A “very confident” Daine Laurie believes this will be his best season yet as he chases a new deal with the Wests Tigers.
Laurie enjoyed a breakout season in 2021 which earned him a nomination for the RLPA’s Players’ Champion award and backed it up with the Tigers’ Players’ Player honour in 2022.
But the 23-year-old expects his game to go to lift again this season, declaring to foxsports.com.au: “I reckon this will probably be one of my best years.”
He’s put that down to the arrival of fellow former Panther Charlie Staines, who is another option at fullback.
“Me and him have been swapping in and out, I’ve been doing a little bit at five-eighth and he’s been doing a bit of wing,” Laurie said.
“It’s good to have him there, it keeps me on my toes. It’s friendly competition and it’s only going to make both of us better.”
The extra push has come at a good time too given Laurie’s contract expires at the end of the season.
He’s flying high with confidence heading into his third full NRL season and hopes that will help him secure a new deal with the club.
“I just want to get results with the team first and hopefully play some good footy and get a little contract extension... ‘Sheensy’ (coach Tim Sheens) and ‘Waz’ (recruitment manager Warren McDonnell), hopefully they sign me up again.”
“I’m happy to let the footy do the talking.
“This has probably been one of my best pre-seasons that I’ve had, especially with ‘Stainsey’ here and all the boys pushing for positions. I reckon this will probably be one of my best years.
“I’m feeling very confident and can’t wait to show it.”
Laurie is tipped to wear the No.1 jersey in Round 1, but outside of Staines he still has some hot competition in little-known rookie Jahream Bula — who played Jersey Flegg for the Tigers last season.
Sheens told The Sydney Morning Herald last month that Bula “will be a kid who comes out of nowhere,” and Laurie is also expecting big things from him this season.
“He’s been carving up,” Laurie said.
“He can play Flegg this year but I reckon you’ll see a lot of him in (NSW) Cup and you never know you might see him play first grade.”
It’s fresh faces like those that have lifted the mood around training and has “all the boys smiling” after what he conceded was a “tough” 2022 season.
Laurie noted the “aggression” of veteran prop David Klemmer and “control” of hooker Api Koroisau — both new recruits — as big additions for the team, while adding: “‘Ice’ (Isaiah Papali’i) is a wrecking ball so adds a bit of flair to the edge.”
Hope its real. For this club to get back to success, we need to turn fullback from a weakness to strength and potentially from a pool of Laurie, Staines, Bula there is great depth.
problem is all 3 of those guys are a fair way off being elite fullbacks
That's true, but it can only take one season to make that leap. So fingers crossed.
From what I have heard today and want to stress again it is not through Moses's manager but apparently parramatta have increased the offer for Moses around 100k - 150k per year so that still puts tigers 150k more per year.
Again apparently deal does hinge on club signing Brooks but no idea what that means e.g. length of contract or contract value
Interested to hear if Pom can verify any of this
From what I have heard today and want to stress again it is not through Moses's manager but apparently parramatta have increased the offer for Moses around 100k - 150k per year so that still puts tigers 150k more per year.
Again apparently deal does hinge on club signing Brooks but no idea what that means e.g. length of contract or contract value
Interested to hear if Pom can verify any of this
sorry mate i have been feeling positive with your posts but now reality is setitng in and i think we are being played.
We thought we had him but not to be.
Personally i think we should be going hard for Jack Welsby and dont know why we arent .
@tiger2win I still think we are sweet with Moses, think money will talk to be honest. I think we will know because Brooks may be extended before we get Moses.
Again though the manager I speak to is not Isaac Moses so he would probably be getting his info from somewhere so figures could be slightly off who knows
Still think we are 90% chance of getting Moses fwiw the manager seemed pretty confident Moses would be a tiger in 2024
From what I have heard today and want to stress again it is not through Moses's manager but apparently parramatta have increased the offer for Moses around 100k - 150k per year so that still puts tigers 150k more per year.
Again apparently deal does hinge on club signing Brooks but no idea what that means e.g. length of contract or contract value
Interested to hear if Pom can verify any of this
sorry mate i have been feeling positive with your posts but now reality is setitng in and i think we are being played.
We thought we had him but not to be.
Personally i think we should be going hard for Jack Welsby and dont know why we arent .
Hasnt Welsby got 2 or 3 years to go on a Contract? If that is correct, the Transfer fee that they would want would be enormous if they agreed to one.
@tiger2win I still think we are sweet with Moses, think money will talk to be honest. I think we will know because Brooks may be extended before we get Moses.
Again though the manager I speak to is not Isaac Moses so he would probably be getting his info from somewhere so figures could be slightly off who knows
Still think we are 90% chance of getting Moses fwiw the manager seemed pretty confident Moses would be a tiger in 2024
IMO for $150K pa pre tax, Moses stays at Parra.
see Jackson is having a "blinder" for knights get on the novocatrians to run last in 2023
@tiger2win I still think we are sweet with Moses, think money will talk to be honest. I think we will know because Brooks may be extended before we get Moses.
Again though the manager I speak to is not Isaac Moses so he would probably be getting his info from somewhere so figures could be slightly off who knows
Still think we are 90% chance of getting Moses fwiw the manager seemed pretty confident Moses would be a tiger in 2024
Can you imagine we extended Brooks to please Moses and then he stays with eels.. Just our luck.
Agree on this but I thought the "so called" Meeting a few weeks ago was to commit to Tigers but now it seems it's just his manager having another meeting to increase Eels offer. Is it time to give deadline and walk ????@tiger2win I still think we are sweet with Moses, think money will talk to be honest. I think we will know because Brooks may be extended before we get Moses.
Again though the manager I speak to is not Isaac Moses so he would probably be getting his info from somewhere so figures could be slightly off who knows
Still think we are 90% chance of getting Moses fwiw the manager seemed pretty confident Moses would be a tiger in 2024
IMO for $150K pa pre tax, Moses stays at Parra.
@hsvjones nah honestly if Brooks gets extended Moses will be here,
@hsvjones nah honestly if Brooks gets extended Moses will be here,
I think so too, I would say though that no one really knows what’s happening. On one hand we hear he wants to play with Brooks, next minute Parra are back in the lead. It’s been ridiculously drawn out and I’m getting over it now.
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@hsvjones nah honestly if Brooks gets extended Moses will be here,
I think so too, I would say though that no one really knows what’s happening. On one hand we hear he wants to play with Brooks, next minute Parra are back in the lead. It’s been ridiculously drawn out and I’m getting over it now.
Getting that way
same manager tipped me off towards end of season last year about Ramien potentially coming to Tigers too for 2024 apparently that is still back on the cards in a big way, Benji is keen apparently
@tiger2win I still think we are sweet with Moses, think money will talk to be honest. I think we will know because Brooks may be extended before we get Moses.
Again though the manager I speak to is not Isaac Moses so he would probably be getting his info from somewhere so figures could be slightly off who knows
Still think we are 90% chance of getting Moses fwiw the manager seemed pretty confident Moses would be a tiger in 2024
Can you imagine we extended Brooks to please Moses and then he stays with eels.. Just our luck.
Who plays 7 for us the next few years? If anything, re-signing Brooks becomes paramount if Moses doesn't sign. So I don't think it would be bad luck at all.
IMO Brooks extending won't indicate Moses is coming.