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Rumours (signings, sackings & other NRL stuff)

Tigerm

Tigerm

Coach
Messages
13,538
benched tiger said:
Im not going to lose any sleep over who coaches the WT, until they rid our roster of the NRL imposters in our squad it won't matter who coaches us.
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Agree, but you gotta have someone who will attract other players to want to come to the club, not sure if Sheens will be that one? But, we'll see?
 
BrotherJim05

BrotherJim05

Bench
Messages
3,495
Was listening to WT podcast and they made a very good point. For over a decade we have had no identity. We have tried rebuilding ourselves with every type of coach: a coach who had success in England, an assistant coach from a successful team, a coach known to rebuild clubs and a hard nose premiership winning coach.

All have failed.

What we haven't tried is a Wests Tigers (not Magpies or Balmain) legend coming in and giving us a sense of identity. Someone who can inspire the next generation to be everything they never thought they could be, and even attract some talent from other clubs in the process.

Maybe it will fail like every other coach since Sheens was last at the helm but at least it's something different.

Even though I think it's a huge gamble, we need to back Benji to the death. We owe him that much.
 
C

ColdWetPanther

Bench
Messages
4,665
BrotherJim05 said:
Was listening to WT podcast and they made a very good point. For over a decade we have had no identity. We have tried rebuilding ourselves with every type of coach: a coach who had success in England, an assistant coach from a successful team, a coach known to rebuild clubs and a hard nose premiership winning coach.

All have failed.

What we haven't tried is a Wests Tigers (not Magpies or Balmain) legend coming in and giving us a sense of identity. Someone who can inspire the next generation to be everything they never thought they could be, and even attract some talent from other clubs in the process.

Maybe it will fail like every other coach since Sheens was last at the helm but at least it's something different.

Even though I think it's a huge gamble, we need to back Benji to the death. We owe him that much.
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Well said. I think this is a smart move from the club and hopefully gives the club some breathing space to actually make some longer term decisions and build a WTs team.

I always like the Tigers but I will be rooting for them even more over the next few years.
 
Tigerm

Tigerm

Coach
Messages
13,538
BrotherJim05 said:
Was listening to WT podcast and they made a very good point. For over a decade we have had no identity. We have tried rebuilding ourselves with every type of coach: a coach who had success in England, an assistant coach from a successful team, a coach known to rebuild clubs and a hard nose premiership winning coach.

All have failed.

What we haven't tried is a Wests Tigers (not Magpies or Balmain) legend coming in and giving us a sense of identity. Someone who can inspire the next generation to be everything they never thought they could be, and even attract some talent from other clubs in the process.

Maybe it will fail like every other coach since Sheens was last at the helm but at least it's something different.

Even though I think it's a huge gamble, we need to back Benji to the death. We owe him that much.
Click to expand...
I agree, we need to back the club, because they have already made the decision, only time will tell if it was correct? But it has given them a few more years to be mediocre without any scrutiny?
To me, a development pathway is just the club getting players ready to play elsewhere? How many players have we developed that stay with us?

Not sure I agree about identity with a coach too much, the good clubs (a few exceptions) don't seem to have any trouble with outside coaches?

IMO, we have fallen down badly with recruitment, which was a reason why Sheens was brought into the place?
I mean currently: most of the forwards, most of the time, don't turn up. The halves are a super disappointment and the backs do not offer much of anything.
We have no one that gives us any go forward?
We have signed a few good forwards (one may not want to be here now, he doesn't seem impressed with the new direction?) WTF happens if he reneges (we have history), we will be without any solid SR's.
We have (arguably) our best player returned from injury and we can't find a spot for him, they supposedly told him he was going into the halves???? FFS when?
To me, it's glaringly obvious, we need a big robust centre, did Sheens sign Gildart?

I do not suggest to recruit a whole new team, but we certainly need to review some key positions, where they are not working? I am not a Latrell fan, but imo, he would of made a huge difference to this team as an example?

For me, the elephant in the room is Brooks, will they be able to improve him, after 10 years of offering nothing? Will they sack him, if they can't? Can he be sacked?

This is where the board has failed, the fans, the club and past coaches for a long time (allowing bad and wrong decisions to be made) and they now want "juniors for life" without seeing what is happening on the field.
They don’t seem to understand that they run a professional footy club, not a junior feeder club.
 
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O

Old Time Tiger

Bench
Messages
3,338
A positive from a player who wants to retire at the club (with Api coming in, it’s goodby Liddle and Simpkin). Happy with the direction, see’s himself as one of the experienced (and not doubt a leader).

Fa’amanu Brown had a mountain to climb just to be back in the NRL, but is now hoping just to take the next step with Wests Tigers and lead a young generation of players out of the rugby league doldrums.

After spending three years away from the NRL, battling a foot injury which left his career in free fall and his chances of ever running again in doubt, the Tigers utility revived his career against all odds when he made his return in May.

Debuting at Cronulla as a 19-year-old in 2014 before shifting to Canterbury in 2018, Brown is no stranger to the NRL stage, but said he has found a home in the orange, black and white of Wests Tigers.

“I definitely want to stay at this club. I see a bright future with the juniors coming through the system and I definitely want to be a part of that," Brown told NRL.com ahead of their Round 18 clash against Panthers.

“You’ve got some more experienced guys like myself, Joe Ofahengaue and James Tamou who are trying to guide them.

“Then there's guys like Fonua Pole (20) and Justin Matamua (19) there with so much energy.

“Fonua has only played two games but you can already see the bright future in him. So we just need to offer a bit of guidance around them and I’m sure they’ll do well."

Despite their narrow 28-20 loss to the Eels in Round 17, Brown was elusive at hooker for Wests, finishing with a try, 21 tackles and 30 run metres from dummy half during his 62-minute performance.

"I’m definitely happy with my game, it was good to play decent in both attack and defence so I’m looking forward to the next challenge," Brown said.

"I guess I’m quite lucky with the push around me but Penrith are going to be aware of that so for me it’s about changing it up and trying to find different ways to get across the line.

"For me, it’s just about playing week-to-week and playing for this club and I’m sure my action will speak louder than my words in the next couple of weeks."

While the Christchurch-born utility may be a leader in the current playing group, he has his own role-models he continues to look up to at the club.

"Personally, I grew up watching the tigers and obviously as a Kiwi kid Benji Marshall was my favourite player," Brown said.

"I actually debuted against Benji Marshall so to be a part of this club is surreal.

"It’s been awesome to have him and Robbie Farrah around the club. It just shows the importance of experience, with them bringing their premiership knowledge and just having them around helps me and the boys.

"So to stay here until I retire would be a dream come true."
www.nrl.com

Why Brown wants in on Tigers bright Nu future

Fa’amanu Brown had a mountain to climb to make the NRL’s comeback game and now the in-form utility is hoping to lead Wests’ next generation out of the rugby league doldrums.
www.nrl.com www.nrl.com
 
WA Tiger

WA Tiger

First Grade
Messages
5,416
Das Hassler said:
Agree apart from (perhaps) the traitorous part
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I like Farrah’s prickliness. It just occurred to me WT may be having 2 bites at the cherry. If Benji falls over Farrah can step up..The team wouldn’t want to lose then.There’d be hell to pay …
 
Tigerm

Tigerm

Coach
Messages
13,538
WA Tiger said:
I like Farrah’s prickliness. It just occurred to me WT may be having 2 bites at the cherry. If Benji falls over Farrah can step up..The team wouldn’t want to lose then.There’d be hell to pay …
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Yep, sounds good, just like Bellamy apparently?🙌
 
Das Hassler

Das Hassler

Bench
Messages
3,686
WA Tiger said:
The team wouldn’t want to lose then.There’d be hell to pay
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Remember him as captain? We'd take our usual positions behind the tryline and he'd be standing by himself staring at the ground. Great 9 and individual competitor and I'm sure genuinely good guy but he's no leader of any rabble that needs unrabbling
 
G

gordsy

Juniors
Messages
2,173
WA Tiger said:
I like Farrah’s prickliness. It just occurred to me WT may be having 2 bites at the cherry. If Benji falls over Farrah can step up..The team wouldn’t want to lose then.There’d be hell to pay …
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If you have to be scared of the coach to perform well then you have the wrong players in the team imo.
 
Shredder

Shredder

Juniors
Messages
1,542
I found it strange that they announced Benji and Robbie as assistants, but gave the forward job straight to Benji.

I would have thought you would wait at least a bit to see which one was more capable first??
 
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