Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Telltails]

We have to get real regarding Finnucane,
Storm are excellent at keeping a top class roster, and removing dead wood.
Out of 30 players, at least 12 would be forwards, they no longer think he is needed going forward.
The reason for this, is either they can see his performance deteriorating or as in McQueen is carrying injuries.
He is a solid hard working forward, he is not a Burgess, hargraves etc
No, i don't think he will be a Packer.
I do think that in the next 12 mths 2or 3 of our young players will at least be his equal . and we will need the money to keep them.
This is why he is the wrong signing.

They're trying to keep him - Bellamy is trying to find the salary cap room to offer him a good deal

And the money, and length of contract , will be a lot less then what the dummies will offer.

Of course, and that might be the reason he leaves. He will get more money elsewhere

And there will be clubs silly enough to to do this, i hope we are not that club. Panic signings have cost us big time.

We haven't panic signed anyone since Cleary did the dirty on Us and skedaddled though.

BJ would count here.

No I dont feel he was a panic buy @BAGNF05, more like a bloke that hasn't yet shown the level of skill on a consistent basis for Us, we knew he had.
And there could be many reasons for that...personal life/family problems could be one reason.

But two clubs let him go before the Raiders due to issues mate, he’s a serial problem, this when he left Newcastle,

“ “Culturally, we have made a decision and made a bit of a stand for what we think is acceptable at our place.

“I know it’s a hard one to pull the trigger on and possibly, it mightn’t make our team any better but we think for the long run, it will be better for our club.”

The breakdown in the relationship between Leilua and the club can be traced back to Stone’s public criticism of the centre in The Daily Telegraph back in February after he returned to pre-season training from the Four Nations tournament a few weeks prior badly out of shape and weighing 111kg.

At the time, Stone fired a rocket at Leilua because of his poor attitude to training and suggested he was no certainty to start the season in the NRL.

Around the same time, Leilua also had a run-in at training with senior player Beau Scott, who accused him of not putting in.”

It’s rinse repeat if we sign TPJ.

You've raised some very valid points bagnf05.

Despite his attitude and management difficulties,BJ performed pretty well on the field for all his ex clubs,almost winning(but ultimately losing)a GF for the raiders just a couple of years ago.He was certainly a handful on the fieldtoo,which is why we bought him
I get the impression that the "Vlandys "game doesnt suit him at his age,and therefore hes accepted that WTs will be his last contract ,and he just cant be bothered to either get fit or make any effort to be competitive..maybe hes been channelling Packer!
Ill be glad when were rid of both of them
I doubt very much a Ficanne wld adopt this attitude,but regardless at 210 NRL games hes close to cooked

Too many average players being paid too much because clubs need to fill rosters spend their cap, and take risks on players who don't give a rat's about the club they play for. The lack of talent available is bumping up the contracts of all players capable of playing FG. You can understand why coaches stick to players with a good attitude ahead of ability - something the fans are not always privy to.

 

[earl]

I can’t agree with that, we need to sign guys on culture and leadership, otherwise they come here and fit into the bad culture we have and all the tackle busts, offloads, try assists and tackle efficiency etc disappears.

I don't really care one little bit about the culture. I want to win games. That requires tackle busts etc. Culture is a load of palava. I've been in bad cultures and good cultures. The work can still be produced to just as a high a quality in either environment.

Do we want to win games or tell everyone what a good culture we have while we continue to lose games.

For anyone arguing you can have both great. For those arguing a good culture is a winning culture wake up. Go and watch the Michael Jordan documentary or the Metallica documentary. Terrible cultures can lead to great things.

I want to see us win. We need to target players that win games. If they are morons but they perform and don't do anything immoral or illegal I don't care.

 

[TYGA]

We have to get real regarding Finnucane,
Storm are excellent at keeping a top class roster, and removing dead wood.
Out of 30 players, at least 12 would be forwards, they no longer think he is needed going forward.
The reason for this, is either they can see his performance deteriorating or as in McQueen is carrying injuries.
He is a solid hard working forward, he is not a Burgess, hargraves etc
No, i don't think he will be a Packer.
I do think that in the next 12 mths 2or 3 of our young players will at least be his equal . and we will need the money to keep them.
This is why he is the wrong signing.

They're trying to keep him - Bellamy is trying to find the salary cap room to offer him a good deal

And the money, and length of contract , will be a lot less then what the dummies will offer.

Of course, and that might be the reason he leaves. He will get more money elsewhere

And there will be clubs silly enough to to do this, i hope we are not that club. Panic signings have cost us big time.

We haven't panic signed anyone since Cleary did the dirty on Us and skedaddled though.

BJ would count here.

Would it though. For form at the time and the limited contract span the club was smart with this one. Sure it went a bit pear shaped but with the information on hand at the time it was a good signing.

Disagree strongly, has had drama follow him throughout his career, can’t keep the weight off, struck up a nice combo with Rapana for a year or two but on the balance of his career he’s been a disappointment.

Ricky was off him for discipline, Wests Tigers need discipline. We keep signing guys thinking we can change them. We can’t.

See I get signings like BJ and Roberts, our salary cap was still in a mess and we were targeting youth. The signings of both BJ and Roberts were a calculated risk to win now that wouldn't damage our future. They didn't work out but I understand the reasoning.

We paid good coin for BJ, I’d rather see us bring in a guy with some leadership to change a culture that is clearly lacking. We got what we knew we were buying.

JTJ to a lesser extent because he was cheap. But now that it’s failed I can still see us giving him another year. We just don’t learn.

BJ is being paid by the Raiders it’s the main reason we took a gamble. That said we need to stop gambling and sign solid players and bring in youth. We need to stop looking for short term fixes it’s a rebuild.

 

[BAGNF05]

I can’t agree with that, we need to sign guys on culture and leadership, otherwise they come here and fit into the bad culture we have and all the tackle busts, offloads, try assists and tackle efficiency etc disappears.

I don't really care one little bit about the culture. I want to win games. That requires tackle busts etc. Culture is a load of palava. I've been in bad cultures and good cultures. The work can still be produced to just as a high a quality in either environment.

Do we want to win games or tell everyone what a good culture we have while we continue to lose games.

For anyone arguing you can have both great. For those arguing a good culture is a winning culture wake up. Go and watch the Michael Jordan documentary or the Metallica documentary. Terrible cultures can lead to great things.

I want to see us win. We need to target players that win games. If they are morons but they perform and don't do anything immoral or illegal I don't care.

Alex McKinnon broke his neck mate. You don’t take those sorts of risks for your mates unless it means something. Culture is a reflection of how much it means.

 

[BZN]

We have to get real regarding Finnucane,
Storm are excellent at keeping a top class roster, and removing dead wood.
Out of 30 players, at least 12 would be forwards, they no longer think he is needed going forward.
The reason for this, is either they can see his performance deteriorating or as in McQueen is carrying injuries.
He is a solid hard working forward, he is not a Burgess, hargraves etc
No, i don't think he will be a Packer.
I do think that in the next 12 mths 2or 3 of our young players will at least be his equal . and we will need the money to keep them.
This is why he is the wrong signing.

They're trying to keep him - Bellamy is trying to find the salary cap room to offer him a good deal

And the money, and length of contract , will be a lot less then what the dummies will offer.

Of course, and that might be the reason he leaves. He will get more money elsewhere

And there will be clubs silly enough to to do this, i hope we are not that club. Panic signings have cost us big time.

We haven't panic signed anyone since Cleary did the dirty on Us and skedaddled though.

BJ would count here.

No I dont feel he was a panic buy @BAGNF05, more like a bloke that hasn't yet shown the level of skill on a consistent basis for Us, we knew he had.
And there could be many reasons for that...personal life/family problems could be one reason.

But two clubs let him go before the Raiders due to issues mate, he’s a serial problem, this when he left Newcastle,

“ “Culturally, we have made a decision and made a bit of a stand for what we think is acceptable at our place.

“I know it’s a hard one to pull the trigger on and possibly, it mightn’t make our team any better but we think for the long run, it will be better for our club.”

The breakdown in the relationship between Leilua and the club can be traced back to Stone’s public criticism of the centre in The Daily Telegraph back in February after he returned to pre-season training from the Four Nations tournament a few weeks prior badly out of shape and weighing 111kg.

At the time, Stone fired a rocket at Leilua because of his poor attitude to training and suggested he was no certainty to start the season in the NRL.

Around the same time, Leilua also had a run-in at training with senior player Beau Scott, who accused him of not putting in.”

It’s rinse repeat if we sign TPJ.

You've raised some very valid points bagnf05.

Despite his attitude and management difficulties,BJ performed pretty well on the field for all his ex clubs,almost winning(but ultimately losing)a GF for the raiders just a couple of years ago.He was certainly a handful on the fieldtoo,which is why we bought him
I get the impression that the "Vlandys "game doesnt suit him at his age,and therefore hes accepted that WTs will be his last contract ,and he just cant be bothered to either get fit or make any effort to be competitive..maybe hes been channelling Packer!
Ill be glad when were rid of both of them
I doubt very much a Ficanne wld adopt this attitude,but regardless at 210 NRL games hes close to cooked

[/QUOTE]

And I :100: agree with everything you said.

 

[hsvjones]

Looks like we **missed out again** and have all this cash to spend and no none wants it...
So does our focus turn to upgrading some of the current guys and promoting development players ??
Its hard been a Tigers supporter and they say there is Ups and Downs.... Just waiting for the Up's as it been 10 years. We are a joke

Missed out on what again?

TPJ but not just him....
It's not a coincidence that we seem to be involved in negotiations with players but they always seem to go elsewhere and its like we are just a bargaining tool. People might not agree or like it but until we actually get a big signing that is what we are.
Its a shame as we have so much potential as a club and have a massive fan base. We are building very well from the ground up and adding a lot of pieces off the field but at the end of the day if you don't win on the field you just don't win.

But we didn't miss out with TPJ, the Bronc's have not released him YET?

If he was coming here it would of been done by now considering he is not even playing for the next 3 weeks so it's not like they are close to making the finals and he helps them.
They told him he can look elsewhere and want him off the books but yet nothing happened. There is a number of reason why and we will never know but as I said in my post its not just TPJ... We consistently go shopping for top players and bring nothing home so something is not right. Pretty sure every other team in the comp has picked up a top line player except us in the last 18 months. So for us to get 1 we need to pay overs to make it happen and start the domino effect.. Not just anyone but a player that will help change our culture E.g. Brendan Smith, Funicane .. I don't know why

 

[sleeve]

Difficult to know the type of player to target with V'landys butting in with rule changes. The only foreseeable constant is the the need for speed.

Mentally tough ones. Rugby League caters to all types of athletes as long as they’ve got the ticker.

Yes getting enough of them is the hard bit. Bulldogs have Josh Jackson but not many helpers and they can't score a try.

Spot on brother. The good sides have 90% of their squad full of em’

And 90% of the top squads have the fastest backlines.

Why speed is important;-
Storm;-JAC, Papa, Hynes, Olam,Hughes, Smith, Munster etc
Roosters;-Teddy, Morris,Topou,Manu,Keary, Sualli etc
Penrith; To,o ,Stains, Luai, Burton, Crichton etc
Eeels;;-Gutho, Brown, Sivo, Moses, Ferguson, etc
Manly;-Turbo,Saab', Schuster, Evans, Suli, Garrick etc
Souths;- LM, Johnston, Graham, Gagai, Walker, Moga etc

These are top sides, and look at the speed compaired to the bottom sides or the Tigers with only Laurie, Brooks, and maybe Noffa with genuine speed.

 

[Geo]

Difficult to know the type of player to target with V'landys butting in with rule changes. The only foreseeable constant is the the need for speed.

Mentally tough ones. Rugby League caters to all types of athletes as long as they’ve got the ticker.

Yes getting enough of them is the hard bit. Bulldogs have Josh Jackson but not many helpers and they can't score a try.

Spot on brother. The good sides have 90% of their squad full of em’

And 90% of the top squads have the fastest backlines.

Why speed is important;-
Storm;-JAC, Papa, Hynes, Olam,Hughes, Smith, Munster etc
Roosters;-Teddy, Morris,Topou,Manu,Keary, Sualli etc
Penrith; To,o ,Stains, Luai, Burton, Crichton etc
Eeels;;-Gutho, Brown, Sivo, Moses, Ferguson, etc
Manly;-Turbo,Saab', Schuster, Evans, Suli, Garrick etc
Souths;- LM, Johnston, Graham, Gagai, Walker, Moga etc

These are top sides, and look at the speed compaired to the bottom sides or the Tigers with only Laurie, Brooks, and maybe Noffa with genuine speed.

Didn't Liddle outrun Stains..

 

[BZN]

I can’t agree with that, we need to sign guys on culture and leadership, otherwise they come here and fit into the bad culture we have and all the tackle busts, offloads, try assists and tackle efficiency etc disappears.

I don't really care one little bit about the culture. I want to win games. That requires tackle busts etc. Culture is a load of palava. I've been in bad cultures and good cultures. The work can still be produced to just as a high a quality in either environment.

Do we want to win games or tell everyone what a good culture we have while we continue to lose games.

For anyone arguing you can have both great. For those arguing a good culture is a winning culture wake up. Go and watch the Michael Jordan documentary or the Metallica documentary. Terrible cultures can lead to great things.

I want to see us win. We need to target players that win games. If they are morons but they perform and don't do anything immoral or illegal I don't care.

Alex McKinnon broke his neck mate. You don’t take those sorts of risks for your mates unless it means something. Culture is a reflection of how much it means.

:+1: :+1: :+1: :+1:

 

[Demps]

Difficult to know the type of player to target with V'landys butting in with rule changes. The only foreseeable constant is the the need for speed.

Mentally tough ones. Rugby League caters to all types of athletes as long as they’ve got the ticker.

Yes getting enough of them is the hard bit. Bulldogs have Josh Jackson but not many helpers and they can't score a try.

Spot on brother. The good sides have 90% of their squad full of em’

And 90% of the top squads have the fastest backlines.

Why speed is important;-
Storm;-JAC, Papa, Hynes, Olam,Hughes, Smith, Munster etc
Roosters;-Teddy, Morris,Topou,Manu,Keary, Sualli etc
Penrith; To,o ,Stains, Luai, Burton, Crichton etc
Eeels;;-Gutho, Brown, Sivo, Moses, Ferguson, etc
Manly;-Turbo,Saab', Schuster, Evans, Suli, Garrick etc
Souths;- LM, Johnston, Graham, Gagai, Walker, Moga etc

These are top sides, and look at the speed compaired to the bottom sides or the Tigers with only Laurie, Brooks, and maybe Noffa with genuine speed.

The forum naysayers said Nicho isn't fast.

 

[sleeve]

Difficult to know the type of player to target with V'landys butting in with rule changes. The only foreseeable constant is the the need for speed.

Mentally tough ones. Rugby League caters to all types of athletes as long as they’ve got the ticker.

Yes getting enough of them is the hard bit. Bulldogs have Josh Jackson but not many helpers and they can't score a try.

Spot on brother. The good sides have 90% of their squad full of em’

And 90% of the top squads have the fastest backlines.

Why speed is important;-
Storm;-JAC, Papa, Hynes, Olam,Hughes, Smith, Munster etc
Roosters;-Teddy, Morris,Topou,Manu,Keary, Sualli etc
Penrith; To,o ,Stains, Luai, Burton, Crichton etc
Eeels;;-Gutho, Brown, Sivo, Moses, Ferguson, etc
Manly;-Turbo,Saab', Schuster, Evans, Suli, Garrick etc
Souths;- LM, Johnston, Graham, Gagai, Walker, Moga etc

These are top sides, and look at the speed compaired to the bottom sides or the Tigers with only Laurie, Brooks, and maybe Noffa with genuine speed.

Didn't Liddle outrun Stains..

Liddle is a forward, and thats even more telling. When of any of our backs ran more then 15 metres to score a try? Probably only Brooks.

 

[sleeve]

Difficult to know the type of player to target with V'landys butting in with rule changes. The only foreseeable constant is the the need for speed.

Mentally tough ones. Rugby League caters to all types of athletes as long as they’ve got the ticker.

Yes getting enough of them is the hard bit. Bulldogs have Josh Jackson but not many helpers and they can't score a try.

Spot on brother. The good sides have 90% of their squad full of em’

And 90% of the top squads have the fastest backlines.

Why speed is important;-
Storm;-JAC, Papa, Hynes, Olam,Hughes, Smith, Munster etc
Roosters;-Teddy, Morris,Topou,Manu,Keary, Sualli etc
Penrith; To,o ,Stains, Luai, Burton, Crichton etc
Eeels;;-Gutho, Brown, Sivo, Moses, Ferguson, etc
Manly;-Turbo,Saab', Schuster, Evans, Suli, Garrick etc
Souths;- LM, Johnston, Graham, Gagai, Walker, Moga etc

These are top sides, and look at the speed compaired to the bottom sides or the Tigers with only Laurie, Brooks, and maybe Noffa with genuine speed.

The forum naysayers said Nicho isn't fast.

He would crap on anyone we have, and he is not super fast.

 

[Demps]

Difficult to know the type of player to target with V'landys butting in with rule changes. The only foreseeable constant is the the need for speed.

Mentally tough ones. Rugby League caters to all types of athletes as long as they’ve got the ticker.

Yes getting enough of them is the hard bit. Bulldogs have Josh Jackson but not many helpers and they can't score a try.

Spot on brother. The good sides have 90% of their squad full of em’

And 90% of the top squads have the fastest backlines.

Why speed is important;-
Storm;-JAC, Papa, Hynes, Olam,Hughes, Smith, Munster etc
Roosters;-Teddy, Morris,Topou,Manu,Keary, Sualli etc
Penrith; To,o ,Stains, Luai, Burton, Crichton etc
Eeels;;-Gutho, Brown, Sivo, Moses, Ferguson, etc
Manly;-Turbo,Saab', Schuster, Evans, Suli, Garrick etc
Souths;- LM, Johnston, Graham, Gagai, Walker, Moga etc

These are top sides, and look at the speed compaired to the bottom sides or the Tigers with only Laurie, Brooks, and maybe Noffa with genuine speed.

The forum naysayers said Nicho isn't fast.

He would crap on anyone we have, and he is not super fast.

He's a gun.
I'm keen to see how he goes at an average team though.

(Sharks)

 

[JC99]

Sounds like Seb Kris has re-signed at Canberra

 

[sleeve]

Difficult to know the type of player to target with V'landys butting in with rule changes. The only foreseeable constant is the the need for speed.

Mentally tough ones. Rugby League caters to all types of athletes as long as they’ve got the ticker.

Yes getting enough of them is the hard bit. Bulldogs have Josh Jackson but not many helpers and they can't score a try.

Spot on brother. The good sides have 90% of their squad full of em’

And 90% of the top squads have the fastest backlines.

Why speed is important;-
Storm;-JAC, Papa, Hynes, Olam,Hughes, Smith, Munster etc
Roosters;-Teddy, Morris,Topou,Manu,Keary, Sualli etc
Penrith; To,o ,Stains, Luai, Burton, Crichton etc
Eeels;;-Gutho, Brown, Sivo, Moses, Ferguson, etc
Manly;-Turbo,Saab', Schuster, Evans, Suli, Garrick etc
Souths;- LM, Johnston, Graham, Gagai, Walker, Moga etc

These are top sides, and look at the speed compaired to the bottom sides or the Tigers with only Laurie, Brooks, and maybe Noffa with genuine speed.

The forum naysayers said Nicho isn't fast.

He would crap on anyone we have, and he is not super fast.

He's a gun.
I'm keen to see how he goes at an average team though.

(Sharks)

Demps, i'm not saying we cannot do with an agressive forward, but Laurie is not yet a top class FB, maybe he will be, but not yet. If injured or suspended we are in deep doodo. Will AD turn into a good centre ? maybe, but at the moment he has been both good and bad. Will he be back at 5/8, doutfull with Hastings coming. Our backline is still a long way from being a top 8 backline at best. This area to me is our biggest concern.

 

[cochise]

I can’t agree with that, we need to sign guys on culture and leadership, otherwise they come here and fit into the bad culture we have and all the tackle busts, offloads, try assists and tackle efficiency etc disappears.

I don't really care one little bit about the culture. I want to win games. That requires tackle busts etc. Culture is a load of palava. I've been in bad cultures and good cultures. The work can still be produced to just as a high a quality in either environment.

Do we want to win games or tell everyone what a good culture we have while we continue to lose games.

For anyone arguing you can have both great. For those arguing a good culture is a winning culture wake up. Go and watch the Michael Jordan documentary or the Metallica documentary. Terrible cultures can lead to great things.

I want to see us win. We need to target players that win games. If they are morons but they perform and don't do anything immoral or illegal I don't care.

Bad cultures succeed despite their culture and not because of it. Having a good culture and buy in gives you the best chance for success.

Your examples of bad cultures is poor aswell. Metallica were so dysfunctional that they pretty much broke up and were only able to produce that album after hiring a replacement and improving the culture. They had a live in shrink to get that album moving.

The bulls had a bad culture do to having a leader that drove extremely high standards aggressively. Who drives our standards? That is why we need to look at leadership and culture.

 

[Demps]

Sounds like Seb Kris has re-signed at Canberra

Good prospect for them...

Backline is stacked when Croker comes back though...

I think there'll be some more movement at the raiders prior to season 2022 kick off. Gotta feeling some of the players aren't happy there.

 

[JC99]

Sounds like Seb Kris has re-signed at Canberra

Good prospect for them...

Backline is stacked when Croker comes back though...

I think there'll be some more movement at the raiders prior to season 2022 kick off. Gotta feeling some of the players aren't happy there.

Probably means Smith-Shields will be on the market. They re-signed Xavier Savage too

 

[Demps]

Sounds like Seb Kris has re-signed at Canberra

Good prospect for them...

Backline is stacked when Croker comes back though...

I think there'll be some more movement at the raiders prior to season 2022 kick off. Gotta feeling some of the players aren't happy there.

Probably means Smith-Shields will be on the market. They re-signed Xavier Savage too

Can't keep em all eh.

Charnze to come back in.
Croker.
Bailey Simonsen.
Got that young Fijian winger, I think.

Maybe they're keen to bring Joey back too lollll, they can have him.

 

[weststigerman]

This Smith-Shields seems to be popular. I've only ever heard of him in this thread.