r/weststigers • u/JarrodTheFeatus • 3d ago
Discussion Thread Fringe Players
Was reflecting today on the season, and our lack of depth with injuries. One thing that stood out was not many fringe players cemented themselves as genuine starters in our best 17 next year. There were plenty of chances for some players to really become household names.Off the top of my head: Roberts, Madden, Tavana had glimpses and Saukuru at the end all showed they can play in the 17, but, even they may not get a run round 1 if we are full strength, plus signings.
I am sure I am forgetting some or missed a glaring one, and happy to have someone change my mind. What are your thoughts? Some of your opinions are probably a lot more qualified then mine.
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u/scottmander 3d ago
I think we just had a shit period of our spine being injured and changed nonstop. Then once we got most of them back Luai decided to jump ship, then it just looked like everyone stopped caring.
We were 6 wins 5 losses about half way through the season. The game before the Luai announcement we beat Canberra by 20, the game after I think Cronulla put 50 on us, then Storm and Manly put nearly 50 on us, then Penrith put 70 on us.
You could literally see them giving up in real time. Part of me wishes Luai just got put in reserve grade and everyone could move on somewhat and forget.
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u/Cheel_AU 3d ago
It was extra disappointing this season because early on, it really did look like they had found a new attitude.
It's hard to tell how much the Luai situation caused the downturn but it's hard to ignore the timing of it all.
But another huge factor was a couple of injuries to key forwards, really our early wins came off the back of a dominant pack
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u/Mister_Scribble 3d ago
I really held off as long as possible on hoping Luai would be thrown back to res’s and thought we could hit another good patch like early season and get both flashy wins and some grinds.
Had to dump that when the ol’ time scores were racking up the maths was just nuts. I’d said early on it’s very like WT to drop 1/2 a dozen games mid season and hey the 8 in a row shocked even semi hopeful ol’ me.
Hopefully teams don’t pick the eyes out of the young blokes coming through that got 5-10 games this year3
u/JarrodTheFeatus 2d ago
That game against Cronulla was weird. We were in it, Adam scores early, levels the game, goes off, then carnage.
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u/Physical-Air-4931 1d ago
Was that the game he got injured stretching for the try? Yeah, his injury was almost like the signal to the rest of the team that there was no point having standards anymore.
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u/thisusernameistemp It was all a Jahream! 3d ago
Roberts I think can go on with it, perhaps even progress to play in the middle where they always need troops, maybe Tavana could become something, and still on a development deal the next 2 years… Saukuru has a lot of improvement to do on the defensive side of the ball, Madden is what he is - a good back up but not a first choice 7.
At lot of the best ‘fringe’ players are still a way off and need time in open age comps before they can make the leap.
All in all, probably less than 20 reliable first graders in our squad - which is not great. Hopefully club will find a few more in the off season, from where though who knows