Adam Blair is just one piece of the puzzle put together, writes Glenn Jackson.
FOR a saga which, at the heart of it, is about rugby league being a business, it is quite fitting that we begin with an analogy to the sharemarket.
''The sharemarket's about future expectations,'' Wests Tigers chief executive Stephen Humphreys says. ''It's not about past performance.
That's the reality of it. When it comes to managing a roster, you can't just look in the rear-view mirror at last year. You have to be looking forward, as to how certain players are developing, or plateauing, and what opportunities you have coming up.''
Humphreys is explaining the arrival of Melbourne's Kiwi international Adam Blair. He is entitled to a ''what the hell just happened?'' look. He should have been trumpeting the signature of one of the world's best forwards, yet after the departures of Bryce Gibbs, Andrew Fifita, Wade McKinnon and Tim Moltzen, he has instead been cursing the frenzied speculation that accompanied his club's courting of the Storm player. It was innuendo which - at its most damaging - suggested the current players were disheartened and disharmonious.
With Blair's signature now on the contract, Humphreys admits parts of the process could have been handled better. Officials largely kept quiet while the club lurched from loss of game to loss of players. But he says there has always been more than meets the eye. It is not a case simply of one [in Blair] into four [Gibbs, Fifita, McKinnon and Moltzen] equalling turmoil.
''Regrettably, there's been a whole bunch of talk that I'm not the source of,'' Humphreys says. ''I've tried to slow it down and put it in its proper perspective, but people want to talk. We've been linked with Adam for quite a while, but until things are done
We just needed all our ducks in a row. I know that we've conducted ourselves professionally and appropriately. I would have liked it to have been quicker, but I'm not in control of that.
''I'd like people to try to understand that it's not just a one-act play. It's a number of conversations or matters that are separate but become interwoven
Whilst I understand a responsibility to keep people informed, my higher responsibility is to get it done the right way. Hopefully, in the fullness of time, people can see what we're doing, and see the full picture - not just Adam Blair being brought in for three or four others.''
So what is it about? For starters, coach Tim Sheens, along with his support staff, decided that he wanted a bigger, more aggressive pack. He won a competition in 2005 with a group of forwards which was, comparatively, quite lightweight. But he believes the game has changed since then. ''For us to be real contenders, not just one year but consistently, we need to be a bit bigger and stronger,'' Humphreys says. ''There have been instances where we have been out-muscled or out-wrestled, and the view is that we needed to address that.
''So there's someone like an Adam Blair, who has achieved so much already at age 25, and comes out of a very successful, professional club - well-prepared if you like - has that aggression and a winning attitude that we wanted to get.''
As they chased Blair, the club let Fifita and Gibbs join Cronulla, while talk festered that lock Chris Heighington wanted to join Penrith, along with winger Beau Ryan, knowing that Blair's arrival might relegate him to the bench.
Now, Humphreys says: ''Both boys [Heighington and Ryan] are staying.''
Along with others. The contracts of Chris Lawrence, Blake Ayshford, Simon Dwyer and Aaron Woods have been upgraded. ''They're young blokes in their early 20s who we think will have hopefully the next decade here at Wests Tigers'', Humphreys says.
He has also retained younger players like James Tedesco, David Nufoaluma, Kyle Lovett, Curtis Sironen, Tim Simona, Matt Groat and Neil Begovich.
Humphreys said he was reluctant to talk up those young players as being part of the reason for the mini-exodus but maintained all had been made offers from elsewhere. ''We've made a decision to back those guys and to be able to provide them some opportunity in the squad and in our cap going forward,'' he says. ''We'll always be a development club; we're fortunate to have a good nursery, and a lot of our effort and investment goes into developing that talent and giving them opportunity.''
Thus: ''To say it's Adam Blair is ridiculous. Adam's a marquee signing that any club would be happy to be able to bring in. Support that with another couple of experienced players [fellow new signings Joel Reddy and Matthew Bell], four or five key players that will form the nucleus of the side going forward on upgraded contracts, and then we've got six or eight of our current NYC (National Youth Competition) squad that will come through and have long first-grade careers
That's the context.
''I understand that if people haven't been aware of that whole piece, they could make an incorrect assumption around Adam. But now that we're in a position to talk about the complete picture, people will understand that, and put the Adam piece in the puzzle. But it's not the only piece.
''It's not an exact science,'' he says. ''The football brains at our place have made their judgments, and it's my job to back that and try to make it happen. We're quite happy to be judged on what happens down the track.''
