Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Vicious]

Ethan Roberts is a rare roosters junior too... they let him go.

Now back to Cronk ...several have asked for more details on him being at WTs training which yiu continually avoid.

Why was he there?
Who saw him?
Was it in his foxsports role...or was he in training gear working with players?

Sorry to sound like an inquisition but your reluctance to reply has me curious as Cronk seems to put shit on us whenever he can

I think it was Matty Johns or someone at Fox League who brought it up with him.
I’m sure I am not the only one who watched a lot of these Fox League shows, so I’m assuming quite a few others also watched it ?
tigahhh is generally very on the ball with all this stuff, did you see this ?
As for Ethan Roberts, my understanding is he is a resident in our Balmain Tigers catchment area and was more or less poached from Balmain by the Roisters at a young age.
This being the case we are really only just getting him back.
I’ve done from further digging and it seems the Roisters are not convinced he has the athleticism to be an NRL edge and are of the belief he could be more suited to the middle moving forward, so he is maybe not as quick and athletic as I thought he is.
Either way he’s a worthwhile project to see if his big frame develops into a genuine NRL player.
As raised previously I just find it a bit strange we have seemingly signed Roberts and Geyer as one of them would have been sufficient and we should have been targeting an established versatile NRL quality utility and considering we lack aggression and power running, Talakai would have been perfect.
I am really struggling to see any real theory behind our overall recruitment and retention.

 

[Vicious]

That's probably debatable.

At the very least they're all in a similar bracket. All are reserve grade level halves capable of a handful of first grade games a year. I'd say their differences, whilst unique to each, largely cancel each other out.

If we are not considering Douehi is a halfback option moving forward which seems to be the case based on our lowball offer, I would be much more confident in having Cogger or Schneider challenging for our NRL 7 jersey.

 

[Vicious]

Give him another off-season G before we toss him into the shredder, we really need his big body hopefully he wakes up to himself.

Api and Jerome hinted he loves his KFC, so that could be part of his problem.
I do recall we had an Aussie Olympic cyclist who won a Gold Medal and stated his staple diet consisted of plenty of KFC, but I don’t think too many 30 plus year olds can get away with it and be in good physical condition to play professional sport.

 

[weststigers]

If he can work hard over the off season and get to 15 GOOD minutes either side of half time, consistently...it may be ok.
I have my doubts though

I hope so too. He was great early on. Really fell off a cliff.

 

[Flippedy]

thought it was an interesting point that Matty & Cronk made that we are an emotional team, if we lean into that this team could be anything

What a dumbass comment by those two. All the teams are bloody emotional when it comes to winning or losing games. Except for Melbourne of course, who show little emotion because the coach always exhibits enough for the entire team! 😂

 

[Wiz]

Api and Jerome hinted he loves his KFC, so that could be part of his problem.
I do recall we had an Aussie Olympic cyclist who won a Gold Medal and stated his staple diet consisted of plenty of KFC, but I don’t think too many 30 plus year olds can get away with it and be in good physical condition to play professional sport.

Ryan Bayley. I remember that too. 2 gold medals.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

I still hold out some hope for Big Roycey was not long ago he was changing the momentum quite regularly when he would come on for the sharks.

Remember when he put that big chase on Zac Lomax in our round 2 win against the Eels showing his speed! I feel something happened after that win against the Sharks as his form seemed to drop after that game.

Differing reports that his fitness measures weren't up to scratch, his knee had been causing aggravation & that he had a rib problem (his own, not eating ribs), maybe all of the above.

Rather than write off a player, hopefully Benji and the S&C team can work with Royce to get whatever right for a big off & pre-season of fitness. A fit and firing Royce for 20-25 mins a game offers us something we don't have!

 

[TheEnz]

Remember when he put that big chase on Zac Lomax in our round 2 win against the Eels showing his speed! I feel something happened after that win against the Sharks as his form seemed to drop after that game.

Differing reports that his fitness measures weren't up to scratch, his knee had been causing aggravation & that he had a rib problem (his own, not eating ribs), maybe all of the above.

Rather than write off a player, hopefully Benji and the S&C team can work with Royce to get whatever right for a big off & pre-season of fitness. A fit and firing Royce for 20-25 mins a game offers us something we don't have!

Yes, I forgot that chase. He was playing well early in the season. That form does not just disappear, there must be something else going on and whatever it was, hopefully its now sorted. If he gets picked against Manly than he is through it.

 

[rusted-on]

Don't be combative

khod 😀

 

[weststigers]

khod 😀

Sorry. I am not gay

 

[rusted-on]

Sorry. I am not gay

Never said you were mate

 

[gregjm87]

Ethan Roberts is a rare roosters junior too... they let him go.

Now back to Cronk ...several have asked for more details on him being at WTs training which yiu continually avoid.

Why was he there?
Who saw him?
Was it in his foxsports role...or was he in training gear working with players?

Sorry to sound like an inquisition but your reluctance to reply has me curious as Cronk seems to put shit on us whenever he can

I feel like I recall someone else mentioning it prior to Vicious. I assume he has just picked it up and ran with it as though it was fact.

 

[tigahhh]

been mentioned before but the conspiracy theory of starford to’a going to r360 makes a lot of sense

 

[2041]

That contract is gonna be hard to get rid of.

I'm ok with it on the basis that we have had multiple contracts in the squad like him in the past and we currently only have him draining our cap.

In saying that, an extra 600k to replace him would be nice.

Is he really on that much money? Surely props who only play 20-30 minutes a game aren't that expensive, even if their impact is significant.

 

[cqtiger]

Big Royce played nearly every game off the bench for the first 12 or so games then started (when Pole got injured) against Cowboys and Souths.

Got dropped and has played KOE cup mostly since then.

Quite a mystery because he played quite well for the first dozen games off the bench. His form went south when he started.

I still think he offers us something off the bench but he’s not and hasn’t been a big minutes player

 

[jrtiger]

I am really struggling to see any real theory behind our overall recruitment and retention.

not really sure how you're struggling to see what they're doing. they're recruiting depth in places where it has been skinny previously.

Mavrik Geyer and Ethan Roberts are effectively replacements for Tumeth and Matamua. in Geyer we have a player that is stuck behind two internationals and one more experienced head that's looking for an opportunity. he'll do a job when called upon, will come cheap, and has plenty to prove with only a 12 month contract.

Roberts is a junior star stuck behind a plethora of backrowers at the Chooks who has immense pedigree and potential, but needs time and space to develop. we're talking about a player that was getting about Harold Matthews as a 15-year-old. Richardson clearly rates him given he's tried to poach him a few times when he was at Souths.

as for Madden, we're in dire need of a backup half. we can't rely on Mason and/or Falls, simple as that. we get a player back who knows the club inside out, who Benji is aware of and is willing to be a backup. our Cup side will benefit immeasurably from his inclusion and he'll do a job when called upon for firsts.

providing we can re-sign Doueihi, upgrade Taylan and look at either Mapapalangi or a Hiroti or Allan, we're pretty much set with still one spot left to fill on the roster. no doubt we'll be sniffing around for an enforcer to lead the pack, and we'll have the money to do it.

 

[liltiger]

But none of the things you're talking about would be solved by a draft. In theory, clubs can already negotiate whatever they want if another club tries to sign a player who is under contract - money, player exchange, whatever. The reason it doesn't happen isn't because there aren't draft picks to offer, it's because contracts actually aren't worth that much as leverage for all the reasons we've seen. Isaac Moses made it very clear that either Galvin got released right away or he was going to make the next 18 months completely unworkable for the Tigers up to and including workplace bullying allegations.

Long story short, the Bulldogs didn't offer anything for Galvin because they didn't have to. Giving them something they could in theory have offered if they'd wanted to wouldn't change that.

As I said in my original post, the reason there isn't more of this sort of thing in AFL is nothing to do with the draft: it's because of the incredibly restrictive contracts the AFL forces its players to accept. It's a completely different situation when a player isn't allowed to be even a restricted free agent until they've been at a club for eight years.

I agree to a point, though my whole argument with the current system is we assume it's the best we can do. Imo I'd prefer the draft system, though a soft cap could work as well. My main point is the game needs to look at doing something to sort the issue out.

 

[liltiger]

not really sure how you're struggling to see what they're doing. they're recruiting depth in places where it has been skinny previously.

Mavrik Geyer and Ethan Roberts are effectively replacements for Tumeth and Matamua. in Geyer we have a player that is stuck behind two internationals and one more experienced head that's looking for an opportunity. he'll do a job when called upon, will come cheap, and has plenty to prove with only a 12 month contract.

Roberts is a junior star stuck behind a plethora of backrowers at the Chooks who has immense pedigree and potential, but needs time and space to develop. we're talking about a player that was getting about Harold Matthews as a 15-year-old. Richardson clearly rates him given he's tried to poach him a few times when he was at Souths.

as for Madden, we're in dire need of a backup half. we can't rely on Mason and/or Falls, simple as that. we get a player back who knows the club inside out, who Benji is aware of and is willing to be a backup. our Cup side will benefit immeasurably from his inclusion and he'll do a job when called upon for firsts.

providing we can re-sign Doueihi, upgrade Taylan and look at either Mapapalangi or a Hiroti or Allan, we're pretty much set with still one spot left to fill on the roster. no doubt we'll be sniffing around for an enforcer to lead the pack, and we'll have the money to do it.

This ids the first time in a long time I feel our recruitment has placed as much importance on our depth as our first grade signings.

 

[Kelce68]

If we are not considering Douehi is a halfback option moving forward which seems to be the case based on our lowball offer, I would be much more confident in having Cogger or Schneider challenging for our NRL 7 jersey.

You're probably right, though the gap isn't a chasm in my opinion. I think Sean O'Sullivan, as part of that earlier trio, is far more on par with Jock than not. He's had a rough couple of years, both form wise and with injury.

I think the Madden signing is sufficient. Had the inside running from being familiar with the club too I'd say.

 

[PabloX]

it's more that there's a logjam at the Chooks for backrowers. Crichton, Radley, Wong, Egan and Nat, Foketi and McCathie are all ahead of him.

this is a little like us signing Blore in 2020.

And steep. They're stacked