Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[SwervinMervin]

If an NRL club way outside the top 8 does not look at ways to dramatically improve their playing roster, they continue tn finish well outside the top 8.
Is that a better solution ?

No club has bought a premiership since the 70’s when Manly silvertails raided Western Suburbs and Roosters raided Souths. Most premiership clubs identify talent early and develop them into a winning squad. Buying a Monte Burns all star team hasn’t worked in the NRL era.

 

[SwervinMervin]

There is nobody on the planet other than blinded Wests Tigers supporters who are considering paying Jahream Bula 1 million dollars per season ahead of the likes of Jaxon Purdue or Mark Nawaqanitawase.
You could also add Fletcher Sharpe to the list.

There is not a team in the comp that would pay Purdue or Nawaqanitawase more than Bula. Bula is probably fair value at around $800K per, the other two would be lucky to get within $50k of that.

 

[weststigers]

I think Pat Richards, Loti Tuquiri, Taniela (too briefly unfortunately) might have something to say about that, but he has been a great signing and worth the coin we paid for him. One of our best all year, consistently starts sets well for us and goes looking for a ton of work. He’s not perfect defensively and maybe a little vulnerable under the high ball as a shorter winger, but he’s not Robinson Crusoe in that regard. He’s a lock in as a starting winger in most NRL teams, including the one he left to join us.

I was waiting for some silly sausage to come and say that, which is exactly why I put "one of the best wingers".

 

[WhiTe Tiger]

No club has bought a premiership since the 70’s when Manly silvertails raided Western Suburbs and Roosters raided Souths. Most premiership clubs identify talent early and develop them into a winning squad. Buying a Monte Burns all star team hasn’t worked in the NRL era.

The exception is the Roosters.
IMO I don't think they win it in 18 and 19 and arguably 13 without Teddy, Cooper or SBW

 

[Buttface]

Are you serious? I'm not sure how much longer I can listen to the drivel that comes out of your mouth. This is Biden level dementia.

You're saying Turuva was "filling a role" at Penrith? The club with never ending talent coming through their ranks? The club that could have replaced him with just about any winger off contract because they'd kill to be on the end of that backline? The club that had him first choice despite that?

Turuva is one of the best wingers to ever put on a Tigers jersey and he's not a bad fill in at fullback either. I really don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Good call, I forgot how well he filled in at fullback. That shows how painless and how well he did at it.

 

[Buttface]

Looks like a long off season

Dump Turuva for Lauilili eh?

View attachment 27522

Don’t blame extra curricular activities for people’s stupidity, they were always that way, it’s just amplified.

 

[diedpretty]

Staggs way ahead of him

I would have Farnworth ahead of both of them even with him missing the last few rounds

 

[diedpretty]

Going to pass on Bula for an 18yo. Wow.

Don't worry we will have Mason as FB for 2 years until the young guy is NRL ready. 🤦‍♂️😢

 

[Joelcainenumber1fan]

Pretty sure Jerome has won 4 NRL premierships as a key spine player. Pretty sure Dylan Brown has won none. Similar players in some regards, but objectively JL is the more accomplished and at $1.2M is better value than DB at $1.3M.

very easy to win a premiership when u have the best half in the comp right next to him
i'm starting to wonder how much of that was luai cause ive seen nothing from him this season to suggest hes even close to a game changer we expected him to be

 

[jstigers]

very easy to win a premiership when u have the best half in the comp right next to him
i'm starting to wonder how much of that was luai cause ive seen nothing from him this season to suggest hes even close to a game changer we expected him to be

Agreed, has he attracted players yer maybe but you can attract better value players and drop him, he is taking up way too much cap space, problem with tigers is most of the time they are paying overs which fu**s the cap, our cap isn't in the best shape for 2026 since we are still paying Bateman, Sullivan and maybe bird and hunt....

 

[coivtny]

This would have to be the most ridiculous comment you have ever made. What does that even mean? What do you call 7 tries in 2 games?

Maybe tofu, who knows?

 

[bptiger 0]

This is week 1 of the offseason and some of you blokes are in peak form already with some of these takes ….

Gunna be a long one this offseason I think .,,


Why include Turuva as one of your three players ? $450k is chump change for an NRL player….what is Toa on ? Think Turuva gives better value…

Another one of your “opinion as facts “ commentary …Bula hasn’t signed an extension yet that I’m aware of… he is also currently on a deal that pays him 800-900k for 2027…

Turuva is WELL worth his wage , he is a gun , bula on the other hand is really not worth more than $750 , his one on one defence is terrible and his work rate through the middle is not up to the likes of those playing for the rooters , sharks, storm , dolphins, so if he wants $1 million he needs to improve by 50% , just my thoughts

 

[Vicious]

No club has bought a premiership since the 70’s when Manly silvertails raided Western Suburbs and Roosters raided Souths. Most premiership clubs identify talent early and develop them into a winning squad. Buying a Monte Burns all star team hasn’t worked in the NRL era.

It’s hardly buying a premiership wanting to recruit a couple a high quality players that could mean the difference between winning g and losing games that we are currently losing.

 

[Lukic]

Turuva's fine. Average to above average winger. Somewhere in that 10-15 range of best wingers in the comp. Absolutely no need whatsoever to replace him.

Also surprised Nofoaluma hasn't been mentioned as one of our best wingers. He's quite literally our club's all time leading try scorer and for several years he was one of the best attacking wingers in the game, both from a yardage perspective and as a finisher. Yes he left on a bad note, but he absolutely should be considered one of the best wingers in our club's history.

 

[cktiger]

Turuva is WELL worth his wage , he is a gun , bula on the other hand is really not worth more than $750 , his one on one defence is terrible and his work rate through the middle is not up to the likes of those playing for the rooters , sharks, storm , dolphins, so if he wants $1 million he needs to improve by 50% , just my thoughts

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of Bula I suppose…but that is just ridiculous.

 

[Vicious]

Turuva is WELL worth his wage , he is a gun , bula on the other hand is really not worth more than $750 , his one on one defence is terrible and his work rate through the middle is not up to the likes of those playing for the rooters , sharks, storm , dolphins, so if he wants $1 million he needs to improve by 50% , just my thoughts

I like Turuva and believe he has been one of our better players this season.
Under our current playing roster he is one of the first players selected each week and rightly so.
The point I was making is that IF we made a decision to recruit two genuine marquee players in our backline, it could in theory be done by moving on a couple of players, even if those players are currently some of the better players in our team.
By the comments it’s obvious we do have a decent percentage of supporters who believe our current backline is comparable to the best in the NRL and does not need any improvements.
That is fine as everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Myself and quite a few others do not believe our current backline is even close to being comparable to the best in the NRL, so like those who are happy and content for us to plod along with no change to our backline, I am simply stating we do have an opportunity to overhaul our backline for 2027 to add some high quality excitement machines if we wanted to.
If done ruthlessly it would not effect our backline spend under the salary cap and this is totally separate from the forwards who also need improvement and I think everyone agrees on that.
Who is available to potentially target in the forwards and who we would be prepared to offload to fit them in is another issue totally separate to any recruitment and retention discussion for the backline.
Again hypothetically speaking, but if we really wanted to have a serious crack at someone like Tino, we could make cap space to make serious offer, but it would probably mean we would need to offload a few current regulars such as Pole, Twal and Seyfarth to do it.
I’m sure some would think that would be a great trade, I am 50/50 on whether Tino is worth a contract over 1 million dollars per season or not and to be honest I would probably prefer a combination of Pole, Twal and Seyfarth rather than sacrificing them for someone like Tino.
The bottom line is that Wests Tigers as a club seem happy to just plod along taking baby steps and hope we stumble into the top 8 sooner or later.

 

[innsaneink]

Agreed, has he attracted players yer maybe but you can attract better value players and drop him, he is taking up way too much cap space, problem with tigers is most of the time they are paying overs which fu**s the cap, our cap isn't in the best shape for 2026 since we are still paying Bateman, Sullivan and maybe bird and hunt....

Brilliant

 

[bptiger 0]

I like Turuva and believe he has been one of our better players this season.
Under our current playing roster he is one of the first players selected each week and rightly so.
The point I was making is that IF we made a decision to recruit two genuine marquee players in our backline, it could in theory be done by moving on a couple of players, even if those players are currently some of the better players in our team.
By the comments it’s obvious we do have a decent percentage of supporters who believe our current backline is comparable to the best in the NRL and does not need any improvements.
That is fine as everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Myself and quite a few others do not believe our current backline is even close to being comparable to the best in the NRL, so like those who are happy and content for us to plod along with no change to our backline, I am simply stating we do have an opportunity to overhaul our backline for 2027 to add some high quality excitement machines if we wanted to.
If done ruthlessly it would not effect our backline spend under the salary cap and this is totally separate from the forwards who also need improvement and I think everyone agrees on that.
Who is available to potentially target in the forwards and who we would be prepared to offload to fit them in is another issue totally separate to any recruitment and retention discussion for the backline.
Again hypothetically speaking, but if we really wanted to have a serious crack at someone like Tino, we could make cap space to make serious offer, but it would probably mean we would need to offload a few current regulars such as Pole, Twal and Seyfarth to do it.
I’m sure some would think that would be a great trade, I am 50/50 on whether Tino is worth a contract over 1 million dollars per season or not and to be honest I would probably prefer a combination of Pole, Twal and Seyfarth rather than sacrificing them for someone like Tino.
The bottom line is that Wests Tigers as a club seem happy to just plod along taking baby steps and hope we stumble into the top 8 sooner or later.

Ok I see ur argument, but u haven’t named who u would sack in the backline and who would u chase .
Tino for me is a large NO , doesn’t do much more than the pigs we got . But yes he can be very good but not enough to pay that kind of money .
Now ur argument is our backs are not good enough , and as a ex- a grade coach I believe if u don’t have the forwards u can’t win games because the backs need them to set a platform, we need to buy two mongrel forwards they don’t have to be super stars but who will but in every game , there is plenty to look at , the dogs have heaps in nsw cup as do the rooters and a few other clubs , we need to look for bigger forwards with impact then u will see the best of our backline

 

[Vicious]

Ok I see ur argument, but u haven’t named who u would sack in the backline and who would u chase .
Tino for me is a large NO , doesn’t do much more than the pigs we got . But yes he can be very good but not enough to pay that kind of money .
Now ur argument is our backs are not good enough , and as a ex- a grade coach I believe if u don’t have the forwards u can’t win games because the backs need them to set a platform, we need to buy two mongrel forwards they don’t have to be super stars but who will but in every game , there is plenty to look at , the dogs have heaps in nsw cup as do the rooters and a few other clubs , we need to look for bigger forwards with impact then u will see the best of our backline

💯 agree the forwards need to lay a platform, that will never change.
I suppose the question is are our forwards as bad as many of our supporters think they are ?
We have 3 of the better emerging forwards in the NRL in Sam Fainu, Sione Fainu and Fonua Pole, all 3 should make further improvements next season.
Terrell May was on the cusp of SOO selection this season and with a good solid season under his belt, he too should be further improved next season.
Alex Twal had a good solid season and never lets us down.
Api is Api, he’s a great competitor, but he is getting older and it would be preferable if he doesn’t play the full 80mins each week.
The above facts tells me we have the core of a good forward pack and simply need some competition for Seyfarth and Royce Hunt who would currently be automatic selections on our bench each week without further recruitment.

 

[tigahhh]

💯 agree the forwards need to lay a platform, that will never change.
I suppose the question is are our forwards as bad as many of our supporters think they are ?
We have 3 of the better emerging forwards in the NRL in Sam Fainu, Sione Fainu and Fonua Pole, all 3 should make further improvements next season.
Terrell May was on the cusp of SOO selection this season and with a good solid season under his belt, he too should be further improved next season.
Alex Twal had a good solid season and never lets us down.
Api is Api, he’s a great competitor, but he is getting older and it would be preferable if he doesn’t play the full 80mins each week.
The above facts tells me we have the core of a good forward pack and simply need some competition for Seyfarth and Royce Hunt who would currently be automatic selections on our bench each week without a further recruitment.

no one is saying they are bad, the depth is just paper thin so most of our forwards are pulling a double shift to cover it and it’s limiting their impact or burned them out. like sione was outstanding in the middle but had to move to backrow because we didn’t have any other options. they are also a young pack so some more additions should help them out.