Re: 2018 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:48 pm  

vastman wrote:

No it's not strange at all it's frankly obvious. People on the VT especially are very much like the people who cheered the kings new cloth in the fairytale.

PNG had roughly the same success in the Tournament as Ireland who they narrowly beat. I don't see the same ridiculous over hype for those players.

These players may do ok who knows but the hype surrounding them is as I say way it of proportion to ability. The only one with any real pedigree is Mead and even there it's totally OTT. The others are very much unknown quantities.

As I keep saying the players we get from the NRL are becoming less and less reliable. The odd gem usually an uknown but the rest are either past it or never really had it.

As for signing for the panthers so what they sign a lot of players. Jarrod Hickey arrived at BV having played for the Bulldogs for a number of seasons and was considered a star at one point. Worst player I have ever seen at BV and it's a fair old list!

So why you are so confident about a player who never got a game I'm not sure.

An Irish team made up of 2 Irish born players with nationalities stretching from England to down under. Remember that PNG team is 95% + filled with players born in PNG. Great achievement for them and having RL as their national sport, they'll only get better.

Widnes have been dealing with puddings in the prop department for years. Burke, Dudson, Buchanan. The list goes on. These pair are a much welcomed addition to our team, they'll go well.

Re: 2018 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Jan 13, 2018 2:37 pm  

Pats plastic pitch wrote:

An Irish team made up of 2 Irish born players with nationalities stretching from England to down under. Remember that PNG team is 95% + filled with players born in PNG. Great achievement for them and having RL as their national sport, they'll only get better.

Widnes have been dealing with puddings in the prop department for years. Burke, Dudson, Buchanan. The list goes on. These pair are a much welcomed addition to our team, they'll go well.

The point is you don’t know if they’ll ‘go well’ seen as you’ve barely watched them. For all you know, they could be just as bad as the players you’ve listed but you and many others have decided they are great signings purely because they are from PNG. Whether it’s a great achievement for them or not, they qualified from a weak group and people are massively exaggerating how good the players in that squad are.

Re: 2018 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Jan 13, 2018 2:48 pm  

AS108 wrote:

The point is you don’t know if they’ll ‘go well’ seen as you’ve barely watched them. For all you know, they could be just as bad as the players you’ve listed but you and many others have decided they are great signings purely because they are from PNG. Whether it’s a great achievement for them or not, they qualified from a weak group and people are massively exaggerating how good the players in that squad are.

Let's be honest a high percent of imports from down under and from the islands, nobody has watched more than a couple of games worth. These two players, if you actually watched their RL World Cup games gave there all, and in doing so made some great yards, like props should do. Like I said they've got something I've not seen before at widnes and it looks like this has been spotted by numerous, natural supporters too.

Re: 2018 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Jan 13, 2018 3:02 pm  

A short clip of Wellington at the World Cup, looks promising to me https://youtu.be/U6v8ooY6lKY

A short clip of Wellington at the World Cup, looks promising to me https://youtu.be/U6v8ooY6lKY

Re: 2018 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Jan 13, 2018 3:25 pm  

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote: A short clip of Wellington at the World Cup, looks promising to me https://youtu.be/U6v8ooY6lKY There is also one of Stanton Albert on the widnes instagram and FB. Excited to see the both of them play.

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote: A short clip of Wellington at the World Cup, looks promising to me https://youtu.be/U6v8ooY6lKY There is also one of Stanton Albert on the widnes instagram and FB. Excited to see the both of them play.

Re: 2018 Super League Ins & Outs : Sun Jan 14, 2018 10:29 am  

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote: A short clip of Wellington at the World Cup, looks promising to me https://youtu.be/U6v8ooY6lKY And? I can find you clips of players on the internet that make the most mundane player look like a world beater it's not hard it's called editing.

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote: A short clip of Wellington at the World Cup, looks promising to me https://youtu.be/U6v8ooY6lKY And? I can find you clips of players on the internet that make the most mundane player look like a world beater it's not hard it's called editing.

Re: 2018 Super League Ins & Outs : Sun Jan 14, 2018 3:39 pm  

Indeed, a'la when we signed James Greene from Hull KR....the reality was he was a 'gentle giant' that couldn't get into a struggling Leigh side. His Youtube highlights compiled by his agent Craig Murdock, he looked like a 'world beater' !!

Re: 2018 Super League Ins & Outs : Sun Jan 14, 2018 4:08 pm  

Budgiezilla wrote:

Indeed, a'la when we signed James Greene from Hull KR....the reality was he was a 'gentle giant' that couldn't get into a struggling Leigh side. His Youtube highlights compiled by his agent Craig Murdock, he looked like a 'world beater' !!

It's true. These two may well be good buys for Widnes and I don't wish to beltiile them but the truth is both are reserve/bush grade players of whom there is very little real supporting evidence.

This sudden obsessio with all theings PNG on this forum is frankly pathetic. Fiji lookedeven better than PNG but were roundly thumped by an Aussie team that then struggled to overcome England, Despite the myth peddled by arrogant Aussies, second grade NRL and Bush footy are not as good as SL in fact they are inferior in a very meaningfull way. These players are a massive riskas are all NRL/Australia based players coming to SL.

Re: 2018 Super League Ins & Outs : Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:56 pm  

SL signings from Aus are going to get more hit and miss because we're having to go further down the food chain to sign anyone. Looking at who is usually available, its generally a choice between a washed up 'never was', someone who's career has stalled completely in their mid 20s, or someone untried. Going for the latter (which these PNG boys are, like Peteru at Leeds and even more so the kid Wigan signed) is likely to be boom or bust. But at least there is potential upside, compared to the other categories.

Re: 2018 Super League Ins & Outs : Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:36 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

SL signings from Aus are going to get more hit and miss because we're having to go further down the food chain to sign anyone. Looking at who is usually available, its generally a choice between a washed up 'never was', someone who's career has stalled completely in their mid 20s, or someone untried. Going for the latter (which these PNG boys are, like Peteru at Leeds and even more so the kid Wigan signed) is likely to be boom or bust. But at least there is potential upside, compared to the other categories.

I think there is another catagory and a fairly usefull one but again a risk.

Pauli Pauli at Wakefield is an obvious one - he shouldnt be in SL and were it not for a seies of unfortunate events he wouldn't be.

He's joined us at least for now to rebuild his career. He knows one big SL season will put him back in the NRL shop window. This is something he wouldn't be able to do in Aus. Even if it doesn't he at least gets on the radar in SL, which may get him a long term deal at Wakefield or more likely in his case a gig at one of the richer SL clubs.

This is short term for Walefield but a fairly safe bet in that at least we have a motivated player with attributes that simpl aren't available domestically. It's not much of a risk if he remains injurt free as he will look good in SL, he has to but I can't see us building a team around him.

Whether this is good for the game probably not, is it good for Trinity, probably.