Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Kaito]

It’s clear Bateman dropped his bundle and became overwhelmed with the leadership of the worst team in the comp . It all became too much for him .
But I think it’s also pretty obvious , that Benji misjudged John , and probably tried on the tough love style with him / make a show out of it , to get a reaction . And he did get one , the guy got on a plane to England .
Alll that can be said is , Benji is the coach and I pray that he learnt from this situation.
Because no matter how you swing it , the way Johnny boy is carrying on , it’s pretty obvious Benji screwed the pooch on this one . Even if if John is 💯 in the wrong and is a giant dickhead . It doesn’t achieve anything to have your best second rower playing in England .

Yep. I wouldn't want to come back if I read half the
shit people wrote about me here & elsewhere smh.
Like you said, the fact is is that our best second rower
is sitting in the UK & isn't due back soon so everyone
should hold fire until we hear from him again cause
last time we did he said he was coming back. Benji
was coddling the juniors for better or worse last
year, that was evident - he also expected a lot from
his senior players. Seems it's changed this season
and he's put the line in the sand for everyone. There
is a fine line though with tough love & too much love

 

[Lestronge]

Yep. I wouldn't want to come back if I read half the
shit people wrote about me here & elsewhere smh.
Like you said, the fact is is that our best second rower
is sitting in the UK & isn't due back soon so everyone
should hold fire until we hear from him again cause
last time we did he said he was coming back. Benji
was coddling the juniors for better or worse last
year, that was evident - he also expected a lot from
his senior players. Seems it's changed this season
and he's put the line in the sand for everyone. There
is a fine line though with tough love & too much love

I personally think he had to coddle the juniors . The top 30 was a massive mess compared to this season , and it was probably obvious that’s how he was getting a response. In saying that , I’m really glad that Benji recognised how limited playing favourites is as a strategy , and he’s gone down the tougher route . Because whilst it may have been good flor blooding kids in first grade , it was proven to be pretty toxic for team harmony .

 

[Camel2281]

That’s a very one sided view of the situation.
It seems the narrative being fed by the club has become gospel.

Have had the unfortune of meeting Johnny a couple of times. Ordinary human

 

[tigerballs]

Yes they are lol . wtf are you talking about ? Do you watch Yeo play football? Hes got more skills than most halves . And hes really good with his late footwork . He hardly runs over and skittles people .
He’s just a unicorn . So clubs are trying to achieve this archetype for 60 cents on the dollar .
There’s only 1 Yeo. As for the other storm player . He’s just another dude wearing that jersey . It’s the system that’s the winner there . It was Johnson a few years back , then Finucane , obviously Hoffman before both of them .

No need to be antsy. Do you watch Yeo play football? He's not a hybrid anything. He's just the best big athlete at the club. Same as Taumololo. And Finucane and Hoffman before that. Same as with most good teams, their best big man is number 13. Let's see how Cook goes at 13 before you start shooting your big mouth off.

 

[tigerballs]

Have had the unfortune of meeting Johnny a couple of times. Ordinary human

I bumped into him in Norton St Leichhardt early this year. Couldn't really understand him but he seemed like a bit of a wierdo. His missus was nice enough but even she seemed a bit vague.

 

[Camel2281]

No need to be antsy. Do you watch Yeo play football? He's not a hybrid anything. He's just the best big athlete at the club. Same as Taumololo. And Finucane and Hoffman before that. Same as with most good teams, their best big man is number 13. Let's see how Cook goes at 13 before you start shooting your big mouth off.

McInnes played origin as a 13 this year and he's pint sized

 

[Spartan117]

makes you wonder why they signed him then (Bird)

Experience, Bird was Rookie of the Year and has had a decent career despite the Injuries.

He will be very good for the young players

 

[Spartan117]

with unveiling of the sponsorship on the jerseys painted on the ground there .. is that what our jersey are going to look like for 2025 .. ??

Yes Mate,

Cross between 2024 and 2005

 

[tigerballs]

McInnes played origin as a 13 this year and he's pint sized

How did that go for NSW?

 

[Tim Sheens]

He is average mate. Gets found out defensively a lot with some soft attempts

Won't feel out of place at WT then.

 

[Camel2281]

How did that go for NSW?

Won the series didn't we

 

[tigerballs]

Won the series didn't we

Not with him, and not the game he played.

I guess that says he was the wrong pick.

 

[watersider]

Bateman is pretty much our best defensive forward. Aggressive tackler, good motor, good line speed, enjoys the work, good lateral movement. Even defended alright at centre when he had to. The club obviously want him gone but defense is where we need to improve most and I'm quite happy for him to come back, especially if we're planning to pay half his contract for him to go elsewhere.

 

[ancient_magpie]

Bateman is pretty much our best defensive forward. Aggressive tackler, good motor, good line speed, enjoys the work, good lateral movement. Even defended alright at centre when he had to. The club obviously want him gone but defense is where we need to improve most and I'm quite happy for him to come back, especially if we're planning to pay half his contract for him to go elsewhere.

You need to get rid of those rose coloured glasses.

 

[ancient_magpie]

You need to get rid of those rose coloured glasses.

Sometimes I thinking watch different games to some people.What about the penalties he gives away when we have the ball and the times he runs sideways what about that.I could go on but I'm to tired

 

[old_man_tiger]

If Johnneh comes back as a team player sure, and I agree on paper we look stronger with him, but I believe Seyfarth can improve and not convinced Bateman can. In fact Seyfarth scored a couple of tries running nice and hard that I dont think Bateman would have scored, and their high effort low discipline play is otherwise similar. Seyfarth can also cover the middle, don't like Bateman in the middle personally.

I'm not really a massive fan of either player, but started to enjoy watching Seyfarth week in week out and Johnneh onlu.had a net positive effect on games about once a month..

Anyway go back to the first sentence. The word if is probably where the whole thing falls over and if you believe Richo and Benji quotes they made their position clear. What us mugs don't know is whether they want him back or have sent a nice email introducing him to the Reggie's coaching staff.

 

[Chipofftheoldblock]

Backrow is the weak link.

Egan Butcher,
Mavrik Geyer,
Kai Pearce-Paul,
Jacob Halangahu (will be a very good player),
Dylan Egan (Liam Martin clone)
Trey Mooney (really like this guy)

You need to target players that want to have that opportunity to dream of building a successful team and be a big player in that build.
All of the above, in my opinion would not cost the earth and would be welcome additions to improving our backrow options.

 

[Lestronge]

No need to be antsy. Do you watch Yeo play football? He's not a hybrid anything. He's just the best big athlete at the club. Same as Taumololo. And Finucane and Hoffman before that. Same as with most good teams, their best big man is number 13. Let's see how Cook goes at 13 before you start shooting your big mouth off.

I’m not being antsy . It’s gibberish ! Taumalolo is the same as Yeo? lol I’ve never heard anyone say that, because it’s not true . One is a prototype ball playing lock of 2024 , a HYBRID of the last 2 eras of football . The ball playing lock of the late 90s early 00s eg. Jason Smith , Brad Fittler , and the other the damaging ball running middle type who takes the 4th tackle Hitup off a retreating defence created either by the wingers coming out of yardage or the conventional props eg . PAUL Gallen , Jason T , Marty Taupau. . Jason T , is literally the latter . The very definition of the latter . Like if you were to have a photo of the prototype it would be a photo of Jason Taumalolo .
Big mouth ? Lol the nrl has moved towards this model ever since they implemented the 6 again rule and vlandys ball .
The roosters went early with victor the inflictor , and the panthers found an edge back rower who fight through yardage , but had the ball playing skills of a half . Moved him into lock and the rest is history .
This is the model moving forward . Bigger Faster stronger fitter .
Guys like Royce Hunt 5 years ago with amount of stoppages could have played 40-50 mins no problem , now they are battering rams used to shift momentum and regain the ascendancy in matches . And funnily enough that’s exactly how the cowboys are using Jason T . You could say it’s because they burnt him out early in his career , or the game has sped up to a point where being an athlete is far more of important skill set than being a battering ram , either way it proves my point .
Yeo and Jason T are both amazing footballers , but definitely products of thier era , and most definitely not even close to the same type of player .

 

[liltiger]

This is an important often overlooked point in team
sports, managing personalities etc. If the individual
is doing well the team tends to go well too as a
collective. Benji is more than qualified for that role it's
just some other things he needs to work on which
he's been addressing it seems. Having Hodgo there
and not Farah (I love him but he was more moral
support 4 Benji than coach if anything haha) will
help too, he's been in a lot of professional settings
now & is quite technical, bomber will be better too

Yeah Kaito, Nowadays the best coaches / managers of any sport will undoubtedly be the best man manager.
It's a rare ability to be able to keep everyone's ego fed enough to want to perform but humble enough to want to be a key cog in the team dynamics. A huge juggling act.

 

[JB9918]

Another junior signing been about 3 others lately. Seemed we are strengthening from the ground up.