Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Harvey]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

So Aaron Woods has based his game on him?

 

[avocadoontoast]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

 

[Needaname]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

What’s his tackle rate/ effective tackles?
Tolman is a glue player. Walks, talks and plays like a leader. Could be another important pick up in terms of moulding a side of young forwards with the right approach to being a hardened physically dominant team.
In my team he is like an Elijah Taylor, In my opinion he replaces him as an upside.

 

[JC99]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

 

[avocadoontoast]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

What’s his tackle rate/ effective tackles?
Tolman is a glue player. Walks, talks and plays like a leader. Could be another important pick up in terms of moulding a side of young forwards with the right approach to being a hardened physically dominant team.
In my team he is like an Elijah Taylor, In my opinion he replaces him as an upside.

94% tackle efficiency.

 

[avocadoontoast]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

 

[the_third]

that kid from NQ

Are you talking about Simpkins ? Have we got him.

Tamou is a good start, but Blore and Stefano are rookies. I hope they live up to our expectations.

Blore ran for 105m in 30 mins against the eels on the weekend (nrl.com) so he’s doing a pretty good job on those expectations so far ?

 

[JC99]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

Injuries affected both those guys. Hopefully Mikaele gets that knee fixed up and after his long layoff Twal didn’t find his form again, prior to that he was up there with the best forwards in the comp.

Pack definitely needs improving and Madge would be hoping Tamou helps not just on the field but off it. If all our forwards can play their best footy it’s a strong team it’s just consistency that always plagues us

 

[avocadoontoast]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

Injuries affected both those guys. Hopefully Mikaele gets that knee fixed up and after his long layoff Twal didn’t find his form again, prior to that he was up there with the best forwards in the comp.

Pack definitely needs improving and Madge would be hoping Tamou helps not just on the field but off it. If all our forwards can play their best footy it’s a strong team it’s just consistency that always plagues us

Twal was up there defensively but he was never close to one of the best ball runners in the comp. He's been disappointing. We'll see about Mikaele. But if we enter next season as it stands with no new forwards we're going to get smoked every week once again.

 

[JC99]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

Injuries affected both those guys. Hopefully Mikaele gets that knee fixed up and after his long layoff Twal didn’t find his form again, prior to that he was up there with the best forwards in the comp.

Pack definitely needs improving and Madge would be hoping Tamou helps not just on the field but off it. If all our forwards can play their best footy it’s a strong team it’s just consistency that always plagues us

Twal was up there defensively but he was never close to one of the best ball runners in the comp. He's been disappointing. We'll see about Mikaele. But if we enter next season as it stands with no new forwards we're going to get smoked every week once again.

Twal doesn’t make damaging runs but he’ll make good metres and find his front. Mikaele showed that he can be very good in a few games this year but overall struggled. Don’t see our pack changing that much as with the rest of the squad it’ll be 2022 where there’ll be major changes

 

[avocadoontoast]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

Injuries affected both those guys. Hopefully Mikaele gets that knee fixed up and after his long layoff Twal didn’t find his form again, prior to that he was up there with the best forwards in the comp.

Pack definitely needs improving and Madge would be hoping Tamou helps not just on the field but off it. If all our forwards can play their best footy it’s a strong team it’s just consistency that always plagues us

Twal was up there defensively but he was never close to one of the best ball runners in the comp. He's been disappointing. We'll see about Mikaele. But if we enter next season as it stands with no new forwards we're going to get smoked every week once again.

Twal doesn’t make damaging runs but he’ll make good metres and find his front. Mikaele showed that he can be very good in a few games this year but overall struggled. Don’t see our pack changing that much as with the rest of the squad it’ll be 2022 where there’ll be major changes

he only ran over 100m 4 times all season. Needs to do better than that.

 

[JC99]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

Injuries affected both those guys. Hopefully Mikaele gets that knee fixed up and after his long layoff Twal didn’t find his form again, prior to that he was up there with the best forwards in the comp.

Pack definitely needs improving and Madge would be hoping Tamou helps not just on the field but off it. If all our forwards can play their best footy it’s a strong team it’s just consistency that always plagues us

Twal was up there defensively but he was never close to one of the best ball runners in the comp. He's been disappointing. We'll see about Mikaele. But if we enter next season as it stands with no new forwards we're going to get smoked every week once again.

Twal doesn’t make damaging runs but he’ll make good metres and find his front. Mikaele showed that he can be very good in a few games this year but overall struggled. Don’t see our pack changing that much as with the rest of the squad it’ll be 2022 where there’ll be major changes

he only ran over 100m 4 times all season. Needs to do better than that.

Whole lot better than our other forwards. He’s the least of our worries he’s proven he can play pretty well and pump out big minutes if need be.

 

[avocadoontoast]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

Injuries affected both those guys. Hopefully Mikaele gets that knee fixed up and after his long layoff Twal didn’t find his form again, prior to that he was up there with the best forwards in the comp.

Pack definitely needs improving and Madge would be hoping Tamou helps not just on the field but off it. If all our forwards can play their best footy it’s a strong team it’s just consistency that always plagues us

Twal was up there defensively but he was never close to one of the best ball runners in the comp. He's been disappointing. We'll see about Mikaele. But if we enter next season as it stands with no new forwards we're going to get smoked every week once again.

Twal doesn’t make damaging runs but he’ll make good metres and find his front. Mikaele showed that he can be very good in a few games this year but overall struggled. Don’t see our pack changing that much as with the rest of the squad it’ll be 2022 where there’ll be major changes

he only ran over 100m 4 times all season. Needs to do better than that.

Whole lot better than our other forwards. He’s the least of our worries he’s proven he can play pretty well and pump out big minutes if need be.

Aloiai was our best middle forward in 2020. Not even close. Eisenhuth was probably second best (which is a worry).

 

[JC99]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

Injuries affected both those guys. Hopefully Mikaele gets that knee fixed up and after his long layoff Twal didn’t find his form again, prior to that he was up there with the best forwards in the comp.

Pack definitely needs improving and Madge would be hoping Tamou helps not just on the field but off it. If all our forwards can play their best footy it’s a strong team it’s just consistency that always plagues us

Twal was up there defensively but he was never close to one of the best ball runners in the comp. He's been disappointing. We'll see about Mikaele. But if we enter next season as it stands with no new forwards we're going to get smoked every week once again.

Twal doesn’t make damaging runs but he’ll make good metres and find his front. Mikaele showed that he can be very good in a few games this year but overall struggled. Don’t see our pack changing that much as with the rest of the squad it’ll be 2022 where there’ll be major changes

he only ran over 100m 4 times all season. Needs to do better than that.

Whole lot better than our other forwards. He’s the least of our worries he’s proven he can play pretty well and pump out big minutes if need be.

Aloiai was our best middle forward in 2020. Not even close. Eisenhuth was probably second best (which is a worry).

Aloiai definitely was best season he’s played and I hope he continues it. Did well when he wasn’t struggling through injury as he has in previous years

 

[05TIGZZ]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

Injuries affected both those guys. Hopefully Mikaele gets that knee fixed up and after his long layoff Twal didn’t find his form again, prior to that he was up there with the best forwards in the comp.

Pack definitely needs improving and Madge would be hoping Tamou helps not just on the field but off it. If all our forwards can play their best footy it’s a strong team it’s just consistency that always plagues us

Twal was up there defensively but he was never close to one of the best ball runners in the comp. He's been disappointing. We'll see about Mikaele. But if we enter next season as it stands with no new forwards we're going to get smoked every week once again.

Twal doesn’t make damaging runs but he’ll make good metres and find his front. Mikaele showed that he can be very good in a few games this year but overall struggled. Don’t see our pack changing that much as with the rest of the squad it’ll be 2022 where there’ll be major changes

he only ran over 100m 4 times all season. Needs to do better than that.

Whole lot better than our other forwards. He’s the least of our worries he’s proven he can play pretty well and pump out big minutes if need be.

Aloiai was our best middle forward in 2020. Not even close. Eisenhuth was probably second best (which is a worry).

Aloiai had his best year in a tigers jersey this year. Twal was very very disappointing. Hopefully it was injuries and he can deliver what he’s capable of in 2021

 

[izotope]

More dribble - read headline then last paragraph.
**Top tryscorer was ‘very close’ to signing with Tigers. But the club blew it with a lowball offer**
NRL PREMIERSHIP
Darcie McDonald
September 29, 2020 2:19pm
DARCIE MCDONALD
Source: FOX SPORTS

Fresh off a five-try clinic against the Roosters on Friday, South Sydney flyer Alex Johnston has revealed he was “days” away from inking a deal with the Wests Tigers.
The 25-year-old, who finished the season as the competition’s top tryscorer, re-signed with the Rabbitohs earlier this month after the club backflipped on their decision to let him go.


Johnston was informed by the club in October last year that salary cap space will be tight in 2021 and there may not be room for him. Then in April, South Sydney let Johnston know that they could not make him an offer for 2021 as there was only space for minimum wage contracts. It was heartbreaking news for the local junior who has been nothing but a fantastic ambassador and consistent player for the Bunnies.


Resigned to the fact he wouldn’t be a Rabbitoh next season he began talks with other clubs. During that time, his looming exit came to light and outraged fans began a petition to keep Johnston at Redfern.

There was plenty of interest in the former Kangaroos winger with the Bulldogs, Cowboys, Storm and Tigers all talking to Johnston and his manager. The Storm and Tigers made an offer to Johnston before the Rabbitohs came to the table with a deal as well, which Johnston took despite it being around $100,000 less per year than what Melbourne offered.


Johnston revealed on Tuesday that he was actually “very close” to signing with either the Storm or Tigers. He was keen to reunite with former Bunnies coach Michael Maguire whom he wont the 2014 Grand Final with but the problem with the Tigers though was that they offered him a lowball deal. And for the record he never expected or asked for big money or ‘fullback money,’ contrary to many reports.

“They were the main two (Storm and Tigers). I was very close, and it pretty much came down to a couple of days there where it was 50/50,” he said.

“The other clubs were very good to me, very tempting and I think I’d say 50/50 were the odds at the end of the day.

“It was pretty weird to think about it. I gave myself every chance to try and stay in Sydney and stay with Souths, and I’m just lucky that it came through.

“I don’t want to say too much about what went on, but the Tigers deal was not as high as other clubs.”


It was a tough slog for Johnston who has always wanted to be a one-club man. He described the period as a “rollercoaster” and admitted that he held onto a “a little bit of hope” that Souths could work something out to keep him.

“Mentally it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me. A lot of ups and downs – I just tried to use it as motivation the best I could at the start of the year. The longer the season went, the longer it was playing on my mind,” he said.

“I was pretty stoked to have some interest from other clubs and then finally sign the contract, it was a huge relief. I get to stay at Souths and now I think my best footy is coming to fruition.


“I did hold a little bit of hope there when sometimes it didn’t look like it was going to happen. If I kept playing good footy and staying motivated, something might happen and I’m very fortunate that it did.

“Wayne pulled me aside and said he was going to do his best to keep me and to hang in there. Once it came through that there was a contract there, I was pretty stoked and couldn’t wait to put pen to paper.”

The Tigers are in the market for a number of positions with Maguire letting go of eight players ahead of the 2021 season.

Storm star Josh Addo-Carr has been linked to a return to the Tigers, his former club, which could be the reason why they weren’t able to offer Johnston a better deal. After missing out on Johnston’s signature, the Tigers are desperate to land Addo-Carr and are also reportedly eyeing Raiders winger Jordan Rapana.

 

[Deleted member 3518]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

Injuries affected both those guys. Hopefully Mikaele gets that knee fixed up and after his long layoff Twal didn’t find his form again, prior to that he was up there with the best forwards in the comp.

Pack definitely needs improving and Madge would be hoping Tamou helps not just on the field but off it. If all our forwards can play their best footy it’s a strong team it’s just consistency that always plagues us

Twal was up there defensively but he was never close to one of the best ball runners in the comp. He's been disappointing. We'll see about Mikaele. But if we enter next season as it stands with no new forwards we're going to get smoked every week once again.

Twal doesn’t make damaging runs but he’ll make good metres and find his front. Mikaele showed that he can be very good in a few games this year but overall struggled. Don’t see our pack changing that much as with the rest of the squad it’ll be 2022 where there’ll be major changes

he only ran over 100m 4 times all season. Needs to do better than that.

Especially when his whole reputation was built up being a dude who will give you 15 hitups 120m , and 30 tackles. His impact has been reduced since moving to 13

 

[avocadoontoast]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

Injuries affected both those guys. Hopefully Mikaele gets that knee fixed up and after his long layoff Twal didn’t find his form again, prior to that he was up there with the best forwards in the comp.

Pack definitely needs improving and Madge would be hoping Tamou helps not just on the field but off it. If all our forwards can play their best footy it’s a strong team it’s just consistency that always plagues us

Twal was up there defensively but he was never close to one of the best ball runners in the comp. He's been disappointing. We'll see about Mikaele. But if we enter next season as it stands with no new forwards we're going to get smoked every week once again.

Twal doesn’t make damaging runs but he’ll make good metres and find his front. Mikaele showed that he can be very good in a few games this year but overall struggled. Don’t see our pack changing that much as with the rest of the squad it’ll be 2022 where there’ll be major changes

he only ran over 100m 4 times all season. Needs to do better than that.

Especially when his whole reputation was built up being a dude who will give you 15 hitups 120m , and 30 tackles. His impact has been reduced since moving to 13

Yep I agree. He needs to be in the prop rotation next season, with McIntyre taking the 13 jumper imo.

 

[Tcat]

More dribble - read headline then last paragraph.
**Top tryscorer was ‘very close’ to signing with Tigers. But the club blew it with a lowball offer**
NRL PREMIERSHIP
Darcie McDonald
September 29, 2020 2:19pm
DARCIE MCDONALD
Source: FOX SPORTS

Fresh off a five-try clinic against the Roosters on Friday, South Sydney flyer Alex Johnston has revealed he was “days” away from inking a deal with the Wests Tigers.
The 25-year-old, who finished the season as the competition’s top tryscorer, re-signed with the Rabbitohs earlier this month after the club backflipped on their decision to let him go.


Johnston was informed by the club in October last year that salary cap space will be tight in 2021 and there may not be room for him. Then in April, South Sydney let Johnston know that they could not make him an offer for 2021 as there was only space for minimum wage contracts. It was heartbreaking news for the local junior who has been nothing but a fantastic ambassador and consistent player for the Bunnies.


Resigned to the fact he wouldn’t be a Rabbitoh next season he began talks with other clubs. During that time, his looming exit came to light and outraged fans began a petition to keep Johnston at Redfern.

There was plenty of interest in the former Kangaroos winger with the Bulldogs, Cowboys, Storm and Tigers all talking to Johnston and his manager. The Storm and Tigers made an offer to Johnston before the Rabbitohs came to the table with a deal as well, which Johnston took despite it being around $100,000 less per year than what Melbourne offered.


Johnston revealed on Tuesday that he was actually “very close” to signing with either the Storm or Tigers. He was keen to reunite with former Bunnies coach Michael Maguire whom he wont the 2014 Grand Final with but the problem with the Tigers though was that they offered him a lowball deal. And for the record he never expected or asked for big money or ‘fullback money,’ contrary to many reports.

“They were the main two (Storm and Tigers). I was very close, and it pretty much came down to a couple of days there where it was 50/50,” he said.

“The other clubs were very good to me, very tempting and I think I’d say 50/50 were the odds at the end of the day.

“It was pretty weird to think about it. I gave myself every chance to try and stay in Sydney and stay with Souths, and I’m just lucky that it came through.

“I don’t want to say too much about what went on, but the Tigers deal was not as high as other clubs.”


It was a tough slog for Johnston who has always wanted to be a one-club man. He described the period as a “rollercoaster” and admitted that he held onto a “a little bit of hope” that Souths could work something out to keep him.

“Mentally it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me. A lot of ups and downs – I just tried to use it as motivation the best I could at the start of the year. The longer the season went, the longer it was playing on my mind,” he said.

“I was pretty stoked to have some interest from other clubs and then finally sign the contract, it was a huge relief. I get to stay at Souths and now I think my best footy is coming to fruition.


“I did hold a little bit of hope there when sometimes it didn’t look like it was going to happen. If I kept playing good footy and staying motivated, something might happen and I’m very fortunate that it did.

“Wayne pulled me aside and said he was going to do his best to keep me and to hang in there. Once it came through that there was a contract there, I was pretty stoked and couldn’t wait to put pen to paper.”

The Tigers are in the market for a number of positions with Maguire letting go of eight players ahead of the 2021 season.

Storm star Josh Addo-Carr has been linked to a return to the Tigers, his former club, which could be the reason why they weren’t able to offer Johnston a better deal. After missing out on Johnston’s signature, the Tigers are desperate to land Addo-Carr and are also reportedly eyeing Raiders winger Jordan Rapana.

So what Alex. We made you an offer, no need to whinge about the amount. We offered what we thought you were worth. No real loss.

 

[Geo]

I've never been a fan of Tolman at all but I was pretty surprised to see he averaged 140m per game and over 40 tackles. Statistically he would have been our best forward.

He’s always been good for stats problem is whenever he touches the ball the teams entire momentum goes, he slowly goes to the line and takes the tackle rarely offloading. Plays a lot like Gallen In his final few seasons lots of fourth tackle hit ups killing the play lol

I'm not suggesting we sign him but we do need some forwards that make metres and have good defence. Our pack has been monstered 10 weeks straight and whilst Tamou will make some improvements, we need more than 1 player (and the jury is out on Stefano due to limited minutes). Mikaele, Twal had disappointing seasons and Eiso is gone.

We do too much defending and don’t make enough metres. It’s on the pack and our halves to fix that goes both ways I think

Our halves were awful but our forwards were the biggest disappointment imo, especially for the last half of the year. Nowhere near enough metres to be competitive and overall poor defence. I had high hopes for Twal and Mikaele but they both had very poor seasons, Mikaele in particular. Not sure what happened to him.

Injuries affected both those guys. Hopefully Mikaele gets that knee fixed up and after his long layoff Twal didn’t find his form again, prior to that he was up there with the best forwards in the comp.

Pack definitely needs improving and Madge would be hoping Tamou helps not just on the field but off it. If all our forwards can play their best footy it’s a strong team it’s just consistency that always plagues us

Twal was up there defensively but he was never close to one of the best ball runners in the comp. He's been disappointing. We'll see about Mikaele. But if we enter next season as it stands with no new forwards we're going to get smoked every week once again.

Twal doesn’t make damaging runs but he’ll make good metres and find his front. Mikaele showed that he can be very good in a few games this year but overall struggled. Don’t see our pack changing that much as with the rest of the squad it’ll be 2022 where there’ll be major changes

he only ran over 100m 4 times all season. Needs to do better than that.

Especially when his whole reputation was built up being a dude who will give you 15 hitups 120m , and 30 tackles. His impact has been reduced since moving to 13

Yep I agree. He needs to be in the prop rotation next season, with McIntyre taking the 13 jumper imo.

Does anyone think the Coaching and performance guys ever think of this..