The Rumours Thread

[Bunga]

I agree maestro1. Are our recruitment staff and head coach not aware of our poor spine? Are they just plain dumb? To openly close ranks and state that the club won't be going for Luai is shocking. I thought that a coach like Flanagan would be identifying where our weaknesses are with the players we have and not have besides needing to be fitter and stronger.

Just because we might have been close to beating some teams in the comp just past and if we were fitter we could have, that's a bad call. We didn't win plain and simple and if we did get closer to winning those close games, I am sure the opposition would have gone into another gear to keep ahead to win.

You need players that you can plan games around. Fast and Strong and Brainy ones - not dumb ass robotic ones. Yes, they will do drills to improve the defence but hey, we need to score points and be attractive to watch in attack. It's no use defending when we don't have points to defend.

Please Flanno. You have the experience. You know how a good team travels. You need the players to carry out everything with precision and be good thinkers as well. You need several superior players, than those that we might have coming through, signed. But you know what you are doing - I hope.

No need to panic and go after Jarome and be stuck with him on a big 3- 4 year deal. I agree and don't think he is a good fit for our club at the moment. Flanno is staying patient, waiting for the right type of player to help us out of this dire situation we are in. (I hope?)

 

[be55]

while Mike Molo has more upside that his bigger brother imho.

I posted, halfway through 2022, how Francis Molo had very quickly become one of my favourite players in the team and what a great buy he could turn out to be. His form in the first half of that year was terrific. Very damaging ball carrier, really good post-contact metres and an intimidating presence in the defensive line. At the back end of the year, he became a penalty magnet and his form dropped away. 2023 was average as well. Maybe it was the Hook effect, who knows? You could probably put a few players in that basket.

I think with an improvement in the team's fitness as a whole, and with Flanagan's proven record of getting the best out of his players, he could return to his very best form next year.

There's a very damaging front-rower in there. He's a beast waiting to be let off the leash again, and Flanagan might just have the key...

 

[FlickFlano]

Go the Dragons

 

[Old Timer]

I posted, halfway through 2022, how Francis Molo had very quickly become one of my favourite players in the team and what a great buy he could turn out to be. His form in the first half of that year was terrific. Very damaging ball carrier, really good post-contact metres and an intimidating presence in the defensive line. At the back end of the year, he became a penalty magnet and his form dropped away. 2023 was average as well. Maybe it was the Hook effect, who knows? You could probably put a few players in that basket.

I think with an improvement in the team's fitness as a whole, and with Flanagan's proven record of getting the best out of his players, he could return to his very best form next year.

There's a very damaging front-rower in there. He's a beast waiting to be let off the leash again, and Flanagan might just have the key...

His form drop coincided with the re- emergence in the media of the unfortunate death of the player he tackled.

Everything was going ok until then and obviously with it again being front of mind it affected and traumatised him which is understandable

 

[Parko1310]

Maybe he knows Hunt is a runner not an organiser?

Exactly this. Luai is not the type of half we need at all, especially on big money. Dearden fits the mould for what our team needs much better than Luai. It's all well and good bringing in a good player which Luai is, but you also have to look at HOW they play: can they fit into this team? Is his style what our team needs? That's without mentioning that I get a feeling he won't be successful outside of Penrith and that he isn't the character we need right now either. In a Hunt/Luai combination, who is steering the ship? No one. Dearden can play that role, has a running game too, is cheaper, is younger and has the potential to lead a team long term after Hunt has retired or left. All the upside is in Dearden, whereas with Luai there's far more risk and more downside than upside in terms of how he fits what our team currently needs. And, before people say just get rid of Hunt, that is not going to happen in real life, only in fantasy land.

 

[The Word]

I posted, halfway through 2022, how Francis Molo had very quickly become one of my favourite players in the team and what a great buy he could turn out to be. His form in the first half of that year was terrific. Very damaging ball carrier, really good post-contact metres and an intimidating presence in the defensive line. At the back end of the year, he became a penalty magnet and his form dropped away. 2023 was average as well. Maybe it was the Hook effect, who knows? You could probably put a few players in that basket.

I think with an improvement in the team's fitness as a whole, and with Flanagan's proven record of getting the best out of his players, he could return to his very best form next year.

There's a very damaging front-rower in there. He's a beast waiting to be let off the leash again, and Flanagan might just have the key...

I think he will surprise on the upside under Flanagan. Could become very important for us, guiding some of those younger forwards we have emerging. Lawrie will also be important in setting an example.

 

[Gardenia]

Quality rant JMJ, enjoyable read.
I’m sticking with blind optimism, convincing myself that everything has changed with the introduction of a capable coach.
I’m still faithfully waiting for a couple of good signings, any day now! Lol

Yeah well the rumour mill is running hot and hopefully one or two of the signings in the mix I’m hearing about comes to fruition . No solid mail just rumours next week or week after we will hear something for 24.

 

[BLM01]

No need to panic and go after Jarome and be stuck with him on a big 3- 4 year deal. I agree and don't think he is a good fit for our club at the moment. Flanno is staying patient, waiting for the right type of player to help us out of this dire situation we are in. (I hope?)

Agree we cant buy them all..Deardon or that Warriors young 5/8th is more Flannos type I reckon

 

[FlickFlano]

Go the Dragons

 

[maestro1]

No need to panic and go after Jarome and be stuck with him on a big 3- 4 year deal. I agree and don't think he is a good fit for our club at the moment. Flanno is staying patient, waiting for the right type of player to help us out of this dire situation we are in. (I hope?)

"Stuck with him" ....... If only. Would you rather be stuck with Kyle Flannigan for the next 3 to 4 years. At what point did Jarome become not good enough to don the RedV. I'm baffled how we can have such an attitude when we haven't signed a player of Jarome's elite level in years. Liua is currently better than any player in our roster

 

[maestro1]

Exactly this. Luai is not the type of half we need at all, especially on big money. Dearden fits the mould for what our team needs much better than Luai. It's all well and good bringing in a good player which Luai is, but you also have to look at HOW they play: can they fit into this team? Is his style what our team needs? That's without mentioning that I get a feeling he won't be successful outside of Penrith and that he isn't the character we need right now either. In a Hunt/Luai combination, who is steering the ship? No one. Dearden can play that role, has a running game too, is cheaper, is younger and has the potential to lead a team long term after Hunt has retired or left. All the upside is in Dearden, whereas with Luai there's far more risk and more downside than upside in terms of how he fits what our team currently needs. And, before people say just get rid of Hunt, that is not going to happen in real life, only in fantasy land.

My point is that we should be chasing Dearden and Luia and hope we get one or both. Our squad is not good enough and all quality players (especially halves) should be chased with gusto and smarts.

I don't care that Hunt is a runner, because if we got Luia or Dearden, we could bargain Hunt out of the club. He wants to go, so why would you make recruitment decisions based on Hunt

 

[maestro1]

Agree we cant buy them all..Deardon or that Warriors young 5/8th is more Flannos type I reckon

We can't buy them all, but they should all quality players should be chased until we actually land one. The way it stands now is that the Tigers are now in the box seat because we said we aren't interested. At the very least we should chase and drive his price up so the whoever gets him can't buy other quality players.

 

[BLM01]

We can't buy them all, but they should all quality players should be chased until we actually land one. The way it stands now is that the Tigers are now in the box seat because we said we aren't interested. At the very least we should chase and drive his price up so the whoever gets him can't buy other quality players.

Dont believe everything you hear via media. Even if Flanno tells a journo one thing, does not mean it is the whole truth. From the words of the great George Costanza. "It is not a lie if you truly believe it is not a lie" or similar

 

[maestro1]

Yeh, don't believe the media at all. But I'm pretty sure that our management did say they are not interested in Luia

 

[Crush]

I don’t see the problem with the club stating they aren’t interested in Luai. So what?
They’ve openly said they are interested in Manu, AFB, Tracey, Deardon. Great. Good to hear we are interested in signing players of that calibre.
Luai they are not keen on, fair enough, they have their reasons no doubt…

 

[thebigredv]

Yeh, don't believe the media at all. But I'm pretty sure that our management did say they are not interested in Luia

What they should say is that they are not interested in winning. If we are too good for a player like Luai then I must have missed something.

it is panic stations. Time to get out the cheque book and assemble a team that might just not be inevitable losers.

This is deplorable.

 

[redVinme]

If the club is saying they aren't interested in Jerome it's aimed directly at Dearden and his manager. Make him feel like he's actually their main priority and not just one of many they'll take.

Just my 2c

 

[thebigredv]

I don’t see the problem with the club stating they aren’t interested in Luai. So what?
They’ve openly said they are interested in Manu, AFB, Tracey, Deardon. Great. Good to hear we are interested in signing players of that calibre.
Luai they are not keen on, fair enough, they have their reasons no doubt…

We are desperate and shouldn’t close any door on any player that has something to contribute in my opinion.

 

[Crush]

A bit hysterical.
You’d think that Luai has said he wants to be a dragon but we are refusing him a contract or something with some of the comments.
We are interested in PLENTY of players, Jerome Luai doesn’t appear to be one of them.
I respect that.

 

[TheRev]

o I think Flanno was more neutral on Luai in his interview last week.. but agree with others that if they are going hard after Dearden.. the last thing we would want to do is make it sound like we are after anyone that moves..

o Podcast today mentioned Dearden and Luki as 2 players we were chasing.. not sure how close either deal is.

o And I had completely forgotten about Fifita & Tuitavake, Fifita was a real letdown in 2023, but he was also playing very injured.. one full preseason and I hope they are pushing the first graders.. its just we have 6 young props now, and props cant usually do long stints in 1st grade.. but if we could rotate a few around perhaps.. adding in 1 alpha dog would make such a difference...