Wasn't Tupou brought in with Arona and Moore to cover those players that MC allowed to leave because they didn't have the stomach for a fight? In BTs case to replace Collis?

He as got an injury alot of players struggle to get back from hes either been
Injured or out of form for last 2 seasons cos he hasnt offered nothing.ypur the prime example of wakey fans and sticking with sentiment

Two separate discussions here?

1.Bill Tupou at his best was one of the best centres we've had in the super League era.
2. I agree that we are unlikely to see him return that sort of form again if he ever returns at all.

IMHO the like of Tupou Domic and Collis in their pomp were a sight to behold and would have graced most super league teams .JD didn’t have the same skill sets as these IMO but made up for that by playing every game with his heart on his sleeve ,and I’d be hard pushed to name a player to have played for us with more pride and passion than JD. And that is why he is up with the best ever centres at our club in my books ,not because of his amazing hands or vision but because he had the heart of a lion and a never say die attitude, and a good solid to boot . If we had a team full of JD’s I’m dam sure we’d be in the play off’s on a regular basis, and for me he was our very own marquee player on a budget for what he did at our club

He is still on contract what do you suggest rip it up?

With you all the way on this one.

Sadly, I think we've seen the best out of him, and I'd Arundel was staying, he would be my third choice centre now, of the established ones.

I do also partly agree with Luppy, how he's a waste of a quota spot, but he is contrated. At the moment, he is one, that I would consider releasing in the future

Arona signed a couple of days before BJB, but for reasons best known to the club didn't announce it till BJB's signing.

See this is the problem we suffer from. When we get a good player there is a demand to sign them long term and I get that.

Likewise nobody wants to see a player binned through injury but the truth is they are no good to us if they can’t be fixed. It’s incredibly harsh but a reality of sport.

Big clubs can ride these problems and pension players off, we can’t afford that. This Is fundamentally the case with CC and I don’t think we can afford another.

So we have no choice but to suck it up and hope Bill recovers or that he himself chooses to call it a day if he can’t. It’s the risk all clubs take but we are run on such tight lines that we simply don’t have the wiggle room.

Brutal sport at times for all concerned but especially for Bill who may not be able to resurrect his career and livelihood. So fingers crossed for all that he does recover.

Tony Martin was also an excellent. Just thought I’d throw him into the mix!! Versatile too, played 6 for us too if I remember.

Thought James Evans was also pretty useful, two tries in the 200s relegation decider.

On Tupou. Of course if he's injured he's injured but we've had longer term injuries we've stuck with.
At his best he was ripping teams apart.
Let's see if he can recover this off season before we start dismissing him.
Not sentiment, but a) he's in contract and b) his replacement isn't going to be the original Tupou either. It took some time for him to get there.

Problem you can’t solve, is that you can’t just cancel contracts when it suits

Agree but on this one, I get the speculation, he's a star player and an overseas player, he's a vital player for us.

One thing I don't buy is that if Tupou is on his way out is the assumption that we can go to Oz and find another one just like that! We can't, we may have a few duffers before we do. It's also worth noting that for his first two seasons Tupou was not all that good, it took him a while to hit his stride, so if we can get him fit he's still the best option IMO.

You can if you can afford to pay them off, clear to anyone with a brain we can't do that. Also, we owe Tupou at least an off-season to get right, his demise does seem a bit premature at this point.

Wires have had this problem only recently by throwing caution to the wind and signing Greg inglis ,which backfired spectacularly. But deep pockets by the owner came to the rescue by putting him out to grass in the community which freed up his overseas spot ,or face a very expensive crocked star on the sidelines long term .

i know that which is only right to be fair and its not a dig at billy sure you more than anyone knows how frustrating having a budget to keep in and one of what can onlybe assumed to be a decent wage taker and quota spot taken by somone who is rarley on the pitch and playing well... just have to hope he can recover from his injury and rediscover some kind of form that he was showing 3-4 years ago when he was easily one of best centres in sl

He's played more than Tom. Are you getting rid of him as well?

I think we should see what Bill's like when he recovers. I would think if he's not fully recovered from his injury, he would be the first to put his hand up and want to be away.
If, on the other hand, he recovers and can play as we know he can, we'd be a bit silly to let that talent go!
One more season of a fully fit Bill Tupou - yes please!

The problem is that at 31 it’s much harder to bounce back from an injury such as Tupous. IMO as he’s contracted we stick by him until he’s fit but should he pick up another knock, we should really be looking to settle with Bill and replace with someone else.

I don’t think we’ll see the mini beast at his best again, which is a real shame really.

Just to throw my two pence in about our past centres, Collis was such an underrated singing for me. Definitely one of the best imports we’ve had, shame he was a lazy bugger in training!

I agree,
As for Collis, I just think he was one of the best centres we never had. Sounds contradictory, he was so talented but we only saw flashes of it now and then. I just feel he never really totally committed himself consistently, on the pitch.

Really

So you settle with Bill ie pay him off.

So then with that money gone where do you find the money to pay his replacement?

It’s not rocket science, it’s basic economics

And then use 'prop' money for the centre we now need, who then gets long term injured in his first game...

1, where have i said get rid of billy,

2, tom form hasnt really dropped after injuries like billy did.

3, theres about 5 years age difference tom still in his prime and billy is past his

4, if a club offered good money for tom i would be happy for mc to sell his wage could be used in amore pivotal role.

The answer to no. 1 is in no. 4.

You could be talking about a whole raft of domestic and overseas players that have graced our club over the years , one that sticks out for me was Brent Todd , but plenty have turned up with big wraps and gone out and not done the business for us , some understandable others disappointing .