Rumoured & Confirmed Signings - Part 5

[Crashtest]

Wonder where Papa plays next year? I'd assume backrow but he played his best this year at 13 so maybe could play prop for fish..

He returns from injury tomorrow night against the Warriors, and the Tigers have named him at lock again, so will be interesting to see how he goes.

But from his comments in his Dally Telegraph interview this week, it seemed like the Panthers spoke to him about playing back row:

It took a week and single meeting in May, while Papali’i was sidelined with an ankle injury, for Cleary to snap up the Kiwi international.

“I had a meeting with the coach (Cleary). He’s seen me over the years, and seen the footy I like to play,” Papali’i said.

“They are well stacked in terms of middles and when Fish (Fisher-Harris) made his decision, it opened up the door for them to fill a spot they needed and they thought a backrower was what they could go looking for. I was lucky to sit down with him.”

 

[Crashtest]

I wouldn’t hate TPJ for a year to plug a gap. Ivan has got the best out of him in the past, he shouldn’t be too expensive and we might be a good option for him to springboard to a good final deal elsewhere when Patea is nicely seasoned.

Agree TPJ would be a good signing, and he would give us more X factor and offloading than our current props. But he stated when he left the Bulldogs that he hated living in Sydney, so can’t see him signing with any Sydney club.