Re: 2019 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Dec 08, 2018 10:09 am  

little wayne69 wrote:

LeeeBron me owd, I couldn't give a toss how high his"status" is in Australia, he's in England now and to date he's proved nothing, whereas Fifita and to a lesser extent Pauli has, come back at the end of the season and tell me how high his status has risen, that's assuming he hasn't put his notice in and gone back home.

Btw why should an alleged Saints fan be interested in Leeds players, unless it's to have another tiresome dig at anything Wakefield.

Because that's what Lebron did/does.

Re: 2019 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Dec 08, 2018 10:54 am  

Reduced interchanges will hurt the likes of Fifita, Huby and Pauli. So while the point stands that there are no guarantees concerning Leeds' imported forwards, neither are there any regarding the Wakey heavyweights' ability to cope with the rule changes.

Re: 2019 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Dec 08, 2018 12:46 pm  

Clearwing wrote:

Reduced interchanges will hurt the likes of Fifita, Huby and Pauli. So while the point stands that there are no guarantees concerning Leeds' imported forwards, neither are there any regarding the Wakey heavyweights' ability to cope with the rule changes.

That’s why we have kopczak, England and George King who can all do big minutes

Re: 2019 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Dec 08, 2018 12:51 pm  

vastman wrote:

No it’s because most of us are now grown up enough not to believe the hype. SL history is full of theses reputation players who fail to deliver, it’s a huge assumption that this guy will. Why do people keep falling for it.

As for being anti Leeds - seriously - we can all name big reputation Aussies who have failed at our own club. Most recently for us was Anthony Tupou who actually had a fat better rep than Merrin.

The one that makes me laugh most of all is the SOO tag as if that’s a guarantee of success. Remember Adrian Brunker? No thought no, look him up.

What will matter at Leeds is whether Furner will hack it and in that regard I feel you are on far more of a winner but again not a certainty.

Like I said previously, you’re right in one sense that hype or SOO appearances are no guarantee to success.

But neither is some previous imports failing the guarantee of flopping you’re so clearly hoping for. You can say he’s at the fag end of his career and compare him to Anthony Tupou yet even at the end of Merrin’s 4 year deal he’ll still be younger than Tupou was when he signed for you. Merrin was playing for Australia as recently as 18 months ago, Tupou last Australia appearances was 8 years before he came to Wakefield.

And you know what, so what if people want to hype his signing up? As a sport here in the UK we aren’t exactly great at catching attention or having stories that shine us in a good light, so what’s wrong when we make a good signing from the NRL to big it up. Would you rather have journalists and fans just shrug their shoulders and go “oh well we won’t get excited about because Wakefield have signed some bad imports in the past”.

We all know that your reaction wouldn’t be the same if Wakefield had signed Merrin.

Re: 2019 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Dec 08, 2018 6:21 pm  

little wayne69 wrote:

LeeeBron me owd, I couldn't give a toss how high his"status" is in Australia, he's in England now and to date he's proved nothing, whereas Fifita and to a lesser extent Pauli has, come back at the end of the season and tell me how high his status has risen, that's assuming he hasn't put his notice in and gone back home.

Btw why should an alleged Saints fan be interested in Leeds players, unless it's to have another tiresome dig at anything Wakefield.

He already has a high status. Playing in a second rate comp like SL won’t enhance his rep at all.

Re: 2019 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Dec 08, 2018 7:48 pm  

Ruune Rebellion wrote:

He already has a high status. Playing in a second rate comp like SL won’t enhance his rep at all.

So now are you implying that he has no ambition and is only here for the money?

Re: 2019 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:09 pm  

little wayne69 wrote:

So now are you implying that he has no ambition and is only here for the money?

Well he has some ambition because he signed for Leeds, not Wakefield

Of course money will be a huge factor in him coming over no one is going to pretend otherwise. Doesn’t tell us how well he’ll go though.

Re: 2019 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:33 pm  

Clearwing wrote:

Reduced interchanges will hurt the likes of Fifita, Huby and Pauli. So while the point stands that there are no guarantees concerning Leeds' imported forwards, neither are there any regarding the Wakey heavyweights' ability to cope with the rule changes.

Fifiita can actually play longer minutes than you think and he's very fit for a guy his size. There have been numerous times when Props have gone down injured and he's played big minutes. I can remember a game against Cas where he played about 70 minutes of the game.

Tbh it'll be really interesting to see how much the interchange rule will affect the minute's Props do and especially how Coaches pick teams and game plan around the new rules. it's possible they may play them similar minutes and make the smaller forwards do longer. No doubt fitness in preseason will be a bigger part of the seasons' preparation than it has been before, especially for the forwards.

As for Trinity, it's been mentioned above, we're not reliant on giants, although England, Koppzcak, King & Hirst aren't small by any means, I think we've got a good balance of tackle-breaking x-factor forwards like Fifita and Pauli and guys with good engines.

Re: 2019 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:02 pm  

It all depends on Merrins attitude. If he is hungry and really wants to be a success over here then Leeds have a very good signing. I don't think he's absolute top drawer, I think there are better props in the comp, but he would be top 10 at least.

If however his heart isn't really in it and he thinks he can just go through the motions and pick up his cheque then he will be found out very quickly. Look at Josh Perry and Willie Mason, massive reputations, absolute garbage over here. And there are plenty of others.

We won't know until he has played a few games.

Re: 2019 Super League Ins & Outs : Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:03 pm  

little wayne69 wrote:

So now are you implying that he has no ambition and is only here for the money?

Why do you think fifita is at Wakefield?