Waratahs sign Sea Eagles star in cross-code poaching raid

Smith can scrum, just needs fitness

Yep. Him and they got Holz back from the Brumbies

Jez Have the Tahs signed Raun Smith?

Finding may be at least one Lock would be a good start. They have signed up some props, but props are useless without Locks.

“ I would love to see the NSW side move to somewhere like Newcastle, away from the bubble that seems to exist in eastern/northern Sydney.” Bingo Sinclair. Tahs need to become legends outside the Moore Park lunch box.

Lol ???? Yes, Jez, I tend to go all-in with my predictions; then I look like a genius when they come true. This happens about 5-10% of the time ????

My immediate reaction to this is negative. Why do we recruit from league at the expense of emerging talent in the game? How does this affect the aspiring footballers who have remained loyal to the brand who might otherwise have a look-in? - they'd be mightily pissed-off I'd say. Thoughts?

I’ve wondered whether the Tahs’ issues are more around cohesion than development. Several people have said that players being scattered around a big city inhibits connection off the field. Particularly for players from out of town, it might be hard to develop a sense of belonging. Pretty sure Tizzano raised this as a problem for him.

Just announced that Tahs have signed Archer Holz and Ruan Smith. Happy about the former given the potential of growth.

From what I saw it looked like he was competent and up to NRL standard, but certainly no world beater. I doubt the Tahs have signed a wallaby in waiting here, but if he can learn the finer arts of union than he should be handy depth signing.

Yes, the comment on titles is a straw man, I don't know why you brought titles up. I replied very specifically to, "Players move from the NSW set up and seem to improve a lot, but it rarely seems to happen the other way." You've taken this on a wide ranging essay covering a myriad of issues but that is still the core one that triggers me. I mean we are 25 years on and you are the second Roarer raising Finegan as a reject this week. He was a player they developed that left the very year he would have taken over a starting position. Cookie and Waxy have both posted this week on the theme of no young player should sign at the Tahs as it will stunt their development. I have a laugh when the guest accounts post rubbish but tend to bite when regular Roarers make these comments - it's exhausting. I guess I just have to learn to laugh a posters I otherwise respect.

But my comment isn't that trope, is it? I am saying that the schools and clubs produce the raw talent but then NSW seem to waste so much of it. I didn't say all of it. Please do actually read what I write. I am asking why so many players NSW let go turn out to be better than the ones they hold on to, why this often happens so soon after they leave NSW. You need to engage with the actual points, surely, not make up a straw man. Or is that mentality part of why NSW have problems? By the way, Willie O was on the way out, as was Gavin in 1996. Latham was a winger not just a 15 in his early days and, again, I didn't say NSW can't produce talent. The comment about QLD and the ACT only indicates another straw man; 'the Brumbies and QLD aren't much better'. But they are also much smaller in terms of player numbers, population etc. Yet they do have better records. QLD have won Super titles in 1993, 1994, 2011 and then the rump AU comp in 2021. The ACT Brumbies have won titles in 2001, 2004, the rump AU in 2020. How inconvenient. I also don't recall saying either QLD or ACT were perfect. What are the 'plenty of other issues'? I can think of some, but poor decisions on players and poor development of the talent the system below is putting up would have to be one of them on any objective view.

perese was the best tah back last year..

Scroll down the thread and you’ll see me talking up Tauakipulu. Or just the other day my excitement about Pietsch. You really have to try harder, you petty little crybaby. 15 months you’ve been projecting your own bias on to me.

Jeznez, I’m simply gobsmacked that you are continually championing recruitment targets solely of European descent. Why not give some young indigenous kids their shot or PI players from Sydney’s west. It may only be subconsciously deliberate but it’s not helpful

I don’t know anything about him. But if he’s a big strong TH, it’s just what the Dr ordered. HJH performed admirably last year. Beyond my expectations. But I think even if he’s behind Bell at LH side it’s a better fit if we can find a TH who is next level.

Cheers BD - hadn't heard that. Good to hear, although I will say that is an almighty big call on 2023/2024! I quite like Tiaan Tauakipulu, who is also on the Tahs roster. Didn't make it on the pitch last year due to injury but he impressed me in his limited minutes in 2020.

Nah look you are right, Tahs can't develop talent. That's why Hooper has become a multiple JE winner since moving. In fact, one wonders why the likes of Finegan, Latham etc. felt the need to move with no-name NSW failed to develop players like Ofahengaue, Gavin and Burke in front of them. And just one title? Reds are equally poor then? Brumbies twice as good because they have two? Plenty of issues at the Tahs but this tired trope of they can't develop players is so mind numbingly boring. I really hope the likes of Lloyd, Wagner, Pasitoa, Kuenzle and Fines-Leileiwasa kick on so we can rehash an equally invalid Brumbies can't develop talent argument.

Hooper made the Wallabies as a Brumby. I don't see him as better player since. That he was 19 when he joined the Brumbies and 21 when he became a Wallaby (whilst at the Brumbies) and then moved to NSW, where (on your argument) he matured, really shows the opposite to your argument that NSW develop them and the Brumbies (and others) then just get lucky that they mature outside of NSW. Tom Staniforth was a solid player at provincial level, I can't see how he improved after moving to NSW. He was an U21 Wallaby whilst in the Brumbies system and he then went to NSW in 2018 and played two ok seasons and then moved to France. How did NSW make him better? By teaching him French, so he could move to Castres? John Langford was hardly a spring chicken when he moved to the ACT, aged 28. He became a Wallaby a year later. Mitch Hardy? Big Jim Williams was 31 when he made his Oz debut from the Brumbies. They can't all just be just late bloomers, surely? The thing is less about trying to spot particular players who did or didn't improve away from NSW than to observe that there is a pretty clear trend that can be seen and a curious person might wonder why and might wonder if there isn't some connection to a province underperforming. Watching NSW play I have been struck so often by how strong the side looks on paper and how they then perform like they were made of paper. To me, it just doesn't make sense. The Brumbies have been built on NSW players, rejects or people who were going nowhere, who became Wallabies at the Brumbies. I think that is a tremendous pity, because NSW clearly produces the talent at club/school level. That a province like NSW has a single Super Rugby title after 3 decades doesn't speak well for converting potential. Something isn't working and hasn't been for a long time. It isn't that NSW is somehow genetically feeble, or that there is something in the water, so I think there is an issue when the step up to province occurs. If I were a NSW supporter I would think there might be something wrong in the set up. It isn't for want of coaching talent either - Chris Hawkins, Bob Dwyer, McKenzie, the recent Kiwis, Cheika (whatever his flaws) to name but some. One Super title. If you think that Simone and Kellaway, for example just got better because they got older then I think that might be an indicator of one thing that might be a problem in the provincial set up; a certain complacency. Did Finnegan just get better as he got older? Chris Latham? Stirling Mortlock? Both Ala'atoa's, Pete Samu etc. How lucky other provinces have been for all that talent to just fall into their laps ready for the plucking. Yet NSW brightly soldiered on with the best of the rest. So many of these players speak of stalled careers, a sense of being ignored at NSW and so on. Might there not be something that warrants consideration? I can see an argument that a powerhouse producer of talent (which NSW is) can't hold on to everyone, but the thing is that so many of the people they don't keep seem to go on to higher honours, whilst NSW consistently underperforms. Often they are weak in the very areas where players they didn't keep turn out to be internationals once elsewhere. I see NSW as being very much like Auckland in (under) performance terms (in the last 20 years, at least). This isn't a 'NSW suck' comment - almost the opposite. What it is about is why does a province that has the history and that produces so many talented players fail to produce on the big stage? It can't all be down to bad luck and other players just getting more mature. Are you really happy with the performance of NSW over the last 3 decades of professional rugby? This is all said with great respect for you JezNez - it is clear you are a good rugby man and a passionate supporter of NSW. I respect both those things. You are evidently knowledgeable about the game and its history, which I also respect, greatly. I am perplexed you don't share my perplexity!

Best news to come out of the tahs all year. Fingers crossed he builds combo with Bell. Agree Harry needs to revert back to loose head to back up Bell.