2019 Squad

[Vic Mackey]

So with Robbie and Benji signing on our squad is starting to come together with only 3 spots (currently) available. This is the 2019 squad so far

1. Moses Mbye
2. David Nofoaluma
3. Esan Marsters
4. Mahe Fonua
5. Cory Thompson
6. Josh Reynolds
7. Luke Brooks
8. Russell Packer
9. Jacob Liddle
10. Ben Matulino
11. Chris Lawrence
12. Michael CheeKam
13. Elijah Taylor
14. Alex Twal
15. Tyson Gamble
16. Matt Eisenhuth
17. Robbie Rochow
18. Chris McQueen (rumoured leaving)
19. Josh Aloiai
20. Oliver Clarke
21. Luke Garner
22. Sam McIntyre
23. Tom Mikaele
24. Dylan Smith
25. Robbie Farah
26. Benji Marshall
27. Paul Momirovski (confirmed by NRL.com, nothing from club yet)

Development Players:
1. Jock Madden - Australian Schoolboys 5/8 from Knights
2. Alex Seyfarth - NSW U/18s backrower
3. Kane Bradley - 195cm 102kg 18 year old back rower from Saints, NSW pathways member

 

[Russell Coight]

This thread should be stickied so we can keep all 2019 team talk in here.

3 spots left, benji and farah good depth and they would be on peanuts. I'm not an expert on our salary cap but youd think we would have enough for a couple more experienced first graders

Btw Kane Bradley is a massive unit for an 18 year old

 

[Vic Mackey]

Btw Kane Bradley is a massive unit for an 18 year old

Yeah I don’t know much about him but has been signed for 3 years, I believe 1 Development then moves into full squad for the last 2 so Club obviously has wraps on him. Ivan met with him personally too

 

[Tiger Ted]

Don’t agree with re-signing of Benji.No disrespect to him as I acknowledge his standing & immense contribution to the club but he is shot.Its glaringly obvious his tank has emptied & he’s not much more than a mannequin out on the field.He’d b better suited to us as a mentor & skills coach for our halves through all the grades including junior reps.

 

[Tigerm]

Don’t agree with re-signing of Benji.No disrespect to him as I acknowledge his standing & immense contribution to the club but he is shot.Its glaringly obvious his tank has emptied & he’s not much more than a mannequin out on the field.He’d b better suited to us as a mentor & skills coach for our halves through all the grades including junior reps.

If Reynolds is good, then I don't see BM getting a lot of time in the main squad, he only got it this year due to injury.

BTW, whom is our 3rd option 5/8 & 7? As I would think BM would cover these when injuries occur?

 

[Tiger05]

Don’t agree with re-signing of Benji.No disrespect to him as I acknowledge his standing & immense contribution to the club but he is shot.Its glaringly obvious his tank has emptied & he’s not much more than a mannequin out on the field.He’d b better suited to us as a mentor & skills coach for our halves through all the grades including junior reps.

I'm more worried about Robbie. Benji's worst games and best games aren't massively different. Robbie's best and worst games are miles apart.

Honestly though I think we need both of them here next year to round out our squad. Hooker was a huge problem for us this year and who knows if Reynolds is shot.

It looks like we have 4 spots to fill. It'll be interesting who we get.

 

[stryker]

When you see all the names presented like this it becomes obvious we have a very ordinary squad on paper. They sometimes overachieve and sometimes underachieve, but mostly just plod along. Need a big name or two.

 

[Tiger05]

When you see all the names presented like this it becomes obvious we have a very ordinary squad on paper. They sometimes overachieve and sometimes underachieve, but mostly just plod along. Need a big name or two.

We need some quality players don't we. It's not like we are shithouse. We are though pretty ordinary.

 

[the beavers]

Any one else think Fonua might be better suited to a middle forward role?
Especially off the bench?
He’s too slow for centres

 

[Tiger05]

Any one else think Fonua might be better suited to a middle forward role?
Especially off the bench?
He’s too slow for centres

Play him at Prop. He can't defend out wide but he gets metres. That doesn't mean he will make it at prop though. The reality is he hasn't made it on the wing or in the centres.

 

[Tigers Tale]

Fonua really isn't anything...he is slow, gets caught out of position and makes really dumb decisions...oh yeah, and he has poor hands. In saying all that he ain't even the worst player in the team so what does that tell us!!!!

 

[Russell Coight]

Hes just a fringe player at best...like most of our squad

The only nrl standard players are mbye, thompson, Reynolds, nofa (pushing it), marsters, Brooks, matulino, Farah, Lawrence and twal.

In a squad of 30 that's pretty poor

 

[Tigers Tale]

Sadly Marsters has gone off the boil late in the season too. Might be carrying an injury.

 

[Das Hassler]

Masters has been way overhyped by the commentators ....he'll get there but the "young sensation" stuff is just silly for where he's at now
Fanua...who knows?

 

[Vozzy]

Fonua is just strong but that's it really. He seems like a player who will bomb more tries then score them.

As for 2018 Ivan never seemed worried or cared about the 8 this year judging from press conferences. Saying he will use the whole squad and he did just that. I think the whole 30 players got a run even if someone wasn't injured. I can't remember a same 17 until the last 4 games maybe but that's when tigers were at their worst this year.

The start of the year the team was playing with so much confidence especially defensively but as the team changed week to week depth was lacking. On paper the team the last month looked better than the team the first month but played worse.

Best players for mine this year: Thompson, Lawrence, Sue, Brooks.

Benji did a job for us and was thrown in there from game 1 I think he did all he could do. Last night our forwards made 1m per run no halves would have done well last night with powder puff runs.

I was happy a bit with getting Farah at first but with the whole "culture change" happening having him back maybe makes the culture go back to what it was. He is still creative around the ruck but he takes away a bit of what Brooks is trying to do too much. Hope Liddle starts next year with Farah off the bench for 20m a game.

Tigers need 1-2 big forwards that don't get driven back every tackle and a quality centre on the left both with ability to offload.

 

[simmo1]

Fonua is a poor man's Matt Utai, and with only 8 interchanges now, I just don't see room for him to come off the bench for quick dummy half runs the way Utai did.

Marsters might just be believing his own hype. Was going well until he got picked for NZ and started talking about playing for the All Blacks.

 

[Tiger05]

Sadly Marsters has gone off the boil late in the season too. Might be carrying an injury.

I was about to say the same thing. He is no better than Fonua at the moment. His defence is suspect and he is looking slow.

We need a couple of centres who can defend. Hopefully they can also attack.

Nofo and Thompson on the wings are average but they are first graders.

I actually think our spine will be pretty decent. Mbye and Brooks are quality players. Liddle is potentially quality - some of his tackles last night were great and he is fast and provides good service. Reynolds will never be that top quality player but he can run the footy and defend and that is probably all we need.

The pack needs more punch. I'm starting to like Matulino. He makes his tackles and belts it up. Aloiai is another decent option but he needs to work on his defence. Our edges with Lawrence and Chee-Kam are okay. Packer is an okay prop. Twal is a first grader but needs to improve.

We need to sign quality players. That could be younger players as well.

 

[Vic Mackey]

It’s a long season. I think guys like Marsters, Eisenhuth etc in their first fulltime year have just died in the arse. Both played every game, it takes its toll.

We aren’t THAT far off being a top 8 side, we’ve shown that this year. However there are definitely positions in our squad that need strengthening otherwise 2019 will be the same as this year, near enough but not good enough.

 

[Tiger Ted]

It’s a long season. I think guys like Marsters, Eisenhuth etc in their first fulltime year have just died in the arse. Both played every game, it takes its toll.

We aren’t THAT far off being a top 8 side, we’ve shown that this year. However there are definitely positions in our squad that need strengthening otherwise 2019 will be the same as this year, near enough but not good enough.

How the fk did Eisenhuth manage to not get dropped for a game or 6 to isp.This timid slug is obviously a favourite of the over-rated coach.Hopefully Cleary takes him back to Penrith sooner than later !

We won’t improve our position on the table next season.We just don’t have the roster & the signs r clear we won’t b enhancing our roster sufficiently to become a top 8 contender.

I will b very surprised if this time next season we haven’t dropped a number of rungs on the ladder.

 

[macnaz]

Marsters has become a bit of s show pony of late , he is starting to listen to the press to much about his talent.
He has to get back to running hard and creating breaks and offloads and not trying to be Benji circa 2005 and side stepping around before even taking on the defence.