Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[weststigerman]

I'm a fan of James, but with limited top 30 spots and the emergence of Faagatu, Kit Laulilli, Miller etc. who IMO are all better prospects I don't think it's a smart decision to retain him on a top 30.

I'd give him another train & trial contract but there are probably other clubs who might give him a top 30 spot.

 

[twentyforty]

He wants to come back to Sydney. We were the club that approached him. In the end he decided to stick it out in France for the rest of the year. He will be back with an NRL club next year.

Mitch is 35nb. What about James Maloney he’s only a couple of years older.
Have we actually signed a 7 yet? Or have we signed a few 6s?

 

[Halbrowne61]

For whatever reason, MP has never been interested in playing for the Tigers and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.
And I’m not sure, at his age, anyone will pick him up on a serious contract.

 

[Tom Shines]

He wants to come back to Sydney. We were the club that approached him. In the end he decided to stick it out in France for the rest of the year. He will be back with an NRL club next year.

Your post I quoted said Mitchell agreed to come to the Tigers for $250k

this is fake news

 

[Halbrowne61]

the post I quoted said he agreed to come to the Tigers for $250k

this is fake news

Imo it definitely is. No Tigers for Mitch.

 

[Chipofftheoldblock]

Agree with you. I was just saying that he's top 30
next year, for good or for worse. 7 tries & good
metres back from injury, he goes alright...
@balmain boy post replying to you is pretty much
spot on. Have to invest & incentivise the young
guys that are showing a lot of promise. The
recruitment/retention under Madge wasn't good enough like you said, Tuki, Rua, Reilly, Sione
all took up spots in top 30. These young guys
coming up are a different kettle of fish though

Agree to a point.....playing Jersey Flegg is different to training and playing against the best.
NSW Cup is joke and is no way a proper pathways comp like it used to be.
Just look at the scores or players that play.
It is rarely treated as a reserve grade comp like it should be.
I would love our club management to show some backbone and scouting nonce to understand what good looks like. Our top 30 should be deemed a privilege to make, not just a given if you are on development contract. Unfortunately, the club culture is the opposite to what I would deem is the foundation of culture.

Good comments from you and agree he goes alright but top 30 - Mansfield and alot of others are far from a deserved top 30 contract.
Recruitment and Retention committee have a lot to answer to but will continue to make terrible decision in its current format (to be clear i am not a fan of the coaching team in the manner it has been laid out present or future).

 

[Mystery]

Your post I quoted said Mitchell agreed to come to the Tigers for $250k

this is fake news

Straight from the horses mouth big fella.

 

[Halbrowne61]

Straight from the horses mouth big fella.

What, that it’s fake news or are you saying he’s coming to WT ?

 

[HowDugWT]

I sometimes believe we expect too much from our younger players, especially our forwards. It would be a challenge being introduced into our NRL in our team in comparison to stronger and better performed sides. We need to be patient with players like Matamua, Tumeth and Webster-Mansfield. They are all talented but need experience and lots of game time.

I totally agree but when do you stop believing and expecting. We expected something from Brooks ever since his debut and 10 years we got nothing we expected from the "next joey Johns". I love Matamua and Tumeth and I would love to give them 3 years to develop then reevaluate their contracts. But BWM hasn't shown much and in reserve grade he has been outplayed by Jack Boyling on the other edge who has a outshined him in every way. So when do we lose hope with some young players?

 

[weststigerman]

For whatever reason, MP has never been interested in playing for the Tigers and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.
And I’m not sure, at his age, anyone will pick him up on a serious contract.

I mean we’re not exactly on the “best places to work” list at the moment.

- Lose almost every game
- Management change their mind every week
- Get smashed by the media

Hiding in France has to be more enticing than coming here.

 

[InBenjiWeTrust]

I totally agree but when do you stop believing and expecting. We expected something from Brooks ever since his debut and 10 years we got nothing we expected from the "next joey Johns". I love Matamua and Tumeth and I would love to give them 3 years to develop then reevaluate their contracts. But BWM hasn't shown much and in reserve grade he has been outplayed by Jack Boyling on the other edge who has a outshined him in every way. So when do we lose hope with some young players?

IMHO, Pole is certainly one of our best and most reliable forwards.
Seyfarth has improved a lot this year, he can now make some post contact meters and even offload. Change of coach helped him and Twal enormously. Blore is in the same category.
We still did not give James, Matamua, Kepaoa, Feledy sufficient playing time at their best position.
Kepaoa like Talau are not centres/wings, and shall not play there. On the other hand we did not give Feledy a single game?

 

[Tom Shines]

Straight from the horses mouth big fella.

You aren’t Wayne Pearce are you?

Or did you just bump into Mitchell on your last trip to France?

 

[Tom Shines]

What, that it’s fake news or are you saying he’s coming to WT ?

Nah.. Apparently the Tigers didnt want him ..at $250k… better to go with Wakeham

 

[bptiger 0]

So recruitment managers have Agents as well?

So remind me how that worked out for us 🤔🥴

 

[pawsandclaws1]

Fox Sports reporting Hull FC interest in Blore for 2024. The same article reports our interest in Luke Thompson as well as the Dragons.

 

[bptiger 0]

You aren’t Wayne Pearce are you?

Or did you just bump into Mitchell on your last trip to France?

I think Mitchell thinks he is to good to come down to the tigers level , will end up the roooters to pick up his fortune for leaving so Cronk could win them two comps

 

[pawsandclaws1]

I totally agree but when do you stop believing and expecting. We expected something from Brooks ever since his debut and 10 years we got nothing we expected from the "next joey Johns". I love Matamua and Tumeth and I would love to give them 3 years to develop then reevaluate their contracts. But BWM hasn't shown much and in reserve grade he has been outplayed by Jack Boyling on the other edge who has a outshined him in every way. So when do we lose hope with some young players?

Webster-Mansfield, Matamua and Tumeth are very early in their careers and in respect of the latter he has played consistent junior reps. As we've seen with Seyfarth, some players take time to develop, mature and find a coach who will play them to their strengths. Gould is big on this issue. Pole was always an NRL player which was obvious at Balmain and also in the U20s and Fa'agutu looks to be on the same trajectory.

 

[teddy23]

Nah.. Apparently the Tigers didnt want him ..at $250k… better to go with Wakeham

Not true… the club wanted Pearce for this season and the next however negotiations stalled from both parties (didn’t know the reason on why but @Mystery post makes sense) and Pearce informed us he’d like to play out the season and look into his options for next year and was very open to the idea of coming to us. The key reason they wanted Pearce was so he could play for us this year, when that was no longer a possibility the club went another direction with Seizer.

The club turned their attention on Moses as it was made aware that he was a good chance of potentially coming to us. Now Moses has rejected the deal and the club might’ve considered Seizer’s age factor given his deal would provide more value to us as there was no halves on the market and Pearce’s health could provide setbacks like it did for us this year when AD/Brooks went down in the second year.

The whole reason they wanted Pearce was the experience around the park, Wakeham’s deal will be pretty much replaced by Latu and Sullivan.

 

[Tom Shines]

Not true… the club wanted Pearce for this season and the next however negotiations stalled (didn’t know the reason on why but @Mystery post makes sense) and Pearce informed us he’d like to play out the season and look into his options for next year and was very open to the idea of coming to us.

The club then turned their attention on Moses as it was made aware that he was a good chance of potentially coming to us. Now Moses has rejected the deal and the club might’ve considered Seizer’s age factor given his deal would provide more value to us as there was no halves on the market and Pearce’s health could provide setbacks like it did for us this year when AD/Brooks went down.

The whole reason they wanted Pearce was the experience around the park, Wakeham’s deal will be pretty much replaced by Latu and Sullivan.

mate.. read his initial comment that I responded to… it said he agreed to come here for $250k… then it didint happen because Moses,,,do you believe this or not ?

 

[teddy23]

mate.. read his initial comment that I responded to… it said he agreed to come here for $250k… then it didint happen because Moses,,,do you believe this or not ?

I don’t think the 250k figure is correct - from memory it was $1.5 million over 2 years according to reports.

All I know is initially the club did want him but then negotiations stalled. The reason might’ve very well been because of Moses.

If we didn’t have the Moses negotiations lingering on in the background I firmly believe Pearce would be in a Wests Tigers jersey right now.