J
jtkiwi99
Guest
Hi fellow tigers supporters,
With a long emotional season coming to an end and our team out of play-off contention I have come here to get your opinions on my thoughts for 2014.
After losing our marquee and best player (Benjamin something) to rugby yawnion we may have just received a blessing in disguise.
Our now deep pockets means we can start building towards a better future which starts with smarter more clinical recruiting decisions and deeply investing in our upcoming youth.
I'll start with the current squad and recent recruiting strategy. Our first step is to either get rid of whoever is currently recruiting for the tigers or at least give them a major kick up the…. backside.
The what I like to call "middle of the road journeyman retirement" strategy is playing with fire and unless you have a solid spine and class players who can carry a team i.e Storm, Sea Eagles and now even the Rabbits then my advice is to stay away from this altogether.
The perceived "depth" we create from these buys is just ridiculous and would only be true if we already have an amazing squad to begin with *sigh* and I mean there is a reason why these players were not re-signed and let go buy their respective clubs.
Recent buys such as Reddy, Pettybourne, Utai, B.Thompson, Anasta, Bell, Tuquiri and even Adam Blair sorry did i forget to mention new signing Cory Paterson...wreak of this strategy and coupled with the release of players such as Andrew Fifita, Blake Ayshford, Beau Ryan, Chris Heighington and Gareth Ellis is just beyond belief.
Might I say I am ecstatic about the Joel Reddy move to souths (good luck with that).
Now with our current squad I believe we have good a decent mix of youth and experience to build a team around e.g Farah, Woods, Nofoluma, Sironen, Moltzen etc.
Looking to next year here is what I believe our team should look like and where we should use our funds.
1\. Moltzen
2\. Korobete/Simona
3\. Lawrence
4\. Simona/Tedesco
5\. Nofoluma
6\. Brooks/Moses
7\. ?
8\. Murdoch Masila
9\. Farah
10\. Galloway
11\. Blair
12\. Sironen
13\. Woods
RES:
Anasta
Fulton
Sue/Buchanan/Seumanufangai/Thompson
Sue/Buchanan/Seumanufangai/Thompson
Starting with our outside backs, I believe we should persevere with Moltzen at fullback. He wins over Tedesco purely on his ball playing and innovative skills.
Tedesco is a more running fearless fullback that would of been good 10 years ago in the days where Anthony Minichello and Luke Pattern were the best fullbacks going round so his position going forward is centre where he can also provide cover for the injury prone Lawrence.
However Moltzen needs to really start earning his keep especially in defense, running the ball back and i'll throw it in there getting injured. At least he has potential and we made a lot of commotion to retain him so he needs to lift his game.
We have great potential talent on the wing and look in safe hands with Nofoluma, Simona and Korobete. Tuquiri needs to go if hes on a big contract that adds to the stupidity.
Centres could be a problem as we now have lost Ayshford and Ryan who could easily be starters and are now left with injury prone Lawrence and heaps of wannabe centres. This is where I see Tedesco cementing his spot he has the size and strength to be a centre but just needs to adapt to the position which i'm sure he can do.
Halves we should be alright as I've heard the u20 boys are doing well and one should get a start next year however we shouldn't persist with Anasta at 7, here is where we need to use some of our cash to buy an experienced half to help our younger ones coming through. If rumours are true i'd like to see us make a play at Wallace or even someone like Mccrone, note its not good to have two rookie halves.
Lock is another big move I hope the tigers consider playing Woods here like a Gallen/Merrin type player. He has the work rate to play big minutes and is big and mobile. The added responsibility should him to develop even more. Also gives the chance for a smaller 2RF such as Fulton, Thompson to come off the bench after the first 20 mins for one of the starting props and move Woods into prop.
Second row is also important and I think we need to start making Blair earn his contract. Giving him one side of the field to concentrate is his best bet and Sironen is destined for the forwards having him on the other side will provide great flare on attack and also add a Glen Stewart/Wade Graham like second rower ability to ball play. I'll also add it's shame we lost Simon Dwyer so young(good luck in the future mate).
Props are a big worry and we should be looking to bring in a decent prop to help out Galloway, although we should give big BMM more of a chance considering he plays like and even gets treated like Fifita. We all know where he is now. But here is a good chance to spend some of that $$.
No need to talk about Farah.
On the interchange bench I do believe is where we can best utilize Anasta, he can act as a utility to cover halves, centres and 2RF, but can also be used if we need an extra spark and ball player in the dying stages of games. Fulton should be there as well because I don't believe he has the impact to be an 80 minute player but his experience and defensive qualities are second to none. The other two bench spots should be made up of big boppers and this is where our recruitment should kick in and need to start scanning for up and comers because they are out there.
So there it is, with this team we will have a solid forward pack that can make metres from the get go, enough ball players running around (Whatever 2 halves + Moltzen, Farah, Sironen, Anasta) and good young finishers. This may give us a chance come September next year.
*Just a quick note I do believe we pay our top tier players too much and that was the underlying reason players were leaving.
If you have read this thanks for your time and I apologize about the length of the post and please note i'm new to the forums and this is only my opinion.
Cheers,
Someone from NZ who supports the Tigers.
With a long emotional season coming to an end and our team out of play-off contention I have come here to get your opinions on my thoughts for 2014.
After losing our marquee and best player (Benjamin something) to rugby yawnion we may have just received a blessing in disguise.
Our now deep pockets means we can start building towards a better future which starts with smarter more clinical recruiting decisions and deeply investing in our upcoming youth.
I'll start with the current squad and recent recruiting strategy. Our first step is to either get rid of whoever is currently recruiting for the tigers or at least give them a major kick up the…. backside.
The what I like to call "middle of the road journeyman retirement" strategy is playing with fire and unless you have a solid spine and class players who can carry a team i.e Storm, Sea Eagles and now even the Rabbits then my advice is to stay away from this altogether.
The perceived "depth" we create from these buys is just ridiculous and would only be true if we already have an amazing squad to begin with *sigh* and I mean there is a reason why these players were not re-signed and let go buy their respective clubs.
Recent buys such as Reddy, Pettybourne, Utai, B.Thompson, Anasta, Bell, Tuquiri and even Adam Blair sorry did i forget to mention new signing Cory Paterson...wreak of this strategy and coupled with the release of players such as Andrew Fifita, Blake Ayshford, Beau Ryan, Chris Heighington and Gareth Ellis is just beyond belief.
Might I say I am ecstatic about the Joel Reddy move to souths (good luck with that).
Now with our current squad I believe we have good a decent mix of youth and experience to build a team around e.g Farah, Woods, Nofoluma, Sironen, Moltzen etc.
Looking to next year here is what I believe our team should look like and where we should use our funds.
1\. Moltzen
2\. Korobete/Simona
3\. Lawrence
4\. Simona/Tedesco
5\. Nofoluma
6\. Brooks/Moses
7\. ?
8\. Murdoch Masila
9\. Farah
10\. Galloway
11\. Blair
12\. Sironen
13\. Woods
RES:
Anasta
Fulton
Sue/Buchanan/Seumanufangai/Thompson
Sue/Buchanan/Seumanufangai/Thompson
Starting with our outside backs, I believe we should persevere with Moltzen at fullback. He wins over Tedesco purely on his ball playing and innovative skills.
Tedesco is a more running fearless fullback that would of been good 10 years ago in the days where Anthony Minichello and Luke Pattern were the best fullbacks going round so his position going forward is centre where he can also provide cover for the injury prone Lawrence.
However Moltzen needs to really start earning his keep especially in defense, running the ball back and i'll throw it in there getting injured. At least he has potential and we made a lot of commotion to retain him so he needs to lift his game.
We have great potential talent on the wing and look in safe hands with Nofoluma, Simona and Korobete. Tuquiri needs to go if hes on a big contract that adds to the stupidity.
Centres could be a problem as we now have lost Ayshford and Ryan who could easily be starters and are now left with injury prone Lawrence and heaps of wannabe centres. This is where I see Tedesco cementing his spot he has the size and strength to be a centre but just needs to adapt to the position which i'm sure he can do.
Halves we should be alright as I've heard the u20 boys are doing well and one should get a start next year however we shouldn't persist with Anasta at 7, here is where we need to use some of our cash to buy an experienced half to help our younger ones coming through. If rumours are true i'd like to see us make a play at Wallace or even someone like Mccrone, note its not good to have two rookie halves.
Lock is another big move I hope the tigers consider playing Woods here like a Gallen/Merrin type player. He has the work rate to play big minutes and is big and mobile. The added responsibility should him to develop even more. Also gives the chance for a smaller 2RF such as Fulton, Thompson to come off the bench after the first 20 mins for one of the starting props and move Woods into prop.
Second row is also important and I think we need to start making Blair earn his contract. Giving him one side of the field to concentrate is his best bet and Sironen is destined for the forwards having him on the other side will provide great flare on attack and also add a Glen Stewart/Wade Graham like second rower ability to ball play. I'll also add it's shame we lost Simon Dwyer so young(good luck in the future mate).
Props are a big worry and we should be looking to bring in a decent prop to help out Galloway, although we should give big BMM more of a chance considering he plays like and even gets treated like Fifita. We all know where he is now. But here is a good chance to spend some of that $$.
No need to talk about Farah.
On the interchange bench I do believe is where we can best utilize Anasta, he can act as a utility to cover halves, centres and 2RF, but can also be used if we need an extra spark and ball player in the dying stages of games. Fulton should be there as well because I don't believe he has the impact to be an 80 minute player but his experience and defensive qualities are second to none. The other two bench spots should be made up of big boppers and this is where our recruitment should kick in and need to start scanning for up and comers because they are out there.
So there it is, with this team we will have a solid forward pack that can make metres from the get go, enough ball players running around (Whatever 2 halves + Moltzen, Farah, Sironen, Anasta) and good young finishers. This may give us a chance come September next year.
*Just a quick note I do believe we pay our top tier players too much and that was the underlying reason players were leaving.
If you have read this thanks for your time and I apologize about the length of the post and please note i'm new to the forums and this is only my opinion.
Cheers,
Someone from NZ who supports the Tigers.
