Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[supercoach]

Mikaele is a young forward who has been thrown to the wolves. Most if not all young props begin their careers off the bench and play a small amount of minutes. Due to our poor pack in recent years Mikaele has been the main man the Tigers have looked at to make metres. No senior forwards leading the way at all in recent years. He will be a completely different player with big senior forwards around him

Well he better, because he's going to be quickly overtaken otherwise.

All our middle forwards are going to be under pressure. Stef, Mikaele, Tuki Simpkins and Musgrove can all have an impact. Twal, Joe O and Tamou are good but more workers.

I'd play Tuki Simpkins off the bench and at lock. I reckon he looks heaps better than Twal at lock. I suppose you play both of them for the moment.

Someone is missing out. I reckon Mikaele deserves a bench spot based on his trial form.

Tuki has an X factor about him.

Don’t know what it is but you can just tell this guy knows how to throw his weight around - and I love it!

I think what he has is big core strength, combined with his height / long arms. Especially the try that resulted from his flick offload - that was right in front of us and he went heavily into the carry, but still got his arms free in the tackle. IIRC he took 3 tacklers with him. He seems to be able to give the ball space despite being tackled.

Now considering he's still a big lumpy kid, it's impressive to have that ability to free himself in tackles. I'm contrasting this to other young guys like Stefano or Tuilagi who are very powerful but are looking for heavy contact to pump legs and fall on their front.

I don't want to go overboard because he's still fresh, but very impressive in the trials. I remember seeing Aaron Woods play his first Foundation Cup and you just knew he had special talent.

What's actually surprising to me is that Tuki is not still pursuing rugby. He's got a real rugby forward build and a sort of hunched loping running style. He looked ready to contest a ruck every tackle.

Very John Eales type physique and mobility now I think about it.

Have to agree Tuki is more than a bash and barge forward , the offload is the money ball while attracting multiple defends ..it takes lot to get me interested in a forward but this fella certainly has !

Reminds me of a young sonny bill.
We have to be careful with this one, with regards to his development.
I'd dare say the roosters will be calling in a few years.
I reckon he's earned the starting lock spot

Two games against reserve grade quality opposition, yes he looks good and fingers crossed he will be a very good player but a young Sonny Bill might be a big call.

I think that was the starting Manly pack minus Jake T.

Not when he came on. Could be wrong but I was out there and Siri did not play in the second half along with Marty T and a few others. I know Turbo young brother was out there with the lawn mowing man

 

[diedpretty]

Mikaele is a young forward who has been thrown to the wolves. Most if not all young props begin their careers off the bench and play a small amount of minutes. Due to our poor pack in recent years Mikaele has been the main man the Tigers have looked at to make metres. No senior forwards leading the way at all in recent years. He will be a completely different player with big senior forwards around him

Well he better, because he's going to be quickly overtaken otherwise.

All our middle forwards are going to be under pressure. Stef, Mikaele, Tuki Simpkins and Musgrove can all have an impact. Twal, Joe O and Tamou are good but more workers.

I'd play Tuki Simpkins off the bench and at lock. I reckon he looks heaps better than Twal at lock. I suppose you play both of them for the moment.

Someone is missing out. I reckon Mikaele deserves a bench spot based on his trial form.

Tuki has an X factor about him.

Don’t know what it is but you can just tell this guy knows how to throw his weight around - and I love it!

Looks like a good defender, but he got smashed twice and driven back and he had a decent run-up. Looks like he needs to another season to develop. Let's be honest...he's 19. He'll benefit greatly by being eased in slowly.

Agreed. He's played well in the trials but week in week out NRL is very demanding, we need to be careful not to rush him. With a year or so developing his body and putting on some size on he's going to make a fantastic lock.

Thats were it becomes a juggling act that is hard to maintain - you have to give them some game time at NRL level to show them that they are part of the future plans. No matter what you say if you continue to run them around in reggies when the next club comes along that says we will guarantee you a top 30 spot they will want to move on. We have been very canny in amassing this loads of young guns with potential - the trick now is keeping them.

 

[Magpieger]

Mikaele is a young forward who has been thrown to the wolves. Most if not all young props begin their careers off the bench and play a small amount of minutes. Due to our poor pack in recent years Mikaele has been the main man the Tigers have looked at to make metres. No senior forwards leading the way at all in recent years. He will be a completely different player with big senior forwards around him

Well he better, because he's going to be quickly overtaken otherwise.

All our middle forwards are going to be under pressure. Stef, Mikaele, Tuki Simpkins and Musgrove can all have an impact. Twal, Joe O and Tamou are good but more workers.

I'd play Tuki Simpkins off the bench and at lock. I reckon he looks heaps better than Twal at lock. I suppose you play both of them for the moment.

Someone is missing out. I reckon Mikaele deserves a bench spot based on his trial form.

Tuki has an X factor about him.

Don’t know what it is but you can just tell this guy knows how to throw his weight around - and I love it!

Looks like a good defender, but he got smashed twice and driven back and he had a decent run-up. Looks like he needs to another season to develop. Let's be honest...he's 19. He'll benefit greatly by being eased in slowly.

Agreed. He's played well in the trials but week in week out NRL is very demanding, we need to be careful not to rush him. With a year or so developing his body and putting on some size on he's going to make a fantastic lock.


Thats were it becomes a juggling act that is hard to maintain - you have to give them some game time at NRL level to show them that they are part of the future plans. No matter what you say if you continue to run them around in reggies when the next club comes along that says we will guarantee you a top 30 spot they will want to move on. We have been very canny in amassing this loads of young guns with potential - the trick now is keeping them.

We start winning and they'd have to have a real long hard think about it though.

 

[InBenjiWeTrust]

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/wallabies-star-koroibete-set-to-make-multi-million-dollar-move-abroad-20210302-p57719.html
oh well, and I thought we had him!:astonished:

 

[diedpretty]

Mikaele is a young forward who has been thrown to the wolves. Most if not all young props begin their careers off the bench and play a small amount of minutes. Due to our poor pack in recent years Mikaele has been the main man the Tigers have looked at to make metres. No senior forwards leading the way at all in recent years. He will be a completely different player with big senior forwards around him

Well he better, because he's going to be quickly overtaken otherwise.

All our middle forwards are going to be under pressure. Stef, Mikaele, Tuki Simpkins and Musgrove can all have an impact. Twal, Joe O and Tamou are good but more workers.

I'd play Tuki Simpkins off the bench and at lock. I reckon he looks heaps better than Twal at lock. I suppose you play both of them for the moment.

Someone is missing out. I reckon Mikaele deserves a bench spot based on his trial form.

Tuki has an X factor about him.

Don’t know what it is but you can just tell this guy knows how to throw his weight around - and I love it!

Looks like a good defender, but he got smashed twice and driven back and he had a decent run-up. Looks like he needs to another season to develop. Let's be honest...he's 19. He'll benefit greatly by being eased in slowly.

Agreed. He's played well in the trials but week in week out NRL is very demanding, we need to be careful not to rush him. With a year or so developing his body and putting on some size on he's going to make a fantastic lock.


Thats were it becomes a juggling act that is hard to maintain - you have to give them some game time at NRL level to show them that they are part of the future plans. No matter what you say if you continue to run them around in reggies when the next club comes along that says we will guarantee you a top 30 spot they will want to move on. We have been very canny in amassing this loads of young guns with potential - the trick now is keeping them.



We start winning and they'd have to have a real long hard think about it though.

Also i think we have the depth there to give guys in the top squad a rest if they have a niggling injury where in the past we had no one to replace them. It keeps the younger guys wanting more and keeps the squad refreshed.

 

[JC99]

Tigers reckon PNG prospect Gebbie worth the wait
By Christian Nicolussi
March 2, 2021 — 7.30pm
NRL clubs often go to great lengths to recruit players, but based on the extraordinary time and effort put in by the Wests Tigers to sign Edene Gebbie, there must be something special about the Papuan.

Gebbie will leave quarantine in Brisbane to join Michael Maguire’s men next week after an off-season negotiation that started five months ago.

The 25-year-old was known in NRL circles after playing for the PNG Hunters and Wynnum-Manly in the Queensland Cup. South Sydney fans will also recall the outside back running out for the Rabbitohs at last year’s Perth Nines.

Gebbie returned to PNG during the COVID-19 lockdown but the Tigers stayed interested in giving him a shot at the NRL. They thought he would be in town for the start of pre-season training. He signed a $1000-a-week train-and-trial deal and was expected to live in Tigers’ accommodation just down the road from the club’s Concord HQ.

Normally, Tigers officials would have flown to Papua New Guinea to bring Gebbie back but COVID-19, and the fact he lives in a remote mountain village near the Kokoda Track, delayed the process.


First, there was a wait for police checks. Then another delay with visa approvals.

Phone reception in Gebbie’s home village of Sogeri is also unreliable, meaning the Tigers could only communicate with him once a week when he caught a bus to an area with a better connection.

On one occasion, Gebbie travelled to Port Moresby to sign paperwork. By the time Tigers football manager Adam Hartigan realised he had failed to initial one page of his 55-page contract, Gebbie was halfway up the mountain and could not be contacted for a week.

Gebbie’s Brisbane-based contact, Rob Kawaipa, who has been in daily contact with Hartigan, said the 25-year-old’s profile at home ensured he was farewelled by a healthy crowd at the airport.

“We started discussions at the start of October, and had it not been for COVID and quarantine, I would have personally flown over and brought him back,” Hartigan said.

“But we had to wait a while for his visa to be approved, then there were police checks, and just being able to contact him because he was in a village became difficult. Rob told me we had to wait for him to catch public transport into town so he had proper phone service.”

The Tigers have already recruited speedsters James Roberts and Daine Laurie. Maguire hopes another blistering back will boost their cause.

“I think he’s shown great form and the number of people and contacts we have in and around the Papua New Guinean space [say] that his potential is untapped,” Maguire told the Herald. “He’s played a lot of fullback, he’s played on the wing, and he’s just quick.

“I spoke to him twice and the timing was always tricky because he was coming down from the mountains. I had actually stopped asking about him now because of the challenges we’ve had with COVID and everything. But I’m looking forward to seeing him.”

NRL clubs had to have 28 players signed by Monday, with the Tigers bringing in South Sydney prop Tommy Amone to round out their squad. Two more players must be added by August.

Gebbie can be brought into the top grade earlier should there be an injury and he impresses in reserve grade. The Tigers have an option in their favour for 2022. Gebbie kept fit training with the PNG Hunters before they left for Queensland last weekend.

 

[walter]

Tigers reckon PNG prospect Gebbie worth the wait

NRL clubs often go to great lengths to recruit players, but based on the extraordinary time and effort put in by the Tigers to sign Edene Gebbie, there must be something special about the Papuan. Looking forward to eventually seeing this bloke

Isn’t this the guy who spat the dummy and left south’s with out telling them cause he couldn’t get a run in first grade

 

[cochise]

Tigers reckon PNG prospect Gebbie worth the wait

NRL clubs often go to great lengths to recruit players, but based on the extraordinary time and effort put in by the Tigers to sign Edene Gebbie, there must be something special about the Papuan. Looking forward to eventually seeing this bloke

Isn’t this the guy who spat the dummy and left south’s with out telling them cause he couldn’t get a run in first grade

Didn't he go home during Covid when he wasn't in the Souths bubble? Not an issue to me if that is how it played out.

 

[JC99]

Tigers reckon PNG prospect Gebbie worth the wait

NRL clubs often go to great lengths to recruit players, but based on the extraordinary time and effort put in by the Tigers to sign Edene Gebbie, there must be something special about the Papuan. Looking forward to eventually seeing this bloke

Isn’t this the guy who spat the dummy and left south’s with out telling them cause he couldn’t get a run in first grade

I don't think so? He went home to PNG because of COVID.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

Tigers reckon PNG prospect Gebbie worth the wait

NRL clubs often go to great lengths to recruit players, but based on the extraordinary time and effort put in by the Tigers to sign Edene Gebbie, there must be something special about the Papuan. Looking forward to eventually seeing this bloke

Isn’t this the guy who spat the dummy and left south’s with out telling them cause he couldn’t get a run in first grade

Moving to Aust from PNG is a huge adjustment. With Covid and no ISP competition, returning home to PNG was a good option for him. I am glad he is back with WTs.

Sogeri is located towards the Southern end of the Kokoda Track. It is about 30 km from Port Moresby.

 

[Tim Sheens]

Ikin only cares about the glamour clubs. give him 2 years and he'll be kissing our feet. as for Ennis, never rated him as a pundit.

I thought that Ikin was going to leave Fox to become the new CEO of the Broncos.

didn't happen, the former Storm CEO got the jump on him.


Wouldn’t have been because of Ikin’s lack of intelligence.

I think they didn't want a Bennett stooge in a position of influence.

Could be wrong, but thought his missus was estranged from the 'supercoach'.

 

[walter]

Tigers reckon PNG prospect Gebbie worth the wait

NRL clubs often go to great lengths to recruit players, but based on the extraordinary time and effort put in by the Tigers to sign Edene Gebbie, there must be something special about the Papuan. Looking forward to eventually seeing this bloke

Isn’t this the guy who spat the dummy and left south’s with out telling them cause he couldn’t get a run in first grade

I don't think so? He went home to PNG because of COVID.

Fair enough just that I was reading him and douehi were supposed to fight out who gets the fullback job but then they signed latrel Mitchell so he spat the dummy and left

 

[tigerballs]

Mikaele is a young forward who has been thrown to the wolves. Most if not all young props begin their careers off the bench and play a small amount of minutes. Due to our poor pack in recent years Mikaele has been the main man the Tigers have looked at to make metres. No senior forwards leading the way at all in recent years. He will be a completely different player with big senior forwards around him

Well he better, because he's going to be quickly overtaken otherwise.

All our middle forwards are going to be under pressure. Stef, Mikaele, Tuki Simpkins and Musgrove can all have an impact. Twal, Joe O and Tamou are good but more workers.

I'd play Tuki Simpkins off the bench and at lock. I reckon he looks heaps better than Twal at lock. I suppose you play both of them for the moment.

Someone is missing out. I reckon Mikaele deserves a bench spot based on his trial form.

Tuki has an X factor about him.

Don’t know what it is but you can just tell this guy knows how to throw his weight around - and I love it!

I think what he has is big core strength, combined with his height / long arms. Especially the try that resulted from his flick offload - that was right in front of us and he went heavily into the carry, but still got his arms free in the tackle. IIRC he took 3 tacklers with him. He seems to be able to give the ball space despite being tackled.

Now considering he's still a big lumpy kid, it's impressive to have that ability to free himself in tackles. I'm contrasting this to other young guys like Stefano or Tuilagi who are very powerful but are looking for heavy contact to pump legs and fall on their front.

I don't want to go overboard because he's still fresh, but very impressive in the trials. I remember seeing Aaron Woods play his first Foundation Cup and you just knew he had special talent.

What's actually surprising to me is that Tuki is not still pursuing rugby. He's got a real rugby forward build and a sort of hunched loping running style. He looked ready to contest a ruck every tackle.

Very John Eales type physique and mobility now I think about it.

Have to agree Tuki is more than a bash and barge forward , the offload is the money ball while attracting multiple defends ..it takes lot to get me interested in a forward but this fella certainly has !

Reminds me of a young sonny bill.
We have to be careful with this one, with regards to his development.
I'd dare say the roosters will be calling in a few years.
I reckon he's earned the starting lock spot

Two games against reserve grade quality opposition, yes he looks good and fingers crossed he will be a very good player but a young Sonny Bill might be a big call.

I think that was the starting Manly pack minus Jake T.

Not when he came on. Could be wrong but I was out there and Siri did not play in the second half along with Marty T and a few others. I know Turbo young brother was out there with the lawn mowing man

You're right, he didn't play against the stars but they were proper first graders and big boppers at that. I don't think he'll start but he definitely won't be out of place if he gets a bench spot.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

Tigers reckon PNG prospect Gebbie worth the wait

NRL clubs often go to great lengths to recruit players, but based on the extraordinary time and effort put in by the Tigers to sign Edene Gebbie, there must be something special about the Papuan. Looking forward to eventually seeing this bloke

Isn’t this the guy who spat the dummy and left south’s with out telling them cause he couldn’t get a run in first grade

I don't think so? He went home to PNG because of COVID.

Fair enough just that I was reading him and douehi were supposed to fight out who gets the fullback job but then they signed latrel Mitchell so he spat the dummy and left

Great perseverance by Hartigan to obtain Gebbie's signature. WTs should send a plane load of jerseys and other WTs' merchandise to Port Moresby, Mt Hagen, Lae as our profile is about to rise in PNG. Let's hope he is the first of many PNG nationals at WTs.

 

[cochise]

Tigers reckon PNG prospect Gebbie worth the wait

NRL clubs often go to great lengths to recruit players, but based on the extraordinary time and effort put in by the Tigers to sign Edene Gebbie, there must be something special about the Papuan. Looking forward to eventually seeing this bloke

Isn’t this the guy who spat the dummy and left south’s with out telling them cause he couldn’t get a run in first grade

I don't think so? He went home to PNG because of COVID.

Fair enough just that I was reading him and douehi were supposed to fight out who gets the fullback job but then they signed latrel Mitchell so he spat the dummy and left

Spat the dummy and left? He had no competition to play in and couldn't even train with his team so he asked for a release to return home so he could play some football.

What do you think he should have done?

 

[Holman Barnes #1 Fan]

Wow that's an amazing story about Edene Gebbie. The story could become even more bonkers if he makes it to first grade. His highlights are very good. Similar to Roberts, it's another low-risk, potentially high reward signing.

 

[JC99]

Wow that's an amazing story about Edene Gebbie. The story could become even more bonkers if he makes it to first grade. His highlights are very good. Similar to Roberts, it's another low-risk, potentially high reward signing.

It could happen. He's 25, Sivo and Olam had similar paths to first grade and started making their Mark in the top grade at around the same age. I'm glad to hear we have an option for 2022 because it seems more likely he would thrive then after a year of being with us learning the system

 

[TillLindemann]

Welcome, Edene!

I'm already over the moon with our recruiting for this season. If Gebbie does well it will be the cherry on top.

The thing with Papuans is they will put their heart into it, they are fantastic, passionate people.

He obviously has raw talent, if we can iron in some polish and some discipline I've no doubt he can achieve good things.

Edit: ironing polish is probably not the best metaphor lol.

 

[sleeve]

Mikaele is a young forward who has been thrown to the wolves. Most if not all young props begin their careers off the bench and play a small amount of minutes. Due to our poor pack in recent years Mikaele has been the main man the Tigers have looked at to make metres. No senior forwards leading the way at all in recent years. He will be a completely different player with big senior forwards around him

Well he better, because he's going to be quickly overtaken otherwise.

All our middle forwards are going to be under pressure. Stef, Mikaele, Tuki Simpkins and Musgrove can all have an impact. Twal, Joe O and Tamou are good but more workers.

I'd play Tuki Simpkins off the bench and at lock. I reckon he looks heaps better than Twal at lock. I suppose you play both of them for the moment.

Someone is missing out. I reckon Mikaele deserves a bench spot based on his trial form.

Tuki has an X factor about him.

Don’t know what it is but you can just tell this guy knows how to throw his weight around - and I love it!

Looks like a good defender, but he got smashed twice and driven back and he had a decent run-up. Looks like he needs to another season to develop. Let's be honest...he's 19. He'll benefit greatly by being eased in slowly.

Agreed. He's played well in the trials but week in week out NRL is very demanding, we need to be careful not to rush him. With a year or so developing his body and putting on some size on he's going to make a fantastic lock.


Thats were it becomes a juggling act that is hard to maintain - you have to give them some game time at NRL level to show them that they are part of the future plans. No matter what you say if you continue to run them around in reggies when the next club comes along that says we will guarantee you a top 30 spot they will want to move on. We have been very canny in amassing this loads of young guns with potential - the trick now is keeping them.

The smartest thing said for a while.

 

[PJ_]

Yep , that’s what I think . Also Ennis has a bee in his bonnet over the fact we didn’t play Reynolds and got rid him .

I dont rate Ennis at all to the point where I dont watch a single Fox program with him in it.

Reynolds isnt our problem anymore.

Can't stand his head, looks like Buzz light year. 10 on the plodder scale for wrongness of head