LOL @ Tigers

[JenEagle]

It’s interesting that we signed Brooks with all the fanfare around that and what a great signing that is and now the tigers have signed Luai a triple premiership and nsw halfback.

 

[Disco]

on paper the tigers are actually looking pretty good for 2025 with what should've been rookie of the year Bula at fullback, 1 of either Suvvilan or Fainu at five eight whoever performs this season with both of them probably 2 out of the top 3 most talented young halves for next generation, NSW half Luai at halfback and NSW hooker Koroisau as their spine. then a strong pack of NSW forward utikimanu and klemmer, but at this stage they will probably have the future best front rower of S fainu starting, combined with what i think they should do with I Pap and young talented blore playing second row and tough as nails bateman playing lock. only problem would be their 2-5. they did sign that union player, can also play douehi centre and got to'a and stains but overall I recon they have good potential.

2025 tigers team (even more money with klemmer moved on)

1. bula - 21
2. staines - 23
3. douehi - 25
4. starford to'a - 23
5. Solomon Alaimalo - 28
6. latu fainu or bud suvillan 18 and 22
7. luai - 26
8. utikimanu - 23
9. koroisau - 31
10. S fainu - 19
11. I pap - 25
12. blore - 23
13. bateman - 30

14. da silva - 18
15. pole - 21
16. twall - 27
17. matamua - 20

Agree they are starting to shape up.

Feledy could become a viable option shortly too

 

[Disco]

It’s interesting that we signed Brooks with all the fanfare around that and what a great signing that is and now the tigers have signed Luai a triple premiership and nsw halfback.

Brooks on 600k and the 2nd half option and Luai on 1.2mil as the primary option the main difference

 

[The Right Edge]

I'm predicting that the Luai signing will work out for them very similarly to how Burton has gone at the Dogs - will be good in patches but will go backwards without the quality Panthers side around him.

I think for all the ex Panther players what they are missing is Cleary.. and I don't mean Nathan...they should have bitten the bullet and agreed to sign his son for big coin when they had him.

 

[robbiea]

Garbage signing at that price.

 

[bob dylan]

Garbage signing at that price.

You may be right, time will tell.

We havent seen many sign for that sort of money and prove their worth over the years. Us Manly supporters dont have to look too far to find a couple of major flops.

 

[eaglebuzz]

It’s interesting that we signed Brooks with all the fanfare around that and what a great signing that is and now the tigers have signed Luai a triple premiership and nsw halfback.

Five eighth, not halfback. And he is not an organiser. Without Cleary (and the rest of that Panthers side) I don't think he will have the same impact.

 

[DUFFMAN]

I think want the panthers offered is about the right money for him.
Tigers have paid way over but when you have struggled for years you don't have any choice but to pay overs for a above average player.
He will do well at the tigers but I don't see the premiership drought ending, they will move up the ladder and play the odd finals game here and there.

If I was good enough to play NRL and was playing for Manly and won a couple of premierships and got a offer of several hundred thousand more per season over 5 years I would be gone too.
I love Manly but if I can set myself up for life I wouldn't think twice about it.

 

[Eagle 1]

Five eighth, not halfback. And he is not an organiser. Without Cleary (and the rest of that Panthers side) I don't think he will have the same impact.

He's got one more year at the Panthers, what's the chance of Luai possibly doing a DCEish type of back-flip if all of a sudden the Riff come up with the extra coin to keep him. Luai could be happy with 1m a season and in a team that's not reliant on him for success. Definitely very plauseable.

 

[eaglebuzz]

He's got one more year at the Panthers, what's the chance of Luai possibly doing a DCEish type of back-flip if all of a sudden the Riff come up with the extra coin to keep him. Luai could be happy with 1m a season and in a team that's not reliant on him for success. Definitely very plauseable.

The rules were changed after DCE's backflip, they only have a 10 day period to change their minds now.

I don't think so anyway, Luai isn't pivotal enough to the Panthers side to take up that much of their cap, so they won't make that kind of offer. And it's pretty clear that the extra few hundred thousand per season is his priority now.

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

It’s interesting that we signed Brooks with all the fanfare around that and what a great signing that is and now the tigers have signed Luai a triple premiership and nsw halfback.

The proof will be in the pudding, I guess, and we should probably re-evaluate who won and who lost from this exchange in a couple of years. Of course, it's possible that everybody wins: Brooks shines at Manly, Luai excels at the Tigers, and Penrith manage to roll another useful half off their never-ending production line.

But I do think people are underestimating Luai. He has been very good for Samoa as the dominant half, and he's had plenty of stretches at Penrith without Cleary where he's shown what he can do.

If you take the money out of the equation, and set aside whether or not you think Luai is too grubby, too arrogant, etc, and go purely on results, you'd be crazy not to take him over Brooks if you had to pick one or the other for your team.

 

[The Wheel]

Looks like the Olam/Blore swap deal is back on as well for the Tigers

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

But I do think people are underestimating Luai.

Yep, he has a very confident positive attitude, and that is something Luke Brooks is going to have to rebuild over time after his long stint at the Tigpies.
Manly is betting that Brooks can do that because he certainly has the physical footy ability and I'm happy we got Brooks, but also think Luai is a good get for Benji and Wests.
As for Penrith, Cleary is just barely 26 and he could play another 10 years, and the Pennies are banking on him getting even more dominant (after last year's GF I don't blame them)

 

[Phobia]

People seem to forget that he was the halfback for the winning Panthers NYC side, against Turbo and co back in 2015. I think the Cleary-less performances outside of the Origin arena, including the RLWC, demonstrate that he can play halfback effectively, and act as the main organiser. Something Brooks could not do at all. He'll be a definite improvement for the Tigers.

 

[Ryan]

It’s interesting that we signed Brooks with all the fanfare around that and what a great signing that is and now the tigers have signed Luai a triple premiership and nsw halfback.

They are massing both Panthers (and key players 6's and 9's) and Storm players. We seem to be stock piling Tigers and Bulldogs castoffs (even for Blacktown).

That's the only criticism I have for the club right now. The arsehole recruitment. Woods, Waddell, Lodge, Talau, Condon, Paulo, Matterson, Brown, (I DO rate Brooks) while losing a whole heap of potential (and youthful) players doesn't do it for me..

We are getting cast-offs, pre-retirement or mid quality players. That's not the blue-print Des used to grow us into a powerhouse previously (think Lyon, Kennedy, Kite, Rodney, Orford, Bell acquisitions amongst the Bryant, Hall, Rose types).

 

[Eagle 1]

The rules were changed after DCE's backflip, they only have a 10 day period to change their minds now.

I don't think so anyway, Luai isn't pivotal enough to the Panthers side to take up that much of their cap, so they won't make that kind of offer. And it's pretty clear that the extra few hundred thousand per season is his priority now.

You're probably spot on EB, but, in these days players moan and look sad wanting to back flip a contract that they were once happy about. Clubs would rather not have a disgruntled player affecting team harmony.

 

[BOZO]

Brooks on 600k and the 2nd half option and Luai on 1.2mil as the primary option the main difference

The Big Dollar Difference is one player has 3 premiership winning rings and the Other has never qualified to play finals footy 10 years in the NRL

 

[eaglebuzz]

If you take the money out of the equation, and set aside whether or not you think Luai is too grubby, too arrogant, etc, and go purely on results, you'd be crazy not to take him over Brooks if you had to pick one or the other for your team.

That completely nullifies the fairness of the comparison, though. When you keep the reality of the salary cap in view, Brooks on $600k is a much better buy than Luai on $1.2 mil.

 

[Rocky]

Luai is a good signing for the tigers. Yes its a lot of money and probably 200-300k overs. But its the going rate for a bottom club to sign a star.

The reason i say it's a good signing, even at that money, is you would rather pay Luai 1.2m than 2 mediocre players 500-600k.

 

[Eagle 1]

The Big Dollar Difference is one player has 3 premiership winning rings and the Other has never qualified to play finals footy 10 years in the NRL
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But it doesn't make Brooks a bad player Bozo. I'm sure when Manly signed him it was all about what Brooks could bring to the team, wasn't about Brooks never winning or playing in a GF.