Honest i get why we keep missing out on props for years now, since the Times we had Morley and Carvell, we seem to run with one quality prop and the rest are average.
So good big hard hitting props must look at us and realise we run with one quality prop, so they'll have most of the work load to carry.
We currently have Vaughan, big powerful aggressive hard hitting props that gets us moving forward, paired with Yates... good engine and defends well, but not a prop and doesn't have the size.
Harrison good engine, defends well.
Philbin aggressive attacking based game, has 1-2 great games then is average the rest of the time.
Wood, Decent, skillfull, good engine....same size as philbin.
Thomas, watching him today he's smaller than i remember and looks lighter than Wood and Philbin.
Crowther, good engine, aggressive, average in any position he plays.
We are WEAK in the forwards and can never seem to attract them.
Burgess is obsessed with athletic props and i find it bizzarre. We need punch and we need it 10 years ago.
Vaughan carries the team when he plays, and we drop off when he comes off. We lose the forward battle all the time, and we literally rely on the our backs to take us forward. King literally gets us moving forward and off our line more than anyone.
My Dad was born in 1955 so has gone his entire life never seeing us win the league. I'm 41 now and have a feeling of dread i could literally never see us win in my entire life.
We've been in this average to poor, with the occasional really good year, for 10+ years.
And coach after coach can't change or progress us, so i completely agree that it points to behind the scenes, especially since Powell was in charge it's amplified this feeling.


I'm absolutely the same in that i believe only someone like Wane (with full control) Will change this club.
I would LOVE to be proved wrong though, but my confidence in us changing and winning gets less every single year.
It's hard being a wire fan.

Anyone coming over from Australia at 30 years old, with 8 games left of the season because they can't get in their own team abd specialises in a position we don't need help in is a terrible move.

Just as an aside, as Just Browny said, John Bateman was 30, joined in late July 2024 with 8 league games remaining, and couldn't get in the West Tigers side. He made a positive contribution. 

He can make a wonderful contribution…but in the words of Kyle Amor ‘it matters not’. We could win every game (we won’t win 4) and still we wouldn’t qualify. 

Bateman didn't do that well and nobody will remember his stint. Did well defensively but offered almost nothing in attack. If Matterson is another Bateman (he isn't) then we don't need him. We aren't getting relegated and we aren't making the playoffs off the back of an anonymous second rower. Just look at what his own speccies say. They don't want him back next year.

Perhaps there will be quite a few of these cast offs coming over when the NRL template is in place. At least there a plenty of last chance saloons over here.