Tamou Leaving the Cowboys

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SW State of Origin prop James Tamou to leave North Queensland Cowboys

Date June 9, 2016 - 1:42PM

Premiership-winning front-rower James Tamou will leave North Queensland for family reasons, his manager has confirmed.

Tamou reportedly informed his Cowboys teammates of his decision to leave the NRL premiers on Thursday morning.

The 27-year-old's manager Sam Ayoub was unable to confirm that discussion had taken place but said the decision to leave the Cowboys had been made. "He's made the decision to relocate his family to Sydney to have some extended family support around," Ayoub told AAP.

Tamou and his wife Brittney are expecting their third child and it's understood the NSW and Australia representative has been agonising over the decision for weeks. Up to three clubs are believed to have tabled bids for Tamou, with Penrith the front-runners on the back of a lucrative four-year deal.

Ayoub says nothing has been finalised at this point. "I'm working through with the interested parties here and I'll work through things over the next week or so," he said.

Tamou's departure is the first setback for the Cowboys as they try to retain the squad which delivered the club's maiden premiership in 2015.

Backs Lachlan Coote, Antonio Winterstein and Kane Linnett have all signed new deals in recent weeks. But grand final winners Ben Hannant, Justin O'Neill, Rory Kostjasyn and Ethan Lowe are all off contract.

Tamou has made 157 NRL appearances for the Cowboys after his debut in 2009.

The New Zealand-born prop has also made 12 State of Origin appearances for the Blues and featured in 12 Tests for the Kangaroos.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/north-queensland-cowboys/nsw-state-of-origin-prop-james-tamou-to-leave-north-queensland-cowboys-20160609-gpfaop.html#ixzz4B3GJC74F
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I don't know what he'd cost but he's exactly what we need!
 
Was hoping he'd stay so that Lowe was more likely to leave. We need a back rower rather than a front rower (if given the choice).
 
@ricksen said:
Was hoping he'd stay so that Lowe was more likely to leave. We need a back rower rather than a front rower (if given the choice).
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jesse sue can easily be the predominant backrower with lawrence. unfortunately, we've already signed siro, lovett and aloiai to long term deals and they can only play one position. im not sure if we can afford to splurge on a big name backrower unless we let go of a couple.
 
I'm sure Slammin Sam will be recommending the Wests Tigers to Tamou as we speak…Welcome aboard James...
 
not sure we would see him at his best in Tigers colours.

Didn't realise Justin O'Neil was off contract. Would be happy to have him.
 
Penrith front runners? How do they still have enough cap space to make big offers? They've done nothing but buy the last couple of years..
 
@The Tooth said:
not sure we would see him at his best in Tigers colours.

Didn't realise Justin O'Neil was off contract. Would be happy to have him.
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Even i would look good playing outside Thurston and Morgan, not sure if the Dynamic duo will give you the same leg up. Not saying Neil is not a good player but he is playing in a very good team
 
But Woods and Tamou are besties know aren't they

And besties and bff's stick together , don't they ??

Cmon one of you Under's 30's , a potential side would be nice , us older generation won't be here much longer
 
@tig_prmz said:
i'd love for him to be here.
he's very inconsistent though.
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You'd love for him to be here even though you think he's inconsistent?

You'd be a special to get a job with recruiting at the Wests Tigers.
 
@tig_prmz said:
@ricksen said:
Was hoping he'd stay so that Lowe was more likely to leave. We need a back rower rather than a front rower (if given the choice).

jesse sue can easily be the predominant backrower with lawrence. unfortunately, we've already signed siro, lovett and aloiai to long term deals and they can only play one position. im not sure if we can afford to splurge on a big name backrower unless we let go of a couple.
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We've tried Sue as an edge forward - looks much better and more comfortable in the middle.
Having him, Woods, Grant, Ava and Taylor as a grouping of middle fwds is pretty solid.
Our corps of edge forwards (Lawrence, Aloiai, Sirro & Lovett) may well be the weakest in the competition. Lovett and Aloiai are out of contract at the end of 2017 and wouldn't be on much, so we wouldn't be too lopsided cap-wise using them as depth/backup.
 
It seems we want him to be M Fix-It, but Elijah Taylor might be the best edge running option we actually have. Lovett has proven much more effective running in the middle. Same with Sue. Aloiai is an interesting one, but looks more a middle guy.

Sironen could play that role if he ever gets it all together.

But Taylor's running & ability to pass might make him our most effective wide runner.
 
@Sco77y said:
Penrith front runners? How do they still have enough cap space to make big offers? They've done nothing but buy the last couple of years..
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Report of a $3 million over 4 years contract, that is $750k a year we can spend elsewhere, like a strike centre, or winger as we don't have any of these either.
Maybe they might need to let go of the Jennings brothers to help ease cap restraints, we could take them or Whare.
 
@851 said:
@Sco77y said:
Penrith front runners? How do they still have enough cap space to make big offers? They've done nothing but buy the last couple of years..

Report of a $3 million over 4 years contract, that is $750k a year we can spend elsewhere, like a strike centre, or winger as we don't have any of these either.
Maybe they might need to let go of the Jennings brothers to help ease cap restraints, we could take them or Whare.
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Wow! Yeah they can have him.. We're set for front rowers anyway. And yeah could hopefully lead to us having a shot at some of their players who would benefit our squad.
 
As stated above we have more than enough middle players now. We could do with a really high quality backrower but I'm not sure that there are any out there who are going to leave their club.
 
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