Rumour: Sheens and Benji off to NZ to talk to RTS.
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Nathan brown looking unlikely, Bateman and option at lock, sheens after another outside back for 23 (RTs? Welsby?)
SMH:
After eighteen months in the NRL’s volatile player market, around $2.5 million in contracts and endless innuendo, December 24 delivered Tim Sheens the Christmas gift he’d been waiting for.
English international John Bateman completed a Wests Tigers forward pack he no longer wants to tinker with.
Sheens described Bateman’s four-year deal, secured with a reported $250,000 transfer fee from Wigan and announced late on Boxing Day, as “the main domino I wanted to fall.”
At 29, Bateman brings more than 200 Super League and NRL games worth of experience as well as 25 Tests for England and Great Britain.
Between he and fellow signings David Klemmer, Api Koroisau and Isaiah Papali’i, the Tigers have added more than 800 games of NRL, Origin and Test experience to a forward contingent badly exposed by injury en route to a 2022 wooden spoon.
The recruitment drive started under Michael Maguire and delivered Koroisau and Papali’i last summer on $600,000-plus per annum.
The latter wavered and looked to stay at Parramatta before Klemmer and Bateman were secured through unconventional negotiations. The Tigers now turn to their backline and playmakers to build upon a vastly improved pack.
“We’ve got some quality forwards now and guys you can genuinely play behind, with grunt and go forward,” Sheens said of his revamped forwards.
“We’ve got one more position to fill in our top 30 and we’ve got a couple of ideas with that.
“John was the main domino I wanted to fall. Now we’ve got him in our forwards we’re looking at the backline and who could be added there.
“The experience of these guys we’ve signed like Klem and John, that’s the real attraction.
“That experience and quality makes a difference given we had issues with depth and injuries to key forwards this year.”
The Tigers’ recruited quartet will be called on to mentor a raft of rising young forwards led by Stefano Utoikamanu and Shawn Blore as they return from lengthy injury lay-offs, with Joe Ofahengaue, Alex Twal and Fonua Pole other regular NRL options.
Half-turned-lock Jackson Hastings and veteran skipper James Tamou have led a Tigers exodus that has also included back-rowers Luke Garner, Kelma Tuilagi, Zane Musgrove, Jacob Liddle and Tyrone Peachey.
Sheens added that Bateman is an option at lock as well as in an edge partnership with Kiwi international Papali’i.
The veteran coach holds no concern over the four-year deal that will see Bateman turn 33 by its completion in 2026, pointing to Dale Finucane’s impact at Cronulla this year after signing on the same terms at the same age.
While mindful of an ever-shifting market, bringing Nathan Brown back from Parramatta takes a back seat given the Tigers options up front.
Sheens would not be drawn on interest in former Tiger and Eels lynchpin Mitchell Moses after meeting with him in the UK, and said attention eventually turns to who calls the shots long-term behind his new forwards when training resumes on January 5.
Halves Luke Brooks and Adam Doueihi are both off-contract and have never had a Tigers pack of this quality in front of them.
“Brooksy’s been in rehab with a bit of a calf injury and Adam returns next week as planned,” Sheens said.
“I have spoken to the players and they know that the plan is to have those [contract] conversations in the New Year.
“How far into the New Year, we’ll wait and see, but right now the focus is on this team we’re building now for 2023 because we have to get some results right here, right now.”
Rumour: Sheens and Benji off to NZ to talk to RTS.
Too much to even dream....
Sheens saying we have one spot left and we are looking for an outside back…that sounds like RTS.
And “we’ll talk to Doueihi and Brooks some time in the new year” tells me things are hinging on the answer from M.Moses.
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@helmesy if I was Sheens, that's where I'd be looking. An X factor fullback - with RTS or Welsby being the too most likely.
Have Laurie either push for 6 or if not play 14.
Top 8 2023
@avocadoontoast I agree with you.
So we have signed Staines for one year is that correct ? If so, any idea why just one year ?
So we have signed Staines for one year is that correct ? If so, any idea why just one year ?
Yes just one year, my guess is they view him as a fullback option but aren't convinced on him in that role.
In memory of Geoff Chisholm (1965-2022)
The journo and people on hear say outside back but Sheens said backline in that article which could as much be a halfback as a winger.
@helmesy I wonder if Doueihi & Brooks are ok with waiting for a decision from Moses? If no offers from Tigers yet why not look around? Depends on their management I guess.
@helmesy Probably no truth in it but Roger would do alright financially given the increase in the cap.
Good article.
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@helmesy I wonder if Doueihi & Brooks are ok with waiting for a decision from Moses? If no offers from Tigers yet why not look around? Depends on their management I guess.
True, but it appears Doueihi might have priced himself out of the market - that’s good, he will have a point to prove.
Laurie will get a chance to show us, and others, what he can do in the halves next year.
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