NRL Player Movements & Rumours

[Big Del]

That's not true with Bird- He didn't just turn up with the injury the Sharks medical team met with the Broncos medical team in 2017 when the Broncos played the Sharks and discussed Bird's shoulder. Broncos were aware of the issue.

How about his sternum ?
That was more the problem if I remember .

 

[Big Pete]

After 192 games for the Wests Tigers, David Nofoaluma has been released by the club.

Nofoaluma's deal was till the end of the 2025 season, but he has accepted a buy-out of $300,000. I'd be interested to know the impact that will have on the cap and whether it applies to this season, or whether the Tigers can spread that across the two seasons as they see fit.

This felt like it'd been months in the making, if not years. Nofoaluma made some really interesting comments when he was at Melbourne and you got the sense that if he could, he would stay there. It all came to ahead recently when he had been handed a sanction for missing training and Nofoaluma felt he was being unfairly targeted. Then there was a recent sanction where he complained about having gastro but couldn't get a doctor's certificate to verify the claim.

There hasn't been any suggestion that he's headed to Melbourne. Unless he was happy to play reserve grade, I'm not sure if they could fit him in with Coates, Warbrick and Meaney all fighting for spots on the wing. There's a few clubs that could certainly use him - Warriors, Knights and Eels come to mind straight away.

It also leaves the Tigers short going into 2025. Wing is one of those developmental positions, so there's always plenty of turn-over but clubs often take the position for granted so you don't want to be caught short. They're already set to lose Junior Tupou for 2025 so you'd have to expect some movement in that position.

They could always move a Starfield To'a or Brent Naden over to the wing, but a move like this suggests to me they have somebody coming through that they're excited about. It may not be 2024, but in 2025 they might have another exciting outside back and keeping a 30+ year old winger around just wasn't seen as the best move going forward.

Currently, their other two options include the 28-year old Rugby convert Solomon Alaimalo and the St George Illawarra reserve grade winger Alex Lobb. Of the two, Lobb would be the more likely option considering he's just 22 and has that NSW Cup experience behind him. Lobb would have to take his game to another level if he was going to make a career out of this. He's one of those prospects that deserved a look in but outside of his size (196cm) he hasn't really stood out.

 

[Sproj]

After 192 games for the Wests Tigers, David Nofoaluma has been released by the club.

Nofoaluma's deal was till the end of the 2025 season, but he has accepted a buy-out of $300,000. I'd be interested to know the impact that will have on the cap and whether it applies to this season, or whether the Tigers can spread that across the two seasons as they see fit.

This felt like it'd been months in the making, if not years. Nofoaluma made some really interesting comments when he was at Melbourne and you got the sense that if he could, he would stay there. It all came to ahead recently when he had been handed a sanction for missing training and Nofoaluma felt he was being unfairly targeted. Then there was a recent sanction where he complained about having gastro but couldn't get a doctor's certificate to verify the claim.

There hasn't been any suggestion that he's headed to Melbourne. Unless he was happy to play reserve grade, I'm not sure if they could fit him in with Coates, Warbrick and Meaney all fighting for spots on the wing. There's a few clubs that could certainly use him - Warriors, Knights and Eels come to mind straight away.

It also leaves the Tigers short going into 2025. Wing is one of those developmental positions, so there's always plenty of turn-over but clubs often take the position for granted so you don't want to be caught short. They're already set to lose Junior Tupou for 2025 so you'd have to expect some movement in that position.

They could always move a Starfield To'a or Brent Naden over to the wing, but a move like this suggests to me they have somebody coming through that they're excited about. It may not be 2024, but in 2025 they might have another exciting outside back and keeping a 30+ year old winger around just wasn't seen as the best move going forward.

Currently, their other two options include the 28-year old Rugby convert Solomon Alaimalo and the St George Illawarra reserve grade winger Alex Lobb. Of the two, Lobb would be the more likely option considering he's just 22 and has that NSW Cup experience behind him. Lobb would have to take his game to another level if he was going to make a career out of this. He's one of those prospects that deserved a look in but outside of his size (196cm) he hasn't really stood out.

Yeah it is all very murky. Wasn't he on like 500k for the next two seasons? I wonder what made it all go so pear shaped between him and the club. I mean the club I can understand, they are a basket case but he seems to have played a pretty big role in all this as well.

But even so, does he get his remaining million + the severance package?

 

[Renegade]

Slow moving car crash. As BP said, as soon as he made those comments when he was on loan, the writing was on the wall.

If you don't know any other system the tigers are probably alright but going from a basket case to a highly professional outfit like Melbourne, it's not going to reflect well for his parent club. Being 30 too maybe he figures it's now or never to try somewhere else

Now that he's actually released, who are the serious suitors?

Edit: removed paragraph about his inconsistency - was injuries causing him to be in and out, not form.

 

[Xzei]

Slow moving car crash. As BP said, as soon as he made those comments when he was on loan, the writing was on the wall.

If you don't know any other system the tigers are probably alright but going from a basket case to a highly professional outfit like Melbourne, it's not going to reflect well for his parent club. Being 30 too maybe he figures it's now or never to try somewhere else

Now that he's actually released, who are the serious suitors?

Edit: removed paragraph about his inconsistency - was injuries causing him to be in and out, not form.

who would touch him after refusing to come to training speaks volumes of the person.

 

[Renegade]

who would touch him after refusing to come to training speaks volumes of the person.

You see it a lot in european football so it's not that foreign for me to see, but yes as a prospective team mate you do wonder if they will see him as reliable in the heat of battle.

Or maybe footballers think the same about the tigers as well, don't blame the **** etc...

 

[Sproj]

who would touch him after refusing to come to training speaks volumes of the person.

If it were a good club he is doing this with, you'd absolutely have a point but this is a basket case who, based on what I've read and who knows how accurate it is, has absolutely messed him around. Without knowing much of the details, I'm probably leaning toward Nofoaluma here.

 

[Xzei]

If it were a good club he is doing this with, you'd absolutely have a point but this is a basket case who, based on what I've read and who knows how accurate it is, has absolutely messed him around. Without knowing much of the details, I'm probably leaning toward Nofoaluma here.

From what i read he wasnt at the fitness that benji and the new guard at the tigers wanted and went mia,complained to the RLPA about unfair treatment ect if it were one of our players having a sook through the pies years id be moving them on too.

They needed to set a standard much like we did and piss off the players that arnt bought in to what benji and shane Richardson is selling.

 

[Big Pete]

Yeah it is all very murky. Wasn't he on like 500k for the next two seasons? I wonder what made it all go so pear shaped between him and the club. I mean the club I can understand, they are a basket case but he seems to have played a pretty big role in all this as well.

But even so, does he get his remaining million + the severance package?

It reminds me of some of the moves Gus made when he came to the Panthers. If you can recall, Gus let Michael Jennings, Luke Lewis and Michael Gordon all walk at the same time. It was his way of changing guard, but also to fix the salary structure as a lot of these players like Jennings were signed on over-inflated deals as their management had the club over a barrel.

The thing was, the Panthers had only featured in the finals one time with all those players on board. They may have had experience, but something needed to change and it all worked out for everyone involved.

$500,000 for a winger is crazy money and it's not like Nofoaluma was even close to the best winger after signing that deal heading into 2022.

While he played well for Melbourne, my impression is that Craig really needed him longer than six weeks because you could just see these bad habits in his game. It wasn't noticeable at first and it really felt like Melbourne had gamed the system getting a top of the line outside back so late in the year, but his form really started to dip late. That finals game against Canberra really stood out to me, David's first finals game and he looked out of his depth despite being a fringe Origin player.

 

[Big Pete]

Canterbury have foisted Raymond Faitala-Mariner onto the Dragons.

How do they keep getting away with it?

 

[Fozz]

Canterbury have foisted Raymond Faitala-Mariner onto the Dragons.

How do they keep getting away with it?

Goose has a dirt file
.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Canterbury have been a basket case for so long the NRL are probably giving them a tonne of rope.

 

[BroncsFan]

Canterbury have foisted Raymond Faitala-Mariner onto the Dragons.

How do they keep getting away with it?

Seems like no one wants to get on Gus' bad side.. is he a mafia king pin of Sydney or something...

Underbelly Gus coming soon to Ch 9

 

[john1420]

Seems like no one wants to get on Gus' bad side.. is he a mafia king pin of Sydney or something...

Underbelly Gus coming soon to Ch 9

I would totally watch that show

 

[mitch222]

Canterbury have foisted Raymond Faitala-Mariner onto the Dragons.

How do they keep getting away with it?

Don't see how they are getting away with anything here. They would have sat him down and said your not with the first grade squad this year so we will try our best to facilitate a move to a club of your wish if you have any suitors. Plenty of clubs have done this in the past with players they don't want on their books anymore. Id imagine the dogs would be chipping in for his salary at the dragons.

 

[Big Pete]

Don't see how they are getting away with anything here. They would have sat him down and said your not with the first grade squad this year so we will try our best to facilitate a move to a club of your wish if you have any suitors. Plenty of clubs have done this in the past with players they don't want on their books anymore. Id imagine the dogs would be chipping in for his salary at the dragons.

They publically smeared Faitala-Mariner and painted the picture that he wasn't welcome at the club despite being in the leadership group and being signed till '25.

Raymond is 30 going on 31 and he's only been able to have one complete in his entire career and that was four years ago.

No club in their right mind would take that contract. How is he even passing the physical? Are they setting him up for a desk job?

What are they chipping in under the table?

 

[mitch222]

They publically smeared Faitala-Mariner and painted the picture that he wasn't welcome at the club despite being in the leadership group and being signed till '25.

Raymond is 30 going on 31 and he's only been able to have one complete in his entire career and that was four years ago.

No club in their right mind would take that contract. How is he even passing the physical? Are they setting him up for a desk job?

What are they chipping in under the table?

I would imagine the dragons deal would be heavily subsidised by the Dogs sort of like what we did with TPJ & Bird to get them off our books. As for the physical, surely the dragons cant be that fucking dumb not to do a proper one before signing him after the Volkman fiasco.

 

[Big Pete]

I would imagine the dragons deal would be heavily subsidised by the Dogs sort of like what we did with TPJ & Bird to get them off our books. As for the physical, surely the dragons cant be that fucking dumb not to do a proper one before signing him after the Volkman fiasco.

The thing is, usually these players still have something to offer. Bird, Pangai Jr and Lodge were all coming into their prime ages when they were released. RFM is in the twilight, never realised his potential and the Bulldogs made so much noise about how displeased they were with him that only a fool would eat up those last two years.

Seems like only you and Flanno like the signing.