Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

BlackWhiteGold said:
T’oa is one player that could benefit from a sports psychologist. I wonder if the WT actually use one. Bennett has used a guy for his players for years.
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I think we desperately need a sports psychologist. We've been poor for so long and you can develop bad habits etc. It's not going to turn the team around but it might help players reach and play to their potential more often or even just make better decisions when they aren't playing well.
 
earl said:
He got beat by Dom Young last night and he just looked slow chasing but I suppose that is Dom Young. He is a threat with the ball and he can belt it back hard.

He isn't a sure thing at this point. I hope he makes it but he needs to work on his game.
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I like Tupou a lot, but that overlap Young ran past him, he barely cracked a trot and looked to give up any thought of a chase in practically an instant; It really was horrible to watch.

I don't know if he's getting a free ride in the side, or if something is off with him, but he needs to go either straight to KOE or a break altogether to sort himself out.

He could be burnt out or struggling with confidence, an injury or outside issue and he definitely has the talent and promise to persist with, but he's been terrible and that one play alone showed me he needs a break from first grade immediately.
 
Todd Packer said:
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Jai Field is a player that has been a little bit forgotten about.
As your highlights video shows he’s been a massive standout in the UK and has that explosive speed we are lacking.
Only question is he’s been playing fullback only in the UK and although he was a 5/8 when coming through the grades here, would he be up to the defensive responsibilities to make the transition back to 5/8 in the the NRL ?
At the end of the day our current NRL side is far too slow and do not have enough attacking threat to score long range tries, therefore I believe our recruitment should have a heavy focus on injecting pure speed and attacking threat into our line up.
The negative is most players that fit this description are not great defenders, but if we go back to the 2005 theory that a great attacking team assists the defence as it generally tires the opposition by them turning and chasing to defend regular line breaks.
 
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Vicious said:
Jai Field is a player that has been a little bit forgotten about.
As your highlights video shows he’s been a massive standout in the UK and has that explosive speed we are lacking.
Only question is he’s been playing fullback only in the UK and although he was a 5/8 when coming through the grades here, would he be up to the defensive responsibilities to make the transition back to 5/8 in the the NRL ?
At the end of the day our current NRL side is far too slow and do not have enough attacking threat to score long range tries, therefore I believe our recruitment should have a heavy focus on injecting pure speed and attacking threat into our line up.
The negative is most players that fit this description are not great defenders, but if we go back to the 2005 theory that a great attacking team assists the defence as it generally tires the opposition by them turning and chasing to defend regular line breaks.
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He's played some 6 for Wigan.
 
earl said:
This is what gets me. Those players aren't great. I'd keep Wakeham and maybe Smith. I reckon Wakeham has been great for us. He kicks goals consistently and his defense is great. He is a reserve grader playing NRL and performing. I honestly don't think Hastings was any better last night and I haven't seen anything this year to suggest Hastings is better than Wakeham but Wakeham costs a lot less.

The issue is though bringing in quality players. Trindall, Taafe and Croft are guys that maybe improve us a bit but I can't see massive improvements from those guys. We need like two more Bula's in the halves and a gun outside back. Then we can reassess. That might not be enough.
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Mate. Wakeham is hopeless. His defence is woeful and I couldn't give a shit about his good goal kicking as with him at 7 we will rarely score enough tries, converted or not, to win a game.
Trindall, Croft, Taafe and Hastings are all much better, though none are talented enough to cover the rest of the squads shortcomings.
 
TurnStyle said:
I like Tupou a lot, but that overlap Young ran past him, he barely cracked a trot and looked to give up any thought of a chase in practically an instant; It really was horrible to watch.

I don't know if he's getting a free ride in the side, or if something is off with him, but he needs to go either straight to KOE or a break altogether to sort himself out.

He could be burnt out or struggling with confidence, an injury or outside issue and he definitely has the talent and promise to persist with, but he's been terrible and that one play alone showed me he needs a break from first grade immediately.
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I saw that and just shook my head.
Zero effort.
 
Merlot said:
dont know.but Ilias;s father said he wouldnt spit on WT if they caught fire
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How many $$$ would change his opinion...
Add some grovelling from Lee.. (1 Greek to another).
This guy is keeping Taffe out of the starting side, and people are raving on a bit him for our halves.
He would be a definite improvement on what we have.
Big game experience as well.
 
TYGA said:
Tigers need to recruit an entire backline outside of fullback. Tupou has promise but he’s hit a wall and needs a spell. Kepoa, Toa, Naden, Nofa, Talau are all too inconsistent. Our halves are not first grade standard either. Teams just go wide as there is no point battling our forward pack when we have weak links out wide.
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I agree that's fundamentally what it is. I would love to see the latest Left vs Centre vs Right tries conceded stats, because I don't think we've let in many tries up the guts (1 ordinary one last night).

Competing in the middle and making metres down the middle are not our major concern, in fact I think we are on a very good trajectory to compete with most forward packs in the comp with a rotation of Stefano-Api-Klemmer-IP-Bateman-Pole-Blore-Twal... Seyfarth does a job, but I'd want one more decent prop to sub in (that being said, two weeks in a row the injection of Blore and Twal turned our energy around into half-time).

But as soon as the opposition shifts and we get caught out - we won't win another match until that gets fixed. You can't just have the Knights halves running sideways to get the ball out to Ponga, then we panic and the winger scores in the corner. The Knights are not a great side, but they obviously practised their shift play and knew to use it at every possible opportunity, including going back to that play more than once per set, if it didn't work out the first time.

And after leaking several tries down our RHS, Knights shift to our left and I have this thought "oh maybe the LHS will cover this" and nope, they are as brittle as the other edge. The halves cannot defend, the centres and wing both make bad decisions and turn like ocean liners. Watching Dom Young sprint down a sideline and Talau and Tupou look like sloths in comparision - embarrassing.

Also our halves absolutely unable to put anything together in attack, to mount pressure on the opposition. Knights didn't even bother for short kick-offs, they "backed their defence" as the commentators said. Well not really, they simply bet against our impotent attack.

Knights were just waiting for the opportunity to defuse our rubbish kicks and then shift wide as soon as possible. Never in any real doubt.
 
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