Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Newtown]

Today is the day which Michael Clarke advised the unknown player to join Wests tigers will be announced. He said the player would fill a position which the club desperately needs to bolster.

 

[tony soprano]

The fella on League Unlimited is reporting that we signed the unknown forward last night. Hope it's not a load of bull.

Must be true some guy on the internet said so

 

[Russell]

We have no leaders on the field. I personally believe it's that simple.

When the chips are down on field, there is no one there to read the riot act. No one holding others accountable. No one to stand there and say "I'm not taking this **** any longer!"

It's just players looking at each other with that stupid look. It's a mental game every bit as it is physical. Who is going to stand there and say "get your **** sorted lads!" ?

When we sort that..........

agree 100% You add 2-3 real leaders to this team this year and we make the 8..
Everyone keep saying Juniors are our way out of this and yes I agree to an extent but without leaders WHO is leading them and showing them what right or wrong..
Who are they -- IDK but we need to buy some before we lose some of these exciting juniors to other clubs as we lack leadership they crave.

But who out there currently is a leader ? Sims would literally be the only one. We really missed the boat not signing finucane, absolute joke he wasn’t top priority.

IDK to be honest but for me adding a few with true leadership is a must.. Finucane would of been good but I think he wanted 4 years but surely there is others out there.

Yeah agree didn't look too good against Penrith.

Still his presence in training and impact on players would’ve made him worth it. Like what a kick in the guts it was when Stef returned from origin camp and the first player he mentions is finucane

Not for 4 years it wouldn't.

He won’t play 4 years at Cronulla and he certainly won’t sit out still getting paid, I don’t believe he’s that type of person

He was asking for 4 years.

Finucane has played in 6 grand finals and played semi finals every year of his career across bulldogs and storm

Stef credited finucane for his change in form from origin camp. Imagine the impact he could of made across the whole squad.

To me he's the type of player that can change club culture and send us in a new direction. And for that I would of taken the hit of 4 years. If he's not up to it in year 4 he can teach the young players in Reggie's. Would of been huge value for the club

Look at the improvement in Stef spending a couple of weeks with Finucane, imagine the improvement in him and the rest of the pack spending 3 or 4 years with him.

He could have shown him how to be a marquee player - like he was in his last game against the Riff.

Stef wasn't that good in his few games for Parramatta because he didn't want to be there. (One of the reasons he signed with us was because of how the Eels treated his brother). He also had very few minutes in those games.

Stef had a full off-season with us, was given limited (taste) time with us, work on this, work on t hat when back to reggies - in other words brought on slowly BY MADGE to the player he is now.

However it was Finucane in a few days that has turned him into a superstar - yeah right! (might have shown him a few preparatory things but I would not be giving him the credit alot of posters here are doing.

No credit for Madge - would have expected nothing more.

 

[Papacito]

For mine, recruitment is a game of chess that you're playing against the teams just above and below you.

While there's still some time to go, the teams below us seem to have leapfrogged us in terms of roster quality.

 

[TheDaBoss]

Mystery prop woooo

 

[Devon Head]

We have no leaders on the field. I personally believe it's that simple.

When the chips are down on field, there is no one there to read the riot act. No one holding others accountable. No one to stand there and say "I'm not taking this **** any longer!"

It's just players looking at each other with that stupid look. It's a mental game every bit as it is physical. Who is going to stand there and say "get your **** sorted lads!" ?

When we sort that..........

agree 100% You add 2-3 real leaders to this team this year and we make the 8..
Everyone keep saying Juniors are our way out of this and yes I agree to an extent but without leaders WHO is leading them and showing them what right or wrong..
Who are they -- IDK but we need to buy some before we lose some of these exciting juniors to other clubs as we lack leadership they crave.

But who out there currently is a leader ? Sims would literally be the only one. We really missed the boat not signing finucane, absolute joke he wasn’t top priority.

IDK to be honest but for me adding a few with true leadership is a must.. Finucane would of been good but I think he wanted 4 years but surely there is others out there.

Yeah agree didn't look too good against Penrith.

Still his presence in training and impact on players would’ve made him worth it. Like what a kick in the guts it was when Stef returned from origin camp and the first player he mentions is finucane

Not for 4 years it wouldn't.

He won’t play 4 years at Cronulla and he certainly won’t sit out still getting paid, I don’t believe he’s that type of person

He was asking for 4 years.

Finucane has played in 6 grand finals and played semi finals every year of his career across bulldogs and storm

Stef credited finucane for his change in form from origin camp. Imagine the impact he could of made across the whole squad.

To me he's the type of player that can change club culture and send us in a new direction. And for that I would of taken the hit of 4 years. If he's not up to it in year 4 he can teach the young players in Reggie's. Would of been huge value for the club

Look at the improvement in Stef spending a couple of weeks with Finucane, imagine the improvement in him and the rest of the pack spending 3 or 4 years with him.

He could have shown him how to be a marquee player - like he was in his last game against the Riff.

Stef wasn't that good in his few games for Parramatta because he didn't want to be there. (One of the reasons he signed with us was because of how the Eels treated his brother). He also had very few minutes in those games.

Stef had a full off-season with us, was given limited (taste) time with us, work on this, work on t hat when back to reggies - in other words brought on slowly BY MADGE to the player he is now.

However it was Finucane in a few days that has turned him into a superstar - yeah right! (might have shown him a few preparatory things but I would not be giving him the credit alot of posters here are doing.

No credit for Madge - would have expected nothing more.

Lol no one including me is claiming Madge hasn't been massive for Stef however in Stef's own words he specifically credits his time in camp and the knowledge and guidance from Finucane for improving him as a player. If you want to call him a lier for stating that himself then that's on you.

 

[jrtiger]

Today is the day which Michael Clarke advised the unknown player to join Wests tigers will be announced. He said the player would fill a position which the club desperately needs to bolster.

well where there's smoke there's fire. the bloke on LU said we had apparently got the player in question over the line last night and Clarke has said there would be a signing this week. I guess we wait. knowing WT it won't be announced for another 2 weeks though.

 

[Tiger5150]

We were leading that game I believe , until he came on with chee kam . That 20 min stint literally lost us the game . Turbo went through his corridor repeatedly , so the other edge tightened , and they went through there instead . I’m not in the business of blaming sole players for losses , but he should not have been playing that game . Whether it was bad management from our medical team or him not being honest with himself about where his body was at , I don’t know , but that was not ok .
Speaking of which , so much was made of Gray and his supposed game changing performance team , but I gotta say , we were better u der the previous high performance team .
He sent us backwards if anything . We looked better for the calendar , but that’s about it .

To be honest I know little about the Tigers performance team past or present however I def felt many games we looked completely gassed at times. Whether it was the 15mins before halftime or the final 15mins of the game we just looked completely underdone fitness wise. Hard to believe when Madge is such a task master with his teams being super fit.

A lot comes down to their mental state too though and mental toughness. With a large number of the team very young they possibly haven't developed the mental toughness to play for 80mins every week. I personally find it tiresome and boring as hell to run drills and laps or go for distance runs however come game day I can easily pump out 80mins without a sub even at 39 so I doubt it's a physical fitness issue.

I feel the team might be better off looking at a sports psychologist of sorts to mentally prepare the players better, to start faster instead of lumbering into matches and only switching on when down by 24. Help the players recognize and distinguish the difference/triggers of mental fatigue over physical fatigue and help them find ways to push through it even under pressure.



I was talking years ago to some Canterbury players
When Des was coach and they had that run when they keep losing and they told me that Des was flogging them at training and the more they lost the more they got flog at training and they said on game day they had nothing in the tank

Keep hearing how much of a dinosaur and old school thinker Des is. Then I watch Manly storm into the finals.

Des completely lost the plot at the Dogs. It’s not that he lost it, he just needed to go away and lay on a beach with a cocktail and get his head back. He must have done it, cos he got it back when he returned to Manly.

2 Things- 1-Des lost it a Dogs cause he back ended contracts & took off before it came back to bite him(as he did to Manly before he left them & left poor old Tooves to pick up the mess))
2-Des did jack at Manly this year... It was no coincidence that Tom Trov returned & they started winning. They should change their name to the Manly Toms cause without him they lose.

Even if what you say is true, he created a club that was successful at Manly for a long time and won a premiership playing some of the best league I've seen. That's after they had looked like a bit of a mess before him. They had a few down years after he left and they're back now. Looking at how Barrett struggled there highlights what a quality job Hasler did. I also think Toovey was a good coach, but not a 'special one'. I think Hasler is an excellent coach. I'm sure he's made mistakes, and the Bulldogs really went sour, but he also took them to a grand final.

I completely agree that Turbo was the main reason Manly turned around their season and became a good side, but to me a coach needing good players is a given.

He was my preferred coach when Madge was hired. I also like Madge, but to me Hasler is in that class of coaches with Bennett, Robinson and Bellamy.

The points you make about Tooves & Barrett being unsuccessful i think highlights the size of the mess Hasler left behind. Just look at the mess Jason Taylor & Ivan Cleary left behind & we are still dealing with it. For mine, if a coach needs to backend contracts to gain an advantage , he isnt much of a coach.While Im not a fan of Melbourne & Roosters & believe they too gain unfair advantage from the cap, look what they have done & continue to do with "average" players. They turn them into very good players & sometimes great players. Thats good coaching. Clearly, if Hasler has to rely on Turbo to get wins , who is really coaching the side? Hasler doesnt have a winning gameplan that doesnt include Turbo. Look at Bennett losing Latrell. Souths still winning. That is a good coach.
Sorry mate, I will have to agree to disagree with on this on this one.

I dont understand the hatred or disrespect for Hasler. I can see and understand that he screwed over the Salary Cap at Bulldogs.

Barrett took a Manly team very similar to the current one to 15th in 2018 and Turbo played 22 games. The very next year Hasler took the same team to 6th and Turbo only played 12 games.

 

[TonyTiger]

Still can’t believe we have signed nobody except for the 2 OS players , Gould wants to complete his roster by this weekend with 2 more signings and we haven’t started , either playing a very shrewd game or nobody wants to come

It’s not easy being sweaty clean .. Gould shows players the door and they leave ... we consider player welfare and contractural obligations ... there comes a time when you need to get a bit dirty.

 

[TonyTiger]

Still can’t believe we have signed nobody except for the 2 OS players , Gould wants to complete his roster by this weekend with 2 more signings and we haven’t started , either playing a very shrewd game or nobody wants to come

It’s not easy being sweaty clean .. Gould shows players the door and they leave ... we consider player welfare and contractural obligations ... there comes a time when you need to get a bit dirty.

Squeaky clean

 

[Tiger5150]

The fella on League Unlimited is reporting that we signed the unknown forward last night. Hope it's not a load of bull.

I hope it is, he is talking about Elliot.

 

[happy_tiger]

The fella on League Unlimited is reporting that we signed the unknown forward last night. Hope it's not a load of bull.

Unknown hey ...he is going to be a stand out no doubt

Reminds me of the movie Major League ....when they get handed out the list of potential recruits and triallists .....one of the Board pipes up "this guy is dead ......"

 

[Tiger-ferret]

We were leading that game I believe , until he came on with chee kam . That 20 min stint literally lost us the game . Turbo went through his corridor repeatedly , so the other edge tightened , and they went through there instead . I’m not in the business of blaming sole players for losses , but he should not have been playing that game . Whether it was bad management from our medical team or him not being honest with himself about where his body was at , I don’t know , but that was not ok .
Speaking of which , so much was made of Gray and his supposed game changing performance team , but I gotta say , we were better u der the previous high performance team .
He sent us backwards if anything . We looked better for the calendar , but that’s about it .

To be honest I know little about the Tigers performance team past or present however I def felt many games we looked completely gassed at times. Whether it was the 15mins before halftime or the final 15mins of the game we just looked completely underdone fitness wise. Hard to believe when Madge is such a task master with his teams being super fit.

A lot comes down to their mental state too though and mental toughness. With a large number of the team very young they possibly haven't developed the mental toughness to play for 80mins every week. I personally find it tiresome and boring as hell to run drills and laps or go for distance runs however come game day I can easily pump out 80mins without a sub even at 39 so I doubt it's a physical fitness issue.

I feel the team might be better off looking at a sports psychologist of sorts to mentally prepare the players better, to start faster instead of lumbering into matches and only switching on when down by 24. Help the players recognize and distinguish the difference/triggers of mental fatigue over physical fatigue and help them find ways to push through it even under pressure.



I was talking years ago to some Canterbury players
When Des was coach and they had that run when they keep losing and they told me that Des was flogging them at training and the more they lost the more they got flog at training and they said on game day they had nothing in the tank

Keep hearing how much of a dinosaur and old school thinker Des is. Then I watch Manly storm into the finals.

Des completely lost the plot at the Dogs. It’s not that he lost it, he just needed to go away and lay on a beach with a cocktail and get his head back. He must have done it, cos he got it back when he returned to Manly.

2 Things- 1-Des lost it a Dogs cause he back ended contracts & took off before it came back to bite him(as he did to Manly before he left them & left poor old Tooves to pick up the mess))
2-Des did jack at Manly this year... It was no coincidence that Tom Trov returned & they started winning. They should change their name to the Manly Toms cause without him they lose.

Even if what you say is true, he created a club that was successful at Manly for a long time and won a premiership playing some of the best league I've seen. That's after they had looked like a bit of a mess before him. They had a few down years after he left and they're back now. Looking at how Barrett struggled there highlights what a quality job Hasler did. I also think Toovey was a good coach, but not a 'special one'. I think Hasler is an excellent coach. I'm sure he's made mistakes, and the Bulldogs really went sour, but he also took them to a grand final.

I completely agree that Turbo was the main reason Manly turned around their season and became a good side, but to me a coach needing good players is a given.

He was my preferred coach when Madge was hired. I also like Madge, but to me Hasler is in that class of coaches with Bennett, Robinson and Bellamy.

The points you make about Tooves & Barrett being unsuccessful i think highlights the size of the mess Hasler left behind. Just look at the mess Jason Taylor & Ivan Cleary left behind & we are still dealing with it. For mine, if a coach needs to backend contracts to gain an advantage , he isnt much of a coach.While Im not a fan of Melbourne & Roosters & believe they too gain unfair advantage from the cap, look what they have done & continue to do with "average" players. They turn them into very good players & sometimes great players. Thats good coaching. Clearly, if Hasler has to rely on Turbo to get wins , who is really coaching the side? Hasler doesnt have a winning gameplan that doesnt include Turbo. Look at Bennett losing Latrell. Souths still winning. That is a good coach.
Sorry mate, I will have to agree to disagree with on this on this one.

I dont understand the hatred or disrespect for Hasler. I can see and understand that he screwed over the Salary Cap at Bulldogs.

Barrett took a Manly team very similar to the current one to 15th in 2018 and Turbo played 22 games. The very next year Hasler took the same team to 6th and Turbo only played 12 games.

To be fair, they had a twin turbo this year…

 

[supercoach]

The fella on League Unlimited is reporting that we signed the unknown forward last night. Hope it's not a load of bull.

I hope it is, he is talking about Elliot.

Elliott is no better than what we have, probably a tad worse. For just once I would like a player that is quality, experienced and has a real competitive edge. You can always dream

 

[Lukic]

Stef had comparisons to Payne Haas before he came into first grade and we gave him a huge deal as an unproven teenager for that exact reason. Obviously he's developed well, but I would be hesitant to heap any praise on Madge for it.

 

[jrtiger]

The fella on League Unlimited is reporting that we signed the unknown forward last night. Hope it's not a load of bull.

I hope it is, he is talking about Elliot.

are you sure though? like yeah, he hasn't shut it down but I thought he was intimating that the player we're after is currently contracted. could be wrong though, hope I'm not. I don't want Elliott either.

 

[Tiger-ferret]

Stef had comparisons to Payne Haas before he came into first grade and we gave him a huge deal as an unproven teenager for that exact reason. Obviously he's developed well, but I would be hesitant to heap any praise on Madge for it.

This for me sums up the situation well. A true superstar will be a superstar regardless of the coach. (Yes sometimes an individual needs a little direction or inspiration) BUT the individual needs to make the most of their natural talent, take responsibility, pull their finger out and have a crack. Something I’m certain many of our first graders are not doing and don’t like it when they are called out for it. Hence the self perpetuating poor culture.

 

[TillLindemann]

Stef had comparisons to Payne Haas before he came into first grade and we gave him a huge deal as an unproven teenager for that exact reason. Obviously he's developed well, but I would be hesitant to heap any praise on Madge for it.

So Madge can't attract good signings, but on the other hand any signings that turned out good were because they were already good, not due to Madge's coaching. Hence making them good signings?

 

[Demps]

Mystery prop woooo

Won't be a prop.

2RF or lock.

 

[Aesopian]

Mystery prop woooo

Won't be a prop.

2RF or lock.

Resume details:
* Can kick goals