Willie Tonga signs with Pirtek Parramatta Eels

[I bleed blue & gold]

With Tonga being a chance to play for qld next year, i was wondering who was the last player that played for qld while with us? Wagon?

 

[Parra Guru]

PJ Marsh?

 

[bartman]

Nice signing. Tonga will really give us some depth and experience in the centres, where we've struggled since Tahu walked out on Kearney.

Happy also with the 7 retentions - they are young players who wouldn't demand a lot of coin, but all have something to offer. Will be good to see which of them takes the next step up in the next two years.

 

[I bleed blue & gold]

PJ Marsh?

yep just looked it up, you are correct. He played one game in 2008.

 

[hineyrulz]

yep just looked it up, you are correct. He played one game in 2008.

Had PJ gone to the Bronc's by then????

 

[Bigfella]

The thing I like about the retentions is that all are young, all are improving, and all are obviously in plans.

For a lot of years we've held on to blokes, they've never gone near firsts, then left and locked on a bit.

I'd rather see them sink or swim than tread water.

I also reckon Willie now is a better player than tahu when he last signed for us (comfortably) and at least as good as timana when he first signed for us

 

[I bleed blue & gold]

Had PJ gone to the Bronc's by then????

My bad. Yep he had. So it must be Wags then?

 

[I bleed blue & gold]

double

 

[Jake the snake]

Nice signing. Tonga will really give us some depth and experience in the centres, where we've struggled since Tahu walked out on Kearney.

Happy also with the 7 retentions - they are young players who wouldn't demand a lot of coin, but all have something to offer. Will be good to see which of them takes the next step up in the next two years.

If this were facebook then I would click "like" on this comment.

People forget the circumstances that Kearney had to deal with regarding Grothe and Tahu leaving in the preseason that was a huge huge blow.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Chris Lawrence. That said, Tonga is an awesome signing and you won't hear a single complaint from me about it.

Lawrence :shock:

This is the guy who has never played Origin?

Moronic selectors aside, sure, Lawrence has been great the last 2 games of footy he played, but don't ride the wave of public opinion too quickly, it might leave you high and dry.

Once Lawrence has played at his current level for 5 years then you can mention him in the same sentence a Willie Tonga.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Tahu walked out on Kearney.

lol

I believe the correct term is 'given the arse'.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Lawrence :shock:

This is the guy who has never played Origin?

Moronic selectors aside, sure, Lawrence has been great the last 2 games of footy he played, but don't ride the wave of public opinion too quickly, it might leave you high and dry.

Once Lawrence has played at his current level for 5 years then you can mention him in the same sentence a Willie Tonga.

We're not discussing Lawrence becoming the next immortal; we're talking about his current ability.

I think Lawrence at his best is a f**king awesome centre. His only flaw is he seems injury prone.

 

[spartan2153]

We're not discussing Lawrence becoming the next immortal; we're talking about his current ability.

I think Lawrence at his best is a f**king awesome centre. His only flaw is he seems injury prone.

This is the first year he has missed major footy. In saying that Tonga is more prone to unlucky injury

 

[oldmancraigy]

We're not discussing Lawrence becoming the next immortal; we're talking about his current ability.

I think Lawrence at his best is a f**king awesome centre. His only flaw is he seems injury prone.

Yeah - and if you base current ability on 'past 2 games' then Merritt and Dave Taylor are the best 2 players on the planet.

No doubt Lawrence has had a good couple of games, does that make him a better player than Tonga over the last 2? yes. Does it make him a better player than Tonga on this year? no.

 

[eels81236]

IMO Lawrence eats Tonga for breakfast and I think Tonga is pretty good.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Yeah - and if you base current ability on 'past 2 games' then Merritt and Dave Taylor are the best 2 players on the planet.

Yeah well I'm not basing it on the past 2 games, I'm basing it on all the games I've ever seen them play and giving greater weight to recent performances than those of longer ago.

Merritt and Taylor have been among the games best attacking players for a couple of years now - Merritt for his support and broken play, Taylor is just an awesome all-round attacking edge forward. Probably the best in the game.

However both players are a bit weak defensively and Taylor's workrate is poor. Merritt's go-forward is a tad gimpish.

This is based on a lot more than their past 2 games.

No doubt Lawrence has had a good couple of games, does that make him a better player than Tonga over the last 2? yes. Does it make him a better player than Tonga on this year? no.

Once again, I'm not talking about performances over a rigidly defined period of time in the past. Not 2 days, not one season. When I talk about a guy's ability I'm talking about the likely quality of his next performances, not his last ones.

I rate Lawrence alongside Tonga as in the second tier of centres after Inglis and Hodges. I'd say Tonga's as good as Inglis or Hodges in attack, but not as good defensively. Lawrence has better defence than Tonga, but doesn't have the linebreaking ability.

 

[God-King Dean]

jaja

 

[eels81236]

jaja

I agree

 

[Poupou Escobar]

lol@God-King Dean pretending to be Mexican

 

[Bazal]

Lawrence :shock:

This is the guy who has never played Origin?

Moronic selectors aside, sure, Lawrence has been great the last 2 games of footy he played, but don't ride the wave of public opinion too quickly, it might leave you high and dry.

Once Lawrence has played at his current level for 5 years then you can mention him in the same sentence a Willie Tonga.

Lawrence has been playing rep level footy for comfortably the past two years. And he has been playing at a high level ever since his debut, he had some defensive issues when he came onto the scene but he's certainly fixed that, and he's so dangerous with the ball. Excellent player who would have played Origin this year if not for injury, and probably should have played last year.