Wests Tigers 2017 Premiers

Alex Twal signed from Parra on a 3 year contract starring next year

Milchcow wrote:
are we chasing Ofahengaue or is that just wishful thinking from fans who just want us to buy essentially anyone off contract just by making them an offer

If Joe O is wishful thinking, your fans needs to set their sights a bit higher with their wishes.

Foxsports is suggesting that Lolehea to Tigers mid season would allow the Tigers to release Moses. Not sure how close that is or if they're just throwing up options.

This would probably be a pretty good result long term for the Tigers IMO. Only question I have is that I can't for the life of me understand why Lolehea hasn't been in the Warriors team for the last season and a half? Is it off field behaviour or attitude at training? Is it just that the coaches over there are idiots who can't see talent, and think that Ayshford etc are better?

We should just go poach a bunch of players from Broncos and Storm feeder clubs.. Capras and all those tossers up there. Must be a few stars-in-waiting that can't get a run and would sign for cheap.

Keeping them once they become noticed would once again be the issue though.

Are there any young Gareth Ellis or Whitehead types kicking around in ESL right now?

The idea of probably paying overs for fringe guys like Matulino, Lolohea etc. doesn't give me much confidence going forward.

WT Winfield wrote:We should just go poach a bunch of players from Broncos and Storm feeder clubs.. Capras and all those tossers up there. Must be a few stars-in-waiting that can't get a run and would sign for cheap.

Keeping them once they become noticed would once again be the issue though.

Are there any young Gareth Ellis or Whitehead types kicking around in ESL right now?

The idea of probably paying overs for fringe guys like Matulino, Lolohea etc. doesn't give me much confidence going forward.

The Falcons' fullback is pretty sharp. And the Dolphins have Hazard and Strasser in the halves who both show potential... and some dude named "Marshall" at fullback who isn't too bad.

While there is definitely a place for poaching players who don't get an opportunity at other clubs (eg Ash Taylor), it normally isn't a great formula for success, especially if you do it large scale. How can you beat the Broncos by playing a bunch of players who weren't good enough to get selected with the Broncos?

I think you're better off trying to develop players before they're contracted with someone else, or buying established NRL players.

Mmm cheers guys. I cant believe whats gone on at the tigers. If 4 established faves and promising players sudde ly left the sharks id be ropeable.
Imagine if gallen/bird/maloney/holmes all left at once and they were at their peak etc.
Or  have players like moses and woods really lost the fans ?

Revraiser wrote:Mmm cheers guys. I cant believe whats gone on at the tigers. If 4 established faves and promising players sudde ly left the sharks id be ropeable.
Imagine if gallen/bird/maloney/holmes all left at once and they were at their peak etc.
Or  have players like moses and woods really lost the fans ?

Woods has definitely lost the support of a majority of fans due to the way he he has gone about it.
He is supposed to be the captain yet has been bad-mouthing the club in interviews and generally just not endearing himself to anyone.
Having him get injured makes it easy to drop him as captain, all they have to do is pass it on to someone else "temporarily" and not give Woods the captaincy back when he returns.

Moses in a similar boat. He's apparently asked multiple times for a release, and his playing form suggests his heart has left already. So hopefully we can get ourselves a replacement five-eighth from somewhere (Lolohea seems to be the target) so we can fuck him off to Parra straight away.

People still like Tedesco, because he's been much quieter about things. Also he's clearly the best player of the lot, and with no official announcement on his 2018 club yet, some people are still in denial about his departure and are hoping he'll backflip and stay with the Tigers.


I'd say the majority mood of Tigers fans (ones that post online at least) is good riddance to them.
There have been reports for years of the playing group having too much control, well that obviously isn't the case any more, and 2018 will be the first time in years we aren't paying anyone to play against us.
Still need a few more signings (Prop and fullback being the main 2) but this is the best situation the Tigers have been in for years.
Cleary has a plan, he's got a lot of people on board by making some quality first grade signings early, so everyone is getting on the bus, awaiting its 2018 departure. Any good things that happen this year are just a bonus.

WT Winfield wrote:We should just go poach a bunch of players from Broncos and Storm feeder clubs.. Capras and all those tossers up there. Must be a few stars-in-waiting that can't get a run and would sign for cheap.

Keeping them once they become noticed would once again be the issue though.

Are there any young Gareth Ellis or Whitehead types kicking around in ESL right now?

The idea of probably paying overs for fringe guys like Matulino, Lolohea etc. doesn't give me much confidence going forward.

Found Ivan Cleary guys.

www.foxsports.com.au/video/league/nrl/tigers-take-a-gamble!621694

@milchcow - understandably frustrating for some fans, but could be the making of the club going forward.
I like Brooks, still think we havent seen the best of him.

i think the way the player manager and the 4 players dealt with would annoy any fans from any club, especially when they end up with having 3 of the 4 leave


but at the same time, it feels like the tigers have gone from it all being sheens fault, to it all being benji's fault, to it all being potters fault, to it all being robbies fault, to it all being JT's fault and now finally its the "big" 4 who are to blame. its been going on for what feels like forever and that clearly indicates that the problems at the club go way past the playing and coaching staff imo

ryno_ wrote:

Found Ivan Cleary guys.

www.foxsports.com.au/video/league/nrl/tigers-take-a-gamble!621694

Haha, sounds like a plan to me. I recognise Hazard and Strasser that you mentioned before, those are the sorts of guys I'm talking about, though looks like we're set in the halves now.

A mate of mine used to watch Munster play for Capras and raved about him years ago. What a pick-up he would've been for most clubs back then.. Dunno how the Storm were able to keep their leash on him.

Finding young gun backs doesn't seem to be much of an issue for most clubs though and particularly for us Tigs, we need some forwards.

Maybe guys like Matulino and Ofa aren't the worst to be looking at.. they at least have NRL experience and may benefit from a core role.

Ofa must be ahead of all those feeder club types I'm talking about, so the Broncs obviously see something in him.

If we could find some gun ESL forward that's more interested in playing NRL than making boatloads of cash, I'd be on board. Someone a bit ignorant to how dire the Tigers are and wouldn't have to pay excess just to attract them.

tigers club email confiorming Tedesco to depart Tigers at end of the year.

Doesn't specifiy a destination. Maybe Roosters are genuinely having troubles getting their TPAs in order


edit: Now official with the Roosters

So this means both he and Woods were lying when they stated last week they hadn't signed anywhere yet.

bluetige wrote:So this means both he and Woods were lying when they stated last week they hadn't signed anywhere yet.

10 day cooling off period suggests yes to Woods. Did Ted claim the same thing?

I'm not a Tigers fan by any means tho have always had a bit if a soft spot for them. I will say tho that having followed league since as young as I can remember and being involved here for a few years now, this would have to be the most positive I've seen tigers supporters in a long time. Sure, there was Benji Marshall and the 2005 (I think) GF, then things were down for a while, then there was the emergence of guys like Woods, Teddy etc but despite the excitement generated by those guys there was always an underlying, mitigating circumstance or issue that seemed resolved to deny supporters some actual comfort and a glimmer of hope.

Listening to guys like SI, Milchy, BlueTige and the likes over time has made me realise how frustrating things can be for supporters. A club with such proud history in Balmain to begin with then go through a merger and ever since, with board and players (looking at you Farah you infection) and player managers fucking em over, it's been a while. I think now tho that there is a light at the end of the the tunnel. I can see that in the posts you guys make.

Cleary is on a recruitment drive to rival some massive ones over time and has a plan obviously in mind. I like what he's bought in so far. The departure of the "big 4" should have freed up some coin to allow him to chase a few more. Now the only thing that remains is to not have the board meddle in shit. They need to leave it the fuck alone and let it play it's course. It's time supporters were given a chance to be optimistic and have something to look forward to and be passionate about again. I'm not talking one eyed biased fanatical support ala Rabbit, I'm talking about guys who still genuinely love their club and the game as well and he probs have every right to be disenfranchised. I'm sure there's thousands of SI's, Milchy's et al out there and I for one would love to see em have something happy to talk about for a change.

SI wrote:

10 day cooling off period suggests yes to Woods. Did Ted claim the same thing?

I'm pretty sure one of them said it and then the other agreed but can't remember who said it first.

With Woodsy telling NRL360 viewers and article readers he didn't receive any correspondence from the Tigers board for 3 weeks and Justin Pascoe disagreeing with what Woods said, I believe now Pascoe.

I don't mind losing Woods and Moses, (I couldn't of cared about Brooks), but the one that hurts really, really bad is Tedesco. Before this year even kicked off the team I hated the most was the Roosters, followed by Bulldogs (then Manly). I guess my reasoning is further justified now

bluetige wrote:

SI wrote:

10 day cooling off period suggests yes to Woods. Did Ted claim the same thing?

I'm pretty sure one of them said it and then the other agreed but can't remember who said it first.

With Woodsy telling NRL360 viewers and article readers he didn't receive any correspondence from the Tigers board for 3 weeks and Justin Pascoe disagreeing with what Woods said, I believe now Pascoe.

I don't mind losing Woods and Moses, (I couldn't of cared about Brooks), but the one that hurts really, really bad is Tedesco. Before this year even kicked off the team I hated the most was the Roosters, followed by Bulldogs (then Manly). I guess my reasoning is further justified now

Agree, Ted is the only irreplaceable loss of them all.

Did you see Pascoe o League Life last night. The girls hammered him, Lara Pitt was particularly forthright, and he handled it all well. Pascoe's side f the story seems more believeable, and towards the end he said he believes they did everything they could to retain all 3; I am leaning towards believing that.

I'm a bit a harsh marker but found this sob story and excuse not to re-sign with us Tigers

James Tedesco says he may have remained a West Tiger had new coach Ivan Cleary not imposed a deadline on him to re-sign.
The NRL star said the opportunity for a fresh start at the Sydney Roosters was behind him agreeing to a four-year deal from next year on Thursday.
But the incumbent NSW fullback lambasted the Tigers over their failed process to re-sign him, including the decision to make the deadline public.
When asked if he could have stayed at the NRL strugglers had they not imposed the deadline, the 24-year-old Tedesco said: "Yeah, possibly."
"Ivan told me and my management that they wanted an answer by the Friday that week," he told Sydney radio station C91.3FM.
"We both said then that we weren't ready to make a decision yet and he was pretty adamant that he wanted an answer by the end of the week.
"They made it public too, which was a bit - I don't know, I didn't really think there was a need for that. It would just play out more in the media.
"We told them before they put that out in the media that we needed to make a decision.
"We needed more time and they wanted the decision quickly."
Tedesco also singled out Cleary for possibly putting too much pressure on his contract extension too early in his coaching tenure after taking over from the sacked Jason Taylor in March.
But he backed Cleary's efforts at the club.
"Ivan just started at the club and I still didn't know how he was as a coach," Tedesco said.
"I think he's been great, personally, as coach. We've had some really strong results with him.
"It was just disappointing to have that. But that's the way they wanted to do it and you can't really do much about it now."
Tedesco, the reigning Dally M fullback of the year who played his sole State of Origin match last year, expressed disappointment over departing the Tigers.
"The family ... we didn't think we'd leave the Tigers," he said.
"Obviously, I'm a Tigers junior and grew up out that way. But they're excited for me and they want what's best for me.
"I'm looking forward to a fresh start. We're looking forward to starting a new journey.
"It's obviously tough. The fans are always passionate about the club and I can understand that. They've supported me through a lot of ups and downs."

You'd think Tedesco/Woods would learn by now and just shut up.

Any time they open their mouths on the matter it just increases the animosity Tigers fans feel towards them. Are they deliberately trying to make their last few months with the Tigers as uncomfortable as possible?