Absolute nonsense to think we had 'doubts' about him at this stage. Everyone knows who he is.
Reality is the Dogs are sitting there with that offer the Pom mentioned and they have snuck in yet again to take one off us whilst we jogged on the spot.
Burton
JAC
TPJ
They invariably get their man, we don't...
Us saying "have doubts, we are out" is saving face. Nothing else.
Why can't it be genuine? You don't sign people until you do your due diligence, which includes interviews and research.
So what happens, Tigers meet Pangai, tell them their plan for him, he seems indifferent or seems interested mostly in the money. You walk away and think about what has just happened. Maybe Tigers asked for references and they weren't good. Maybe he's got a bit of injury history they didn't know about.
The Bulldogs 2021/2022 are nothing but the Tigers circa 2017, throwing money about because they are desperate and they have money to throw. Their roster is shallow as a pond and they are spending in all the wrong places. Already their 2021 big signings are horrible failures, not even 12 weeks into the year - Cotric, Flanagan, Hetherington, Corey Allan. Joe Stimson was a bad purchase from Storm. Luke Thompson hasn't worked out yet. Corey Waddell from Manly is a plodder.
If you walk into a house auction and some lunatic is throwing their chequebook around, that isn't "sneaking under your guard" that is madness and you are better to save your money.
I don't think the Dogs recruitment for next year can be compared to ours previously. Yes, their recruitment up to now has been bad...but Burton is a legit star and we all know how good JAC is.
Re TPJ...there is 5 solid years of evidence as to 'who' he is. I really don't think our recruitment team only worked it out at the last min. The Pom said we tabled an offer...so they must have been very convinced to do so. They would have got all those references you mention 'before' putting the offer on the table, surely?
I don't claim to know anything about it. I'm not making inferences.
The comment from Nicolusi, not even an official comment from Tigers, is that Tigers "are convinced he's not a good fit". Brent Read used the term "go cold".
You said "having doubts" at this time point is nonsense. But you don't know anything about it. Tigers may have had doubts the entire time and were seeing what the cost would be, to see if the player was genuine and a good fit, to see if the coach liked him.
Is there anyone on the forum that thinks it's actually a good idea to spend 700K on Pangai?
Last time Hartigan talked to our group about recruitment, he talked about the "player fit" part of recruitment, to be the right type of player to bring on board, regardless of his footballing ability. You can't determine the personality and character of a person from a piece of paper. Job interviews exist for a reason. Good recruiters, and I'm not saying Tigers are necessarily good recruiters, but good ones can tell the qualities of a potential employee from speaking to them and asking good questions.
But it may not have anything to do with Pangai as a person, it may simply be that the asking price isn't a good fit for what Tigers are looking for. It may be that Tigers flew up to Brisbane, if true, to meet Pangai because they smelled a potential bargain. And maybe, as happened the last year or two, when the stupid Bulldogs bring themselves to the table, everyone groans and waits for the stupidity money to come out.
I can only go on what the Pom said...and he has a long history of being reliable.
We tabled an offer...we have chased him for weeks...we targeted offloading ability...
I don't believe we 'went cold' this late. TPJ's "friends" are well known. I don't believe a professional recruitment team would not have known all this a month ago.
If we are waiting for a bargain price on a big name...well, JTJ and BJ have not exactly worked out. IMO we have to spend 'and' land the right players. Players go to the roosters and storm for lower wages / chance to win comps...no one decent is coming to us cheaply.
I'm sorry but The Pom has no such history of being reliable. Pom has a long history of having "good oil" on a given day and mostly refrains from making predictions, which is wise to do when you are in receipt of gossip.
Also I will guess POM's info is from a single source, not multiple sources i.e. multiple sides of a story.
Again this isn't to criticise POM, he only posts what he hears. But so many users run off and make mental plans and concoct stories based on these rumours. Many of the rumours are contradictory, or the story changes over the course of a few days. But you are almost arguing here that there is foundation to consider POM's posts as factual.
For example, these posts from the past few weeks:
>[Pangai] 100% if cards fall the way the club wants he will be here sooner rather than later.
>Talks between Bulldogs & Tigers with DWZ advanced quickly over the weekend, strong chance he’s playing for us against Eels in round 14. Money being the biggest issue for 2022, dogs expected to chip in around the $300-$350k mark, Tigers offering this season & 22/23
>Mbye from what I’m told has 4 potential suitors, Dragons is dead in the water at the moment, wanted to only pay $150,000 for this year & $300,000 for next.
Closer to 80/20 in our favour for Issako in 2021/22
I’d be fairly confident in getting Issako for this season.
Now not one of those things has actually happened. The information may have been solid, but even here I feel POM has gone out on a limb to make predictions and they were wrong. I don't mind.
You have no idea what "gone cold" means. It may only be down to the contract value. It may be duration of contract. It may have nothing to do with his alleged bikie friends or his on-field behaviour.
Well, CCTW has now mentioned the Dogs offer...and also confirmed we were prepared to pay 600 a year. Reed and Badel, both reliable for Broncs news, also said a deal was put.
I don't know first hand, nor do you...but those 'sources' combined all tend to suggest we had him...and the Dogs have come in late with more...just as they did with JAC.
I actually do have some more information this afternoon. It's second-hand information, because @Tiger_Steve and @cochise were at the meeting and I was not.
The TPJ asking price is 700K per season. He also wants his existing third-party agreements covered, as apparently they aren't all paid yet, so it will cost more again. Tigers did not make a formal offer and are not interested at that price.
Bulldogs were not mentioned. Bulldogs may or may not be the reason why the asking price is 700K.
Bulldogs seem to be well in the equation, Tigers were the only club willing to make a formal offer at this point but seems the Dogs will meet what he wants.
Would've liked him here but no way I'd be paying 700k+. Happy the club walked away.
$700k plus he was trying to double dip, so he was looking for a lot more than that.
