Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Goanna57]

I am not as worried as others regarding our inability to sign players. I suspect it’s a timing issue with our pursuit (and reported tentative agreement) with LM, we probably were too late for Lomax, Drinkwater etc. Their negotiations would have started some time ago and we obviously thought we had our target - alas we have missed the boat.

So in the absence of anything better, I would look to front end so see contracts so our war chest next year is massive.

The key to this 'war chest' is making the 8 in 2020. Atm, no one wants to come here because of inability to play finals football. We need to make the 8 as of next year and this is critical for us attracting the right players when all this $$ becomes available.


No offence meant to you in particular Tcat, but I'm sick of hearing that nobody wants to come to WT because we rarely make the 8 etc. Mate, I've seen players willingly sign with clubs that regularly finish below us on the ladder and perform far worse than us most years, so I really don't think us not making the 8 is an issue.

We are on the cusp of making the finals nearly every year, we never finish out of contention or dead last. Perhaps if just one or two of these 'top' players came to play with us they could actually help us to become a regular top 8 team and real Premiership threat! You would think that it would be an incentive and a challenge to be part of a team that is on the verge of lifting itself to become one of the better teams in the comp, but they seem to have absolutely no foresight at all.

Mate we are on the cusp of making finals nearly every year but have only made it 3 times, last time was 2011 and you don’t think it has a bearing on recruitment

 

[2041]

“We didn’t get turned down by other major free agents in 2017-18, which was - again - the only other time we’ve had money to spend in pre-season for the past decade.”

How can you be sure we didn't get turned down? Are you privy to all contract discussions?

I'm basing my view on things that I know happened. The NRL leaks like a sieve for goodness' sake - you think that if we'd had a big bid in for Josh Dugan or Ben Hunt in the 2017-18 off-season no-one would ever have heard a whiff of it?

 

[Viking Warrior]

I rekon we try get Shaun Johnson off the sharks he can goal kick and has speed, I'd prefer him then Moylan anyway

 

[Russell]

Unpopular opinion; but I would make enquiries to see if Israel Folau would come back to league to play at fullback for WT at a cool 1 mill. Edit: potential can of worms here.

I'll pretend I never read this. You are Kidding!!!!

 

[avocadoontoast]

I rekon we try get Shaun Johnson off the sharks he can goal kick and has speed, I'd prefer him then Moylan anyway

Johnson is a loser. He's good when you're up by 30 but when the game is on the line he disappears.

 

[Goanna57]

I am not as worried as others regarding our inability to sign players. I suspect it’s a timing issue with our pursuit (and reported tentative agreement) with LM, we probably were too late for Lomax, Drinkwater etc. Their negotiations would have started some time ago and we obviously thought we had our target - alas we have missed the boat.

So in the absence of anything better, I would look to front end so see contracts so our war chest next year is massive.

The key to this 'war chest' is making the 8 in 2020. Atm, no one wants to come here because of inability to play finals football. We need to make the 8 as of next year and this is critical for us attracting the right players when all this $$ becomes available.


No offence meant to you in particular Tcat, but I'm sick of hearing that nobody wants to come to WT because we rarely make the 8 etc. Mate, I've seen players willingly sign with clubs that regularly finish below us on the ladder and perform far worse than us most years, so I really don't think us not making the 8 is an issue.

We are on the cusp of making the finals nearly every year, we never finish out of contention or dead last. Perhaps if just one or two of these 'top' players came to play with us they could actually help us to become a regular top 8 team and real Premiership threat! You would think that it would be an incentive and a challenge to be part of a team that is on the verge of lifting itself to become one of the better teams in the comp, but they seem to have absolutely no foresight at all.

Couldn’t agree more. The people who say “no-one will sign for us because we haven’t been playing finals” don’t seem to be aware of any other clubs. Not playing finals didn’t stop Klemmer and Ponga signing for Newcastle, or RTS for the Warriors, or Valentine Holmes for the Cowboys. Wanna guess Souths’ last three finishes before they signed Inglis? 14th, 10th, 9th. Mitchell himself might end up at the Titans FFS.

If a club doesn’t seem like a total basket case and offers the best deal, players will go there. It’s as simple as that.

That’s all true but how many clubs have gone 8 straight seasons without making the finals

 

[avocadoontoast]

I’m basing my view on things that I know happened. The NRL leaks like a sieve for goodness’ sake - you think that if we’d had a big bid in for Josh Dugan or Ben Hunt in the 2017-18 off-season no-one would ever have heard a whiff of it?

I'm quite sure we don't know everything.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Well here we are 1 week into December and we have signed 1, 1st grade player, and that just covers the grub that walked out on us. for as long as I can remember we have never had a sack full of cap to spend, yet u would think that we are still in the dark ages of years gone by. it appears lomax has resigned at the dragons for just $300,000 per season , gee we could have top that u would have thought. not much left on the shelf , and to be honest I don't want LM at the club, bloke seems to have a screw lose or his management team does. cant see where we are going to snare a dominant front rower from, or a class back before the start of the season.

The figure was reported as 500k, and I'd hope our club didn't offer him a cent more

 

[2041]

’m afraid it’s not something you can choose to disagree with because it’s not an opinion. We signed Josh Reynolds, Russell Packer and Ben Matulino before the 2018 season.

It is an opinion. I don't consider the three you mentioned to be particularly high profile players. Reynolds was discarded by the Dogs, Packer has a high profile for non playing reasons, and Matulino was past his best. The only thing high profile about them was what they were getting paid.

100% selective memory on your part. The Dogs' cap was knackered so they couldn't make Reynolds an offer (also, every single free agent who moves clubs presumably didn't get a better offer from the club they were previously at). Packer was coming off a massive season with the Dragons where he'd been talked up all year, also gettin recalled by NZ mid-way through the 2017 season and playing every game for them in that year's world cup. Matulino was lower profile but highly rated, and he was 28 - no reason to think he'd be past his best.

You're also refusing to engage with the main point I'm making: we didn't get turned down by other major free agents in 2017-18, which was - again - the only other time we've had money to spend in pre-season for the past decade. Look at the list: who were the players we pursued that wouldn't sign for us? We signed badly (as did basically everyone else who acquired high-profile free agents that year). That's not the same thing as players not wanting to sign for us.

re Packer, he had broken down mid season for Saints (after a very good first half of the season). Legend has it Mary and the Saints staff all got up and clapped when he announced his deal with us (as they were so happy he had made his fortune after being in jail). Saints offer was about 400...ours was 650 plus.

That off season, yes, we did get players to come...but we paid massive overs for Josh and Packer. Not just "overs", but massive.

And we added a fourth year to their deals...just to make sure. Josh Reynolds, with a history of hammys, four years.

It was absolutely irresponsible from Cleary and Pascoe (who sat, smiled and signed off on it all)

**I do not care if we finish last in 2020 as long as we never do that again.**

Yes, throw overs at the absolute elite if you can get a current origin player...

But never, ever, throw massive overs again at broken down players past their primes.

To be clear, I don't disagree with any of this. All I'm saying is that there's a difference between (a) the Tigers have signed badly when they have had resources available, and (b) good players won't sign for the Tigers. They could *both* be true, but what I'm saying is that while we know (a) is true we really don't have any evidence of (b).


Re B, I have been a supporter for 40 years and we have never been able to sign elite talent (other than Poms looking for a chance)

I know that is not empirical, but it does seem clear elite players do not want to join us.

When was the last time we signed a current Kangaroo?

Edit: adding to that, when was the last time we also signed a current Origin player?

It might seem like that but, again, I think most of it comes down to not having any money (pre merger) or mismanaging the salary cap so there is never any money to spend (last decade or so).

This "no-one will ever sign for us" stuff is nonsense on its face. Why would players refuse to sign for the Tigers yet happily sign up to success machines like the Titans, Warriors and Knights? If you offer the best deal, players will sign. Maybe the Tigers have to offer a few more bucks than the Storm or Broncos, but that's hardly unique. How easy do you think it is for the Raiders to persuade free agents to move there?

The bottom line is that the Tigers have just hardly ever been in a position to offer top-flight players the best deal - and when they have they've targeted the wrong people.

 

[TheDaBoss]

He's a premiership winning coach. They don't grow on trees.

MULTIPLE premiership winning coach

:::

Spoiler Text

:::

 

[TheDaBoss]

There goes lomax....Who is next

 

[2041]

I am not as worried as others regarding our inability to sign players. I suspect it’s a timing issue with our pursuit (and reported tentative agreement) with LM, we probably were too late for Lomax, Drinkwater etc. Their negotiations would have started some time ago and we obviously thought we had our target - alas we have missed the boat.

So in the absence of anything better, I would look to front end so see contracts so our war chest next year is massive.

The key to this 'war chest' is making the 8 in 2020. Atm, no one wants to come here because of inability to play finals football. We need to make the 8 as of next year and this is critical for us attracting the right players when all this $$ becomes available.


No offence meant to you in particular Tcat, but I'm sick of hearing that nobody wants to come to WT because we rarely make the 8 etc. Mate, I've seen players willingly sign with clubs that regularly finish below us on the ladder and perform far worse than us most years, so I really don't think us not making the 8 is an issue.

We are on the cusp of making the finals nearly every year, we never finish out of contention or dead last. Perhaps if just one or two of these 'top' players came to play with us they could actually help us to become a regular top 8 team and real Premiership threat! You would think that it would be an incentive and a challenge to be part of a team that is on the verge of lifting itself to become one of the better teams in the comp, but they seem to have absolutely no foresight at all.

Couldn’t agree more. The people who say “no-one will sign for us because we haven’t been playing finals” don’t seem to be aware of any other clubs. Not playing finals didn’t stop Klemmer and Ponga signing for Newcastle, or RTS for the Warriors, or Valentine Holmes for the Cowboys. Wanna guess Souths’ last three finishes before they signed Inglis? 14th, 10th, 9th. Mitchell himself might end up at the Titans FFS.

If a club doesn’t seem like a total basket case and offers the best deal, players will go there. It’s as simple as that.


That’s all true but how many clubs have gone 8 straight seasons without making the finals

RTS signed for the Warriors before the 2016 season and they hadn't played finals since 2011.
Inglis signed for Souths after they'd missed the finals for three straight years.
Klemmer and Ponga signed for the Knights after three straight wooden spoons.

Do you think there's a magic number after which players say to their agents "oh no, they haven't been in the finals for X years, I'd rather sign anywhere than there"?

 

[WT2K]

Maybe we should make a play for the kid at the Storm,
Nicho Hynes.. won't be getting many games with Papz extended now.

:question:

Nicholas Hynes is a five eighth or fullback that plays for Melbourne Storms feeder club in the Cantebury Cup

what @WT2K is saying, that since Ryan Papenhauzen has been extended at storm, Nicholas will get limited opportunites to play 1st grade at storm

his statistics inlude-

TRY ASSISTS-21
LINE BREAK ASSISTS-24
OFFLOADS-32
AVERAGE RUNNING METRES-116.2
HE IS 188CM TALL AND 23 YEARS IN AGE

Here is some highlights-https://www.facebook.com/IntrustSuperCup/videos/storm-boy-nicho-hynes-lights/1058569877676054/

There's a few guys in the same category as Hynes we could target. Hard to know what Madge and Hartigan are thinking as not much gets leaked anymore (a good thing imo)

 

[2041]

I’m basing my view on things that I know happened. The NRL leaks like a sieve for goodness’ sake - you think that if we’d had a big bid in for Josh Dugan or Ben Hunt in the 2017-18 off-season no-one would ever have heard a whiff of it?

I'm quite sure we don't know everything.

So basically your view that no quality players will ever sign for the Tigers is based on their failure to sign mysterious, unnamed players you assume they've approached but about whom but no news or even rumours of approaches have ever been heard, plus Lattrell Mitchell who also didn't sign for the Roosters and as of now hasn't signed for anyone. It's not a great case, let's be fair.

 

[avocadoontoast]

It’s not a great case, let’s be fair.

Again, it's my opinion. I don't agree with you, and I don't think we are an attractive proposition to many players which is why we don't ever seem to sign a player in their prime. So how about we just wrap it up here and say we agree to disagree? I'm sure the forum is bored with this conversation as I certainly am.

 

[Deleted member 3518]

Is this still going on ? The hate from a few of you is constant lol. I reiterate . Why do you support the tigers ? Is it Stockholm Syndrome? Like honestly, why is it always the tigers fault ? Like on everything ? X player stays loyal . Typical tigers . Bad bloke , good player , decides to continue being a bad bloke , at his 3rd team , and leaves . Useless tigers . We continue to compete despite some bad signings by an agenda driven, used car salesman of an ex coach . Oh that’s a fluke, management should have signed X player instead of Y player .... It’s tiresome.

 

[Dyloh]

There goes lomax....Who is next

Luka Doncic

 

[avocadoontoast]

Is this still going on ? The hate from a few of you is constant lol. I reiterate . Why do you support the tigers ? Is it Stockholm Syndrome? Like honestly, why is it always the tigers fault ? Like on everything ? X player stays loyal . Typical tigers . Bad bloke , good player , decides to continue being a bad bloke , at his 3rd team , and leaves . Useless tigers . We continue to compete despite some bad signings by an agenda driven, used car salesman of an ex coach . Oh that’s a fluke, management should have signed X player instead of Y player .... It’s tiresome.

It's not as tiring as you whinging all the time about other people not sharing the same opinion as yourself. Today's forum discussions haven't been negative at all, it's been about trying to identify some issues we perceive to exist in the club. That's what forums are about. There's been no disrespect or insults or anything of that nature.

 

[TheDaBoss]

ugh i cant decide who i hate the most....Slimers or Pamfers......

 

[NT_Tiger]

ugh i cant decide who i hate the most....Slimers or Pamfers......

It's OK 'boss, you can hate them both equally.