Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Vicious]

After the game was over…. They also changed the game plan and moved away from the conservative one out hit ups

Yes who’s fault is it we do one out hits ups and then put a pop gun kick on the last tackle if we are lucky ?
Maybe Benji, however when you think about it, that is very similar to how the Panthers have played for the past 5 years, BUT they have generally had plenty of power, aggression and trike all over the party, we don’t have that luxury, so obviously it’s not going to work for us unless we substantially improve our playing roster.

 

[king_sirro]

Douehi is perfect in that role in attack, unlikely he will be able to defend well in the middle for 80mins, how do we solve that problem ?

He doesn't play 80. Not many locks do

 

[Tom Shines]

i’m a young girl but close enough lol it shows we are improving :

After 17 games 2024 v 2025 for the Wests Tigers

2025 has 2 wins more, 2 losses less, 3 places higher on the ladder, scored 41 points more and conceded 60 points less.

A points difference improvement of 101 points.

If WT improve by the same amount at the same time next year:

8W, 9L, For 375, Against 376, Pts Diff -1 Tigers would be ~11th and 1 win shy of the top 8.

big picture shows improvement, more cohesion in our attack which will come with a settled spine and we aren’t far away.

Ok …fair enough … you have more patience than me ..

I would suggest their defence has improved this season but their attack has not … I put this down to a combination of a conservative game plan and below par halves play over the course of the season …Im sure you would also agree that the team is coming off a very low base , and most of their improvement looked to be at the start of the season , whilst two of their last three games have been reminiscent of the last three years ..

Let’s hope they get their backsides into gear and finish with at least 3 more wins …the players say they want to keep Benji, but they also have to show it on the field every week

 

[Vicious]

He doesn't play 80. Not many locks do

True, who would you interchange him with ?
I realise we start Twal at 13 as a bigger body when defending and tk assist our middles with the go forward , but it appears all rival teams know we don’t even consider shifting the ball early in games, so just condense their defence and make it very hard for us to win the yardage battle no matter how many bigger bodied forwards we have.
I think the only way we can potentially combat this is by having a 13 who plays 1st receiver and digs into the line from the opening whistle.

 

[Tom Shines]

Yes who’s fault is it we do one out hits ups and then put a pop gun kick on the last tackle if we are lucky ?
Maybe Benji, however when you think about it, that is very similar to how the Panthers have played for the past 5 years, BUT they have generally had plenty of power, aggression and trike all over the party, we don’t have that luxury, so obviously it’s not going to work for us unless we substantially improve our playing roster.

You have to have a game plan that takes into account the team you have …the Panthers play that way, but they also win games …the Tigers aren’t winning too often by trying to beat anyone up the middle with this team… they beat a NSW Cup pack last week ( just )

 

[tigahhh]

Ok …fair enough … you have more patience than me ..

I would suggest their defence has improved this season but their attack has not … I put this down to a combination of a conservative game plan and below par halves play over the course of the season …Im sure you would also agree that the team is coming off a very low base , and most of their improvement looked to be at the start of the season , whilst two of their last three games have been reminiscent of the last three years ..

Let’s hope they get their backsides into gear and finish with at least 3 more wins …the players say they want to keep Benji, but they also have to show it on the field every week

totally agree

 

[Demps]

We will beat the Panthers in a few weeks.

 

[tigahhh]

We will beat the Panthers in a few weeks.

damn you think so ?

 

[Tom Shines]

We will beat the Panthers in a few weeks.

The mods say they are going to win every week 😄

 

[tigahhh]

we also didn’t play well in the conditions , ive never seen pole drop the ball so much in my life

 

[Vicious]

You have to have a game plan that takes into account the team you have …the Panthers play that way, but they also win games …the Tigers aren’t winning too often by trying to beat anyone up the middle with this team… they beat a NSW Cup pack last week ( just )

To be honest it’s not just our middles that are the problem.
If you have no speed, no strike and no attacking threat on your edges or out wide, of course opposing defences will condense and make it very hard to dominate the middle.
Fonua Pole and Sione Fainu are both string ball runners, but they cannot perform miracles if the defence is extreme condensed and waiting for them.
We need to at least shift the ball one or two passes wide and move the opposing defence around a little bit.
If we don’t start games with a 1st receiver style of 13, doesn’t that job then apply to our halves ?
Surely in scenarios such as yesterday our 1.3 million dollar man needs tn take change, use a bit of initiative and do something to stop us carrying the ball one out so soften.

 

[TigerSkins05]

The Walker brothers want to coach the Titans. I would love to see that happen.
If they managed to turn the Titans into winners that would be the best thing that could happen to the game.
The best games I've seen this year have all been in Super League. The NRL is such a robotic bore that the Walkers would be fantastic for the health of the game.

We play the Titans next .. after this game and result we might be wondering if we should have the Walker brothers coaching us ..

 

[Demps]

damn you think so ?

Back to back wins.
Titans, then Penrith.

🍾

 

[Tom Shines]

To be honest it’s not just our middles that are the problem.
If you have no lace, no strike and no attacking threat on your edges or out wide, of course opposing defences will condense and make it very hard to dominate the middle.
Fonua Pole and Sione Fainu are both string ball runners, but they cannot perform miracles if the defence is extreme condensed and waiting for them.
We need to at least shift the ball one or two passes wide and move the opposing defence around a little bit.
If we don’t start games with a 1st receiver style of 13, doesn’t that job then apply to our halves ?
Surely in scenarios such as yesterday our 1.3 million dollar man needs tn take change, use a bit of initiative and do something to stop us carrying the ball one out so soften.

They seemed to look much better in attack at the start of the season when they scored at least 20 every game and three times over 30 weeks 2 through 9 …remember those days when Turuva, Toa and Skelton were all playing well out wide ? They seemed to have a much more expansive style then … then they got belted 64-0 and seemed to go into their shell ..

 

[Terry T.Nuts]

i’m a young girl but close enough lol it shows we are improving :

After 17 games 2024 v 2025 for the Wests Tigers

2025 has 2 wins more, 2 losses less, 3 places higher on the ladder, scored 41 points more and conceded 60 points less.

A points difference improvement of 101 points.

If WT improve by the same amount at the same time next year:

8W, 9L, For 375, Against 376, Pts Diff -1 Tigers would be ~11th and 1 win shy of the top 8.

big picture shows improvement, more cohesion in our attack which will come with a settled spine and we aren’t far away.

You are talking too much sense and being too positive, you need to bag Benji and Richo more and focus on how we lost the greatest young hooker the game has ever seen and a future immortal in Galvin.

 

[Tom Shines]

You are talking too much sense and being too positive, you need to bag Benji and Richo more and focus on how we lost the greatest young hooker the game has ever seen and a future immortal in Galvin.

Of maybe pretend 3 or 4 more forwards are going to fall out of a tree over the offseason

 

[tigahhh]

You are talking too much sense and being too positive, you need to bag Benji and Richo more and focus on how we lost the greatest young hooker the game has ever seen and a future immortal in Galvin.

😂😂😂

 

[Not Beau Ryan]

he’s playing fullback today so we’ll see how where his fitness is at, at his age in a demanding position

Compared to our back 5 yesterday.

 

[gregjm87]

Our halves looked like fish out of water for most of yesterdays game and only started looking decent when we had Doueihi playing as a 1st lot receiver getting over the advantage line quickly and creating time and space for them to play.

I don't think our halves looked any better with AD at first receiver. I think AD did a better job there than either of them did, but I don't think they looked better with him there.
Quite often he didn't look to give them more time and space but rather just moved the defensive pressure wider of the ruck. I think this is how he scored his try. Defensive pressure pushed up wide of the ruck and forgot about the bloke with the ball.
I think the issue with AD playing as a lock is that he needs to be willing to take hit ups and get bashed. Running into the line with the ball is how you then create the space wider. If he's not taking 15+ hit ups effective enough for 100+m then defence will just slide off him with the 2nd receiver not getting any additional space.
Additionally for me the locks key ball playing role is short passing to isolate middle defenders and get our ball running forwards one on one. It will rarely lead to a line breaks but is how those forwards then find their front and generate fast play to then attack off. I didn't see any of this in his little cameo.
Not saying he can't do any of the above or that we shouldn't continually trial it for the remainder of the season. I'm just in no way convinced yet.

 

[hank37w]

"Yet"... it's for 2027 FFS!!

And the average fullback salary for fullbacks in the top 10 players in every club was $905K in 2024!

Context ....

View attachment 25361

How about for players 11 and onwards which is where Bula is currently at?

It would appear that we are already paying overs for what his output is currently, want to see more improvement in him before talking even more money, we seem to be always paying on potential that does not eventuate.