Who's to blame

[madunit]

I think Farah has become an easy target for the dramas surrounding disharmony at the club.

But after a look this morning, this club has a pretty good knack of culling quality players. If I was an egotistical power crazed person hungry for success, I wouldn't be driving away good players.

Thus, there are people managing this club who are more detrimental to this clubs success than Farah's little quarrells.

As it Stands, here are two teams worth of players that have left the club from the last 5 years

1 - Wade McKinnon
2 - Matt Utai
3 - Blake Ayshford
4 - Beau Ryan
5 - Marika Koroibete
6 - Blake Austin
7 - Benji Marshall
8 - Bryce Gibbs
9 - Pat Politoni
10 - Andrew Fifita
11 - Gareth Ellis
12 - Adam Blair
13 - Chris Heighington

14 - Tom Humble
15 - Junior Moors
16 - Mark Flanagan
17 - Matt Bell

1 - Kurtis Rowe
2 - Lote Tuqiri
3 - Geoff Daniela
4 - Joel Reddy
5 - Mitch Brown
6 - Braith Anasta
7 - Tim Moltzen
8 - Nathan Brown
9 - Jacob Miller
10 - Eddy Pettybourne
11 - James Gavet
12 - Ben Murdoch-Masila
13 - Bodene Thompson

14 - Matt Groat
15 - Ray Cashmere
16 - Sam Latu
17 - Cory Paterson

 

[macnaz]

Manaia Cherrington*

I heard something about the club releasing him .. anyone heard anything ?

 

[bjm8]

Looking at that list you would say someone has been doing a great job of cleaning out the dead wood... who on that list jumps out as someone you'd have back in an instant?

Ellis
Austin
Murdoch-Masila

??

 

[The Charlatan]

In all seriousness, how many of those players would you have kept?

 

[madunit]

Koroibete
Austin
Ryan
Gibbs
Politoni
Fifita
Ellis
Heighington
Brown
Brown
BMM

 

[Perth Tiger]

I think you are being overly generous there MU.

The only ones that seem to have been bad decision based on hindsight are Koroibete, Fifita and Austin although even if Austin stayed we wouldn't have played in in the halves anyway.

Ellis and Blair are a bit different, Ellis wanted to go home so it was fair enough to let him and Blair being so shit with us and turning it around so quick with Brisbane is indicative of the club, Blair would never of performed for us like he has with the Broncos.

None of the others would of turned into decent first graders with us if they couldn't/can't at other clubs and we wouldn't of got value for money from our older guys like Gibbs and Heighy given that we massively over pay our home grown 'stars'

 

[simmo1]

I think you are being overly generous there MU.

The only ones that seem to have been bad decision based on hindsight are Koroibete, Fifita and Austin although even if Austin stayed we wouldn't have played in in the halves anyway.

Ellis and Blair are a bit different, Ellis wanted to go home so it was fair enough to let him and Blair being so shit with us and turning it around so quick with Brisbane is indicative of the club, Blair would never of performed for us like he has with the Broncos.

None of the others would of turned into decent first graders with us if they couldn't/can't at other clubs and we wouldn't of got value for money from our older guys like Gibbs and Heighy given that we massively over pay our home grown 'stars'

I'd probably have kept Thompson too. But you're right, apart from those guys the rest are bog average and the right call was made in getting rid of them.

Even Fifita wasn't a regular in the side with us, and at the time he seemed like a guy who could have gone either way.

 

[BrotherJim05]

In all honesty the only bad decisions were:

Marika Koroibete
Blake Austin
Bryce Gibbs
Andrew Fifita
Adam Blair
Chris Heighington
Martin Taupau

Bodene Thomson was off contract and he wanted to leave. Wasn't a decision on our part

I'm sure most other clubs have a similar list of players they regret letting go. Its just the way of the game, sometimes you get rid of dead weight and sign a great player to take his place, other times you f**k up.

 

[gordsy]

Didn't Korro get told to go for allegedly belting his missus and from memory Gibbs got into trouble off the park too.

 

[BuffaloRules]

Letting Fafita and Austin go was absolutely criminal when they were both under contract.

I would have made Taupau play next year as well, although he would have been disgruntled.

Moving on the others can be explained ( wanted to leave, contract expired and were shyte or past their best) and in almost every instance has proved to be a good decision.

 

[Tiger05]

In all honesty the only bad decisions were:

Marika Koroibete
Blake Austin
Bryce Gibbs
Andrew Fifita
Adam Blair
Chris Heighington
Martin Taupau

Bodene Thomson was off contract and he wanted to leave. Wasn't a decision on our part

I'm sure most other clubs have a similar list of players they regret letting go. Its just the way of the game, sometimes you get rid of dead weight and sign a great player to take his place, other times you f**k up.

I think Gibbs was basically done. Heighno wasn't a huge loss and Blair was costing us too much money.

I would have made Taupau and Austin stay even if they left the following year however I can understand the decisions there.

I think Koro and Fifita were the big losses as they are players that we still need today. I think though Fifita is a bit of a mess and might be more drama than he is worth.

Overall though I don't see that as too bad of a list of players that have been let go.

 

[The Charlatan]

I'll cop Koroibete, Austin, Gibbs, Taupau and Fifita.

Gibbs knees were shot, but he the ruck went to shit when he left, Fifita was a loss at the time but after a breakout season at the Sharks he's failed to live up to the price tag IMO, Austin was gone anyway but we should have held on to him for one more year and I'll concede we got the shitty end of the stick when Koroibete was traded for Lodge.

 

[Tigerted]

Fifita is a head case who is yet to & unlikely to realise the potential he displayed with us.

We should've been more patient with Koro's deficiencies (defence & high ball) & persevered with him due to his athleticism & attacking prowess.

Austin & taupau should've been forced to honour there contracts with us.Major f**k-up releasing these 2.

The rest I couldn't give a f**k about as most r useless with the exception of the WT greatest ever forward Ellis who returned home of his own volition for family reasons & he was also experiencing a bad run with the perpetually injured foot.

I also really hope robbie remains with us although I have a hunch he will be elsewhere next yr.It would be a travesty if he was to leave as there's no doubt he will outlive the imbecile Taylor who won't survive the '16 season as coach.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Realeasing Korobiete was truely horrible, however apparently that was mainly potter. Richards had some ok moments but mainly I remember him being too slow and shit to finish any sort of chance created. Koro would have scored 25 tries playing on our left wing this year.

Austin I still find insanely over rated. Guy has an amazing running game but nothing else. He is at his ceiling already. All the games he played well we're against shit teams. After the Newcastle game on a Friday night where he scored 3 tries in the first 12 minutes or whatever (remember they were all backing up, he didn't make a single line break) people went nuts over him. Canberra blew so many close games this year, Austin as their main play maker rarely stood up when it counted. Here's a fun fact for you, the Tigers had a better winning percentage in 2015 over top 8 teams than the raiders. I'm ok with us picking Moses over him.

I'm still dirty on letting Taupau go early, to me that's saying they don't give a f**k about this year and it's already another rebuilding year.

 

[The Charlatan]

I'm all for moving players on when the current team isn't cutting the mustard, but the one real criticism I have of the club in this respect though is that I can't recall any other club in living memory moving on so many under contract players AND footing part of the fare like Wests have.

How many seasoned first graders have we moved on and still been paying out after they've long gone?

Just seems like we're perpetually footing the bill for ex-players to run on in other teams colours. No wonder our cap has gone to shit.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Parra have been pretty bad too. No surprises us and them are the two basket cases of the last few years.

At the meet the coaches night last this year Taylor openly said after this year we wouldn't be paying anymore players to play elsewhere and it would stop under his reign. Than weeks later Farah is offered up and we're open to paying the majority of his salary.

I'd also be surprised if we weren't fitting some of galloways bill in Leeds.

 

[Tiger05]

Parra have been pretty bad too. No surprises us and them are the two basket cases of the last few years.

At the meet the coaches night last this year Taylor openly said after this year we wouldn't be paying anymore players to play elsewhere and it would stop under his reign. Than weeks later Farah is offered up and we're open to paying the majority of his salary.

I'd also be surprised if we weren't fitting some of galloways bill in Leeds.

One thing that we have to stop is this stupid idea (its close to a policy) that we pay some players salary when they are playing at another club.

We keep Robbie (as per any other player) until his contract is up and get the most out of him. Its that simple.

 

[magpie guy]

I'm all for moving players on when the current team isn't cutting the mustard, but the one real criticism I have of the club in this respect though is that I can't recall any other club in living memory moving on so many under contract players AND footing part of the fare like Wests have.

How many seasoned first graders have we moved on and still been paying out after they've long gone?

Just seems like we're perpetually footing the bill for ex-players to run on in other teams colours. No wonder our cap has gone to shit.

This is the biggest issue the club has had in terms of its roster. We pay massive overs for up and comers and "marque signings", then when they turn out to be average or are used improperly by coaches or just don't cut it in some way, we turf them out but end up paying the majority of their contract. This, combined with the stupid practice of back ending contracts, means that it completely f**ks our salary cap and in the ensuing years we end up with a patchy roster and no depth. And the cycle continues with more back ended contracts to try and shore up the roster deficiencies.

 

[BrotherJim05]

This is the biggest issue the club has had in terms of its roster. We pay massive overs for up and comers and "marque signings", then when they turn out to be average or are used improperly by coaches or just don't cut it in some way, we turf them out but end up paying the majority of their contract. This, combined with the stupid practice of back ending contracts, means that it completely f**ks our salary cap and in the ensuing years we end up with a patchy roster and no depth. And the cycle continues with more back ended contracts to try and shore up the roster deficiencies.

I think WT have been fantastic at finding diamonds in the rough (Taupau, Austin etc) but the real challenge is inspiring confidence that we aren't a complete basket case. Its been proven that player who move club once will easily do so again. I don't blame Taupau or Austin at all. Its a career to them...plain and simple.

I have a good feeling about the two hard nuts we signed from Ipswitch cup. Say whatever you like about us, we can turn reserve grade players into solid first graders

 

[Tigers Tale]

I have a good feeling about the two hard nuts we signed from Ipswitch cup. Say whatever you like about us, we can turn reserve grade players into solid first graders

I tend to feel the same Brother Jim. I think Griffin could be a find for us.

With all this talk of players who left etc etc I often wonder if we had a coach along the lines of Bellamy or Bennett who have this ability to turn bog average players into world beaters whether we would be where we are at today.

I think most of our problems have been our coaches....since day one really. I can point this out but don't have the solution other than chasing Bellamy or someone who really is a hard nut and won't take the crap our board and to a degree our players have been dishing out.