@avocadoontoast said in [Signing Suggestions & Rumours](/post/1448292) said:
Comments suggesting it doesn't matter as they're only reserve graders are missing the point. These players were identified by us and we made them offers. They turned us down. There is no point having a youth strategy if we're unable to sign them.
The vast majority of NRL players will resign with their current clubs. This is not an issue unique to Wests Tigers. Do you think the Wests Tigers were the only club that identified either of these guys?
They are not the only two players we've gone after. We've gone after many other players that have signed with rival clubs.
So what? We are a club that isn’t very attractive because we have spent so much time near the bottom. That won’t change overnight.
You conveniently ignore all the junior talent we have signed because we missed out on 2.
We've missed out on a lot more than two unless of course we didn't really make them an offer at all -
TPJ
JAC
LM
AJ Brimson
Lomax
Jai Arrow
HSS
Egan
Ah so now you’re changing the argument to make the list longer, sorry I didn’t realise players in their mid 20,s were classed as junior talent.
Not changing the argument at all. Egan and HSS were no doubt being recruited for our NRL side, not to sit in KOE. These are players we were linked to and have signed zero. Our miss rate is shocking.
Do you believe bringing Sheens back is an admission a cog is amiss in our recruitment wheel (note I believe Hartigan is doing a fine job)?
Hartigan is also a big piece of the recruitment team, not just Madge.
If our recruitment purportedly sucks, the blame lays with the entire team. You don't get to pick and choose who to single out.
I think whoever is identifying the talent (I imagine a mix of Hartigan and Madge) is doing a good job. They just can't close a deal. That's the issue
Yeah and you will not get an argument from me about that either. We are flush with cash so it's not about that. It's either we are refusing to pay overs to attract the talent as it appears we have had a bit of a moneyball approach of late, or they don't want to be here.
But my reply to Paws was moreso about his willingness to apportion blame toward Madge in it's entirety and absolve absolutely everyone else in the process. Never anyone else's fault but Maguire's.
It's not an unreasonable expectation the NRL coach is the No 1 cog in recruiting NRL players to a club.
Is it also unreasonable to expect your halfback to be the number 1 cog in your team?
That's the halfback who is the most marked man in the team because he poses the biggest threat to opposing teams?
You answered a question with a question and still didn’t answer my question. My point is you seem to hold the whole organisation to this amazingly high standard which you then don’t have for the halfback of our team which is the “No 1 cog” in our team.
Brooks is one of our best together with Twal. That you cannot see this is your issue.
Trent Barrett can attract JAC, Burton, TPJ, Vaughan and the Bronco's lock is now on his acquisition list. It is not an unreasonable expectation Maguire do the same for WTs. Why are you so sensitive about this? Maguire should rightly be held to account for the lack of signings to improve our roster. He is the NRL coach.
The only reason the bulldogs are attracting these players is because they are paying overs on longer term contracts, pure and simple. They have spent the last four years trying to fix their salary cap and now that its about right they are making the same mistakes all over again. This club has learnt for Ivan Cleary's mistakes, they haven't.
