I’ll respect any player that dons the guernsey, I put off judgement until after he plays for us. I’m looking at this as a filler to replace Musgrave’s non NRL compliance and given Packer’s non appearance- whatever is behind that- we needed another prop for rotation. He has been a good Parra player and has a good reputation compared to some of the Parra team, so I’m ok with things.

Low cost, fill in player, opportunity buy. Nothing wrong with that.

The death of Tommy R just had me thinking I’d love our team to have the equivalent Wests forwards in the 70’s- Donnelly, Brown, Gibbs, Foster, Boyd, Cooper, Luibinskis and O’Grady to name the main lot with Tommy directing from halfback. Every opposing team knew they were in for a battle and had to really earn a win. Respected and feared by many. These days, nah.

Common boys, man up for Tommy and give it to them.

I do think this flurry of signings for lower grades, potential big signing or two for NRL squad, hopeful weeding out of not required players, new support staff and the remoulding of WT football operations is a much needed fillip and energiser to both the footballers and the fan base.

The only thing I would suggest is that we also need to lock in coach Maguire for a few more years now for the continuity factor and ceasing the almost continual chopping and changing within the squads as new coaches tinker and remould to suit their style. Lets have some continuity there as well which will be a change for WT as since Sheens left in 2012 (?) we have had a merry go round of coaches and support staff.

Also- WT admin- please work towards getting 1 homeground. Aim for target date of Homebush Stadium re-opening then decide, until then we can continue our wandering grounds. I will be one happy little vegemite.

Oh bugger. The 1970’s Magpie teams were my love and passion, I grew up with them. Tommy led them with pride and gave his all.

I hope he has been greeted at the pearly gates by Dallas Donnelly holding a beer for him.

For old times sake now on the weekend I’ll have to watch Fibros vs the Silvertails again.

@Tiger_2795 said in Stand up Brooksy:

For someone ‘thats not a Brooks hater’ you’re sounding a lot like a Brooks hater

You can have an opinion either way on Brooks and not be a hater. People should stop shouting down others who see issues with Brooks. This is a forum of people who are allowed to have opinions either way on players.

@hsvjones said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

So does anyone have any real info about us signing any players ? Don’t have to give names etc… just a little excitement and a lift in morale

I think any good WT signings (not CC depth) would surely have to wait for movement on Packer / Matulino / Reynolds front beforehand to know how much we can offer and to what position needs filling. In addition there is the still unsorted situation with Matterson and the potential departure of Marsters.

My suspicion is we will get Lomax, Musgrove will be allowed to play and WT will follow through with signing, Lawrence will get a final year extension and some replacement player swapped for Matterson. To say the least, we do have some useful shifts in the playing roster but it is dependent on the first domino falling (not Matterson).

Geez, the poor bugger. Work your ass off in such a physical game and have some ‘manager’ skim your money off you. And, worst of all a supposed friend.

I really do wish him well and good luck- especially now.

@TillLindemann said in McQueen finally given the flick:

Of course he was overpaid for what he brought to the club, similar to a handful of other players who are skewing our salary cap.

But McQueen is the one player in that bunch who I have no hard feelings towards for his performances. It takes a lot of courage to have come back at all after his neck surgery. I would be terrified of every single tackle if it was me. Good luck for England Chris, hopefully you can find some form over there and win some silverware.

Got to say I loved his take down of Matterson’s non appearance at the players end of season celebration

@NT_Tiger - WT have had solid offer on table for a couple of weeks, LM and manager have been going around to other clubs being entertained and allowing those clubs to gain PR exposure when realistically they could not offer him either the amount of money and in most cases the position he wanted (fullback).

WT offer was there to take, he hasnt- despite a visit to him by our management the other week in Taree (yes, I know bushfires) and is sub-consciously throwing our offer in our face (without saying it) by going anywhere else to look at jobs rather than WT. Sort of the old cliche ‘ánywhere except Wests Tigers…’’.

Also we have to get rid of the entertaining of players who say either themselves or through their managers they dont like WT and dont want to play there. Recall Capewell, Arrow etc. OK if they say that, never offer them anything and if any media speculation occurs shut it down immediately.

Pride guys. We have to learn again to treasure it, promote it and not turn the other cheek to slights and things that are plain wrong.

@THE_POM said in JAC:

@Everything-WT said in JAC:

@THE_POM said in JAC:

Here’s the latest with JAC:

1. He’s accepted the offer put forward to him from the Tigers (Best $$ wise compared to others)
2. Fullback bonuses included, (If he makes FB his own the deal would average out to $675,000 P.A)
3. 4 year deal starting in 2022 there ready to sign Nov 1 if deal with Melbourne not reached before.
   4.Would be a lie to say if the club wasn’t nervous that during this delay there are others trying to get in through the back door. Melbourne don’t appear keen on James Roberts & Souths don’t have the $$ to match our offer even with Lowes retirement.
4. No idea where Bulldogs name came up into this, no formal talks/offers presented last check.

Cheers mate. Any other possible signings you can mention?

No world beaters, currently depends on 3 things, JAC, Harry & if we can move along the big $$.
On a serious note Packer is still expressing mild headaches due to the last concussion.

Dont wish ill upon Packer, I hope this can turn out ok for him and the club without a life long health issue.

@cairnstigers said in South Sydney's Latrell Mitchell in hot water:

Latrell is fighting his charge
If this mug successfully fights his 4 week charge and only gets a week I will be absolutely livid
It will well and truly show the absolute bias towards certain clubs and players
The nrl says it wants to clean up the game well lets see it
I will be real passed if he gets anything less then the 4 weeks
Latrells elbow/forearm was much more dangerous then the Coat hanger tackle of Hetherington
Latrell gets 3 to 4 weeks Max for an elbow and a Malicious kick towards someone’s face
Hetherington 5 to 6 weeks for a coat hanger
Nofoaluma was hurt more
Garner could have lost his eye
And Latrell wants 1 week maximum
Come on
Who does this bloke think he is
God ?

If he succeeds with the NRL ‘judiciary’ appeal to the NSW courts and lodge an injunction seeking to prevent him return to the field and the NRL judiciary hear any more cases until the concept of fairness of result is tested in a true court.

@newtown said in Kepaoa:

NRL

Wests Tigers youngster Asu Kepaoa has suffered a season-ending ACL tear in Saturday’s heart-breaking loss to South Sydney.

Kepaoa went down late in the game and will meet with a surgeon on Monday to begin what is typically a 6-9 month recovery process.

Oh bugger, WT cant take a trick. Just when he was finding a role he could best perform in, this happens. Best of luck AJ, hope the recovery goes well.

@strongee said in Live Game Thread *Spoilers*:

@bobmate said in Live Game Thread *Spoilers*:

They need to pull there heads in with the penalties but better then last week we need to keep it going and hope for some good calls but with this ref it will be hard

Mate they’re not real penalties . Souths were offside that first 10 minutes , and lying all over us and there wasn’t 1 6 again . We got 1 for hands on the ball .

Yet we got hammered for lying on the player repeat sets . This is where I get irked . Why is there 1 play the ball for 1 team and another for the other . Just be consistent .

Front RL HQ with video footage and ask ref boss to explain each one and why and d it every match with this ref on control publicly shame them uuntil they act. If they attempt to fine us take them to court if they are not listening to our grievances and acting.

Of those 3, only Taupau was the one I missed. But now getting on and not the player he once was.

@hobbo1 said in Recruitment Strategy for 2021 and Beyond:

@geo said in Recruitment Strategy for 2021 and Beyond:

I reckon Hartigan just pulls names out of a hat…

Most likely
We’ve signed some crap players of late

Jimmy the helicopter
Easter island
Joffa
BJ
Kepeoa
All garbage signings

Agree on about half those names at least not showing any reason to extend. Pull the finger out guys if you want a new contract.

Pretty good analysis by facepalmer.

I think the club panicked with Nofa and his 4 year extension also wanted a good news story one club man etc. But as for general recruitment strategy I go back to the mantra- get your spine right and the rest will follow.

I think we are getting there but the big question remains halfback. Fullback, fiveeight and hooker all seem pretty sorted. Im assuming Simpkin is coming in and Liddle will be moved on, Doueihi is settling in and Laurie is going great.

OUr forwards seem to be capable of holding their own but the backline remains a work in progress. Not sure either our centres or wings are in the slightest anywhere close to being settled and probably will be the centre for recruitment / promotion action alongside decision on halfback future.

To be truthful, I really think WT could do with one of those total reviews of football club ops from backroom, facilities, coaching, medical and roster. Brian Smith used to be notorious for those but they served a purpose. I think WT need something like that.

I’d suggest Sheens / Bennett, however has to be a good thinker with a great knowledge of the game, where its going and be able to compare our strengths and weaknesses against other clubs for best practice and ways to improve.

@truetiger said in Sack Madge:

As much as we all are disappointed after the Cows game,it is only rnd 6 coming up…played 2 top teams to start beat Newy and got a lesson in complacency by the Cows…

Madge is entitled to be dirty at the team,Noffa plays way better than he did and our spine is trying to get some sort of combos together…overall this should be the game that makes or breaks the team and coach…
the team realistically has to be responsible for their lack of enthusiasm in the game…
People can bag the coach or blame his regime,but ultimately if your in an NRL side with a contract then you should perform to that standard and not make excuses for your shortcomings…
This week will test the internal fortitude of this team and see if they have learnt from their mistakes last game…they showed they can play well as shown in the second half,but they must be consistent against Souths otherwise they will be trounced and the season will gradually be an after thought…

Its the complacency bit that bugs me with WT. We have had that problem almost since inception. What the hell is it? For crissake they’re professional athletes paid to perform yet time and time again their heads arent there. The top teams dont really get it but I will admit sometimes they do but rarely, Do we need a side kick with Maguire to keep this mental ‘in tune’ happening? Is accepting mediocre performances with a shrug part of the issue when maybe a kick up the backside and demotion for the foreseeable future better?

@kul said in Good enough for a serious team:

So apparently getting rid of our greatest ever player was supposed to usher in an era of dominance, well so said the illustrious brains of this forum.

Yet here we are.
And there he is.

Bring him back

He had a good job offer in marketing the brand but he wanted to play on and WT did need to move on. It is what it is and I’m pretty sure the job offer is gone now too.

I think Maguire is on shaky ground and this situation seems to be one of 2 things.

a/ Maguire is coaching the team not to do what every other team is doing eg move up quick in defence and the other things most people here mention in criticism of the teams performance each week.

b/ He is coaching those things and the players are not doing it on the field on the day.

If its the coaching what on earth is their master plan and why isnt it working and changes made?

If its the players again thinking theyre better than the coach. Turf each and every one out on their ear with no contract termination payment. let them fight it in court.