2023 Squad, Signings and Rumours Thread

[Titanic]

I’ve been isolated with Covid this week, will be a lonely Christmas, but went back and watched a few losses earlier in 2022. I was underwhelmed by Liu’s efforts but as so many respected voices are championing his efforts I had a closer look. Sorry guys but with the exception of a few good pieces he was very average and often a large part of the problem. He can play a lot better than put in for us this year.

[Hail Sezer]

I’ve been isolated with Covid this week, will be a lonely Christmas, but went back and watched a few losses earlier in 2022. I was underwhelmed by Liu’s efforts but as so many respected voices are championing his efforts I had a closer look. Sorry guys but with the exception of a few good pieces he was very average and often a large part of the problem. He can play a lot better than put in for us this year.

Hope you're feeling ok T Do you mean the middle D problem specifically or? Respect you going back to watch for sure and he can definitely be better as can most from 2022 but if he's a large part of the problem (defensively?), I can only assume that makes Mo/Joliffe/Tino and every other middle a larg-er part of the problem haha

Barely saw him in the second half of this year since he had his falling out with Brad Arthur but I still think he has more upside than Liu.

I have watched almost every Titans games since Liu has played and I honestly think he is a passenger in the squad. I personally think his defence is over rated, people talk as if he makes up for all his lack of offense by doing clean up work in the middle..still yet to see it.

Maybe Nathan Brown isn't the best replacement (I would love JFH or Joseph Tapinine or Josh Papali or Pat Carrigan - but not realistic options), I just don't think Liu offers that much for a starting prop, but hey each to their own.

Yeah all good mate. I def think Liu is better suited to lock. I'd say instead of looking for just cleanup work, pay particular attention to is ability to stick with first contact on the ball, manipulate the wrestle (and win the tackle), speed recovering to marker, cover spacing with eyes up, repeat efforts etc. Then compare all of that to our other middles. It's little things that if all our middles did we'd be much better off. He doesn't bring a whole lot with the ball for sure but despite not putting up surface level stats, he's got a very quick PTB, finds his front, and does the little things that probably go unnoticed because he didn't break a tackle or "bend the line".

I will say that in general, our defensive middle was mostly a disaster in 2022 so when I'm speaking of Liu doing good things, it's with that in perspective. No secret they weren't coached adequately in this area, nor were they conditioned enough as a unit. Liu isn't a superstar or marquee middle, and he wasn't signed to be. But I do think the things he does well go unnoticed and he gets an unfair wrap, whereas someone like Mo, who's got some huge defensive deficiencies and is IMO incapable of starting in the NRL for this reason, doesn't get the same negative attention because of his (inconsistent) ability to carry the ball well. We're a team that needs to improve our defensive detail/effort/consistency as the #1 priority and Liu is our best consistent defensively detailed middle. Hence why losing him would be a step back, IMO.

I've just found this quote from Trent Robinson in 2021 that kind of summarises Liu as a player:

“It’s such a privilege to coach as low maintenance a player as you can get. He knows his task, he’s detail-driven and he’s played with an amazing capacity to improve himself year on year.

“I can’t speak highly enough of him. He’s just an incredible player for us and no one whispers his name. We’ve been built on some star players, but we’ve also been built on players like Ice.

“He is a detailed guy. He’ll write as much as anybody in our meetings and he’ll be precise about the way he goes about playing his game. If you watch him play a game, you’ll marvel at the detailed nature of either his footwork or the way that he passes the ball or makes a tackle.

Anyway, if he goes I hope we bring in someone who can bring those same defensive attributes. Or I hope Brett White has master-coached Mo/Joliffe and to an extent Tino. I can't imagine they'd entertain a release even for compassionate grounds unless they had a replacement ready to go...I hope..

[Titanic]

Thanks HS and Merry Christmas one and all. Certainly the key issue is how our entire defensive structure was compiled. HS you’re 100% right that all those players were pretty much at fault starting at 9. I don’t excuse any of them. Tino has great effort, Mo great drive etc etc but as a coherent unit they were crap. Dymock or Holbrook or Wallace or whoever I’m just hoping White can fix it. I also hope getting the funky twins of Vapeman and Mr Perpetual Penalties out of the squad will limit the number of egos running the show.

Hope Santa brings you all something good and that you all overeat … I’m outrageously jealous.

[MaroonTitan]

Hope somebody is stocking an esky outside your room Titanic. Hope it doesn't knock you around and you can make up for missed festivities later.

Probably a good moment to wish all of you on the forum the best for the festive season. I enjoy and respect all of your passion, opinions and knowledge. I'm looking forward to us debating good problems in 2023 (like which gun players to leave out of the 17, how we can't keep all of our JTS players coming through and if Holbrook deserves Coach of the Year).

[Cowabunga]

I'm still a bit annoyed the club let our defensive problems get to the point they did last year, We clearly had the problem from when Dymock had started and it just kept getting worse. He should've been gone in 2021 after the finals. Our middle defence was horrible for 3 years, Then buying Issako for some reason who was by far the worst player in the comp, Herbert having PTSD from 2021 and having a terrible year, Marzhew not knowing how to defend and Kelly not being great. Toby who is the slowest player laterally I've ever seen destroyed that sides defence because no one trusted him. I think it was all a really bad recipe and this year should be way better on getting rid of a lot of those issues.

The starting props should be Tino and Jolliffe and Mo and Liu together off the bench. Jolliffe does a lot of the effort/tackling to protect Tino and Mo needs someone to cover his defensive issues. I think Sam Mac could get some more minutes this year due to his versatility to play anywhere in the forward pack.

If we did have to do a trade/lose Liu I actually wouldn't mind Bunty Afoa coming over, I really like how he plays and would be perfect as the next bench prop and cheap.

Merry Christmas everyone, Hope Santa is kind.

[GCTTSD]

We haven't been a nrl quality defensive side for over 10 years now hopefully white can fix it as this looks like the closes we've been as a squad the last couple years

[psmitty]

Story growing about player swap, involving Titans and Raiders. Both forwards, both QLDes

Where are you reading this? What players?

[Randomologist]

Papalii for Fifita?

[willhelm]

Papalii for Fifita?

More likely to be Horsburgh

[NZTITAN]

Story growing about player swap, involving Titans and Raiders. Both forwards, both QLDes

Source mate?

Raiders contracted QLD Forwards:
- Josh Papalii
- Corey Horsburgh

Titans contracted QLD Forwards:
- Beau Fermor
- Moeaki Fotuaika
- David Fifita
- Tino Faasuamaleaui

Very hard to think we'd move any of those guys for Horsburgh (although Fifita is off-contract so possibly?) so that just leaves big Papa. Fermor and Tino untouchable you'd imagine, Moe probably similar in the club's eyes.

If this story is real then i'd think it's a move by the club to get off not paying Fifita and flipping him for an origin starter in Papalii. I also think that there's a likely chance that the club and Brett White in particular may not be impressed with Fifita's pre-season form potentially. There was also that story about Papa wanting to move back to SEQ before re-signing with Canberra a year or so ago.

Shrewd move from the club, although i'd love to keep Fifita if he's going to command 1M+ it wouldn't be a bad move to push this deal through. I think the worst thing that could happen is re-signing Fifita to 1M+ this off-season and then he stinks the joint up/doesn't improve his fitness etc and we're stuck with that money on the books.

[Bayside Titan]

Story growing about player swap, involving Titans and Raiders. Both forwards, both QLDes

Hey mate...Can you please add a link to where you have seen this information please ?

FORUM needs to be careful that we have a source for any chat like this one.

Appreciate you adding the link when you can .

Cheers,

[Croc]

Gold Coast Titans forward Isaac Liu is reportedly set to link up with the New Zealand Warriors on a two-year deal, effective immediately.

Zero Tackle have learned that Liu is set to be handed an immediate release by the Gold Coast, with the New Zealand-born forward heading back across the Tasman to link up with the Warriors, who are desperate to add depth to their forward pack.

It's unclear at this stage what percentage, if any, of Liu's contract the Titans will pay to facilitate the switch to the New Zealand Warriors, with it being reported that he is on approximately $550,000 per year on the Gold Coast.

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Trumpeted as a big signing for the Titans when he made the switch from the Sydney Roosters at the end of 2021, Liu struggled in a well-beaten Titans side throughout the 2022 campaign.

Making just 95 metres per game, it was his second-lowest output with the ball in hand since 2017, with his last two years at the Roosters seeing 106 and 108 metres per game respectively.

The Titans would finish in the bottom four, with Liu involved in just 5 wins out of 23 games played.

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The news of his reported move to Auckland comes after the Warriors last week elected to release Ben Murdoch-Masila. It had been reported that he is set to link up with the St George Illawarra Dragons, however, news of that move is yet to become official.

Liu, who can play in both the middle and on the edge, would effectively be a straight swap for Murdoch-Masila, and join a forward pack which is led by Tohu Harris and Addin Fonua-Blake, but otherwise has plenty of questions hanging over it.



Euan Aitken, Eliesa Katoa and Jack Murchie, who all spent time in the second row during 2022, have departed the club, while Matt Lodge's exit halfway through the year will see a new-look group take to the field in 2023 for Andrew Webster's first season as a head coach.

Mitch Barnett, Jackson Ford, Marata Niukore and Dylan Walker have all joined the Warriors, but Liu would almost certainly walk into a spot somewhere in the 17 should he be moved to the Warriors.

The Titans, on the other hand, have lost Sam Lisone, Herman Ese'ese and Jarrod Wallace out of their forward pack, only signing Joe Stimson to go with Chris Randall and Sam Verrills, who will split hooking duties. Kieran Foran and Aaron Schoupp have also joined the club in the backline.

The three forwards lost were all on the fringes of first-grade last year, and with Erin Clark becoming a first-choice lock, it means Tinpo Fa'asuamaleaui and Moeaki Fotuaika will almost certainly take the front row positions.

That would leave Liu coming off the bench - something his price tag doesn't justify at the Gold Coast.

With the likely rise of other talents at the club like Jacob Alick, Klese Haas, Joseph Vuna, Iszac Fa'asuamaleaui (development contract) and the signing of Keenan Palasia for 2024, as well as established players Sam McIntyre and Jaimin Jolliffe able to play in the middle third, Justin Holbrook's options in the forwards won't take a great hit with Liu's departure, although another roster spot would also open up.

The Warriors open their 2023 season against the Newcastle Knights in Wellington on Friday, March 3, while the Gold Coast Titans play two days later in the final game of the opening round against the Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval.

[willhelm]

Very unhappy about losing Liu if we don't have at minimum a like-for-like replacement coming in. Erin Clark is not a first choice lock and should be playing off the bench. He has barely even played a handful of games in the position. Sure, he has a motor, but his defense and ball-playing ability are leagues behind Liu.

[hungryjacks]

Agree'd we need a proper 13 lined up if we are get rid of Liu.

[jacksonm]

Thats part of i

- - - Updated - - -

Hey mate...Can you please add a link to where you have seen this information please ?

FORUM needs to be careful that we have a source for any chat like this one.

Appreciate you adding the link when you can .

No link. Raiders keen to bring everything forward one year and Titans need a middle, player managers are joining the dots
Cheers,