Tom Wright Gone and Jade Anderson on the outer?

[Chip and Chase]

Australian rugby will be fine mate, they’ve just signed Tom Wright remember.

 

[Garts]

Haha nope. Elgey is 24 going on 25 and he’d be targeted in defence and found wanting in Group 11 Under 18’s. Wright is 21, and he held his own in the u20’s at least and wasn’t too bad in firsts. Quite a bit to work on, but many do at that age.

I just don’t understand why’d you throw someone like Tom Wright away and sign a proven nuff in Brendan Elliott. Boggles the mind. He’s horrid.

Have we signed Elliot? Anyway I think you may have been caught up in the next big thing hype with Wright, I also was until I really watched him. His NRL efforts were terrible besides that try. He sure was pretty flash in parts, especially the 20's but that was it. If he was a real chance at being a league star other clubs would have snapped him up. That didn't happen. He has gone to rugby, we could probably both get a meeting with them on the prospect of a contract. How many future NRL superstars have been pumped up based on 20's displays only not make a impact in the NRL? Wright is just another one of them.

 

[Shoe1]

When Ben Kennedy played for manly rugby union, a mate of mine who also played said that he was too good for union and will go to league. That was the general consensus about any union player who stood out in those days.

At the time the sea eagles had kosef, Menzies, gartner, colella, haumono ... so he went to the raiders.

 

[Briza]

When Ben Kennedy played for manly rugby union, a mate of mine who also played said that he was too good for union and will go to league. That was the general consensus about any union player who stood out in those days.

At the time the sea eagles had kosef, Menzies, gartner, colella, haumono ... so he went to the raiders.

Kennedy wanted to play for Sea Eagles when he knew he was leaving rugby, after some preliminary talks Manly decided to not offer him a contract.

 

[Woodsie]

The #1 thing wrong with both Union and Cricket is that the top players sign and are contracted to the National team .....

In Rugby League, positions in the National team have to be earned the hard way every time ... by form ... other than the odd inclusion on reputation, selections are a team by team prospect ..... no room for complacency or laziness ....

 

[Briza]

The #1 thing wrong with both Union and Cricket is that the top players sign and are contracted to the National team .....

In Rugby League, positions in the National team have to be earned the hard way every time ... by form ... other than the odd inclusion on reputation, selections are a team by team prospect ..... no room for complacency or laziness ....

There was a time when Australian Rugby was super strong at all levels and it showed at National level.
If the Wallabies and Kangaroos were on at the same time I'd mainly watch the rugby, but those were the days of continuity typical of southern hemisphere rugby.
These days northern hemisphere referees have ruined the game with continually blowing the pea out of the whistle.

 

[Woodsie]

There was a time when Australian Rugby was super strong at all levels and it showed at National level.
If the Wallabies and Kangaroos were on at the same time I'd mainly watch the rugby, but those were the days of continuity typical of southern hemisphere rugby.
These days northern hemisphere referees have ruined the game with continually blowing the pea out of the whistle.

Agree, but the difference is players back in the day were contracted (yes, even when supposedly amateur) to their club sides .... they then were selected for their state sides .. and then were selected for the National side ..... both their reputation and earnings increased as their performance improved .....

Now club Rugby is a quaint sideshow, super Rugby a tribeless manufactured product ... and the National team a group of millionaire good sorts on 3/4 year contracts and guaranteed positions in the team .....

 

[Woodsie]

PSS ... just on that point .. I recall back in the day Joey Johns had been out injured and an Australian team was going to be announced in the coming days and there was speculation as to who would be named Captain ...

The commentator asked Johns if he liked his chances of getting the C beside his name .... to Joey's credit he replied to the effect that he still needed to be named in the squad before he worried about who would be captain ....

A whole different mindset to that currently in Union ...

 

[Shnorky]

Haha you guys want frustration watch the Wallabies. I dont know how many dropped balls and missed tackles there were in the Argentine game but damn it was poor! SA match was similar with a victory to gloss over the fact Australia can't play rugby.

League is clinical. Virtually any club NRL side would beat the Wallabies in a cross code game. Wipe the floor really, I would expect.

Coaches fault? Yes. The players are giving 100% no doubt but are poorly trained in the main & look like an unprofessional rabble who rarely play with each other. But it's not just Cheikas fault! Yes he constantly picks the wrong players and then plays them out of position. But there's more...

There's a much smaller talent pool than league, AFL or soccer and it shows. A handful of toff schools, the Northern beaches, Eastern suburbs and patches around Sydney and Brisbane is about it. This can be fixed!

I used to play and fark it's a great but frustrating game. If you thought watching penalties against Manly were frustrating try being a forward in a rugby match. When I played league it was a much simpler game and as a result I enjoyed it more and knew my role. I was a middle forward or center so all I did was tackle, run and setup the guy outside me. Unreal Rugby I never really knew wtf was going on despite playing for 10 years or more.

A simplified game for juniors has to happen otherwise quite frankly today's generation would simply give up and play playstation.

League imports generally flourish in union and while it's easy to cite Folau as the poster child for this, it's the guys like Koroibete and Rona who stand out for me. They can waltz into the Wallabies side while being no chance of ever getting near the Kangaroos. League is more competitive and professional.

I will never forget Ewan McKenzie's response to the questions what do league players bring to the rugby game?

"Tattoos."

While I cracked up when I heard this it really underlines the effete attitudes of the Australian rugby intelligentsia... they have a game and they dictate how it's played and run. Generally the guys at the top are there because of who they know not what and the result is a game in decline. There is no Craig Bellamy in Australian rugby. It's a lot less mercenary and therefore less professional.

The leap from club rugby to state is huge with no in between step (save me from the NRC tripe). It would be similar from going from your school league team to playing for the Sea Eagles. It's rare this step up can be made easily.

Basically rugby is broken and it needs an overhaul. It needs:

1) More grass roots support. What can be achieved here was showcased with the Rats this season. People attended games. Players improved.

2) A club "champions" league. Playing the best clubbies against each other would really help bring their game to the next level. A longer club season would help make them more professional and perhaps a greater awareness of the game in general.

3) Encourage rugby in the bush. I can't begin to tell you how irrelevant Rugby Australia treat bush footy, while this could simply be the best breeding ground for talent available to them. Oh wait, they didn't go to Shore, Joey's or Riverview? Don't worry then, we'll just naturalize a Samoan/Fijian/Tongan (with the greatest of respect to our Poly friends! I just think we can bring up local talent).

3a) An expanded club system. A handful of clubs in Sydney is hardly enough to feed the Tahs and further up the Wallabies. Does no one play in Newcastle? Illawarra? God forbid, the Riverina? Does NSW extend past the Nepean anyway?

4) Actually advertise the game! I can't tell you how many times I've missed a game as it's not been advertised. Absolutely no ads, nothing on free to air and since I don't watch enough tv to justify it I don't have foxtel. The result? 16k people turned up to an international match on the Goldie this weekend. Joke. More crowds, more money, better players, better product, better tv rights. More money. Loop.

There's more but I'm tired.

Who gives a f...ck, this is a rugby league site

 

[manly al]

So now with Matt , Jono and now Tom Wright leaving the club , let's hope the club can still move in the right direction . . Right or wrong , i guess time will tell

 

[Bearfax]

Have we signed Elliot? Anyway I think you may have been caught up in the next big thing hype with Wright, I also was until I really watched him. His NRL efforts were terrible besides that try. He sure was pretty flash in parts, especially the 20's but that was it. If he was a real chance at being a league star other clubs would have snapped him up. That didn't happen. He has gone to rugby, we could probably both get a meeting with them on the prospect of a contract. How many future NRL superstars have been pumped up based on 20's displays only not make a impact in the NRL? Wright is just another one of them.

They couldn't snap him up because they could not negotiate with him until November, having another year on his contract. Union could do it without breaking the rules, and when Cheika expressed interest they let him go. He would have been chased by other clubs just as seven other clubs, according the media at the time, were chasing him when he first came across to league. As for performances, he played in five first grade matches, all but one on the bench and twice no more than 5 minutes. Hardly a manner to assess his qualities

 

[HoldenV8]

The #1 thing wrong with both Union and Cricket is that the top players sign and are contracted to the National team .....

That's one thing I have noticed as well. Since the ARU and Cricket Australia went to this ridiculous system of contracting players to the national teams, the standard of play from the Wallabies and the Aussie cricket teams be it Test, One-Day or T20, has dropped off a lot in the past few years.

Whatever happened to earning your place in a representative side? There are players who ran out for the Wallabies on Saturday night who should have been dropped long ago. And the same with our cricket teams. Some of the players from both sports shouldn't even get a run with a state representative side the form they have been in, yet game after game there they are producing the same poor results time after time.

 

[Nice Beaver]

They couldn't snap him up because they could not negotiate with him until November, having another year on his contract. Union could do it without breaking the rules, and when Cheika expressed interest they let him go. He would have been chased by other clubs just as seven other clubs, according the media at the time, were chasing him when he first came across to league. As for performances, he played in five first grade matches, all but one on the bench and twice no more than 5 minutes. Hardly a manner to assess his qualities

Haha come on mate.

If you believe clubs don't negotiate with players before that Nov 1 cut-off, then I have some fantastic investment oppotunities for you to get into.....

As if his management would not know 6, 7, 8 or whatever number of NRL clubs were interested (if there was any interest).

 

[Bearfax]

Haha come on mate.

If you believe clubs don't negotiate with players before that Nov 1 cut-off, then I have some fantastic investment oppotunities for you to get into.....

As if his management would not know 6, 7, 8 or whatever number of NRL clubs were interested (if there was any interest).

Didn't say that Nice Beaver. I said that they could not negotiate with him ie on an official basis. We have no idea what clubs may have expressed interest because to admit such would have been in breach of the rules of the code Therefore there may have been 15 clubs showing interest or there may have been none. Point was he was offered a big deal to return to Union, that wasn't constrained by those rules, and that's what he chose. We have no idea if the Sea Eagles allowed other clubs to negotiate, but its apparent that the Aust Union has been watching him for some time and expressed interest.

My main issue about all this is letting go talent for lesser players or coaches. Started with Toovey for a novice coach, then an offer of $750,000 yearly to DCE withdrawn to get Foran ( we could have been up to $3-400,000 per year better off even if they had raised the offer), letting Gutherson go with 2 years left on his contract when our centres were near the end of their careers, letting Parcell go (he could have been an excellent foil for Api and went on to contribute to Leeds win of the English title), letting Peters (the trainer) go, not allowing Hastings to play last year (didn't hurt him, he still got paid, but Manly were down a player with a serious injury issue), not recontracting Buhrer, even though he was probably Manlys best forward in his final year. Letting Green go without having a firm signature of a replacement.And now, with wingers comparable to forwards with little pace, we let go two of our fastest young players in Tom Wright and seemingly Jade Anderson.

I don't blame the Sea Eagles for the gambling, drug, TPA issues or the Brookvale Oval fiasco, but had it not been for Fulton coming in to briefly clean up and save our bacon, we would have been perennial spoon holders in recent years. But since he's gone its been further dumb decisions. Fortunately Barrett is going, and Elgey may save our 5/8 position. Further with Ballin back there is a light at the end of the tunnel. But the last few years have been a joke...and reading forum comments over the period, most agree.

 

[Nice Beaver]

Didn't say that Nice Beaver. I said that they could not negotiate with him ie on an official basis. We have no idea what clubs may have expressed interest because to admit such would have been in breach of the rules of the code Therefore there may have been 15 clubs showing interest or there may have been none. Point was he was offered a big deal to return to Union, that wasn't constrained by those rules, and that's what he chose. We have no idea if the Sea Eagles allowed other clubs to negotiate, but its apparent that the Aust Union has been watching him for some time and expressed interest.

My main issue about all this is letting go talent for lesser players or coaches. Started with Toovey for a novice coach, then an offer of $750,000 yearly to DCE withdrawn to get Foran ( we could have been up to $3-400,000 per year better off even if they had raised the offer), letting Gutherson go with 2 years left on his contract when our centres were near the end of their careers, letting Parcell go (he could have been an excellent foil for Api and went on to contribute to Leeds win of the English title), letting Peters (the trainer) go, not allowing Hastings to play last year (didn't hurt him, he still got paid, but Manly were down a player with a serious injury issue), not recontracting Buhrer, even though he was probably Manlys best forward in his final year. Letting Green go without having a firm signature of a replacement.And now, with wingers comparable to forwards with little pace, we let go two of our fastest young players in Tom Wright and seemingly Jade Anderson.

I don't blame the Sea Eagles for the gambling, drug, TPA issues or the Brookvale Oval fiasco, but had it not been for Fulton coming in to briefly clean up and save our bacon, we would have been perennial spoon holders in recent years. But since he's gone its been further dumb decisions. Fortunately Barrett is going, and Elgey may save our 5/8 position. Further with Ballin back there is a light at the end of the tunnel. But the last few years have been a joke...and reading forum comments over the period, most agree.

Mate, I would not get worked up about the merits of our player signings until pre-season trials next year. There is a LOT of water to flow under the bridge with player movements this off season.

Also, Gutherson left because he wanted to play fullback. So our centres retiring was irrelevant to him.

Tom Wright chose rugby for a reason. Tackles? What are they??

But agree that the clubs management have made some howlers over the past few years. Bear in mind, most of those howlers were under the watch of Fulton.

 

[Bearfax]

Mate, I would not get worked up about the merits of our player signings until pre-season trials next year. There is a LOT of water to flow under the bridge with player movements this off season.

Also, Gutherson left because he wanted to play fullback. So our centres retiring was irrelevant to him.

Tom Wright chose rugby for a reason. Tackles? What are they??

But agree that the clubs management have made some howlers over the past few years. Bear in mind, most of those howlers were under the watch of Fulton.

Amusing that you should tell me to ,'bear in my...' concerning Fulton. I chuckled at that one.

But in answer, Gutherson has played only infrequently at full back at Parra so I suspect there is more to the story than that. As for Fulton, I have to disagree I'm afraid. He probably was sold a turkey with Barrett, but he came in when Manly were a shambles and with limited time to get some decent players in the team after it had been decimated, especially with the loss of DCE and Foran, He negotiated to get DCE back, which despite the cost was an extremely important signing, he brought over Taupau, Sironen, Kelly and a couple of young blokes who may still turn out important signings for us Sure there were turkeys but he was working with a small bank acct. . As I said he probably saved us from several spoons. He's not perfect and makes mistakes like everyone does, but he did his best for the club. Since he's left things have soured again, though finally it seems the Penns have woken up that big changes are needed...at least I hope so. Much will depend on who they sign, because the group we have at present is definitely two speedy wingers and a tough no nonsense forward short...not to mention a decent coach, defence coach, fitness coach, strategy coach etc.

 

[Harvies elbow]

I love the argument people put up when the Sea Eagles release a player that may or may not make it after leaving...

If they make it = I told you so...
If they don't make it = silence....
Can't lose.

Would love someone to put up an actual list of players who have been released who went on to better things vs those that didn't....it would be completely lopsided.
Where's the clubs praise for releasing the players who don't go onto big things?....

But hey... Let's not let facts get in the way of a good whinge...

Sea Eagles to parasites:
0% improvement.
Players lost in the wasteland of the west:
100%.
Going back to the lost explorers Gately and Ticehurst.
(I don't count Guvvo as an improved, it's just that his adhd has kicked in.)