Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Vicious]

Benji is an established coach. It's not 2023 anymore.

Benji hasn't had that first bit career defining coaching success yet but it's at least fair to say he knows his trade by now. I don't think there'll be anything missing from his coaching program in 2026 that he would have picked up by coaching a NSW cup team prior to taking this job. He handled the Media glare throughout the Galvin situation really well and I doubt there are many rookie coaches who could've done the same.

Let's also remember it took Brad Arthur until the end of his 4th season season to get the Eels into the top 8. Ricky Stuart only made the finals once in his first 5 seasons at the Raiders. Our last 3 full-time coaches have 9 premierships to share between them for good measure.

Brad Arthur had a genuine quality playmaking 7 to steer the ship and lead his team.
We don’t have that.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

So where’s the demand? Sounds a lot similar to Coby Black.

GNR, the quote is clear in its intent, and it is his own words. The club acted with grace to allow him out of his contract. Our squad needs the experience and leadership of Koroisau, Luai and a few other players who will need to step up into a leadership role. By this I mean being able to make the correct tactical decisions during crucial stages of a game, providing excellent comms in defence and also when we are attacking our opponents line ie take the sixth tackle near the line or roll the ball into the in-goal and ensure the team is aware of what is happening.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

GNR, the quote is clear in its intent, and it is his own words. The club acted with grace to allow him out of his contract. Our squad needs the experience and leadership of Koroisau, Luai and a few other players who will need to step up into a leadership role. By this I mean being able to make the correct tactical decisions during crucial stages of a game, providing excellent comms in defence and also when we are attacking our opponents line ie take the sixth tackle near the line or roll the ball into the in-goal and ensure the team is aware of what is happening.

If that’s the best quote you have, you’re struggling.

 

[Tiger Tarl]

Good shout Mariota would be great for us, could he play lock?
Regarding Royce’s slimmed down physique a certain Souths forward rolled out of preseason after dropping KG’s and had the season of his career, some guys make an impact doing this (KK) and some guys play better with more weight to throw around (Klemmer / Kasiano).
I’m backing Royce in for a big year

Agreed. Apparently, something clicked in him after scoring those two tries in our last game. Breakthroughs happen at different times and this one may be really good for us come 2026 season.

 

[Wezt]

Let’s be real, TDS only said that to get out of the club. He had to make up an excuse someway

Last year he was at Kellyville (Parras training ground) almost every week, there’s no way there wasn’t a verbal agreement months prior to him actually signing there

 

[innsaneink]

If that’s the best quote you have, you’re struggling.

Its.more than you sticking your fingers in your ears yelling "no, its not!"

 

[tigahhh]

Get over Galvin, Richo. Very surprised to see him still talking about him.

if you actually read the original article it was a comment that it isn’t a galvin situation - bula wants to be here and they are working out a deal. the media regurgitated it as a headline. richo & the club are unfortunately easy clickbait

 

[Flippedy]

Brad Arthur had a genuine quality playmaking 7 to steer the ship and lead his team.
We don’t have that.

We do, but he’s always getting injured. He hasn’t had time without interruptions and injury to show it yet, but the kid is special - if only he could stay on the field.

 

[Tom Shines]

Let’s be real, TDS only said that to get out of the club. He had to make up an excuse someway

Last year he was at Kellyville (Parras training ground) almost every week, there’s no way there wasn’t a verbal agreement months prior to him actually signing there

Why have things always got to have an ulterior motive ?

The TDS thing didn’t play out overnight..we were talking about this for months before he left ..perhaps before you joined though ..

Who gives the slightest where he did some offseason training ,,, I doubt he missed any training at Concord when he was required to be there ..

 

[Flippedy]

Let’s be real, TDS only said that to get out of the club. He had to make up an excuse someway

Last year he was at Kellyville (Parras training ground) almost every week, there’s no way there wasn’t a verbal agreement months prior to him actually signing there

Yep it was obvious to all and sundry that he didn’t want to be here, especially once Galvin was gone. The body language and eye contact of both of them to each other in the dressing rooms prior to Galvin leaving screamed ‘how can we get out of here’! Neither of them were onboard with Benji’s, Luai’s, Api’s etc culture or vision for the future so it was better for us, and them, to let them walk.

I’d wished we kept TDS, but he looks very happy at Parra with his new hairdo and teammates. He’s content to sit behind an even younger hooker than Api so to me that means he just wanted out of the Tigers and wasn’t really pushing for a starting spot. It’s no good keeping players who don’t want to be here, so good luck to him.

 

[Tom Shines]

Yep it was obvious to all and sundry that he didn’t want to be here, especially once Galvin was gone. The body language and eye contact of both of them to each other in the dressing rooms prior to Galvin leaving screamed ‘how can we get out of here’! Neither of them were onboard with Benji’s, Luai’s, Api’s etc culture or vision for the future so it was better for us, and them, to let them walk.

I’d wished we kept TDS, but he looks very happy at Parra with his new hairdo and teammates. He’s content to sit behind an even younger hooker than Api so to me that means he just wanted out of the Tigers and wasn’t really pushing for a starting spot. It’s no good keeping players who don’t want to be here, so good luck to him.

He is counting his money most likely … that would put a smile on my face too

 

[tigahhh]

Yep it was obvious to all and sundry that he didn’t want to be here, especially once Galvin was gone. The body language and eye contact of both of them to each other in the dressing rooms prior to Galvin leaving screamed ‘how can we get out of here’! Neither of them were onboard with Benji’s, Luai’s, Api’s etc culture or vision for the future so it was better for us, and them, to let them walk.

I’d wished we kept TDS, but he looks very happy at Parra with his new hairdo and teammates. He’s content to sit behind an even younger hooker than Api so to me that means he just wanted out of the Tigers and wasn’t really pushing for a starting spot. It’s no good keeping players who don’t want to be here, so good luck to him.

yep i would’ve loved to keep tallyn too bc he’s our junior and we developed him but realistically $650k for his 15 minutes off the bench isn’t worth having on our salary cap. parra can be my guess with that over-spending

it’s WT so we have constant 9’s coming through the production line for some reason we’ll be fine lol

 

[Tom Shines]

yep i would’ve loved to keep tallyn too bc he’s our junior and we developed him but realistically $650k for his 15 minutes off the bench isn’t worth having on our salary cap. parra can be my guess with that over-spending

it’s WT so we have constant 9’s coming through the production line for some reason we’ll be fine lol

They told him he was free to leave so he did …

That’s the tldr version of the story ..

 

[tigahhh]

They told him he was free to leave so he did …

That’s the tldr version of the story ..

yea i know, i’m saying i didn’t want it to happen then found out how much he’ll be on - $400k here, $650k at parra - for a bench role and said cya lol

 

[Tom Shines]

yea i know, i’m saying i didn’t want it to happen then found out how much he’ll be on - $400k here, $650k at parra - for a bench role and said cya lol

Well … they could have kept him here and made him see out his contract … we are on the other side of that equation all too often ..I assume you are aware what Bird gets paid to play NSW Cup right …

They did him a solid by letting him go…not much more to the story then that…. He could have done all the sneaking around in the world but it wouldn’t have got him out of his contract if they didn’t allow it …

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

Benji is an established coach. It's not 2023 anymore.

Benji hasn't had that first bit career defining coaching success yet but it's at least fair to say he knows his trade by now. I don't think there'll be anything missing from his coaching program in 2026 that he would have picked up by coaching a NSW cup team prior to taking this job. He handled the Media glare throughout the Galvin situation really well and I doubt there are many rookie coaches who could've done the same.

Let's also remember it took Brad Arthur until the end of his 4th season season to get the Eels into the top 8. Ricky Stuart only made the finals once in his first 5 seasons at the Raiders. Our last 3 full-time coaches have 9 premierships to share between them for good measure.

Unfortunately mate GNR doesn't like Benji for some reason, maybe his dog continuously keeps getting out and crapping on his lawn.

 

[watersider]

if you actually read the original article it was a comment that it isn’t a galvin situation - bula wants to be here and they are working out a deal. the media regurgitated it as a headline. richo & the club are unfortunately easy clickbait

I actually read the article.

I saw no reason for Galvin's name to be brought up. It looked sour and unnecessary. Talk about the players we have, not about those who left. It's enough to say that Bula loves the club and wants to be here, bringing up Galvin shows he's still not over it and allows these sorts of headlines. Richo knows the media, he knows what mentioning Galvin does. Why does he want to remind everyone that one of our highly prized players walked out on the club because he didn't think he could succeed here. Why does that help us to bring that up? It makes us look even sillier that we're still talking about him rather than focused on our team. Just makes us look like a small club that still feels jilted.

 

[hank37w]

He is counting his money most likely … that would put a smile on my face too

Except for the times that Mitch is calling you all the C#%&s under the sun. 🤣

 

[hank37w]

yea i know, i’m saying i didn’t want it to happen then found out how much he’ll be on - $400k here, $650k at parra - for a bench role and said cya lol

100% correct.

People seem to forget that there is a certain lure connected to the mighty dollar, the Parrasites offered him stupid money that we were not willing to compete with for him to stay and be our second string hooker..

Yeah, like many, I wanted him to stay but not for those kinds of dollars, but having said that, I can't believe we haven't done a terrible lot about coming up with something viable to give Api a spell and God forbid if Api gets injured or is suspended.

I hope Richo and Benji have something lined up to cover this.

 

[tigahhh]

I actually read the article.

I saw no reason for Galvin's name to be brought up. It looked sour and unnecessary. Talk about the players we have, not about those who left. It's enough to say that Bula loves the club and wants to be here, bringing up Galvin shows he's still not over it and allows these sorts of headlines. Richo knows the media, he knows what mentioning Galvin does. Why does he want to remind everyone that one of our highly prized players walked out on the club because he didn't think he could succeed here. Why does that help us to bring that up? It makes us look even sillier that we're still talking about him rather than focused on our team. Just makes us look like a small club that still feels jilted.

it was a comparison of situations for me, not that deep imo