Wests Tigers Podcast - Hosted by Helmsey&Eddie.

[Tom Shines]

As I said, my concern was never specifically with Samuela, it is with the team itself not having enough explosive speed and line break threat in comparison to most other NRL teams.
Samuela himself is not slow for a big man, he has shown he has enough speed to hit gaps, make line breaks and score tries, but our back row this season only really had him as a genuine line break threat.
Whether or not the addition of KPP for 2026 will now mean we have another line break threat remains to be seen. I think KPP might have it in him despite mostly looking sluggish when carrying the ball for the Knights this season.

I wouldn’t agree that you never had problems with Samuela’s play earlier in the year ..

It’s way too early in his career to weaken one position for another and stifle the development of a 22 yr old above average player that you have already invested two years into … his combination with Jarome improved over the course of the year …so hopefully with that increased familiarity there I are better things to come..

Signing KPP is irrelevant to Samuela …they need two guys playing the position and they are on opposite sides …it was like earlier in the year you were using this ( his signing) as a reason to move Sam … I have some doubts still about KPP and I wouldnt want to use him coming to the club as a reason to mess around with the plan and development of Sam..,