NRL Player Movements & Rumours

[McHunt]

Can’t wait to shit on Luai at every opportunity. If you guys think I was a c*nt to the “coaches special little guy” at the start of the season you ain’t seen nothing yet…

BTW - I am now the President for the “Billy Walters is the Greatest Player to ever pull on a Broncos Jersey fan club”

Billy has proved 99% of this forum wrong, myself included… the other 1% are just determined to be offended by him… @McHunt I’m looking in your direction

I'm sure he appreciates all the dick pics you're texting him.

 

[Foordy]

I am wondering if they went as hard as they did for Luai as a PR exercise (possibly hoping to attract other big names to the club)

They've had a lot of big name rejections over the last few years. They needed to land a big name, and a 3 time Premiership player is arguably the biggest name on the market

 

[BroncsFan]

The Luai move could turn out to be a stroke of genius, but to have made that signing after signing four other halves suggests an error has been made somewhere. It seems like an attempt at a course correction which doesn't bode well for 2024 and could set a bad precedent heading into 2025.

Could they have thought that Luai was a pipe dream and they were unlikely to get him, so the young players were the contingency?

Now they've got Luai coming and have too many in the halves... so someone will need to be moved on.

Sezer has always looked like a short term plug with Brooks moving on... so the question would be how long does Sezer have left in the game, but then who do Tigers move forward with out of Fainu, Sullivan and Galvin.

I don't know anything about Galvin so can't comment, but they already had Fainu and his brother before Sullivan.

I suspect Sullivan might be the odd one out?? but I was surprised dragons let him go anyway.

Amone had the verdict hanging over him and his longevity in the game and Bhunt is wanting out as soon as possible it would seem... Sullivan looked to be the only long term prospect dragons had on the books and they let him go seemingly for nothing.

 

[theshed]

The Luai move could turn out to be a stroke of genius, but to have made that signing after signing four other halves suggests an error has been made somewhere. It seems like an attempt at a course correction which doesn't bode well for 2024 and could set a bad precedent heading into 2025.

It’s the tigers so not only are you probably correct, the situation is probably even worse than you are giving them credit for

 

[Big Pete]

Galvin is ages off and reports are they see him as a second rower. Fainu not good enough for next year. Sezer is clearly the 7 for as long as he is the best option to play halfback. Finally Sullivan is the likely 6 option next year and then him, Sezer and Fainu will fight it out to play alongside Luai.

The issue is they have Fainu and Sullivan locked up till 2027. Fainu in particular would not have come cheaply and there would be a certain expectation of where he will play. I don't think any of them would be happy to play reserves so now you have this headache to deal with.

All the while you need to be thinking about the future and having halves come through the learning tree. Whether that's Galvin, Matei or whoever comes after (I know they just lost Conti who is one of the best halves coming through) need room and that's difficult when you have that log-jam.

Like I said, the Luai signing could be a stroke of genius and a course correction they desperately needed. However signing all those halves at the same time suggests a lack of direction which has been an all too common theme for the Tigers since Sheensy started winding down during his first stint.

 

[Sproj]

If the Tigers get lucky with one of the other young halves turning in to a bloke who can kick, that could be all they need with Api also being a creative type.

And regardless of how overrated I think Luai is, specifically for the Tigers, I think he’s a really good signing for them because it makes them look like a destination club on the back of Api and Bateman going there. There recruitment also makes more sense than the Bulldogs for example.

 

[Big Pete]

If the Tigers get lucky with one of the other young halves turning in to a bloke who can kick, that could be all they need with Api also being a creative type.

And regardless of how overrated I think Luai is, specifically for the Tigers, I think he’s a really good signing for them because it makes them look like a destination club on the back of Api and Bateman going there. There recruitment also makes more sense than the Bulldogs for example.

Or the best retirement home in the NRL.

It's fair to say that neither Koroisau or Bateman had their best years. Both guys have their share of valid excuses, but they're going to have to turn things around quickly and they're really up against it with all the changes to the club. By the time Luai joins, they'll both be 32 which is going to make life even more difficult.

I'm with Renegade when I want to see them succeed. However 2023 confirmed my worst fears for a lot of their signings and 2024 is shaping up to be even tougher.

 

[Sproj]

Or the best retirement home in the NRL.

It's fair to say that neither Koroisau or Bateman had their best years. Both guys have their share of valid excuses, but they're going to have to turn things around quickly and they're really up against it with all the changes to the club. By the time Luai joins, they'll both be 32 which is going to make life even more difficult.

I'm with Renegade when I want to see them succeed. However 2023 confirmed my worst fears for a lot of their signings and 2024 is shaping up to be even tougher.

I don’t think we are in disagreement either, it’s a massive risk they’ve taken and it all hinges on whether Benji can coach and no one has any idea about that at all yet.

 

[BroncsFan]

Or the best retirement home in the NRL.

It's fair to say that neither Koroisau or Bateman had their best years. Both guys have their share of valid excuses, but they're going to have to turn things around quickly and they're really up against it with all the changes to the club. By the time Luai joins, they'll both be 32 which is going to make life even more difficult.

I'm with Renegade when I want to see them succeed. However 2023 confirmed my worst fears for a lot of their signings and 2024 is shaping up to be even tougher.

Bateman looks a hard player to fit into a system at the best of times... he's not really a line runner and is more an off the cuff type of player, but the whole tigers set up just looked ineffective and failed to engage the defence.

At times they were trying to play through Api from dummy half with wrap arounds to get him out into the backline.

I get that they wanted to have things run through their best player, but it became weirdly predictable (despite it never being used before) and just looked odd and would be so hard for players to adapt to.

I worry about the coaching at the tigers, because they have some useful players (Api, Bateman, Bula, Papa, Uto, Doueihi, etc.), but I just can't see a style of play where players know their role and is effective.

I think after Panthers they were near the top for tackles inside the 20m or 50m, but then clearly had no idea how to score points

 

[theshed]

Bateman looks a hard player to fit into a system at the best of times... he's not really a line runner and is more an off the cuff type of player, but the whole tigers set up just looked ineffective and failed to engage the defence.

At times they were trying to play through Api from dummy half with wrap arounds to get him out into the backline.

I get that they wanted to have things run through their best player, but it became weirdly predictable (despite it never being used before) and just looked odd and would be so hard for players to adapt to.

I worry about the coaching at the tigers, because they have some useful players (Api, Bateman, Bula, Papa, Uto, Doueihi, etc.), but I just can't see a style of play where players know their role and is effective.

I think after Panthers they were near the top for tackles inside the 20m or 50m, but then clearly had no idea how to score points

Benji may make a good coach and a players own career often doesn’t translate to coaching one way or the other but Benji must have been one of the hardest players of all times to coach or build a team around.

So unpredictable that he looked like he surprised himself at times. Definitely not a structured player until very late in his career

 

[Allo]

Benji may make a good coach and a players own career often doesn’t translate to coaching one way or the other but Benji must have been one of the hardest players of all times to coach or build a team around.

So unpredictable that he looked like he surprised himself at times. Definitely not a structured player until very late in his career

Wait are you trying to tell me that all those flick-passes and metre-high-over-the-winger bullets into row 9 weren't part of the gameplan?

 

[theshed]

Wait are you trying to tell me that all those flick-passes and metre-over-the-winger bullets into row 9 weren't part of the gameplan?

The “drop kick” try is one of my favourites of all time.

 

[Sproj]

Oram to the Tigers, Blore to the Storm in an imminent player swap:

Olam's Storm exit to be confirmed in immediate player swap

Olam may have played his last game for the Storm.

www.zerotackle.com

I wonder...might Bellamy do something like this to try and squeeze Fa'alogo into the side (which he needs to do):

1. Fa'alogo
2. Warbrick
3. Smith / Seve
4. Papenheuzen
5. Coates
6. Munster
7. Hughes
8. Welch
9. Grant
10. Kamikamica
11. Katoa
12. Chan
13. Asofa-Solomona

14. Wishart/Garlick
15. Blore
16. King
17. Howarth/Loiero

 

[Allo]

Another classic Tigers move

Why do they love giving all their good or promising players to the Storm?

 

[Big Pete]

I wonder...might Bellamy do something like this to try and squeeze Fa'alogo into the side (which he needs to do):

I found it absolutely crazy the other day that Faalogo was still on a development deal at the Storm. I wonder how far into the season that's going to last? He was a sensation in the second half of 2023 and I can't see either him or Kini playing much reserve grade.

 

[BroncsFan]

I found it absolutely crazy the other day that Faalogo was still on a development deal at the Storm. I wonder how far into the season that's going to last? He was a sensation in the second half of 2023 and I can't see either him or Kini playing much reserve grade.

If he was a bronco there would already be calls of upgrading him to fend off $1m offers from vulture clubs.

Will that happen for the first half decent looking Victorian to come through the storm system in 25yrs

 

[Fitzy]

Another classic Tigers move

Why do they love giving all their good or promising players to the Storm?

He was leaving anyway and isn’t of any real value to them next year and they got someone in return. If they wanted Olam anyway its good business.

 

[Allo]

He was leaving anyway and isn’t of any real value to them next year and they got someone in return. If they wanted Olam anyway its good business.

Fair, I wasn’t aware he was on his way out, but arguable that Olam was good business. Dude couldn’t get back into a very below-par Storm last season.

While he’ll give the Tigers something at some stage, I won’t be surprised if he fails outside the Storm system and it’ll be marked down as another recruiting blunder from the Tigers