, reportedly due to attitude problems, does that constitute 'not handling the NRL'?

Also, who exactly were the 'many halves' that handled the nrl prior to this age?

How many of those games did he start?

Who were the starting halfbacks at the 2 NRL clubs he was at as a kid?
Gee, Mitchell Pearce playing SOO and DCE.
Yawn.

 

[the_third]

Just remembered that Hodgson and Hastings played together for the Lions in 2019. That’ll be handy with combinations.

Hastings is a GB international but has never been able to secure a starting NRL position. It is purely coincidence of course!

Hastings turn is it?

When has he ever secured a starting NRL position?

Mate this is a ridiculous argument. He's been over in Super League, therefore unable to secure a starting spot. Not fair at all.

When he was in the NRL he was young and inexperienced, and if you've watched him play since then you'd realise the absurdity of your argument. He's an NRL standard half.

He had been to what three NRL clubs prior to going to the UK because no club wanted anything to do with him. The revision of history surrounding Hastings does not surprise me at all. There were many halves which were young and inexperienced yet handled the NRL but Hasting could not. That in itself should be enough of an indicator.

He played close to 50 NRL games, so effectively two full seasons. Left at 22, reportedly due to attitude problems, does that constitute 'not handling the NRL'?

Also, who exactly were the 'many halves' that handled the nrl prior to this age?

Yep. He was passed on by his former clubs for disciplinary reasons more than ability. No one knows how he will go till he gets back here, but his time in England and his maturity will certainly make him a better chance of making it now, compared to the player/ person he was when he left. Can't understand the need for some to deathride him before passes a ball.

He was given control at the Roosters of the team when one of their 'stars' was injured. He didn't last long before he was dropped.

That says nothing about the player he is today

The point is this revisionism that his troubles were due to off field issues is not the entire truth.

Revisionism?

Here is an anlaysis of the peak playing years for players for you to look at, it has section on halves

https://www.rugbyleagueeyetest.com/2021/06/28/what-age-do-rugby-league-players-peak-statistically/

On Hastings:
He played under 16/18/20's for NSW and Junior Kangaroos.

He was dropped from the roosters as he (and his halves partner) took the fall for a pretty average series of performances. As a 20 year old, he was playing beside Jayden Nikorima in a team without leaders with JWH and, Boyd Cordner and Mitch Pearce all out. Also, it was a dog of a year for the roosters....

Roosters went with Connor Watson as a utility and then bought Keary. Both Hastings and Nokiorima dropped, with Nikorima failing a second drug test.

His troubles were with other players at the Roosters and Manly (Manly stemmed from him breaking curfew) - that's well documented. There were mediation sessions between players NRL, Mangers etc because of his issues.

In saying all of that - I'm probably faster than him, he's one of the slowest players I have ever seen that doesn't play for us already... I'll wait and see with him, not convinced either way really. Reckon if he stands in for AD, we will know pretty quick if he's an upgrade or not

 

[Newtown]

This forum is full of people who wanna put the slipper in , give Hastings a go before bagging the bloke you clowns

Almost everyone puts the slipper in. Some give it to Hastings, some give it to Brooks and Noffa. The latest one is Liddle.

The thing is that we, as forummers have no control over who the club selects or sacks.

 

[Lee's fedora]

Are we still arguing over Jackson Hastings??

 

[Newtown]

The Dragons have added depth to their forward pack with the double signing of front-rower Aaron Woods and back-rower Jack Gosiewski, while have also picked up Tautau Moga to bolster their outside back ranks.

The trio are each on one-year deals.

I don't think any of them are what we need at the moment

Yeah they're all pretty average

I wonder if the Saints supporters are whinging? If so it must be getting commonplace. All supporters want a super star signing and after a while these supposed superstars start to show they are not what they were supposed to be.

 

[Lee's fedora]

Saints have no backline all forwards
Bulldogs have all backs no fowards interesting tactics

 

[cktiger]

Just remembered that Hodgson and Hastings played together for the Lions in 2019. That’ll be handy with combinations.

Hastings is a GB international but has never been able to secure a starting NRL position. It is purely coincidence of course!

Hastings turn is it?

When has he ever secured a starting NRL position?

Mate this is a ridiculous argument. He's been over in Super League, therefore unable to secure a starting spot. Not fair at all.

When he was in the NRL he was young and inexperienced, and if you've watched him play since then you'd realise the absurdity of your argument. He's an NRL standard half.

He had been to what three NRL clubs prior to going to the UK because no club wanted anything to do with him. The revision of history surrounding Hastings does not surprise me at all. There were many halves which were young and inexperienced yet handled the NRL but Hasting could not. That in itself should be enough of an indicator.

He played close to 50 NRL games, so effectively two full seasons. Left at 22, reportedly due to attitude problems, does that constitute 'not handling the NRL'?

Also, who exactly were the 'many halves' that handled the nrl prior to this age?

Yep. He was passed on by his former clubs for disciplinary reasons more than ability. No one knows how he will go till he gets back here, but his time in England and his maturity will certainly make him a better chance of making it now, compared to the player/ person he was when he left. Can't understand the need for some to deathride him before passes a ball.

He was given control at the Roosters of the team when one of their 'stars' was injured. He didn't last long before he was dropped.

That says nothing about the player he is today

The point is this revisionism that his troubles were due to off field issues is not the entire truth.

He was hard to manage at the Roosters and Manly after being talked up at an early age - not the first to get knocked down a few pegs for believing their own publicity.

A shame it didn't happen to Brooks.

 

[tiger_one]

Saints have no backline all forwards
Bulldogs have all backs no fowards interesting tactics

Merge 'em.

 

[Needaname]

Just remembered that Hodgson and Hastings played together for the Lions in 2019. That’ll be handy with combinations.

Hastings is a GB international but has never been able to secure a starting NRL position. It is purely coincidence of course!

Hastings turn is it?

When has he ever secured a starting NRL position?

Mate this is a ridiculous argument. He's been over in Super League, therefore unable to secure a starting spot. Not fair at all.

When he was in the NRL he was young and inexperienced, and if you've watched him play since then you'd realise the absurdity of your argument. He's an NRL standard half.

He had been to what three NRL clubs prior to going to the UK because no club wanted anything to do with him. The revision of history surrounding Hastings does not surprise me at all. There were many halves which were young and inexperienced yet handled the NRL but Hasting could not. That in itself should be enough of an indicator.

He played close to 50 NRL games, so effectively two full seasons. Left at 22, reportedly due to attitude problems, does that constitute 'not handling the NRL'?

Also, who exactly were the 'many halves' that handled the nrl prior to this age?

Yep. He was passed on by his former clubs for disciplinary reasons more than ability. No one knows how he will go till he gets back here, but his time in England and his maturity will certainly make him a better chance of making it now, compared to the player/ person he was when he left. Can't understand the need for some to deathride him before passes a ball.

He was given control at the Roosters of the team when one of their 'stars' was injured. He didn't last long before he was dropped.

That says nothing about the player he is today

The point is this revisionism that his troubles were due to off field issues is not the entire truth.

Depends what you define as off field issues.
At the Roosters he was signed to a first grade contract, though being 2014 and the fact they retained their entire premiership winning team he started off in the 20s.
After the siren during his first 20s game for the club he got stuck into his own trainer for telling off one of his teammates for a on field performance related thing.
Got called into Robbos office the next day, and got demoted from the whole first grade squad for the remainder of the year. He was a full time player and was told he will only train and play with the 20s.
Through perseverance he got his chance in the finals later that year to replace a Jake Friend injury. Off the bench.
The following year he got a chance again when Mitchell Pearce got injured and played along. James Maloney in the halves.
Following year Maloney left, Pearce was suspended so he started the year off at halfback until Pearce returned, I believe they tried a couple of games in that combination but realised they were both halfbacks and so they appointed a more running half, could of even been Matterson
Manly, well manly had DCE and just signed Dylan Walker to play as their five eight.

I’m happy to wait and see how he goes as a second chance. Personally believe he will be better suited in a combination with Brooks then he will be in a combination with Doueihi.