Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Vicious]

I'm very confident in Starford providing he isn't playing busted like he was at the end of last year. beginning of the year he was phenomenal and I'm confident he lifts again.

you have to remember that by the end of the year the right edge was entirely different to what it was in preseason. no defensive cohesion, no trust, no understanding. we've now got four months to bed down combos with a settled right edge, which will include Star. I'm confident his defence will lift from there.

Heamasi will be gunning for Skelton's on the left sting and I'd say he's a fair chance of getting it. Turuva is brilliant despite the occasional defensive error, Taylan is Taylan and your man Jahream is going to level up again next year.

I love your positivity, but I think you overrate some of our players.
Nothing wrong with with optimism, do we make the top 8 next season in your opinion ?
I’m seeing many fans happy and content with our roster and I assume that means we have many fans expecting a top 8 finish next year, however I am yet to see one person put their name to it and state they honestly believe we are making the top 8 next season.
I wish I shared your optimism, but I can only call it as I see it and I am struggling to find players in our team that are top 10 in their position across the NRL.

 

[Vicious]

The unknown for the team is do we need to recruit a lock or use someone within, do we need to find another hooker to give Api a rest or use someone within.

We definitely could use more speed but who loses their spot Jeral is probably the slowest so if we do recruit speed what happens to him, can he be used somewhere else in the side.

All great questions.
I can’t see Benji planning on resting Api each game. Most of us fans think it needs to happen, but I don’t think Benji agrees.
Similar with Terrell, we know he can play 80mins, but we also see much better impact from him when he rests for at least 15-20mins each game.
Most of us fans agree we need much more out of whoever plays 13, hopefully there is a plan as our attack suffers when playing middle forwards with limited attacking ability as our 13 all of the time.
I’m glad you agree we need one more player with genuine speed somewhere in our backline as most of our fans think lack of speed in our backs is incorrect.
Time will tell, but as it stands we have no genuine back up right centre to even apply any pressure on Stratford’s position and that’s a problem.

 

[Wezt]

hopgood was nogood

He was good when he got moved from Lock and stopped ball playing

 

[user118245]

Ah well I can tell you what it means - it means nothing. It's a meme, it's just something all the kids say and they don't really care about the origin of it.

The origin is a 2024 rap song that was quoted in some online videos, then it became a popular reference with NBA players (who of course were 6'7"), and now kids say it because they do, and because the sequence of 6-7 is common as a sort of day-to-day lottery.

Not to dissimilar to "skibidi" which also has no specific agreed meaning.

I'm not a child of the internet so I don't quite understand the use of meaningless meme phrases or how they catch on.

Do you see Jarome playing 6 or 7 next year?

 

[tiger_one]

Quote from The Kinks Lola song.......It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world.
From all those years ago sums it up well.

And that means, champion @Rock Hopper Steve, we just have to do this:

 

[batboy]

They played some good expansive very fast football...footy thats good.to watch...their defence is questionable but so is ours

True that.... I reckon they still have us though.
Storm beat them by 40 odd, and then beat us by 60 odd.
Seems like for most of our existence, Parra have had our measure.

I remember when we beat them in Early 2010 (?) - Cayless Played well for us...
Farah was on TV saying it was good to finally beat them
- He'd never beat them in 7-8 years of Grade.

 

[upthetigers]

The unknown for the team is do we need to recruit a lock or use someone within, do we need to find another hooker to give Api a rest or use someone within.

We definitely could use more speed but who loses their spot Jeral is probably the slowest so if we do recruit speed what happens to him, can he be used somewhere else in the side.

I'm not replacing Skelton for someone like Saab who is average but has speed to burn

 

[GNR4LIFE]

I'm not replacing Skelton for someone like Saab who is average but has speed to burn

Who needs speed.

 

[innsaneink]

I for one dont give a shit what many of our fans think...and i dont use that to mount an argumemt with strangers online where no matter what any of us say or think its not gunna make one iota of difference anyway.
Next year is.months away and were seeing meltdowns here already...good comedy value if nothing else

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

I'm not replacing Skelton for someone like Saab who is average but has speed to burn

We know you love him mate.

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

Do you see Jarome playing 6 or 7 next year?

I think a lot of us think he's a better 6, when Doueihi played 7 they were winning games.

 

[Tigerstigerstigers]

I'm not replacing Skelton for someone like Saab who is average but has speed to burn

Did our 2005 team have anymore speed than our 2026 team? I don’t think so

 

[clontarfkid]

If we didn't drop those 2 games against the cows and tits, sorry I bought that up I know it still burns, would we feel like we had the better season, well it would have looked better on the ladder.

Wwe finished poorly..Parra finished on the rise
New season... new start
Ryles was failing mid season

 

[clontarfkid]

Current 2026 Sportsbet premiership odds …

Parramatta 19.00
Us 34.00

Now I would say that is refelctive in the difference in Joe Public’s optimism about the two teams and nothing more than that… won’t count for anything on the field come March

Both teams are 100 to one for the premiership tbh!
Thats why bookies live on the waterfront

 

[upthetigers]

We know you love him mate.

Compare him to someone like Staines, doesn't have his speed but is better in every other aspect of the game

 

[Tiger Stripes]

Finally someone with a bit of logic RHS.
I keep asking the question which forwards can we possibly buy that will dramatically improve our team and nobody can answer me ?
Yes it would be nice to have a stronger forward pack, but we have some very good young emerging forwards who could be in the top echelon of their positions within the next couple of years.

Everyone has an opinion on what went wrong----------But IMO it is simple.........we did Not have an experienced or clever half like Moses, Cleary, Hughes or Hunt to mention a few from successful sides.
Until we have a top notch 1/2, we will struggle. We spent most of the year experimenting with different players/combos and nothing was very successful.

Our forwards for 2026 will match most sides and will be better than a lot of others.

The backline starts at the half. AD went well and I can only hope he can continue to direct, kick & defend.

And ALL the spine players need to practice grubber kicks through the defence when 15m out instead of 5 hit ups and a ball change over.
The coach can only do so much explaining the advantages of a grubber try or goal line restart.
The spine players and anyone in a good position must take it on themselves to learn and understand when it's on. So many tries go begging and in turn can change the momentum of a game. Frustrating!

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

Compare him to someone like Staines, doesn't have his speed but is better in every other aspect of the game

So true but Makasini is big and could be quicker I haven't seen him in the clear yet to judge and if he has a good summer, he could be fighting for a wing spot.

 

[upthetigers]

So true but Makasini is big and could be quicker I haven't seen him in the clear yet to judge and if he has a good summer, he could be fighting for a wing spot.

I think big Mak is a centre

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

I think big Mak is a centre

Yes, that doesn't mean that's where they will play him in his 1st year, centre is a tough spot to play for a 19yo.

 

[Tim Sheens]

Yes, that doesn't mean that's where they will play him in his 1st year, centre is a tough spot to play for a 19yo.

Defensively, sure, but a modern winger has to cope with taking the dirty hit ups and the pressure of kicks. Either is a task for an 18yo, so I hope that he is brought in slowly or given the rein to make mistakes if he forces the good enough/old enough factor from round 1.