Rumours and Stuff

[Poupou Escobar]

I have heard a few people here and elsewhere mention that there may be political turmoil at the club and that the senior players may be so insipid because they either miss BA or they want him back or something else similar.

I find this really hard to believe, because no player would sabotage their career for a coach that is already sacked and has no concrete coaching future in Australia - it's just poppycock.

However, I have been thinking about the training reports from Sixties at TCT. The bloke provides a valuable service and I accept that he may not perceive what's really going on at training and there may be rose coloured glasses , but no one can dispute his statements that every facet of our play the past two weeks is the complete opposite of everything we worked on at raining - attacking shapes, defensive structures, systems, tactics etc.

For there to be such a gulf between the training paddock and the field in the FIRST TWO GAMES is mind boggling.

It cant just be a lack of effort or an epidemic of stupidity - there must be something going on behind the scenes to cause this.

I don't for one minute subscribe to the above BA-related conspiracy theories, but I DO think there MUST be some big issue between Ryles (and all the coaching staff) and some senior players. From the looks of it I would say Paulo, Offa, Cartwright, Matterson and possibly even Hands and Penisini have not bought in at all and that's why they are so insipid.

As for Brown, I think Chipmunk nailed it in another thread - I reckon he genuinely didn't want to leave Parra and feels jilted or slighted by the club and is playing like a sooky teenage boy whose girlfriend just broke up with him publicly on Insta....

I'm sure the senior players are unhappy with the club, and I'm sure it was the case last year too. Merkins saying we should've f**ked them off after 2021 (with their final season in 2022), this is what 2022 would've looked like if that had happened. Ruthlessly managing the cap is one thing, but managing the people is at least as important, and the success of footy teams are very dependent on trust between the people in the club, both players and non-playing staff. This is why clubs keep senior players a year (or more) too long.

Being ruthless with your own people doesn't necessarily translate into success. There's also the fact that we had a premiership window (that unfortunately overlapped with Penrith's much bigger window), and to keep that (above average) squad together would've meant there were senior players taking unders (at least in their opinion) to stay, with the expectation that they'd be looked after later. This is the sort of thing that can sink a club when the senior players start getting pushed out. I don't think they necessarily give a shit about Brad Arthur, but they certainly do give a shit about their own futures and financial security for their families. It would be disastrous for team cohesion and morale if they thought they weren't getting what they were promised, but I'm sure it's what we need in the medium/long term.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

gee we are clickbait for the media at the moment

Also every other moment

 

[Eelogical]

gee we are clickbait for the media at the moment

We should at least be getting kickbacks. Brown paper bags at least, or something similar.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

if thats true then he has to get the players to totally forget eveything they have been told over the last 11 years

None of them have been here for 11 years. Even Paulo spent a few years in Canberra. Here's how long the current squad members have been in the full time squad:

Merkin	Years	Joined NRL (full time) squad
Paulo	10	2013, 2019
Matterson	8	2015, 2020
Moses	8	2017
Drown	6	2019
Dunster	6	2019
Lane	6	2019
Cartwright	4	2021
Greig	4	2021
Wenisini	4	2021
Russell	4	2021
Hands	3	2022
Lussick	3	2021, 2023
Mataele	3	2022
Moretti	3	2022
Simonsson	3	2022
Doorey	2	2023
Hopgood	2	2023
Ofahengaue	2	2023
Guymer	1	2024
Renisini	1	2024
Smith	1	2024
Tago	1	2024
Tuilagi	1	2024
Tuivati	1	2024
Addo-Carr	0	2025
Hawkins	0	2025
Iongi	0	2025
Kautoga	0	2025
Lomax	0	2025
Papalii	0	2025
Samrani	0	2025
Volkman	0	2025
Williams	0	2025

 

[gaffer]

Panthers in telling backflip on Blaize Talagi after shock return to Parramatta Eels floated
The 20-year-old has been forced to bide his time in reserve grade at Penrith.
Sam Goodwin
Sam Goodwin
Updated Tue 18 March 2025 at 11:56 am AEDT
3-min read

The Penrith Panthers appear to have changed their plans for Blaize Talagi, after the off-season recruit played centre in NSW Cup last weekend. The Panthers signed Talagi from Parramatta at the end of last season, with a view to him playing five-eighth to replace Jarome Luai.

But coach Ivan Cleary caused some shocks in the opening round in Las Vegas when he named Jack Cole at No.6 and left Talagi out of his first-grade team altogether. Talagi played five-eighth in the opening round of the NSW Cup competition, but last weekend he was switched to right centre on game day.

The 20-year-old was named at No.6, but it was Trent Toelau who played five-eighth with Talagi out wider. Talagi had a tackle break and line-break assist in the 38-10 victory, but also missed three tackles. The biggest impediment to him playing five-eighth appears to be his defence.

Panthers backflip on Blaize Talagi decision after return to Parramatta floated

It looks like the plans have changed dramatically. Read more here.

au.news.yahoo.com

i'd rather ethan sanders came knocking

 

[hindy111]

well the question is, do we have quality people on board with the ability to identify this?

Ricky seems to know which ones to sign. Well except for the 12mths he had here

 

[hindy111]

So you’re in the f**k Brown, drop him so he has no chance of a miracle turn into Sterlo at the expense of potentially even worse results and maybe negatively impacting some development of other players? Me too although yeah maybe we need to suck it up for few weeks until Moses is closer to return.

Although part of me also thinks really f**k him and leave him in while we’re playing shit

Plenty of players sign elsewhere for the following year. We must field our best 17 and win as many as we can to help our juniors. Winning builds confidence. Having 40 put on you every week could ruin them.

 

[Twizzle]

i'd rather ethan sanders came knocking

yep

 

[emjaycee]

Ryles would be weak and petty if he dropped anyone simply because they had signed elsewhere for 2026.

 

[Chipmunk]

I'm wondering if we've got a shit load of cap space for this year (which we should), if we're trying to renogiate Paulo, Lane and Matterson and pay them to f**k off at the end of this year instead of taking their Player Option?

 

[butch82]

well the question is, do we have quality people on board with the ability to identify this?

young Junior Nsemba is a prop / 2nd row for wigan..1.95mtrs tall n 105kg..
played in the vegas game n played well. but has a 6 yr deal with wigan but im sure a transfer fee would fix that

 

[senior]

young Junior Nsemba is a prop / 2nd row for wigan..1.95mtrs tall n 105kg..
played in the vegas game n played well. but has a 6 yr deal with wigan but im sure a transfer fee would fix that

He’s a gun, probably the best forward in super league at such a young age

 

[hindy111]

Ryles would be weak and petty if he dropped anyone simply because they had signed elsewhere for 2026.

Lomax did the same thing. It's just how it is in rugby league these days. I reckon Knights did us a favour. Dylan's 25 this year and his 7th year in the NRL. How much better will he get?