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Wests Tigers and Newcastle have definitely improved in a position of need at each club with the Jackson Hastings-David Klemmer swap but fans of these teams shouldn’t expect much of a rise up the ladder.
The halves was perhaps the one area of the field where the Tigers had too many first-grade standard options while the Knights’ pack is well equipped to handle the impact of losing Klemmer.
But both teams need more changes in personnel to become finals contenders again.
Klemmer brings much-needed aggression and go-forward to a Tigers pack which was dominated more often than not by rival teams last season.
He’ll be entering his 11th NRL season in 2023 but he’s still only 28 so the three-year deal is not too long for a player who still produces on a regular basis.
(Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)
Klemmer ranked third among specialist props in running metres last season at 146 per game, shaded only by Brisbane’s Payne Haas and Raiders star Joseph Tapine at 151.
He doesn’t shirk his defensive workload either – his 28 tackles per game was only bettered among front-rowers by Alex Twal and Lindsay Collins (29).
And incoming/returning coach Tim Sheens needs experience, particular in his pack. Having Klemmer alongside him will do wonders for young gun Stefano Utoikamanu, whose progress was hampered by injuries.
Klemmer’s arrival on the back of Panthers hooker Api Koroisau and Eels second-rower Isaiah Papali’i gives Sheens reason for optimism that Wests won’t end up with the wooden spoon again.
Tigers fans should be heartened by the fact that Papali’i has managed to go successive weeks without giving any ambiguous answers about whether he will honour his three-year deal. After representing Samoa at the World Cup it will still be a while before he reports to pre-season training – until he runs out onto the field next year wearing black, white and gold, Tigers fans will continue to be nervous.
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After the mid-season sacking of Michael Maguire, the Tigers have undergone a massive and, in the words of Salt n Pepa, very necessary roster overhaul.
Hastings was arguably their best player last season until Patrick Carrigan’s hip-drop tackle ended his season a month early but with Luke Brooks and Adam Doueihi on deck, they could ill afford to carry three halves on their salary cap, especially when Brooks is eating up significantly more value than he’s returning.
They’re off contract at the end of next year so Sheens and his coaching protege Benji Marshall will have no qualms in moving on from both or either of the playmakers if they fail to deliver next season.
Second-rowers Luke Garner (Penrith) and Kelma Tuilagi (Manly) were solid contributors but with Papali’i heading to Concord and English forward John Bateman potentially doing likewise, the Tigers should have upgraded edge options.
Zane Musgrove (Dragons), Jock Madden (Broncos), James Tamou (Cowboys), Oliver Gildart (Dolphins), Jacob Liddle (Dragons) and Tyrone Peachey (Panthers) were part of the problem at the club last season so it was highly unlikely they were going to be helping with the solution.
Not surprisingly they were 15th in defence and stone cold motherless in attack last season. The experienced recruits will clearly mean they leak fewer points but where will the points come from?
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Charlie Staines is their only significant recruit out wide and he has shown in his first few seasons at Penrith he is only effective when he’s got quality playmakers creating space for him out wide.
The options for Sheens in the backs still appear extremely limited so he shouldn’t expect to be on the end of too many overlaps whether he slots in on the wing or displaces Daine Laurie at fullback.
Luckily they’re no longer called the Magpies because after their 4-20 record last season, there’d be a few “four and 20 blackbirds” songs going around or perhaps their name would be shortened to the Pies.
“As a club we are obviously not satisfied that we finished last in 2022 and tough decisions need to be made,” Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe said in the club statement announcing Hastings’ departure. “Not everyone will be happy with some decisions we make, but we do not apologise for these decisions.”
Perhaps not but fans have been expecting a few apologies in recent seasons for several other signings.
Klemmer said he was encouraged by the chance to have a fresh start at a new club under Sheens: “I know Tim (Sheens) well through our time together with the Kangaroos and there’s a lot to like about where the club is headed. In many ways it’s a new start for the club, and I’m delighted to be a part of it.”
For the Knights, they’ve now added Hastings and the player he resembles more than any other in the NRL – Brisbane’s Tyson Gamble – to their halves.
They’re both agitators cut from the same cloth. Hastings has better organising skills so it is likely he will start at halfback with Gamble, or potentially Kalyn Ponga, slotting in at five-eighth.
The Knights had to do something to shake up their halves – they were marginally ahead of only the Tigers when it came to scoring last season as they tried Adam Clune, Jake Clifford and Anthony Milford as their playmakers following Mitchell Pearce’s departure for Catalans the previous off-season.
With the Saifiti twins – Jacob and Daniel, the addition of Raiders veteran Adam Elliott and Canterbury’s Jack Hetherington (when he’s not suspended), they still have the building blocks for a decent middle forward rotation but their future prospects, and those of coach Adam O’Brien, will rise and fall on whether Ponga is a destroyer of disinterested.
Even if he does bring his Origin form to club level on a regular basis, it will be hard to see the Knights end up with a record vastly different to their 6-18 campaign which consigned them to 14th spot (just a kick at goal ahead of the Warriors on percentages).
Trades like the Hastings-Klemmer deal should happen more often in the NRL when two clubs can conjure up mutually beneficial swaps.
This one is a step in the right direction for each team but the top eight is still a long way off in the distance.