I wouldn't mind Kamakamitha and Lazurus Vaalepu both from the storm, young bull and old bull, Lazarus is a giant and is now stuck behind a few middles in that system. Lazurus is Samoan and i believe was on the tour with Luai.
@We don’t need an elite prop IMO. We need someone to take the 1st hitup in a generic set , say 40 out of, or the 4th in one coming out of yardage .
Theres a reason a prop as IMO middling as Thompson , who 10 years ago wouldn’t even get mentioned , is being paid 800k.
as for edge back row …. I mean how many do you want . There’s literally ;
Fainu/KPP starters
Bird,Geyer, Sukkar , Saukuru , Roberts ,Seyfarth , with Broaderlow and Godinet in dev contracts .
Thats 10 guys out of your 36 who fill 3 positions . We have enough .
as for those who say we don’t have quality … I mean I dunno what you guys are watching , Roberts is a gun , and has huge raps on him . Geyer is very serviceable , looking for an opportunity , and KPP stands in every tackle I see with his arms free , and has an extremely high tackle efficiency, usually causing the 1st man in to miss his assignment , either sliding off or down off the ball . This imaginary idea that “we need to sign a Kikau” is just nonsense IMO. Kikau isn’t even “Kikau” . It’s an unrealistic expectation. Especially when we have the “Kikau” already in the club wearing 11 every week .
I think also Pole needs to start and take the 1st hitup . Whilst ideally I feel like he’d be a great impact player , I feel his head can drop especially if he can’t make an impact off the bench , and a lot of the time he can’t fail to find and match the tempo of the game .
I mean I get it totally . I personally hated playing off the bench . I took it as a kick in the guts . Which is nonsense now I look back , but not how I viewed it at the time . I can see him lifting this week . Prior to his injury the nrl world were talking about the amazing 1-2 punch of Pole and May . We need to find that Pole . More than we need to sign and waste money on an “elite” prop. Outside of May we’ve never ever signed an elite prop who has lived up to the hype . We need to sign a wrecking ball imo , and continue to develop Pole and Sione .
hunt, seyfarth, bird and a lesser extent teal are not in my preferred top 17 in 26. New middles are critical
- @@tigertownsfs none of those are elite props . An elite prop is a Payne Hass type. In fact May would be at the lower end of that spectrum IMO. As much as we’ve struck gold with him .
my point is an elite prop costs 700k plus. And I personally think generally that’s a waste of money . Eg. Would you rather be paying May 650k or Thompson 850k ?
we need to find guys in lower grade who have been overlooked or have a bunch of people in front of them . I’d say the best systems to look at would be the warriors. As I genuinely think there’s a shortage out there . I think it would be mental to give Tino 1mil. Pretty much malpractice.
No disrespect , but anyone who doesn’t rate twal doesn’t know what they’re watching . Like in the podcast he was rated as not making most other teams . lol he would be in the panthers , storm and bulldogs system , as walk up start to their 17. Because of the value he offers . I’d much rather be paying him 500k than Tino 1mil . Thier output would be pretty similar and one guy only plays every other game.
Middles are like Running backs in the NFL. Easily replaceable , but the good ones are so far and away better than the others you can fool yourself into making the mistake of overpaying them . Nearly always it ends badly.
I repeat myself … we as the wests tigers have never ever recruited an “elite” prop and not utterly regretted it from the moment we signed the contract . Even Terrell wasn’t considered elite . IMo he is now deservedly . You can’t sign these guys . They’re usually late 20s to early 30s and about to fall off a cliff form wise .
Look at AFB @ Cronulla . He’s not even worth 80% of a mil , and now they have to watch his form fall off a cliff , as it’s inevitable for aging middles , and be on the hook for a 1.1 mil a year for a prop .
we need to be smarter and make smarter choices , which starts both in turning out underperforming middles with potential into consistent first graders .
We have a potentially elite 1,6,9 and some really high quality outside backs and starting 2RF. We have money and roster spots. Why wouldn’t we use our cap and roster spots to go for the final piece of the puzzle
@tigertownsfs so you think Tino is the missing piece at 1.5mil ? What about when Latu wants his 750k in a couple of years . Or when Samuela does ? Or when Hayward comes through and the dogs offer him 500k . Or when Makasini wants the inevitable 800k he will prove to be worth ? Chuck in Godinet , Tapau-Moors , not to mention The May boys , Bula and Turuva, Lualilii , etc.
I personally think an in form front row of Pole and May with a consistent damaging middle off the bench , which we hoped Hunt would be , along with Sione is a good middle rotation with potential to be great .
for me I’d be looking at Talakai to move into the middle , or even Hamlin -Uele , both exploring their options right now . I’d even take both. .They would add up to 1 mil , probably more like 800k. Give time for guys like Robert’s , Tai , Tapau- Moors , Duncombe to come through and develop. And hopefully take their place .
Do we want to be a development club or what ? Because everytime we get to almost where we should be , guys get impatient and want to splurge the cap on injury prone players with name value .
that Jersey flegg team should be where everyone’s eyeballs are fixed , as they haven’t lost a game in 10 weeks since the Sg ball coach took over , beating most top 5 teams in the process .
the reason they’re 4 points out of the top 5 in 7th is because the prior coach really wasn’t up to it , and cream of the Sg ball teams hadn’t moved up until like round 5 . I think the team was 1-5 or 0-5 something like that .
we have a really , really good mix of kids around 18-21.
We both suffer , and are fortunate , that we have 2 age group teams in Matt’s and Ball .
You put the Balmain spine in that magpies team and they go undefeated in ball . The tigers lacked potency at times and magpies lacked creativity, and a controlling hand .
Just for reference the Balmain spine was Brooks/Deninger, Benson , Hayward and Tannous . And that magpies team had guys like Karnib, Makasini , Godinet , Tapau- moors etc.
Some guys need to pay closer attention to the juniors , as the next gen are definitely there , and some are right around the corner .
like @garry talking about no backup 9. Hayward is 19. 1 year younger than TDS. But actually having a proper development program instead of Sg-ball then nrl .
he’s killing flegg . Will probably kill cup , and find himself by mid year on the nrl bench . You CANNOT sign say any decent 9 who might be blocking his pathway due to contractual obligations . Even Lanyon should be dominating cup this time next year , putting huge pressure on guys like Murray , Hodge , Hope .
We have a whole bunch of guys who are hybrid 9/13 types looking for an opportunity .
I also wonder if Pole and or Kit could not be that damaging prop next season. I have seen runs from Pole that are Spencer Leniu quality and better, however this season he seems to be more focussed on longer minutes. Perhaps because we had Hunt coming the idea was to focus on endurance for Pole and he lost that edge in speed/bulk/strength. I don't watch much Cup, however Kit seems to be a runner with no self preservation and that's key to being an impactful middle. Maybe we don't have to spend on a big name, maybe develop what we have and recruit 2 half decent middles to give us the depth we need? I have mentioned Kamikamita a few times now, he is off contract for 26 if I'm not mistaken and the suitors don't seem to be lining up for him so we could get him at a decent price.
@lorenzo he’s 22 . He’s just drifting in and out of games because of his youth .
I think we will see a performance this week. I feel like he’s needed these last 2 weeks , and he seems like the kind of guy , whose confidence can really take a beating with being dropped to the bench , or a poor performance .
@tigertownsfs so you think Tino is the missing piece at 1.5mil ? What about when Latu wants his 750k in a couple of years . Or when Samuela does
SNIP
for me I’d be looking at Talakai to move into the middle , or even Hamlin -Uele , both exploring their options right now . I’d even take both. .They would add up to 1 mil , probably more like 800k.
SNIP
Pragmatic Post
Tino is great but he Breaks our Salary cap especially without the vast number of 3rd party deals like the Dogs, The broncos and roosters have from their fans.
We need to be careful, Last player we bought from Sharks in Hunt hasn't improved.
@enumerator for sure . It was just an example of the quality and value that’s either out there now or rumoured to be . I don’t think the gulf between say Tino to Hamlin Uele is 300% . It would be stretch to suggest 200% or double .
Robert’s form the roosters is like 115kg and 195cm . He’s an absolute monster .
a little slow for the edge , but a weapon if we can convince him to move to lock or middle rotation .
Im huge on him . I can’t believe we’ve snagged him from the chooks to be honest.
