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Biting the bullet

Pezz70

Juniors
Messages
1,680
I’m thinking we really need to look at the body types in our pack. We are surpringly heavy if you look at the quoted figures, but the majority of our boys are toward the solid, ‘barrelly’ body type. Look at the Payne Haas, Kikau - style bodies they are more suited to the speed of the game now. After the spine this would be the first thing I’d be looking at a couple of nice, lean powerful athletic bodies with a bit of skill. Payne Haas is an absolute beast of a player for his age. Put him in a quality side and he is SBW in a number 8 jersey.
 
Messages
3,228
Thoughts on Thomas Mikaele? He was touted as being our powerhouse prop but I don't think I've ever seen him have a good game. He stunk it up tonight against the Knights.
Ron, the main thing you said was, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him have a good game, either have I. Madge had the 3 Burgess guys, he needed them and he used them well, would have thought he would try and replicate how he used 1, 2 or all 3 of em.
 

Vozzy

Juniors
Messages
1,689
I know it's the same for everyone but a lot of the teams struggling are trying to rebuild the club/roster and without reserve grade our already inexperienced starters who lose form get dropped and replaced by a player with similar strengths/weaknesses I think the main issue is not knowing the best 17. When we lose both Musgrove and Twal we really lose size when they were together our pack out muscled the cowboys including JT. Players like Garner and Aloiai play better when these 2 are around them aswell. McIntyre is a good find. If we can't make the 8 I'm glad we have a tough last 6 games makes it easier to see who needs a tap on the shoulder. Obviously Lawrence and Marshall.

I actually think Brooks looked at his best this year when Marshall wasn't there and Marshall looks good when Brooks isn't there. They seem to not complement each other. I think the rest of the year we play Brooks and he is playing for his future let's just win more than we lose. Otherwise time for a new half pairing.

I'm still a bit worried about Madge going to the Cowboys especially after yesterdays performance had the same feel of the Bulldogs game when they knew Ivan was leaving them.

I'm lost for answers we are in the same spot as the dogs realistically.
 

Pezz70

Juniors
Messages
1,680
He is a big boy who has leg drive so there is an upside. He has way too many mistakes in him though.
Mikaele’s has played 12 games this season, 5 handling errors with a 97% tackle success rate !!! I wouldn’t say that is too bad. 4 penalties conceded in those 12 games. Averages 9 runs for 95m. Probably not too bad given the limited minutes. Some people are harsh. I think another off season underneath some heavy weights and a bit of speed work we’ll see a handy player.
 
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Messages
3,228
Mikaele’s has played 12 games this season, 5 handling errors with a 97% tackle success rate !!! I wouldn’t say that is too bad. 4 penalties conceded in those 12 games. Averages 9 runs for 95m. Probably not too bad given the limited minutes. Some people are harsh. I think another off season underneath some heavy weights and a bit of speed work we’ll see a handy player.
Pezz, thanks for that, very different to how I see him but that’s my take. As you say, hopefully some weights and speed work will do the trick.
 

Ron's_Mate

Bench
Messages
4,045
'm still a bit worried about Madge going to the Cowboys
He would probably be worried about inheriting the same sort of piss weak club culture in Townsville. At least at the Tigers he has had a start at changing that.
 

stryker

First Grade
Messages
5,277
Mikaele’s has played 12 games this season, 5 handling errors with a 97% tackle success rate !!! I wouldn’t say that is too bad. 4 penalties conceded in those 12 games. Averages 9 runs for 95m. Probably not too bad given the limited minutes. Some people are harsh. I think another off season underneath some heavy weights and a bit of speed work we’ll see a handy player.
You can’t train for heart mate. The young bloke, like the majority of our squad is a downhill skier. As soon as the opposition get on top they all drop their heads. None of them say if we’re going down I’ll go down swinging. This guy is one of the worst for it.
 

Pezz70

Juniors
Messages
1,680
You can’t train for heart mate. The young bloke, like the majority of our squad is a downhill skier. As soon as the opposition get on top they all drop their heads. None of them say if we’re going down I’ll go down swinging. This guy is one of the worst for it.
He’s just a baby
 

Tiger05

First Grade
Messages
9,162
Mikaele’s has played 12 games this season, 5 handling errors with a 97% tackle success rate !!! I wouldn’t say that is too bad. 4 penalties conceded in those 12 games. Averages 9 runs for 95m. Probably not too bad given the limited minutes. Some people are harsh. I think another off season underneath some heavy weights and a bit of speed work we’ll see a handy player.

He has leg drive and size. He does have bad hands,. He even admitted it and said contact lenses or getting his eyes fixed was going to help the situation.

I think Mikaele and Aloiai are two guys we can build around. Twal can be a worker for us. Hopefully the young Parra kid comes good and there is even Musgrove who is injured.

I think our middle forwards are the best they've been in while and on the way up.

I think we should put Blore into the lock spot assuming that is his best position. Blore to me hits harder than every forward that we have.
 
Messages
14,796
I understand that but the original question asked what we thought of him as a player.
So far for mine he has been a failure.

I agree. Came in looking like he would be a hard hitting bench forward. Has really fallen away since. Seems to go missing in the games we are getting dominated.

We've changed coaches four times in seven years since Sheens and nothing has changed. We now have a coach who will drop players, is signing youth and will lose some big money dead wood in the next couple of years. The signing of Mbye will cripple us until he's gone. So much money on a player that cannot nail down a spot.

It's a shame that Madge was not available when Cleary took the job on. I would have liked to have seen whether he could have kept Moses, Tedesco and Woods for a start, and if they did leave, what he could have done with the available cap money.

If a premiership winning coach cannot do it here, we may as well f**ken pack up shop.
 

glockers

Juniors
Messages
595
If Blore ends up at lock then we also have Musgrove Twal Stefano Mikale and maybe MacIntyre and Eisenhuth in the middle.

I would be really tempted to move Aloiai back to an edge back row position. I think I’m the middle he has lost his impact.
 

Tiger05

First Grade
Messages
9,162
If Blore ends up at lock then we also have Musgrove Twal Stefano Mikale and maybe MacIntyre and Eisenhuth in the middle.

I would be really tempted to move Aloiai back to an edge back row position. I think I’m the middle he has lost his impact.

I don't agree with this. Aloiai is currently our best middle forward but defensively he can get caught out. It'd be worse on the edge. The reality is that guys like Twal, Eisenhuth and MacIntrye have to fight it out for spots in the team as they should because they aren't that good. Aloiai is close to that level as well.
 

stryker

First Grade
Messages
5,277
I agree. Came in looking like he would be a hard hitting bench forward. Has really fallen away since. Seems to go missing in the games we are getting dominated.

We've changed coaches four times in seven years since Sheens and nothing has changed. We now have a coach who will drop players, is signing youth and will lose some big money dead wood in the next couple of years. The signing of Mbye will cripple us until he's gone. So much money on a player that cannot nail down a spot.

It's a shame that Madge was not available when Cleary took the job on. I would have liked to have seen whether he could have kept Moses, Tedesco and Woods for a start, and if they did leave, what he could have done with the available cap money.

If a premiership winning coach cannot do it here, we may as well f**ken pack up shop.
Tedesco was gone no matter what we did. He had done his apprenticeship and was now after fame and fortune...and didn’t he find it! Woods and Moses however could have been kept I’d suspect. Cleary's loose chequebook has hurt us and it’s hard to see a way out for years.
You are spot on re; What’s in front of us. A fair bit of pain.
 

Reflector

Juniors
Messages
2,298
The problem with the Tigers is they've long been an organisation who lack a clear identity. This is harder to accomplish with a joint venture, but I still think the Wests Tigers had it in their earlier years- a gritty, underdog team made up of the leftovers from Wests and Balmain (both teams who'd been lapped by the opposition most weeks in their last couple of years). Balmain was traditionally the team of the wharfies and Wests were the working-class "fibros"- they could've used this to forge an identity kind of like the Bulldogs as a side who never gave up and who'd always compete, even if they lacked the quality of sides like the Roosters or Broncos, when Brisbane were still a top side.

Instead you've got a team called the Tigers who are effectively Western Suburbs with a Tigers logo. They train at Concord, play at 3 different home grounds (with the majority in the heart of Eels territory) and both sides' traditional heartlands are no longer Rugby League areas. People who live in the inner west would rather go to a foreign film festival or a Greens party Q&A night than a league match, which they consider low-brow. But that doesn't mean the Wests Tigers can't build an identity around their traditional support base. They could be a resilient team who do the hard yards and are prepared to grind out a win, pride themselves on their blue collar support AND have serious top 4/ Premiership aspirations. The Knights in the 90's and Souths in the years following the Crowe/ PHAC buyout were like this.

But as it stands, the Tigers don't exude a clear identity and purpose and just seem like a nomadic placeholder in the current NRL.
 
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Das Hassler

Bench
Messages
3,017
The problem with the Tigers is they've long been an organisation who lack a clear identity. This is harder to accomplish with a joint venture, but I still think the Wests Tigers had it in their earlier years- a gritty, underdog team made up of the leftovers from Wests and Balmain (both teams who'd been lapped by the opposition most weeks in their last couple of years). Balmain was traditionally the team of the wharfies and Wests were the working-class "fibros"- they could've used this to forge an identity kind of like the Bulldogs as a side who never gave up and who'd always compete, even if they lacked the quality of sides like the Roosters or Broncos, when Brisbane were still a top side.

Instead you've got a team called the Tigers who are effectively Western Suburbs with a Tigers logo. They train at Concord, play at 3 different home grounds (with the majority in the heart of Eels territory) and both sides' traditional heartlands are no longer Rugby League areas. People who live in the inner west would rather go to a foreign film festival or a Greens party Q&A night than a league match, which they consider low-brow. But that doesn't mean the Wests Tigers can't build an identity around their traditional support base. They could be a resilient team who do the hard years, pride themselves on blue collar support AND have serious top 4/ Premiership aspirations. The Knights in the 90's and Souths in the years following the Crowe/ PHAC buyout were like this.

But as it stands, the Tigers don't exude a clear identity and purpose and just seem like a nomadic placeholder in the current NRL.


That's for sure a good overview of what we have going on
 

Vozzy

Juniors
Messages
1,689
I really wish we were playing the Roosters or storm this week with all the negative press. It would be the easiest game to get up for unfortunately we are playing the dogs and now they will be playing on egg shells against a bottom team.
 

Tiger05

First Grade
Messages
9,162
they will be playing on egg shells against a bottom team.

This is something I blame the coach for as well. We aren't playing positive footy until it's too late. We go into our shell and it's hard to win that way.

I also think Madge deserves a lot longer at the club. We can't fix our situation until we develop a better roster.
 

Mario chalmers

Juniors
Messages
581
I’m thinking we really need to look at the body types in our pack. We are surpringly heavy if you look at the quoted figures, but the majority of our boys are toward the solid, ‘barrelly’ body type. Look at the Payne Haas, Kikau - style bodies they are more suited to the speed of the game now. After the spine this would be the first thing I’d be looking at a couple of nice, lean powerful athletic bodies with a bit of skill. Payne Haas is an absolute beast of a player for his age. Put him in a quality side and he is SBW in a number 8 jersey.

Agree with this. Taller players like Klemmer and Saifiti do enormous damage and generally take 3 players to get on the ground. They showed it last weekl

Sometimes though it isnt the body height or shape. Blore seems to have really good leg drive but Eisenhuth (who is bigger) gets pushed back every time.

I'd hope we're looking at the likes of Christian Welch and Adam Elliot because I think they would complement the young players in our pack quite well. Joel Caine was talking up Elliot as a good style of a bloke the other day on radio (despite the fact he's got form for misbehviour on the drink). Welch sounds very intelligent when interviewed.

OUT
ET
Macqueen

IN
Elliot
Welch

Salaries are about the same you'd hope?
 

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