2023 Squad, Signings and Rumours Thread

[Cowabunga]

100% agree, I really like this deal as a back up. Lofi, Spry and Francis fighting for the wing spot unless it's for Jojo?? Would way rather him fight for Kellys spot.

I'm going to have nightmares about last years edge defence for years to come.

[The Birdman]

Don't know much about Randall but not fussed about losing Marzhew and agree with pretty much everything HS said above.

I think Herbert was extremely hard done by this year by having to defend between Sexton and Marzhew. Sexton is one of the slowest lateral movers in the NRL and this was no doubt playing on Herbert's mind and affecting his decision making with when/how much to slide. Then as HS said, Marzhew's defensive decision making and positioning are horrific, which I suspect is the reason Herbert was so frequently shooting out of the line to try to shut down plays.

Rewind to 2021 and I don't think anyone here would've listed Herbert as one of our main issues. In fact, I recall us praising his defense and hard carries. I think some of us even had him as one of the buys of the year. Most won't agree with me and that's fine but I'd like to see Herbert get another chance defending between Tanah (or Foran if he plays 7) and JoJo. If he can't put it together in the first few months this year then cut him.

Lol sorry Herbert is not getting off this easy. He played more often without Marzhew than with him in 2022 if I recall correctly and the guy is just awful defensively. He comes up with huge brain explosions regularly too. Usain Bolt wouldn't be quick enough to cover his defensive spacing decisions.

I also think his 2021 season was massively overrated on here and there were very similar issues then as there was in 2022.

The guy is not NRL standard.

[willhelm]

Lol sorry Herbert is not getting off this easy. He played more often without Marzhew than with him in 2022 if I recall correctly and the guy is just awful defensively. He comes up with huge brain explosions regularly too. Usain Bolt wouldn't be quick enough to cover his defensive spacing decisions.

I also think his 2021 season was massively overrated on here and there were very similar issues then as there was in 2022.

The guy is not NRL standard.

I just went back through each of the 25 rounds and have listed our right centre/wing pairing below. I've primarily gone off the jersey numbers but I think some of the numbers got a bit messed up with all the swapping around after the round 17 bye, so there could be some errors in rounds 18-25 if anyone wants to correct me. Rounds 1-16 I think are accurate though.

Of the 14 games that Herbert played at right centre, the right winger was Marzhew 7 times. Of the remaining 7, it was Thompson 2 times, Isaako 2 times, J. Fifita 2 times, and Marsters 1 time.

Round 1 vs Eels: Herbert/Marzhew (32-28 loss)
Round 2 vs Warriors: Herbert/Marzhew (20-18 win)
Round 3 vs Raiders: Herbert/Marzhew (24-22 loss)
Round 4 vs Tigers: Herbert/Marzhew (8-6 win)
Round 5 vs Eels: Herbert/Marzhew (26-20 loss)
Round 6 vs Sea Eagles: Herbert/Marzhew (26-18 loss)
Round 7 vs Cowboys: D. Fifita/Marzhew (30-4 loss)
Round 8 vs Panthers: Herbert/Thompson (18-4 loss)
Round 9 vs Roosters: Herbert/Thompson (44-16 loss)
Round 10 vs Dragons: Marsters/Thompson (20-16 win)
Round 11 vs Sharks: Marsters/Isaako (25-18 loss)
Round 12 vs Broncos: Marsters/Isaako (35-24 loss)
Round 13 vs Cowboys: Marsters/Isaako (32-6 loss)
Round 14 vs Rabbitohs: Herbert/Marsters (30-16 loss)
Round 15 vs Sharks: Herbert/Isaako (18-10 loss)
Round 16 vs Knights: Herbert/Isaako (38-12 loss)
Round 17 bye
Round 18 vs Broncos: Herbert/J. Fifita (16-12 loss)
Round 19 vs Bulldogs: Herbert/J. Fifita (36-26 loss)
Round 20 vs Raiders: Sami/J. Fifita (36-24 loss)
Round 21 vs Storm: Sami/J. Fifita (32-14 loss)
Round 22 vs Sea Eagles: Sami/J. Fifita (44-24 win)
Round 23 vs Dragons: Herbert/Marzhew (46-26 loss)
Round 24 vs Knights: J. Fifita/Thompson (36-26 win)
Round 25 vs Warriors: J. Fifita/Thompson (27-26 win)

[WolfBuddy4]

The fact that Herbert could only score one try also was a bit of a concern - and it was out-leaping new recruit Aaron Schoupp. Still think Aaron has a lot to offer our team though.

I really want to see AJ keep the five-eighth role and Jojo keep the centre role. I have rewatched a couple of games from this year and Jojo has really came up with some massive defensive plays and does not look at of place at all at centre. He needs his ball in his hands as much as possible in my opinion. He really does have a good game awareness too that our other centres kelly, schoupp & herbert may lack as everyone here remembers Kelly and Herbert not passing against the storm and chooks, respectively with the game on the line. Not holding one bad decision against either of them but with Jojo, he already has great awareness of line runs he needs to make to open up channels for his winger and can draw and pass very well after a nice display of footwork and change of angle he has in his game.

In my opinion, Sami is our best winger option and Marzhew, Khan Pereira, Francis and Spry would be fighting for the other wing jersey prior to Herbert returning from ACL and Kelly from Suspension.

I don't know how well Khan-Pereira's defence stacks up to Marzhew's. Obviously Marzhew's tackle busts are a massive factor on the attacking front but if he is a weakness aerially and can't take the next step defensively, this isn't a colossal loss as H.S. said.
Randall's main asset is his tremendous workrate and stamina and would be our best option at 9 if Verrills were to go down.

I don't mind if this deal goes through to be fair. It would make the competition spot for that wing and utility very interesting

[Hail Sezer]

I don't think Herbert is a starting NRL centre, but I do think he is NRL standard as a depth option, and that's where he kind of fits into a top 30. His salary probably reflects that. Having an entire top 30 of week to week NRL starter quality just isn't possible but IMO the Titans got it wrong banking on just BK and Herbert as the only actual centres in the top 30 for so long.

As to why I think his 2021 season was looked at fondly....he always played tough, with some passion, and was high effort. I do think a lot of the criticism he cops is a bit unfair and misguided and he was certainly the victim of poor edge D execution on his inside and outside on occasion, as centre's often are. But in any case, I doubt he is retained beyond 2023 with the emergence of Jojo, Francis coming through, and Schoupp coming on board.

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I don't know how well Khan-Pereira's defence stacks up to Marzhew's. Obviously Marzhew's tackle busts are a massive factor on the attacking front but if he is a weakness aerially and can't take the next step defensively, this isn't a colossal loss as H.S. said.
Randall's main asset is his tremendous workrate and stamina and would be our best option at 9 if Verrills were to go down.

I don't mind if this deal goes through to be fair. It would make the competition spot for that wing and utility very interesting

To be brutally honest - Lofi KP's defence is worse than Marzhews, at least going by his 2022 season in Cup. Although, it was his first season at that level and he's only 21, so I'm wiling to believe there's still time to improve.

[WolfBuddy4]

Who do we think Khan-Pereira playstyle is similar to in the NRL? Blessed with speed and footwork,
how does he stack up to Ronaldo Mulitalo who had a brilliant World Cup.

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I don't think Herbert is a starting NRL centre, but I do think he is NRL standard as a depth option, and that's where he kind of fits into a top 30. His salary probably reflects that. Having an entire top 30 of week to week NRL starter quality just isn't possible but IMO the Titans got it wrong banking on just BK and Herbert as the only actual centres in the top 30 for so long.

As to why I think his 2021 season was looked at fondly....he always played tough, with some passion, and was high effort. I do think a lot of the criticism he cops is a bit unfair and misguided and he was certainly the victim of poor edge D execution on his inside and outside on occasion, as centre's often are. But in any case, I doubt he is retained beyond 2023 with the emergence of Jojo, Francis coming through, and Schoupp coming on board.

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To be brutally honest - Lofi KP's defence is worse than Marzhews, at least going by his 2022 season in Cup. Although, it was his first season at that level and he's only 21, so I'm wiling to believe there's still time to improve.

That's fair.

[Hail Sezer]

Who do we think Khan-Pereira playstyle is similar to in the NRL? Blessed with speed and footwork,
how does he stack up to Ronaldo Mulitalo who had a brilliant World Cup.

Smaller in stature but faster. I reckon Lofi is that type of quick that is top-tier...Savage, Addo-Carr type of areas. He'd be smaller than both of them, though.

His strengths and playing style IMO has similarties to Bevan French back when he was at Parra, although Lofi is more physical.

[WolfBuddy4]

Thanks HS. It's nice to have this ability to discuss on the forums.
Hopefully, Lofi can have a great off-season and develop into a top winger for us in the future.

[5 Year Contract]

Don't know much about Randall but not fussed about losing Marzhew and agree with pretty much everything HS said above.

I think Herbert was extremely hard done by this year by having to defend between Sexton and Marzhew. Sexton is one of the slowest lateral movers in the NRL and this was no doubt playing on Herbert's mind and affecting his decision making with when/how much to slide. Then as HS said, Marzhew's defensive decision making and positioning are horrific, which I suspect is the reason Herbert was so frequently shooting out of the line to try to shut down plays.

Rewind to 2021 and I don't think anyone here would've listed Herbert as one of our main issues. In fact, I recall us praising his defense and hard carries. I think some of us even had him as one of the buys of the year. Most won't agree with me and that's fine but I'd like to see Herbert get another chance defending between Tanah (or Foran if he plays 7) and JoJo. If he can't put it together in the first few months this year then cut him.

Herbert also only scored one try and had little to no attacking input and was selfish with every run with nothing to show for it. You are only as good as your last season and statistically Herbert was one of the worst centres in the comp (and yes Marzhew was poor defensively but gave us hard carries out of our end and busted tackles like no ones business).

I think in a team with Kelly, Jojo, Schoup that he is the odd man out (although Kelly will be out the first few rounds). Herbert was given the entire season to get it together and didnt and I would like to see Marzhew given the same chance before he is written off. I also dont think you can blame Marzhew for Herbert rushing out of the line every set they were both poor and should not of been placed together. I like the Randall move and we do need a hooker but not at the expense of Marzhew at this stage. To me we still havent nailed down our backline and I would want to at least know what we are looking at before we got rid of Marzhew. We have Marzhew, Sami, Spry, Kahn Pererira (and yes jojo but I still think hes a centre) and a number of others fighting for the 2 wing spots. I would like to see what the pecking order is before we ship marzhew out. I dont see a league leader in tackle breaks playing minimal games as"overrated" but I also understand the need for balance in the team and Marzhew is reaching d-day to either put up or shut up but I think he is worth perserving with.

TLDR: I think Marzhew deserves a red hot crack with a compentent backline before he is shipped off but I think if we are going to trade for a hooker we are over extended in backs at the moment

[Firetruck]

As someone stated earlier, it should not be forgotten that Marzhew had a few years to impress at Eels but he couldn’t crack first grade despite having the best attacking stats. ever for NSW Cup while he was playing for Wentworthville. Unfortunately, some people are blessed with the ability to develop good football nouse and some just cannot understand their role or learn to execute the very basics of their role. JoJo is an example of the former and GM is an example of the latter.

[Hail Sezer]

Fair enough 5YC, I can see the argument that losing a winger when we've got a pretty green and unproven group remaining isn't ideal.

If Marz came right with his defensive issues and got himself conditioned well enough then he's a lock in for sure. I'm just a bit skeptical that it's ever gonna happen given there's a plethora of issues there, some of which are fundamentals, and he's had the same issues since NSW cup at Wenty in 2018 - where he also lead the league for tackle breaks and other attacking stats.

Guy is an offensive powerhouse no question. He's prob the kinda guy that Bellamy or Robinson would pick up and somehow solve everything. Bellamy even turned Brenko Lee into a competent defensive centre

[hungryjacks]

Big fan of the swap. Having a back up hooker where the position is his strongest should be a priority. Seem Randall play a few times and he defends fine and his service is fine too. The perfect back up hooker in my opinion.

[Hail Sezer]

Anyone read the Keenan Palasia article before it was taken down?

[hungryjacks]

If Keenan Palasia is linked to the Titans, that would be fantastic for us, i really rate him and Broncos have a glut of middles and even edges.

[WolfBuddy4]

https://twitter.com/badel_cmail/stat...SksUPbQjRHP4Bw

Apparently Keenan intended destination is here or Illawarra, but broncs knocked back his request.

Could definitely break into our 17. Averaged over 100m a game last season with stints over 30m