Mansour is rumoured on the SMH as going to Souths. I hope that is true.

I just heard Madge’s press conference and he rated Brooks as one of the best halves he has worked with. I reckon Brooks has a lot of upsides to his game and I don’t believe he has been poor for us.

I hope he kills it next year.

@twentyforty said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

Yesterday I had a 2 hour phone con with my younger sister who has just been told she has breast cancer. After losing a younger sister already to the same battle she is almost inconsolable.

Sorry to hear this. I wish your sister and your family well.

Yep. Life is pretty freaken tough at times. I don’t know how we bear some of the things we have too but we do.

Pain and suffering are inevitable. Adversity is the test of strong men.

@happy_tiger said in Nofoaluma:

Cmon did you see his play the ball when he defused Manly’s kick off with the Synchronised Swimming kick when he got up

The blokes catching kick offs and is tapping the bloke on the back taking the dirty hit up as he runs by

He is carrying us out there and he is loving it.

I thought Aloiai was great and Musgrove wasn’t involved enough. I’d swap their scores.

@TigerWest said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

The Daily Telegraphreported that Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis said that the club was now out of the running.
“We are only interested in engaging with players who want to come and play for us,” he said. “And if the perception is the player doesn’t wish to come to the Wests Tigers because their manager doesn’t engage with us, well, that is fine by us. I am not going to lose any sleep over it and we move on to greener pastures.”

If he said this well done.

@hammertime said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

Benji won us a grand final. Ted didn’t even get us to top 8. Benji is his era wins hands down.

I said this earlier. Tedesco might be the best player Wests Tigers have produced but he isn’t our best player or even close. I wouldn’t even consider him. Hodgo was heaps better for us.

@bigsiro said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

@Earl said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

@happy_tiger said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

But I agree with your post …when you continually miss the top talent questions need to be asked and answered …especially if we miss the finals again

Melbourne always miss top talent. I don’t see the issue. I’d rather miss out on top talent than overpay for top talent.

I don’t get these comments re not wishing to spend big on top talent as it might be too much.

Why? Are you so confident that we will be in a better position by not spending the money?

We have to pay more than other clubs because our proposition is nowhere near as attractive.

I get not wanting to be suckers, but I’d rather be a sucker who got the top talent, than the alternative. At least we had a go.

The point is that there are multiple ways to develop a good team. You only get so many shots at paying overs and then your salary cap starts to become a problem.

I disagree that our club isn’t an attractive proposition. I reckon it comes down to money most of the time.

We have overpaid our juniors and our top recruits for a number of years and I think that is a big reason why we’ve under performed. The way we let Marsters go for instance shows how to manage a successful club. The way we recruited AD and Luc are to me good examples of using your cap dollars wisely. Reynolds, Packer and Mbye were not dud players at one point but we’ve paid them for their absolute best form which they didn’t produce with us. To me that is not the way to develop a top team. It’s too risky.

Sure you gotta have a go and take a risk sometimes but you only get so many shots at that.

@willow said in Tigers ready to break finals drought after using up nine lives:

A couple of years ago Luke Brooks was part of the Tigers’ “big three”, along with James Tedesco and Mitch Moses. Tedesco’s Roosters have qualified, so to Moses with the Eels, I’ve a feeling that Brooks might finally be joining them.

This is pretty funny. Sharon has been forgotten.

A while back they published 3rd party payments and the rorters were at the bottom end. I think they were well below us.

You can believe two things:-

1. They are an exceptionally well managed club and do everything right and therefore players really want to stay there and money is not an issue to these guys.
   2.They are cheating.

Personally as someone who has been working for a bit over 20 years in big business (one of the big 4 banks) I think it’s pretty clear that it’s option 2.

That was good.

@jrtiger said in Wests Tigers v Manly TRIAL ..*Spoilers:

first 4 forwards on the bench are

17 Stefano Utoikamanu
18 Jake Simpkin
19 Alex Seyfarth
20 Tuki Simpkins

could that be our Round 1 bench or am I looking way too far into it???

I think that will be our bench depending on form and injuries. Musgrove to come back into the team for one of them.

I love how when that happens at Souths it’s supposedly a good thing but when it happens at the Tigers it’s about players not getting along.

@supercoach said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

If he was with us he would be starting 13 week in and week out and he is just not up to that role, especially in a building side.

Would you pick him above AD ? I wouldn’t.

@speed2burn said in Wests Tigers re-sign Zane Musgrove till 2024:

@earl said in Wests Tigers re-sign Zane Musgrove till 2024:

@tigervinnie said in Wests Tigers re-sign Zane Musgrove till 2024:

Thought he looked good, was a dumb play but at least we have a forward with some punch.

We all wanted a player like Hetherington because of his aggression - he will spend more time on the sideline this year than Musgrove will.

A strong forward pack is all about a blend:

Workhorse: Tamou, Twal
Aggression: Musgrove, Mikaele
Mobile: Ofahengaue, Stefano

I don’t think Stefano is going to be a mobile forward. He is going to be a beast and hard to handle.

Yeah I saw all three attributes on Saturday. Folded blokes in D, ran hard and poked through the line and played 30 mins+ straight. He looked very good and it was between him and Tuki for best Tigers player imo

I don’t see him playing big minutes just yet and maybe never but he is one of those props that can get you on the front foot. Musgrove looks likely as well. Mikaele may also have an impact.

Then you get players like Twal, Joe O, Tamou and even Packer who can all contribute.

We also have T Simpkins who to me looks like he could be our lock. He has size and some skill.

I like the way our pack is developing.

@madge said in 2021 Trials:

Talau was very disappointed with how he played after he came off.

I thought he looked dangerous with the ball. He dropped an easy bomb but he was showing some toe.

@tony-soprano said in Round 1 Team:

@earl said in Round 1 Team:

@russell said in Round 1 Team:

@tony-soprano said in Round 1 Team:

@the_third said in Round 1 Team:

@cochise said in Round 1 Team:

@thedaboss said in Round 1 Team:

@inbenjiwetrust said in Round 1 Team:

Laurie
Nofoaluma
B Leilua
Roberts
Talau
Mbye
Brooks
Tamou
Liddle
Twal
Tuilagi
L Lailua
Ofahengaue

Mikalele
Utoikamanu
Simpkins
Seyfarth

Can w3 confirm its Jake simpkins or tuki simpkins on bench

I would have Jake Simpkin on the bench after re;watching the trial, I would be close to having Simpkins as well.

Simpkin and Tuki should be on the bench. Seyfarth drops out. Garner will be starting I’d say, Tuilagi and Tuki may battle it out for a bench spot. Back coverage is a worry though, but hopefully that doesn’t matter 1st game

Jake Simpkin looked better than Liddle think the 9 is still open for performance on next week trial

He was definitely better at hogging the ball and running on the fifth tackle, I’ll give you that.

This was a big stuff up but he did it once. It was the old Robbie Farah I’ll win the game play that doesn’t come off. He was very good apart from that play though.

I think you have to pick both Liddle and Jake Simpkin in the NRL team.

Not really his half was tacked on the 4th and there was no formation sometimes u take the tackle

I thought it was really really poor. His overall game was high quality. I reckon Harry Grant is a great little player but I think we have two pretty good options at the club right now.

@tigervinnie said in Wests Tigers re-sign Zane Musgrove till 2024:

Thought he looked good, was a dumb play but at least we have a forward with some punch.

We all wanted a player like Hetherington because of his aggression - he will spend more time on the sideline this year than Musgrove will.

A strong forward pack is all about a blend:

Workhorse: Tamou, Twal
Aggression: Musgrove, Mikaele
Mobile: Ofahengaue, Stefano

I don’t think Stefano is going to be a mobile forward. He is going to be a beast and hard to handle.

@jadtiger said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

@mighty_tiger said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

@nrlsurvivor said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

@maryst said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

Buzz reporting that bill Walters is gone

Buzz also hammering our recruitment is laughable:

“Recruitment has not been a strong point at the Wests Tigers. Judging by Benji Marshall’s lively performance and leadership in the All Stars, they have made another mistake in sacking the veteran five-eighth. He will be a handy pick up for the Rabbitohs.”

I hate Slothfield but why is that comment wrong?

I do think Benji time is up but considering how he played last year & the experience we have lost from an outside view in many judges would say the same.

Benji was terrible last year and little better the year before.Slothfield is a very poor judge

To me it’s not as simple as he was terrible. His creativity was amazing. His defense was terrible. He has lost heaps of pace and zip and his running game isn’t great. He also came up with heaps of really poor options at critical times.

Overall we needed to move on.

@russell said in Round 1 Team:

@tony-soprano said in Round 1 Team:

@the_third said in Round 1 Team:

@cochise said in Round 1 Team:

@thedaboss said in Round 1 Team:

@inbenjiwetrust said in Round 1 Team:

Laurie
Nofoaluma
B Leilua
Roberts
Talau
Mbye
Brooks
Tamou
Liddle
Twal
Tuilagi
L Lailua
Ofahengaue

Mikalele
Utoikamanu
Simpkins
Seyfarth

Can w3 confirm its Jake simpkins or tuki simpkins on bench

I would have Jake Simpkin on the bench after re;watching the trial, I would be close to having Simpkins as well.

Simpkin and Tuki should be on the bench. Seyfarth drops out. Garner will be starting I’d say, Tuilagi and Tuki may battle it out for a bench spot. Back coverage is a worry though, but hopefully that doesn’t matter 1st game

Jake Simpkin looked better than Liddle think the 9 is still open for performance on next week trial

He was definitely better at hogging the ball and running on the fifth tackle, I’ll give you that.

This was a big stuff up but he did it once. It was the old Robbie Farah I’ll win the game play that doesn’t come off. He was very good apart from that play though.

I think you have to pick both Liddle and Jake Simpkin in the NRL team.