Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[rihannafan1]

Latu and Javon is pure fantasy team stuff. B

I'd be very interested to see how Latu and AD go together, sooner rather than later.

On Latu...the guy must be the most injury prone player in first grade on a per minutes basis. And that's who we're giving our team over to. Hmmmm.

 

[weststigerman]

I’m a fan of Latu and Javon, but Latu still tackles with his head and Andrews hasn’t played NRL yet.

Losing Luai early means we are a significantly weaker team next year.

 

[Vicious]

Latu and Javon is pure fantasy team stuff. B

I'd be very interested to see how Latu and AD go together, sooner rather than later.

On Latu...the guy must be the most injury prone player in first grade on a per minutes basis. And that's who we're giving our team over to. Hmmmm.

There are no guarantees and going all in on Latu, particularly with as you point out a history of being injury prone, it is certainly a big risk.
He is supposedly getting paid 500k for this season and next and you would assume his manager Mario Tartak, although he appears to have a very good relationship with Wests Tigers and Benji, he will highly likely be looking for more moving forward given the likely salary cap increases.
So we might get Latu extended until 2029 which is 2 extra years if we average out his contract at around 600 - 700k.
Based on him being unproven you would hope it’s much closer to the 600k mark.
So there is always the risk it could turn out to be a terrible contract and a terrible decision to put so much faith in him, however like many others I just see so much upside in Latu’s game.
His lack of a confident kicking game is my big concern, but Luai has been very hesitant to take the responsibility of coming up with our 5th tackle decisions including kicking the ball, so it’s not as if we lose much even if Latu’s kicking game is not up to scratch straight away.
I think that is another reason why we would be silly not to look at partnering Doueihi with Latu in the interim and start giving Javon Andrews some NRL games when injuries occur and not forgetting Jock Madden is still a very solid halfback option when needed, particularly when we have all the players around him doing their job.
Potentially Latu is a much bigger run threat than Luai and he has the natural ability the straighten to create space outside of him much better than Luai.
At the end of the day, we know what Luai’s ceiling is and although he is a very good player who has had a great career, he is not the superstar we are craving and he has already made the decision to leave us in 2028 in any case.
A lot needs to go right for him, particularly in regards to staying relatively injury free, but Latu has potential to be the superstar we need.
Time will tell.

 

[Fish88]

This has just paved the way for our boy…. Josh Schuster come on down

 

[Vicious]

This has just paved the way for our boy…. Josh Schuster come on down

He is another forgotten x-factor in this puzzle.

 

[Coastie_Tiger]

AD has to be in the halves next season all things we've done well have been around him, im happy for Latu or Andrews to get a crack at partnering him but no way in the world should it be Andrews and Latu. You need some sort of experience there to guide these guys through the tough patches.
I'd also be hanging onto Jock as back up, we all probably know hes not the long term answer but hes reliable enough to do a job here and there when necessary.
Time for the young guns to step up.

 

[balmain boy]

For the past 6 months you are virtually the only one who keeps bringing it up as a focus point.
I blame poor recruitment and retention on the people who are doing the recruitment and retention.
I blame bad coaching decisions or bad coaching on the coach,
I blame below standard onfield performances on the players who are performing below standard.
Other things you seem to want to keep bringing up may be far from ideal, but the onfield results directly relate to recruitment and retention which forms the playing roster and the decision making and coaching from the coach.
If we could swap our 1-5 with the likes of the Knights or Dolphins we would be siting comfortably in the top 4 and we would not be having this discussion.

But if we have the worst recruitment staff because we can't afford to hire anyone but a local boy to help us then that's on the owners not the recruiter.

If we have on field performances that are poor, maybe it's because we have the lowest paid and lowest Calibre assistants in the NRL.

Deny it as much as you want, all failures lead back to Wests Ashfield.

 

[balmain boy]

You do this everytime.

We were discussing Private Ownership and you have pivoted to the systematic issues that have been around for over a decade under HBG's watch.

So now that you have brough it up, why do we continually have these issues under HBG's watch? Everyone that comes into the football club under them is simply playing musical chairs. It's same song and dance, until they blame the individual and we start again.

I don't know how many times it needs to be said, but as long as the Wests Magpies are the #1 priority, then the Wests Tigers will never have long term sustained success.

Pivot away.

And then there's the fact that Wests Ashfield don't even find the Wests Magpies junior rep sides. So Wests aren't even the priority for Wests. Lidcombe oval is the priority.

 

[batboy]

Another chess piece in this could be Tyrone May too. But he'd probably more be a Jock Madden depth replacement from 2028 for a couple of seasons to play with his bros.

Pretty sure he just resigned for a few years over there.
Terrell pretty much squashed him ever coming back in a recent podcast

 

[bptiger 0]

This has just paved the way for our boy…. Josh Schuster come on down

Yes , I forgot we had him

 

[Vicious]

But if we have the worst recruitment staff because we can't afford to hire anyone but a local boy to help us then that's on the owners not the recruiter.

If we have on field performances that are poor, maybe it's because we have the lowest paid and lowest Calibre assistants in the NRL.

Deny it as much as you want, all failures lead back to Wests Ashfield.

Benji was not happy with us hiring outside recruitment staff, case point Scott Fulton.

 

[Tired Tiger]

My god there are a lot of bedwetters in this forum......

Luai's output was next to zero for a 1.2 million dollar contract.

If we can ditch him to parra for a 200-300k loss then hats off to Shaun M for an outstanding piece of business.

It's win win, Luai plays best when he has a point to prove and has a chip on his shoulder. I expect a big game from him tonight and the remaining of the season, no more coasting until he gets to PNG........

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

My god there are a lot of bedwetters in this forum......

Luai's output was next to zero for a 1.2 million dollar contract.

If we can ditch him to parra for a 200-300k loss then hats off to Shaun M for an outstanding piece of business.

It's win win, Luai plays best when he has a point to prove and has a chip on his shoulder. I expect a big game from him tonight and the remaining of the season, no more coasting until he gets to PNG........

problem is one of the potential replacements in Latu, as good as he may well has spent more time with the rehab bib on than just about anyone else.

if parramatta happen to get leniu and a halves pairing of Moses and luai and with Iongi at fullback they will have a pretty competitive side next year

 

[Tired Tiger]

problem is one of the potential replacements in Latu, as good as he may well has spent more time with the rehab bib on than just about anyone else.

if parramatta happen to get leniu and a halves pairing of Moses and luai and with Iongi at fullback they will have a pretty competitive side next year

If Luai can't cut the mustard on the field for the first 2 years he has been here then what makes you think he can in the third ?

What will we do at the end of next year, sign Kota ..... Not likely.

Next year our halves will be AD, Latu, Andrews, Madden and potentially Shucster if he can stay out of fat camp.

Having Luai around for another year to phone it in till he goes to PNG is not going to help our progression as a team one iota.

Time to .... him off and get on with life ......

 

[Tigerstigerstigers]

problem is one of the potential replacements in Latu, as good as he may well has spent more time with the rehab bib on than just about anyone else.

if parramatta happen to get leniu and a halves pairing of Moses and luai and with Iongi at fullback they will have a pretty competitive side next year

Replacements include for 2
Positions ;-
Douehi
Madden
Latu
Javon
Schuster
If needed , Averillo .
We are well served .

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

If Luai can't cut the mustard on the field for the first 2 years he has been here then what makes you think he can in the third ?

What will we do at the end of next year, sign Kota ..... Not likely.

Next year our halves will be AD, Latu, Andrews, Madden and potentially Shucster if he can stay out of fat camp.

Having Luai around for another year to phone it in till he goes to PNG is not going to help our progression as a team one iota.

Time to fark him off and get on with life ......

Yes Katoa would be great thanks

Luai has not been out worst player this year by any stretch
Luai will head to Parramatta for a year and kill it.

 

[Tired Tiger]

Yes Katoa would be great thanks

Luai has not been out worst player this year by any stretch
Luai will head to Parramatta for a year and kill it.

He probably will because he will have a structured half back at the near peak of his powers next to him just like he did at Penrith.

He came here to be the man and he couldn't live up to expectations, the best thing for everyone is to cut their losses and move on.

Because keeping him here next year is only going to hinder us not help us .....

 

[Tom Shines]

problem is one of the potential replacements in Latu, as good as he may well has spent more time with the rehab bib on than just about anyone else.

if parramatta happen to get leniu and a halves pairing of Moses and luai and with Iongi at fullback they will have a pretty competitive side next year

We get Averillo coming

 

[Telltails]

If Luai can't cut the mustard on the field for the first 2 years he has been here then what makes you think he can in the third ?

What will we do at the end of next year, sign Kota ..... Not likely.

Next year our halves will be AD, Latu, Andrews, Madden and potentially Shucster if he can stay out of fat camp.

Having Luai around for another year to phone it in till he goes to PNG is not going to help our progression as a team one iota.

Time to fark him off and get on with life ......

Luai has played plenty of good games without starring, the problem is as soon as people know a salary their expectations are not realistic.
So we will scapegoat another player, deathride them when another club takes them on to strengthen their roster, and still look for the miracle man to resolve a history of "team" failures.
A Moses/ Luai halves combination I have no doubt will be positive to Parramatta and will strengthen their squad and their position.

 

[batboy]

You started second guessing yourself...thats when comments started to get a bit critical....at the end of the day it does have "rumours" in the title so go hard.

Needs to go a bit ‘harder’ than
“I heard a rumour I haven’t heard before”