Thoughts on Elijah Taylor so far.

[supercoach]

Every day his asking price is going up and external interest is getting bigger. I really do not know whats holding them back, I guess it all comes down to the dreaded cap. You can not register a contract that will take the club over the cap, so maybe everything is up in the air till Farah shows his hand. I still can not believe we are near the top of our cap when you look at our roster, but I guess that is what happens when you play overs

 

[stryker]

Great thread mate…I haven't seen this topic discussed at enormous length at all :wink:

In an unrelated question, what are people's thoughts on James Tedesco? I reckon he's good as well.

 

[TYGA]

Elijah Taylor was not a mystery he was always a great player not valued by the coach and had some injury issues. It was an astute signing by the club and couple this with the smart move of releasing Taupau and our overall recruitment team need to be applauded. Unhappy with JAC leaving but credit whee credit is due they have to lock up ET and make him captain.

 

[Tigerdon]

Great thread mate…I haven't seen this topic discussed at enormous length at all :wink:

In an unrelated question, what are people's thoughts on James Tedesco? I reckon he's good as well.

It will be interesting to see how ET and Robbie combine this weekend…and Yes, James goes pretty well.

 

[Bones]

Funny that we get better results signing NSW Cup players than internationals. Blake Austin, Marty Taupau and Elijah Taylor have been some of our best players in recent years.

I'm a massive fan of doing this. Pick the good reserve graders and then see how they go.

As for ET I think he has been great. To me he is a footy player in that technically he has a lot of good skills defensively and offensively. I think he is captaincy material and should be signed for another couple of years.

He can be a key contributor to our team. ET, Tedesco & Woods are 3 players who should slot into our squad for a number of years.

Only problem is that only one of them is still with us.

 

[coopy]

A very astute pick-up for our back row. Defensively strong, can play some first receiver, runs the ball with vigour and has great energy about him but is not and never will be a NRL standard hooker!

It was a waste putting him there last week.

 

[Patts]

I really like the extra dimension ET adds to our attack and his defence in the centre is second to none. The concern I have with our forward pack is aggression and size. Lawrence isn't a huge back rower either and Halatu off the bench is small. Woods is a good meter eater as is Sue but I wouldn't describe any of these guys as aggressive. We need a couple of big mongrels to compliment these guys. I think that was real evident against Easts. PS -I think Grant was good for the first two rounds and than dropped off.

 

[jctiger]

He's been a real revelation since coming on board but my only concern is if we keep playing the way we are he will slowly come back to the pack and become a real WT player rather than our team follow his lead and pick up their act

 

[Masterton]

We need a couple of big mongrels to compliment these guys. I think that was real evident against Easts. PS -I think Grant was good for the first two rounds and than dropped off.

When we were under the pump against the Broncos early, it was Grant taking all the dirty hit-ups. We need players like that, who step UP for a challenge.

Taupau was a good foil for Woods. Aggro with short minutes. Although I can understand why we let him go, we need another bully like Carter or Nathan Brown.

 

[stevetiger]

Taupau was a good foil for Woods.

Yep. Woods doesn't have a lot of impact and he isn't a game changer. Taupau can turn a game and has an impact.

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

I really like the extra dimension ET adds to our attack and his defence in the centre is second to none. The concern I have with our forward pack is aggression and size. Lawrence isn't a huge back rower either and Halatu off the bench is small. Woods is a good meter eater as is Sue but I wouldn't describe any of these guys as aggressive. We need a couple of big mongrels to compliment these guys. I think that was real evident against Easts. PS -I think Grant was good for the first two rounds and than dropped off.

Yeah, what's happened to him, I had reservations about signing him, but he was better than I thought he'd be, but hestarted to drop off again, does he have an ongoing injury.

 

[tigerap]

ET has been a breath of fresh air for the WT…What he has shown is how a NSW Cup player from one team can come to the WT and look a class above our forwards...says a lot about our pack!

 

[mike]

He is going great. Work rate is very high and deserves his spot in first grade.

 

[WestsSupporter]

Just wait guys he will eventually catch the concord disease and either move to another club for treatment or run with it and become mediocre.

 

[Geo]

He's good..

 

[Sco77y]

Good, very good so far
Fills that void we were missing with a ball playing forward area

I say give him another contract or an extension

We should defiantly give him a contract for 2-3 years.

Im really concerned about guys with long term contracts
Seems to impact motivation in some cases with player intensity dropping off playing in the same team for an extended duration

Back on ET, doubt he is that sort of player but who knows

He's been great and a 2 or 3 year contract would be good to keep him here. I know what you mean regarding a drop off in intensity from some players after signing decent contracts. This shouldn't be the case but it does happen, and too often at this club. Maybe we just sign duds with attitude problems, I don't know. It's hard to tell which players will end up like that. Blair was the worst of those cases I would think, don't need a disaster like that again..

But yeah, highly doubt ET is anything like that, seems very professional. Hopefully JT leaves him in preferred positions now and not all over the shop like last weekend.

 

[supercoach]

We rarely sign seasoned hard nosed pros that is why we struggle and ET is a pro

 

[innsaneink]

Yeh, pro is what came to my mind when I read the thread title.
He has a lot between the ears too, not just as a footballer, i watched quite a few video interviews of him when I heard we signed him…comes across very well and knowledgeable