Re: Joe Westerman : Wed Oct 07, 2015 9:09 pm  

Should be coming into his prime, and in addition to tackling work rate he has footballing ability to play as a ball playing loose forward in same vein albeit not as good as O'Loughlin. He has more talent than any of our current back rowers. Will be on higher salary Than Achurch and with passing skills could take strain from the role Cuthbertson has played of late as a pivot. Worth a gamble in my book. 12 months ago was in england squad.

Re: Joe Westerman : Wed Oct 07, 2015 11:45 pm  

...and 12 months ago was England's backrower by some distance, although that's as much a reflection on how dire the others were as how good he was.

Re: Joe Westerman : Thu Oct 08, 2015 6:31 am  

I think if you look at the qualities and character of the players leaving the club for sure and the posdibility JJB also struggling to return then perhaps having a guy with Westermsn's reputation coming in doesn't fill me with confidence.

Re: Joe Westerman : Thu Oct 08, 2015 6:51 am  

A lot of people took the p!ss over Westermans 5 or 6 knock ons when we played them at the KC most recently, including myself, but the reality is he broke our line a few times and if he had kept hold of them then he would have scored a hat trick at least. That is worth a punt for sure.

Re: Joe Westerman : Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:31 am  

Potentially the best back row in the country over the next couple of years.

Re: Joe Westerman : Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:53 am  

I'll be very surprised if Westerman would be on the same sort of money as Achurch - Achurch has been one VERY expensive mistake. He's lucky he didn't come with a big name (ala Mullins, Clyde) or he'd have been hammered much more on here. He is one of our very top earners.

I'd guess we'll be able to afford a Westerman type player and have plenty of money left over for contract upgrades or towards other signings.

Re: Joe Westerman : Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:54 am  

Very underwhelmed if true as for comparisons with Zak he has knuckled down and was already part of our system actually "buying in" a problem child is somewhat different imo.
In terms of his quality well he may be an upgrade on Achurch but i'd take Ward ,Ablett and Delaney over him all day.
For me i'd much prefer us to go after Oli Holmes at Cas plus with Baldwinson coming back he can switch to BR comfortably imo.

Re: Joe Westerman : Thu Oct 08, 2015 8:39 am  

reading between the lines over here he does look as though he might be on his way, imo think hes a decent player who always looks as though he could do better but always puts a decent spell in,still young though but would imagine be on a good wack money wise

Re: Joe Westerman : Thu Oct 08, 2015 9:18 am  

Superted wrote:

I'll be very surprised if Westerman would be on the same sort of money as Achurch - Achurch has been one VERY expensive mistake. He's lucky he didn't come with a big name (ala Mullins, Clyde) or he'd have been hammered much more on here. He is one of our very top earners.

I'd guess we'll be able to afford a Westerman type player and have plenty of money left over for contract upgrades or towards other signings.

How do you know he's one of our top earners? I'd be very surprised if he was.

Re: Joe Westerman : Thu Oct 08, 2015 9:45 am  

I've also been told a while ago that Achurch is one of our higher earners, from a reliable source. Obviously you can take or leave that. But when Gary brought him over he was saying he'd be an England international before the end of the year. I'd actually be surprised if an NRL club took him on at his current salary, and we might have to keep paying some of it next year even if he moves, but we can at least free up some cap by cutting loose.