2023 Squad, Signings and Rumours Thread

[Titanic]

Has Foz ignored the RLPA players' media ban ... Tino and Difita will dominate headlines until they make their decisions but the logic of following Holbrook because he's a good guy is just total bs, it is so obviously a ploy by the managers to up their trading power. Can't really blame them but it stinks.

I hope Clint Newton realises the awkward position he has placed the game in regarding its corporate profile. Certainly the NRL are contributors to the angst and I have no issue with a negotiation process per se but I totally disagree with the inmates running the asylum.

Crawley's separate article to the one above, also in the CM, argues convincingly for a draft but rightly states that the RLPA will not allow that to happen, for obvious reasons. However, if the ARLC is fairdinkem then they will have to loosen the grip of the player managers, especially if you factor in the control exerted by having too many players/coaches from one stable (what a perfect term for them) at a club.

In these respects the white collar AFL leadership have always been streets ahead of our blue collar ex-player idealists. Our advantage has always been we have the better game no matter how often we do our best to self-destruct ... lol. On that note I'll head back under my rock.

[Cowabunga]

Players are free to talk to media Monday and Tuesdays and for any pre existing commitments they had.

https://www.titans.com.au/news/2023/...ly-retirement/

“Aaron has a great footy brain and he is already showing his talents as a coach under Karyn Murphy in our NRLW program.

“He will also move into an administrative role which will allow him to be involved in the business side of the club as well as his coaching duties.”

Sad to see but not to surprised with how bad it was, Stoked to see him so heavily involved with the club going forward, Seems like everyone loves him.

[indoallstars]

Exciting news HS, hopefully he brings in some of the aspects we all discuss on here. I hope the Mad Professor works his magic for us

[NZTITAN]

Very sad for Aaron Booth, looked a pretty quality 9 in the games he played for us and no doubt would've had a solid RL career, but very happy he gets to stick around with the club, completely disastrous injury he suffered and probably the right move to hang them up.. to which i'll also add that the way the Titans have looked after Boothy has been second-to-none, and if the club had a Rooster as it's logo it would be celebrated on every rugby league show.

Curious to see Des' next moves with the roster actually, so far re-signing Jolliffe, Verrills, Randall, Sami & Kelly probably puts him at an A-/B+ withholding a better grade for any Tino+Fifita re-signings hopefully soon, with my biggest criticism being the number of years on Brian Kelly's deal including the potential opportunity cost of squeezing Aaron Schoupp out.

I counted 29~ spots in the top 30 for 2024, however, can anyone here confirm Ben Liyou has been released? perhaps mdrew or HS mentioned it and I missed it somewhere, definitely a good move if so, had way too many young middles. From a quick look at our depth chart we ideally need another experienced middle for depth, another outside back that covers both wg+ctr and a back-up half unless the club is confident in JC or Weaver spending time there. 3 doesn't go into 1 (or 2 depending on Liyou) so I am curious to see if Des trims a couple of things around the edges.

The number one problem on the roster and projected starting 17 is the straight up lack of size, and frankly our middle depth although decent, is just too short, something I know others here have been harping on about. For this reason, im disappointed Mikaele never worked out, that kind of build is sorely needed somewhere on the roster even if he's only good for 30 minutes a game. A guy who I could see the club bringing back is Morgan Boyle, obviously not a starter by any means but he has the kind of frame that would benefit this club somewhere in the top 30, off-contract, familiarity, and Des brought him over to Manly in 2019, so there's a link there.

[Cowabunga]

Liyou is still there in rehab and pretty sure the club rates him highly + He's never been on the NRL list, Morgan Boyle has played 3 games in 3 years and can't even get into Manlys 17 who are desperate for any props, He's coming off the bench in NSW cup. Mikaele has way better stats in QRL and couldn't make the 17, I just think those type of players struggle now unless they're freak athletes.

I don't think size will be an issue in the middle. Tino, Mo, Randall or Liu/Clark at 13, Fermor and Fifita then the forwards interchange consists of any of Jolliffe, Keenan, Stimson with Iszac, Pahulu and Liyou as the young guys who will be 22, 19 and 23 next pre season, Perfect balance imo. I think our depth will be the best it's probably ever been next year and especially compared to this year. It'd probably be nice to have a 30+ yo prop but Dolphins took all the decent ones and Herman and Wallace decided to finally try.

I think a lot of our back depth depends on where AJ ends up playing, If he moves to the centres I think having Jojo, Kelly and Schoupp if he stays fighting for the left centre is pretty good, Wing depth isn't great but Jojo can cover there as well + JDG looks like he'll be a wing/centre/14 when he's ready. You'd prefer more experience but like the forwards, I don't know where these players are, The talent pool is thin.

[indoallstars]

Danger sign if Holbrook has signed on as an Assistant with the Roosters. I am sure they will try and start picking off our young talent.

[Whats Doing]

Danger sign if Holbrook has signed on as an Assistant with the Roosters. I am sure they will try and start picking off our young talent.

Holbrook has agreed to sign on as an assistant to the Roosters for 3 years

[Titanic]

Holbrook has agreed to sign on as an assistant to the Roosters for 3 years

Anything good I would have said about this guy just went out the window. I would be worried about the best players not the young talent and the get-out clauses. Uncle Nik doesn't give a toss about development.

This quote from Mr. 37% particularly galls me: “When I left Super League, in my last year (in 2019) we finished 16 points clear of second place, which is a record margin in the history of their competition so it will be hard to beat that." Still not taking responsibility for his failures, just like every presser he did.

Well that's just wonderful Justin, the perfect reminder to the Board, the fans, Mikaele, Leeming and Maumalo.

[mdrew]

To be fair the Roosters have been trying to grab our best juniors forever, but the Titans grabbed one of their best recently in Alex Leapai.

[NZTITAN]

Liyou is still there in rehab and pretty sure the club rates him highly + He's never been on the NRL list, Morgan Boyle has played 3 games in 3 years and can't even get into Manlys 17 who are desperate for any props, He's coming off the bench in NSW cup. Mikaele has way better stats in QRL and couldn't make the 17, I just think those type of players struggle now unless they're freak athletes.

I don't think size will be an issue in the middle. Tino, Mo, Randall or Liu/Clark at 13, Fermor and Fifita then the forwards interchange consists of any of Jolliffe, Keenan, Stimson with Iszac, Pahulu and Liyou as the young guys who will be 22, 19 and 23 next pre season, Perfect balance imo. I think our depth will be the best it's probably ever been next year and especially compared to this year. It'd probably be nice to have a 30+ yo prop but Dolphins took all the decent ones and Herman and Wallace decided to finally try.

I think a lot of our back depth depends on where AJ ends up playing, If he moves to the centres I think having Jojo, Kelly and Schoupp if he stays fighting for the left centre is pretty good, Wing depth isn't great but Jojo can cover there as well + JDG looks like he'll be a wing/centre/14 when he's ready. You'd prefer more experience but like the forwards, I don't know where these players are, The talent pool is thin.

Ben Liyou is top 30 for 2024 mate, also I don't necessarily want Boyle I just think he ticks off a big box and there's a link there, could be Morgan Boyle, Eddie Blacker, Zane Musgrove, whatever, we need a big guy somewhere.

Randall and Clark are small 13s, Jolliffe and Palasia are fine, Stimson is a tweener and the combo of Izsac and Pahulu although a like both of them a lot, leaves some sort of gap as far as experience goes if a couple of guys go down.

Say we line up as:
8. Fotuaika
9. Verrills
10. Tino
11. Fifita
12. Fermor
13. Liu

14. Campbell*
15. Randall/Clark
16. Jolliffe
17. Palasia

Then our next man up goes;
1. Clark/Randall
2. Stimson
3. Izsac
4. Pahulu
5. Liyou (is he still even here?)

^If this is the case then ideally we need someone tall that we can at least fall on before Pahulu, and potentially give us similar or better production to Stimson. Unless ofcourse you believe in Iz (which I do aswell), it's just I think we need another body and a different body type there.

This is all just me being pedantic probably hahaha

[Cowabunga]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CvYAq5zhFyt/

Meant that he's never been on our lists I don't think but they might have fixed it.

Liyou is running with Fermor and Jolliffe, I think he's around 6'4 or so, I'll always have a soft spot for anyone from Grafton as a Bushgrove boy though but he would've maybe debuted with our injury problems this year if not for the ACL so he'll need a bit of time in QRL but I think both him and Iszac could be great for us and raise our ceiling big time.

Don't get me wrong it'd be nice but I just don't think it's worth it if we didn't use Mikaele who's probably as good as those guys or better. The way Liu has been playing he might not even be in the 17 next year for me haha, Clark and Randall have been great lately.

[willhelm]

Blacker is way better than Boyle and Musgrove

[Just-a-Fan]

I am more worried about the guys tat have not signed on again Fitita ( Fermore to cover him)I not care to much about but Tino hang on is a super star in my eyes and very hard to replace But stranger thing have happen over the years I could see us getting Hazz to replace Fifita bu do think tino needs to stay

[Hail Sezer]

Liyou needs to play more than a game in Qcup before he's close to the equation but I really hope he bounces back in a big way after his ACL injury. Middles can take a bit longer before they find their feet at top level.

Ryan Foran is yet to progress from HDC and has arguably been overtaken by Seth Nikotemo. That's a concern for a backrower entering the top 30.

[Boonarga]

Be sure that the Rooters don’t really want Holbrook. They want Tino to replace JWH.