Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[magpies forever]

We already know how we perform surely.

Not me. I'll wait and see how they perform prior to making that judgement.

 

[Lestronge]

No team is. But combinations have to gel. It's working for Newcastle. They are a much improved team this year and Hastings is in a key position and doing his bit.

Why are they looking for new halves then ? He’s opening space up for Ponga . Yep , agree . But what I’m saying is he wouldn’t have done anything to change our results around . Because we don’t have a Ponga . Not yet anyway . We just signed one a couple months ago , and have a couple more in the lower grades.

 

[Red88_Tiger]

No team is. But combinations have to gel. It's working for Newcastle. They are a much improved team this year and Hastings is in a key position and doing his bit.

I think ponga not making origin is a kick up the backside he needed aswell

 

[Tiger-ferret]

Hastings is shit . I can’t believe people still go on about him . Controlling half ? Wtf does that mean if the attack offers nothing , and , our half (Hastings) can’t kick the ball 40m . He has zero power , much like Wakeham . Touching the ball 100 times a game and pissing off everyone around you isn’t controlling a game.
The knights are winning despite Hastings not because of him . Hence the cogger signing , and chasing Sullivan.
Even if Hastings stayed here he wasn’t playing half . And there’s only 1 club in the nrl that was playing him as a half , and even they now have had second thoughts .
And this whole idea that I’d Hastings was here we would have won more games is garbage as well . He has no running game , he is beaten easily on the outside defensively , and he can’t kick the ball for power .
When people say controlling half what they really mean is a half who takes the right option more often than not .
With brooks the issue is , he’d make a half chance or line break , panic and do something stupid .
With Hastings he doesn’t offer anything . He’s not making half chances . He’s passing it along for others too . Sure that’s cool when you have best , Fitzgibbon (highly underrated) and Ponga . This year maybe we had Bula who has that confidence . Seriously , hunt , DCE , sure this is a legit convo . But Hastings ? Please …
Oh and finally look . Hes on the nose AGAIN with his teammates . What’s that ? Roosters , manly , Wigan , tigers , knights …… football is a team sport .

Not sure if you wanted my opinion but I’ll put it out there anyway. ☺️

He’s not completely poo. If hastings stayed he would have been our first picked half for alot of this season given our injuries and lack of depth. Personally I think we would have avoided the spoon with him.

His reputation personality wise certainly precedes him.

 

[Telltails]

Why are they looking for new halves then ? He’s opening space up for Ponga . Yep , agree . But what I’m saying is he wouldn’t have done anything to change our results around . Because we don’t have a Ponga . Not yet anyway . We just signed one a couple months ago , and have a couple more in the lower grades.

Because every team needs depth in the halves. Cogger plays a similar game to Hastings and is an ex Newcastle player. If Hastings get injured or his forms drops he is an adequate option. It's a smart recruitment.

 

[Fallen Angel]

lol.

knights are in the 8. we are last. the two best games we played and won last year he was 7. souths and parra.

knights have struggled to have a solid 7 who can unleash their potential.

you can think what you want, but results speak for themselves.

i wont argue with you because we assess things differently.

Anyone with half a brain knows the one player who’s carrying that team. It ain’t the 7

 

[tony soprano]

No team is. But combinations have to gel. It's working for Newcastle. They are a much improved team this year and Hastings is in a key position and doing his bit.

Just find it odd you single out Hastings.

 

[earl]

Because we don’t have a Ponga . Not yet anyway . We just signed one a couple months ago , and have a couple more in the lower grades.

I agree with your point on Hastings. I don't get the obsession with him. He has left and to me it's a non-issue. Someone questioned me about why we are talking about him the other day and I stopped. I don't know why the topic keeps coming up. I keep waiting to watch him play a good game and it keeps not happening. Gamble looked to me like much more of a threat than Hastings yesterday. We should be talking about letting him go. Why did we let Gamble go ? He is killing it. Anyone interested ?

I am though interested in your comments about players coming through. Fainu is the most highly rated junior player to come through in years. Bula, Pole, Kit Laulilii, Stef, Matamua, Faagutu, TDS and others all have big wraps and a couple of them are doing well in first grade. Stef was picked for origin this year.

These are the guys that are going to bring us forward. I think we'll see a lot of changes in our squad over the next 5 years or so. The question is can we develop a team that wins some games.

 

[jirskyr]

When I was told tartak was upset that the tigers weren’t taking schuster and threatened to pull the Fainus he told me that he was also concerned with sending sullivan here …

Meaning he was already taking about it

Then I told Lee and Justin this

And now we have sullivan on 4 years lol at full freight

I imagine that Lee and Justin and Fulton did whatever they could to get the Fainus and promised tartak go to take sullivan and bc tartak delivered the Fainus then sullivan gets a pretty good contract

That’s just how the world works unfortunately when you have management that can’t negotiate if their lives depended.

Look at flanno on the other hand - who knows how to build a roster bc he is a very good and strong negotiator… immediately shuts down Hunt leaving even tho he’s gone public … and then really wants to get rid of sullivan but tells the tigers he won’t chip in … so we cave and pay him full freight. That ladies and gents would never happen with our club as we’ve seen over the years. When we want to get rid of a player or they want to go we always get screwed and we want a player we always pay overs and give them 1 more year than they’re worth …

Look at klemmer - 4 years! When the knights weren’t going to renew him. And to coin.

Adam douehi - 4 years when south’s told him to look elsewhere

We are known - as tartak told me - as a soft club when it comes to negotiating.

We’re an easy target.

That’s just the way it is.

Btw I love the club it just annoys me how dumb mangament are and how much they get played by agents and other clubs.

Justin in a nice guy but not a killer

And Lee just shits the bed bc he’s worried about his public profile and wants to do this aggressive recruitment thing and needs recruits now or he’ll look stupid

Look at how lee negotiated Noffa deal… 5 years and top coin.. yes he was in demand then but normally local juniors take less to stay at a club they love. For us Lee got bent over bc he has no idea about negotiating with players … it’s more about his ego and getting someone to sign.

Same as Justin right now

Both Lee and Justin and even benji are desperate for a good story bc we are getting another spoon

These signings are a lot about trying ti give us fans hope to suppress us so we don’t rally against them

Trust me.

Sullivan was worth 2 years with a club option or at a stretch 3 years but on less money.

We had Hastings as a controlling half, sheens choose brooks instead who he said was “a number 7”… and then after losing 7 games says “we need a controlling half”… why didn’t he say at the start of the year we need a controlling half? Bc he couldn’t see what all of us could - that brooks was not a controlling 7.

I only bring that up bc now that we don’t have hastings who was a controlling half - we go to market and are desperate and pay overs …

If anyone on here has watched the tigers since inception in 2000 or 2001 whatever it was … knows that we only made the finals when we had a controlling 7 and then a flashy 6. Fainu and sullivan are flashy 6s. My issue is that benji knows Sezer is a one year player two at most meaning he thinks fainu and sullivan will partner in the halves.

I’m just over the dumb thinking and bad negotiating bc we get stuck in a cycle particularly when we sign players up to 4 year deals.

I put money on it that we end up paying for sullivan to go elsewhere after 2 years or we don’t make the finals with sullivan as 7.

Yawn 🥱

 

[TYGA]

Adding the Fainu brothers and Sullivan is wise. Throw in kids coming through Bula, Pole, Tupou, TDS, Lauilli, Galvin, Feledy, Faagutu, Saukuru’s, Miller. Further down the track Tannous, Conti etc the club has as good junior depth as it has had in years.
We won’t be good for sometime but there looks to be a plan.

 

[The Chad]

People acting like the only player that directs a team around the field wears a #7.

Watch the Manly junior games. Their #7 is irrelevant. Who is he? All the direction comes from #6. Fainu is the guy to move us around the football field. Sullivan will be the 'running half' I guess, if we need to label them. But in saying that, people are ONLY seeing the running. Hard to be the organiser in a Dragons team lead by Ben Hunt.

 

[The Chad]

If we need a current example of how a team revolves around a player NOT wearing #7, look at Newcastle. Cogger would do just as good a job as Hastings in that team. The player is almost irrelevant. All the attack comes through Ponga.

Look at Melbourne. Munster runs that team from #6.

Illias is an 'organising half', but all the direction comes from Walker & Latrell. Illias has a job- don't mess it up.

Titans- Foran.

Bulldogs- Burton


There are nearly as many clubs run by the #6 as the #7. It's just how you set your systems up.

There is no reason Sullivan can't be a success at 7 while Fainu directs the team's attack.

 

[The Chad]

Adding the Fainu brothers and Sullivan is wise. Throw in kids coming through Bula, Pole, Tupou, TDS, Lauilli, Galvin, Feledy, Faagutu, Saukuru’s, Miller. Further down the track Tannous, Conti etc the club has as good junior depth as it has had in years.
We won’t be good for sometime but there looks to be a plan.

When you can't buy a club, build one.

It's almost like Sheens has done this kind of thing before..

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

Adding the Fainu brothers and Sullivan is wise. Throw in kids coming through Bula, Pole, Tupou, TDS, Lauilli, Galvin, Feledy, Faagutu, Saukuru’s, Miller. Further down the track Tannous, Conti etc the club has as good junior depth as it has had in years.
We won’t be good for sometime but there looks to be a plan.

This is spot on. If we get Sezer then we have Api & Sezer as old heads in the spine with some young speed & flamboyance around them.

It’s getting alot clearer what our strategy is for the Benji coaching era, lets hope the kids can step up.

 

[Merlot]

A winger starving a centre of the ball is on the podium for the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.
Not only did you double down on it, you through a cheap shot at me on the way, kudos to you

opinions are like bum holes - everybody has one

 

[Odessa]

opinions are like bum holes - everybody has one

No every one but most

 

[Vicious]

If we don’t score more than 2 tries today it will again prove we have more attacking deficiencies than just the halves, so let’s wait and see.

 

[Year_of_the_Tiger]

No every one but most

You can also technically have more than one … according to my colorectal surgeon who I avoid like the plague. We can discuss fistulas on another day though

 

[tiger_one]

You can also technically have more than one … according to my colorectal surgeon who I avoid like the plague. We can discuss fistulas on another day though

I'm having to leave this forum for a bit while I consult Dr Google and make some sense of this "fistulas".

 

[Lukic]

If we need a current example of how a team revolves around a player NOT wearing #7, look at Newcastle. Cogger would do just as good a job as Hastings in that team. The player is almost irrelevant. All the attack comes through Ponga.

Look at Melbourne. Munster runs that team from #6.

Illias is an 'organising half', but all the direction comes from Walker & Latrell. Illias has a job- don't mess it up.

Titans- Foran.

Bulldogs- Burton


There are nearly as many clubs run by the #6 as the #7. It's just how you set your systems up.

There is no reason Sullivan can't be a success at 7 while Fainu directs the team's attack.

There's a big difference between organising and the attack going through a player. Cooper Cronk had 1 functioning arm and the Roosters did all they could to get him to play that grand final back in 2018? Why ... because even though he barely touched the ball or did anything with it on the rare occasions he did, he directed them around the park.

The attack goes through Ponga because he's electric with the ball in hands and a great ball-player at second receiver. Hastings runs the side though. Your organiser structures the moves you up and down the field by structuring the set and from that platform the guys like Ponga are able to thrive. Hastings can not touch the ball once in a set and play a huge role, that is the nature of being an organising half.

I agree that jersey number isn't so relevant and that wearing "6" doesn't mean you can't organise / wearing "7" means you organise, but it ultimately comes down to the actual players and their playing style.

Fainu's great with the ball in hand and as an attacking threat, but it's to be seen if he can direct a team around the park from goal-line to goal-line. Two very different roles.