@Tweed_Tiger 30k for a night out yikes. Probably thought Bali would be cheap 2

@Strongee it was posted here about 2 hours ago. Can I suggest that users read over the pages & threads properly.

Not having a go at anyone in particular it just clutters the joint up and gets tedious.

@851 Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. The PR spin has been relentless. In the last week you’ve had about 26 published articles on the matter, and former players like Cronk, Gal, JT, Geyer, Brandy all saying he should stay @ roosters for less. Matto breaking his contract with 2 years to go didn’t bring this much fanfare & outrage as LM testing his market worth as free agent

@Earl I’m not trying to justify the price tag but Packer may fire up this year I’ve got a feeling. Senior member of the pack now, hopefully he sees it as his duty to lead from the front. Couple signings, we’re good.

@happy_tiger Zac Cini will be special soon.
Nick Cotric off contract in 2020. Hmmm

Dragons face threat of losing the club’s most exciting talent
St George Illawarra fans could be forgiven for thinking the only way is up after their recent struggles — but rival NRL clubs are lining up to poach one of their brightest talents.

Paul Crawley, The Daily Telegraph
Subscriber only

November 10, 2019 5:34pm

Just when St George Illawarra thought the worst was behind them after a season from hell, the Dragons are now facing the very real threat of losing the club’s most exciting young talent.

On the eve of their return for pre-season training, The Daily Telegraph can reveal that young gun Zac Lomax is about to officially put himself on the open market.

Lomax, 20, is contracted for next season but is now free to negotiate his future beyond 2020.

Unfortunately for the Dragons, Lomax has indicated he wants to test the market.

It is expected that he will enter talks with as many as six rival clubs in the coming weeks.

It is understood the Dragons are desperate to keep Lomax and have all but guaranteed him first crack at owning the No.1 jumper in 2020 as a way of keeping rivals at bay.

Lomax is regarded as one of the best young centres in the game but he has already indicated his long-term goal is to establish himself as an NRL fullback.

It was thought that could work in the Dragons favour given Lomax would probably struggle to lock down the fullback spot at most rival clubs at this point of his career.

But that theory was blown apart when Lomax’s manager Steve Gillis confirmed when contacted on Sunday that his client had made a decision to see what offers are out there for him.

“There are clubs who have indicated that they would like to talk and he’s quite happy to give them the courtesy of having a discussion,” Gillis said.

Gillis’ management company also looks after Lomax’s Dragons teammates Matt Dufty and Euan Aitken.

Dufty and Aitken have been reportedly shopped around to rival clubs in recent months.

Gillis said both players had a contract with the Dragons for 2020 and had no plans of seeking an early exit.

The Wests Tigers are known to be one club keen on Lomax but his hopes of playing fullback at the Tigers would be dependent on what move Latrell Mitchell makes.

The Tigers are also chasing an outside back as well as a fullback.

Like Mitchell, Lomax has the added value of being a quality goal kicker which makes him even more valuable.

The Tigers have $1.7 million in available salary cap space for next season so they could potentially afford both Mitchell and Lomax and still have money to spend.

Lomax has long been regarded as a young player with huge potential. NSW coach Brad

Fittler once labelled him “the gifted one”.

It would be highly unlikely the Dragons would release Lomax for next season even if he secured a future elsewhere.

But you’d imagine it would also make it extremely difficult for Paul McGregor to pursue his plans of playing Lomax at fullback if he does decide to sign at a rival club.

For that reason the longer these negotiations drag on the more it could potentially disrupt the Dragons’ preparations for next season.

@rustycage haha the old Pajero

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/what-s-the-big-deal-mitchell-s-mercedes-mate-sets-the-record-straight-20191109-p5392x.html

@diedpretty said in Signing Suggestions & Rumours:

Powerful Roosters chairman Nick Politis, who amassed a substantial part of his $1 billion fortune in the motor vehicle industry, was said to be curious given he had no knowledge of where the flash car came from.

Yea right - as if Nick doesn’t know where a 250k car has suddenly come from. Deny all knowledge. Maybe Latrell is on the outer at rorters for flashing his new car that might draw some attention from the NRL.

Paul Kent reported in a piece yesterday that it was player agent Mario Tartak who gifted Latrell the car. It turns out it was his builder mate that lent it because Mitchell’s ute was at the shops; classic Kenty. I know that speculation and rumours attract attention and generate revenue but its in the off-season when everyone starts to get real silly and loses their minds it seems.

@bythebeardofzeus said in Roosters pull Mitchell’s contract offer:

@Ponyo said in Roosters pull Mitchell’s contract offer:

@bythebeardofzeus While I don’t disagree with the sentiment that we need more forwards, I’d argue that our backs let us down a bit last year, and it was D and the grit of our young forward pack that kept us in the hunt at the back-end of the season. The market is saturated, there aren’t too many forwards going around at the moment; unless of course, you’re willing to outbid, out-negotiate or pay to release a player contracted to another club (i.e. pay overs). There is no point carting it up the guts all day if you can’t score tries - an area where we’ve been a bit deficient in recently as our defence has tightened up. Who do you guys think would attract better talent & business opportunities to the club, Arrow, Frizell or Latrell? It’s a dead-set no brainer IMO. Latrell is available, on the market today, and we’re one of only 2/3 clubs who can fit him in TODAY. We have 5m in the bank for next year + a new state of the art COE. If that’s not attractive to prospective signings than I don’t know what to tell you guys anymore. Latrell is the franchise player this club has been waiting for since the big 4 fiasco, it’s not hard to see.

You raise some good points P.
No doubt Mitchell has done some great things, I just think we could put that $800k/$1 mil to much better use for our team. For me, our biggest problem this year was losing the ruck & thats what I’d like us to address first. We’ve got some good young forwards & its a shame about Matterson (not our fault obviously, i.e. he is dead to me) but we need a couple of aggressive, experienced hard heads to lead the way. Frizell, JWH, Brown would all be good additions. I just can’t see Mitchell solving our team’s current issues & if we have the same pack next year then would he be anywhere near as effective as he was with the Roosters?

Also lets not forget he was dropped from the Blues, is likely to be dropped from the Kangaroos after his recent shocker & the Roosters don’t want him. For me, way too many reasons not to sign him on big money.

Anyways it ain’t up to us, over to Madge…

Fair play. Hopefully we can have our cake and eat it too for once without having to always share with 15 other clubs. Either way, we have around 1.5m million to spend this year and 5m next year so here’s hoping we land some talent across the park. I’m pretty confident Madge has got an idea of who he wants & how he wants us to play moving forward but like you said it’s not up to us it’s up to the coach. Could be the start of something good if LM signs next week. May the dominos fall. Another point to make is that already contracted players should be theoretically playing out of their skins for upgrades you’d like to think - we should see a bit more competition.

@2005magic

Forgotten Wests Tigers star Josh Reynolds eyes positional switch to hooker in bid to revive career
He led the Blues to an Origin series win at five-eighth but forgotten Wests Tigers star Josh Reynolds concedes his NRL future rests with a move into the forward pack.

Michael Carayannis, The Daily Telegraph
Subscriber only

November 9, 2019 11:50am

Reynolds will train this pre-season at dummy half as the Tigers look to fill the void left by Robbie Farah’s retirement.

A serious knee injury to Jacob Liddle has the Tigers scrambling to find a suitable hooker.

Josh Reynolds is eyeing off the hooking role with the Tigers.
Skipper Moses Mbye could also find his way to the No. 9 jersey but it is Reynolds who wants first crack at it.

“(Coach Michael Maguire) and I have spoken about it,” Reynolds said.

“Benji (Marshall) and Brooksy (Luke Brooks) are going to be in the halves. I’m in the same predicament as this year. If that’s the way I need to get into the team then I’m all for it.

“The four weeks going into the last round I probably wouldn’t have said this but getting in there – it’s not as hard as I thought it would be. I was only playing 40-50 minutes, playing 80 minutes will be a different ball game but if that’s the way I’m going to get back in the team I will definitely take the position if it’s up for grabs.

“I’ve said to Madge if I’m a chance then I’ll have a crack.”

Injuries forced Reynolds to play at hooker in the final three games after losing the chance to partner Brooks in the halves to Marshall.

He spent the bulk of the season playing for Western Suburbs in the halves in reserve grade, struggling to get a shot in the top grade.

Reynolds said an opportunity to spend his first full pre-season training at hooker though will help him make the adjustments he needs to in his game.

“It wasn’t in my natural position,” Reynolds said.

“I felt pretty good in there. Just to be back in the team and among the boys it’s a different feeling then going in and not really being part of it. I was glad I could string a few games together.

“The fitness (is the biggest challenge). You’re in the washing machine. You’re non stop. In the halves you make two tackles and then you go back there. In the halves it’s different. Defence is the biggest thing I need to work on

“My attack comes naturally. It’s just getting to know the different techniques. I’ll still do some work at five-eighth but I know how to play there if I need to.”

“Benji (Marshall) and Brooksy (Luke Brooks) are going to be in the halves. I’m in the same predicament as this year. If that’s the way I need to get into the team then I’m all for it.

“The four weeks going into the last round I probably wouldn’t have said this but getting in there – it’s not as hard as I thought it would be. I was only playing 40-50 minutes, playing 80 minutes will be a different ball game but if that’s the way I’m going to get back in the team I will definitely take the position if it’s up for grabs.

“I’ve said to Madge if I’m a chance then I’ll have a crack.”

The injury to Jacob Liddle has thrown the Tigers’ hooker plans intio disarray.
The injury to Jacob Liddle has thrown the Tigers’ hooker plans intio disarray.
Reynolds arrived at the Tigers last year as a high-profile recruit from the Bulldogs. Injuries restricted him to just 12 games in his first two years and despite his inability to play consistent first grade, there was praise for the former Blues five-eighth who kept his energy levels at training high.

Reynolds, 30, has no intention of leaving the Tigers with his rich deal not ending until 2021.

“It’s been my most challenging year,” Reynolds said.

“Whether it was injury or not getting picked in the team. I had a bit of adversity. That’s just life isn’t it? I felt I handled it pretty well. Towards the back end I got some good footy in and I felt really good.

“It’s just life. There are a lot more worse things going on in life. You go in and see the boys and it’s nothing on them. There is no reason I should change towards them. I would like to think I never changed. It’s one of those things I hope I’m known for.

“(The contract talk) doesn’t distract me. I’m still contracted for two years. There a lot of people in worse positions without a contract. I’m there, they signed me. It is what it is. If something does pop-up I’ll assess the situation and we will go from there.”