Round 1 team so far in 2026

Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
TSP said:
As for Lucy, I think his (at times) overheated involvement is very deliberate. I don’t think he can keep it going or he would be asked to.

It’s pretty good when he’s motoring on, his physique is amazing. He’s a weapon.
When he injects himself and it comes off, he’s playing some of the best footy of the round. He’s a real handful.

I don’t think he’s as fit as Payne or Terrell May. Both beating all the odds known to footy kind in our current era. Payne is a freak, Madge uses him to perfection.

Id be hypnotising Lucy before matches and convincing him he can’t get tired until Flanno plays a video of Browny slapping Baz after the match!

I shook my head at the time, crazy stuff.
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I used to call him Lucky after Lucky Luciano.
I would still give him a run at prop and see how he goes there. If he was to go well there, we would have a very good set of props in Koloamatangi, Toby Couchman, Pasifiki Tonga, maybe Ryan Couchman if he is a prop and Lucky. Koloamatangi and Toby can both play big minutes, which would allow Pasifiki Tonga and Lucky to play less minutes and be used for impact. I would still like to see Lucky and Pasifiki Tonga be able to play at least 50 minutes if required to.
 
Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
TSP said:
I think the knights panicked and paid way overs for Ponga. It’s come back to haunt them.

He’s one of the players, amazing player, but the stars have to align.

He’s inconsistent, he’s injury prone, his defence is suspect and personality wise, he’s simply not the Boy Newcastle.

He’s in a moon boot at the moment. That should be in the team photo.

He’s probably the worst signing of all time.

Taking up 3 plus players on their cap.

Fletcher Sharpe, not perfect but my kind of player…

Hopefully Ponga will Lomax the knights.
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Another great post by you.

The only thing I disagreed with is the part about hoping Ponga will Lomax the Knights.

I am hoping Ponga stays and makes it difficult for Newy to keep Sharpe and that allows us to sign Sharpe.
For a while, there has been paper talk of Ponga going to Easts, but the 1.4 mil a year makes it difficult for another club to poach him, but the if he does go to East's or Canterbury the "papers" will say, "he took less for the chance to win a comp", but I won't believe that if he does.

When Newcastle signed Ponga from Nth Qld, for I think 600K a year, it was said to be a big gamble. At the time it turned out to be a masterstroke on their part. Since then injuries have made Ponga's price tag too much. Ponga fit and firing is one of the best players in the comp. I would even like to see us sign him, but I haven't even entertained the idea of that happening.
 
Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
Ryan said:
I bet there are plenty of what ifs Bunnies and Tigers fans are saying.

My opinion is there is no reason to sugarcoat last season. Flanno needs to own it and show he's learned a few lessons from it. I think he's still got it as a coach. But he should be under pressure after the last 2 years.
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There was the Su'a moment. Then there were the 2 games we were up by 12 and got beat by a point against Parra and I think it was Souths. Then there was the game against the Warriors that we got beat by a point as well, when we lost DeBelin and Stewart in one go. You can't blame any of that on Flanno. If we won those 4 games we would have finished equal 8th on points but officially 9th with Easts having a better for and against. Add the injuries we had last year and the fact the bookies had us favourite for the spoon, I think Flanno did a great job under the circumstances. I don't know what fans expect from Flanno. They rate him that highly and think he should have done better with the roster he had and the circumstances he had to deal with or they don't rate him and look for anything to have against him. He blooded so many juniors, which should pay dividends over the next few years.

Flanno gave Ilias first shot at the number 7 jersey. Ilias was our number 7 when we lost the games to Souths and Parra by a point after leading by 12 points early in the season. Ilias was given 2 more games after the the lose to Parra and dropped after round 7. I thought Ilias was completely bland at Souths and then for us. In hindsight Adam Doueihi would have been the halfback we should have signed instead of Ilias. There was talk we could have signed him, but his injury history, would have made it a risky signing.

I will say it again, I don't know what you and the other Saints fans expected from Flanno over the last 2 years with the roster we had and the injuries we had. The bookies had us either favourites for the spoon or second favourites for it. That is what was expected of us. I don't think any other coach would have done any better than Flanno over the last 2 years, with he roster and injuries we had. I say at least wait until Flanno has a decent roster, before judging him. I also said the same about McGregor in his first few seasons. When he finally got a decent roster in 2018, even he had us performing well and got us to the semis. I rate Flanno higher than McGregor.
 
Dragons Chris

Dragons Chris

SGI NSW Cup
Frank Facer said:
I haven't seen that much of Bula. I know he was pretty good in his debut season, but doesn't looked to have go on with it. As I have said, if he was "that good" Wests would have taken up the 900K a season option and others clubs would be lining up to him more than 900K a season. As I have also said, 900K a season is a big chunk of our salary cap and fullback is one of the most important positions on the field. I wouldn't want him blocking us signing someone else better, taking up too much cap space or blocking a youngsters path who is better. Do you think he is the fullback who would be instrumental in winning us or any other club a premiership?
If you had the option, would you prefer Sharpe or Bula?
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I don't know the full story but I'm quite sure Tigers very much want to keep him but are very much under cap stress.

For 900k, if it gets done, is a good deal for the Dragons as far as I'm concerned.

This is what sub marquee, as you called him, fullbacks make these days and he is coming into his best years now. He might become marquee.
 
Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
Dragons Chris said:
I don't know the full story but I'm quite sure Tigers very much want to keep him but are very much under cap stress.

For 900k, if it gets done, is a good deal for the Dragons as far as I'm concerned.

This is what sub marquee, as you called him, fullbacks make these days and he is coming into his best years now. He might become marquee.
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Hypothetically, if we could get Sharpe for 900K a year, who would you take out of him or Bula?
 
Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
Dragons Chris said:
I don't know the full story but I'm quite sure Tigers very much want to keep him but are very much under cap stress.

For 900k, if it gets done, is a good deal for the Dragons as far as I'm concerned.

This is what sub marquee, as you called him, fullbacks make these days and he is coming into his best years now. He might become marquee.
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If Wests very much want to keep Bula, they will find the extra 100K to keep him.
 
TSP

TSP

SGI Jersey Flegg
Dragons Chris said:
How and why are you privvy to the salary cap and general opinion of Wests Tigers insiders? As far as publicly available information goes, Wests Tigers desperately want to keep him.
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I think Frank Facer Frank Facer is spot on.

The Tigers want to keep him but they aren’t prepared to offer him 1 to 2% more or they could have wrapped him up.

So that’s not a desperate position by any stretch. It’s a half finger.

Plus they hate his manager.

And they’ve bought a heavyweight marquee junior from Penrith to bring on in the role.
 
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jodragon40

jodragon40

Staff
TheRev said:
Grade 3 is as bad as it gets though (assume its accurate).. muscle torn completely.. its not a good situation before the season even kicks off...
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Yes I'm relying on the correct analysis of the tear and grading. In my past experiences dealing with such an injury and depending on the players ability to recover from this type of injury then dont expect him to play in the first 6 rounds
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

Staff
TSP said:
I think Frank Facer Frank Facer is spot on.

The Tigers want to keep him but they aren’t prepared to offer him 1 to 2% more or they could have wrapped him up.

So that’s not a desperate position by any stretch. It’s a half finger.

Plus they hate his manager.

And they’ve bought a heavyweight marquee junior from Penrith to bring on in the role.
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Forget Bula his manager is just doing what managers do. The kid wants to stay, he will stay and he will take the offer.

My opinion of the kid is yes he is promising, hes 23 yrs old, but certainly hasn't played so far in his career as a $900k a year player. I would suggest $750 - $800k a year tops for 3 seasons.

I watched him play up here for Runaway Bay/ Keebra Park he was very good. Was brought up in the juniors nursery for the Wests Tigers up here. Was always going to make a good fist of playing 1sts which he finally did in 2023.

To my eye and based on his playing stats he probably isn't in the top 6 fullbacks currently running around. Just my views
 
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