@dirty-reds if that is true it is crazy. Who signed off on that?
I heard Twal was on closer to $600k
Twal close to $600k, Nofo over $500k. Almost 10% of the cap on those two. It’s really no wonder we’ve got the spoon twice in a row.
I love Twal.
His defence is superb and he seems to have found his way a bit in attack. Looks like he adds a lot to the team culture too.
I was against moving him on but at that price...ouch.
I do like that the Tigers have said that he is free to look elsewhere but he can stay for less if he wants.
looks like a whole bunch of Manly Flegg players have moved over to WT. it’s a strange shift this huge Manly/Wests swap. It’s like the entire Manly pathway has now aligned with WT. makes sense I guess give Fultons background organising the pathway. We really seem to be putting together a West/South West all star pathway. Not a crazy idea given it must be much easier for these kids to get to CSS rather than Brookvale for training.
https://twitter.com/nbwt__/status/1706216450615349456?s=46&t=SGE2-dCIr1e1pPADKEKKdQ
looks like a whole bunch of Manly Flegg players have moved over to WT. it’s a strange shift this huge Manly/Wests swap. It’s like the entire Manly pathway has now aligned with WT. makes sense I guess give Fultons background organising the pathway. We really seem to be putting together a West/South West all star pathway. Not a crazy idea given it must be much easier for these kids to get to CSS rather than Brookvale for training.
https://twitter.com/nbwt__/status/1706216450615349456?s=46&t=SGE2-dCIr1e1pPADKEKKdQ
It is weird. I have to be honest and say I have an uneasy feeling about it, a little too "all in" BUT having said that we have been screaming out for more effort in the pathways and something is definitely happening in this area. i would like a slightly less Manly/Tartak flavor to it all though.
A lot of these kids are originally from our catchment areas anyway aren't they? So in that sense, they're just coming back home?
Onitoni Large has made waratah under 16 as captain and centre
Reckon we might lose him to union at some point
Makasini played on the wing as well.
@jedi-tiger I dunno about that mate . I’d say he’s in the Waratahs team because he goes to Scot’s to get a GPS education .
which I know is stating the obvious .
We just have to pay him his true value , and keep him happy . Easier said than not, I guess .
But whilst he even at 17 would probably be a walk up start to the wallabies team , it he dire straits of rugby here , and the fact he would have to leave for France to have any real chance of getting the exposure he would get from RL , yea the wallabies are not the draw card you would think .
Walsh , Ponga , half the broncos side all played Queensland GPS .
“Maybe looking back he was right, but there were plenty of rumours out there that JP (Tigers chief executive Justin Pascoe) was telling people that he was going to get Nathan to the Tigers. So, I went and did the opposite and brought Ivan back. Get the coach, keep the halfback. The rest is history.”
panthers CEO. What could have been if Pascoe had just kept it under his hat for once…..
@jedi-tiger I dunno about that mate . I’d say he’s in the Waratahs team because he goes to Scot’s to get a GPS education .
which I know is stating the obvious .
We just have to pay him his true value , and keep him happy . Easier said than not, I guess .
But whilst he even at 17 would probably be a walk up start to the wallabies team , it he dire straits of rugby here , and the fact he would have to leave for France to have any real chance of getting the exposure he would get from RL , yea the wallabies are not the draw card you would think .
Walsh , Ponga , half the broncos side all played Queensland GPS .
Play less games in super rugby than nrl and get paid more plus be a chance at a wallabies squad
make a name in union then transfer back to league
@jedi-tiger I still think it doesn’t hold the prestige you might think it does .
There’s a reason the last “great” rugby league/ Rugby prodigy who has picked RL then gone back was Berrick Barnes , or Ryan Cross .
There’s been an infinite amount who have chosen not to . Because the wallabies suck.
And Rugby is no longer won with creative play . It’s won by attrition , kicking and field position . Created mainly by having elite forwards who can control the ruck and win scrums/ line outs .
mod which the wallabies don’t have 1 single elite forward in the country.
I don’t see Sualiii , large even Ponga making a lick of difference .
It’s why they are willing to give Angus Chricton 1.5 mil . So he can play flanker and hopefully get an athlete at the breakdown .
Like I said it’s not really a selling point unless you’re knee deep in the rah rah community/cult .
I mean hey the large boys very well might be . But the pull of RL is just too strong is this country .
@jedi-tiger I still think it doesn’t hold the prestige you might think it does .
There’s a reason the last “great” rugby league/ Rugby prodigy who has picked RL then gone back was Berrick Barnes , or Ryan Cross .
There’s been an infinite amount who have chosen not to . Because the wallabies suck.
And Rugby is no longer won with creative play . It’s won by attrition , kicking and field position . Created mainly by having elite forwards who can control the ruck and win scrums/ line outs .
mod which the wallabies don’t have 1 single elite forward in the country.
I don’t see Sualiii , large even Ponga making a lick of difference .
It’s why they are willing to give Angus Chricton 1.5 mil . So he can play flanker and hopefully get an athlete at the breakdown .Like I said it’s not really a selling point unless you’re knee deep in the rah rah community/cult .
I mean hey the large boys very well might be . But the pull of RL is just too strong is this country .
RU simply don't have the funds to compete with League right now and after the WC debacle and general average performance of the "domestic" comp, it's not shaping up for RU to be any more competitive over the next 4-5 years.
Wallabies can afford maybe 2-3 players tops, i.e. pay the kind of salary to pull them over to union. Most of that fad of trying to sign League players ended with the Mark Gasnier experiment after Rogers / Tuqiri / Sailor. Folau has really been the only major signing since.
The idea that “join rugby, travel the world with the wallabies” would be appealing is an extremely dated notion. Rugby league players can now live at home near their families, play in huge arena to massive parochial crowds, represent Australia or indeed a heritage nation in a pretty competitive top 6 world international game by staying in league. Playing super rugby or for wallabies and getting flogged week in week out by all comers at all levels would basically have zero appeal.
The idea that “join rugby, travel the world with the wallabies” would be appealing is an extremely dated notion. Rugby league players can now live at home near their families, play in huge arena to massive parochial crowds, represent Australia or indeed a heritage nation in a pretty competitive top 6 world international game by staying in league. Playing super rugby or for wallabies and getting flogged week in week out by all comers at all levels would basically have zero appeal.
Your last sentence is probably why Tiges and other teams down the bottom of the table find it hard to recruit.
