Wolfpacks new signings

[sfmedusa]

12 minutes ago, Yosser said:

This will give you an idea of what you will be getting with Sims in this "mic'd up" video clip.

By chance there's even a shot of him charging at TWP's very own Moimoi.

 

He still shouts less than James Graham.

[sfmedusa]

I was wondering about Olsi Krasniqi, since he was playing his cards very close to his chest about what he was going to do when he left Salford.  

[DKL79]

Will Olsi be the first Albanian to play pro sport in North America?

[DG70]

Toronto have a seriously big pack in Taylor,Sims and Moimoi, Krasniqi puts in a shift also.

Should be far too good for the Championship next year. 

[Michael1812]

4 minutes ago, DKL79 said:

Will Olsi be the first Albanian to play pro sport in North America?

Nope. There has been three Albanians in MLS. 

[DKL79]

Fair play - contact sports though, ie proper?

[Michael1812]

14 minutes ago, DKL79 said:

Fair play - contact sports though, ie proper?

Albanian American count?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Palushaj

[DKL79]

I did mean Albanian born but I'll give you him! Nice search.

[Captain Survival]

1 hour ago, Yosser said:

This will give you an idea of what you will be getting with Sims in this "mic'd up" video clip.

By chance there's even a shot of him charging at TWP's very own Moimoi.

 

I saw a few current TWP players in that video: FFMM, Brierly, Jake Emmit.  Sims I think will be a real asset.  And he seems on good terms with the existing roster and undoubtedly his knowledge of they and their skills was a factor in his decision making to sign aboard.

[Man of Kent]

Sims is all hair and no flair, no? Charismatic but bang average even for the Championship 

[Krzzystuff]

2 hours ago, ChoboMog said:

I don't think anything needs to change, in terms of things like: Promotion/Relegation; blocks of home/away games; Super8's/playoffs etc.  Perhaps, making sure we continue to not have a home game scheduled during the first three or four rounds is smart, given the winter weather.

Given the tone of some threads over the past few months, though, making sure a plan is agreed on and in place [stadium upgrades, travel cost coverage (if any) etc) in advance seems important to making it a success and minimizing any disruption/uncertainty.

I just hope it all goes smooth and the positive impact continues.

With any luck, the successful League 1 season, additional signings, and media coverage make the 8-9000 range typical, the way 6-8000 was this year.  Can't wait for the first sellout!

Yeah I'm looking forward to next year so bad. Let's hope that our success brings more money  into the league and keeps the angry folk content.

Also would love to see Quinn get some more game time, hopefully it works out somehow.

[Manxmanc]

This demonstrates serious intent. The prospect of a Canadian team in Super League is real and, in years to come, this era of Rugby League may be viewed as pivotal in the development of the sport. I'm not sure we all appreciate how ground-shaking this could all be,

 

[Krzzystuff]

39 minutes ago, Manxmanc said:

This demonstrates serious intent. The prospect of a Canadian team in Super League is real and, in years to come, this era of Rugby League may be viewed as pivotal in the development of the sport. I'm not sure we all appreciate how ground-shaking this could all be,

 

Who doesn't appreciate it? Don't make up lies!

[PatrickB]

First post on the forum.

I'm a long time RL fan from Cambridge, Ontario.. about 60 miles from Toronto.  I was transferred to Aus, and I lived in North Sydney, NSW about 20 years ago and got addicted, and really missed it on our return to Canada.

My wife and I went to 5-6 Wolfpack matches this year, and are excited about the move up, as well as the new signings.

[Copa]

6 minutes ago, PatrickB said:

First post on the forum.

I'm a long time RL fan from Toronto. I lived in North Sydney, NSW about 20 years ago and got addicted.

My wife and I went to 5 Wolfpack matches this year, and are excited about the move up, as well as the new signings.

Welcome to the forum.

Don't be put off by some of the grumpy folks on here who complain about the Wolfpack. Most of us are very supportive and excited by their development.

[PatrickB]

Thanks for the welcome as well as the heads up Copa.

Much appreciated.

 

[Oxford]

4 hours ago, DG70 said:

Toronto have a seriously big pack in Taylor,Sims and Moimoi, Krasniqi puts in a shift also.

Should be far too good for the Championship next year. 

No, no, no, DG the prophecy is mid-table, losses and hard-times ahead for their fans used to winning! And I got that straight from the forum's mouth.

And all these signings are rated exceedingly poor to bang average except on the third Thursday of odd numbered year.

Okay, at least now we're all on the same Hymn sheet.

 

[Captain Survival]

@PatrickB  Welcome Patrick.  As the bird flies I am not far away living in Oakville.  I went to UofWaterloo eons ago in fact although the Cambridge portion of the Tri-Cities has gown leaps and bounds since those days.  I heard UofW even opened a campus in Cambridge now.

My words of advice are the more of us sound, level headed, even minded Canucks posting on the forum, the better!

[Oxford]

2 hours ago, Captain Survival said:

the more of us sound, level headed, even minded

Dear CS,

I would just like to send you this letter as I hope it might help with everyone on the forum after what you wrote above. Whilst appreciating the thought behind your  missive there are a few things that need addressing.The essential  idea of a forum is to talk a lot of passionate rubbish and to believe your passionate rubbish is not only unquestionable and correct but that your rubbish has so much more clear logic to it than anyone else's ....... I do hope this clarifies everything for you so that you don't waste all your time either being level headed or trying to appear so. I have one rule of thumb that helps in this situation which you may find useful exaggerate,  exaggerate, exaggerate and then lie and mislead a bit. I hope this helps with your future posts.

All the best

Oxford

[Manxmanc]

6 hours ago, Krzzystuff said:

Who doesn't appreciate it? Don't make up lies!

Maybe i could have been clearer. I'm sure many people appreciate that these developments could be ground-shaking, but I was trying to emphasise how groundbreaking; in other words the extent of the earthquake. Personally speaking, the news of these signings raised my expectations of a high Richter scale reading.

[GaryO]

3 hours ago, Oxford said:

Dear CS,

I would just like to send you this letter as I hope it might help with everyone on the forum after what you wrote above. Whilst appreciating the thought behind your  missive there are a few things that need addressing.The essential  idea of a forum is to talk a lot of passionate rubbish and to believe your passionate rubbish is not only unquestionable and correct but that your rubbish has so much more clear logic to it than anyone else's ....... I do hope this clarifies everything for you so that you don't waste all your time either being level headed or trying to appear so. I have one rule of thumb that helps in this situation which you may find useful exaggerate,  exaggerate, exaggerate and then lie and mislead a bit. I hope this helps with your future posts.

All the best

Oxford

Yep, glad to see that you stuck to your own set rules 

[Flagedgetouch]

15 hours ago, Krzzystuff said:

It has now officially been announced that we have signed Dave "Coal train" Taylor, Josh McCrone, Ashton Sims & Olsi Krasiqi and I'm wondering what the thoughts are from the RL community? Are they good signings?  Any past their prime or are they all still solid? Really curios about Taylor because he's supposedly a mountain of a human  being so it's always good to see those guys live.

Will these players help us attract additional crowds to our away games to make up for the fact we don't brig any away fans? i'm new to the game so not sure where these guys rate in people minds. Are we top 4 contenders now in M62 corridor eyes?

Thanks and hope to see some of you in Toronto next year!

In answer to your first question; perspective is important, these are all good signings at championship level. There isn't a single club in the championship who wouldn't be very happy to have all those players on board for next season. Individually, Taylor, as has been mentioned several times in the thread is a 'rocks or diamonds' kind of player. He is a massive unit at around 20 Stone (280 LB) and is surprisingly quick for such a big man, he did ok in the super league for Catalans but he is a player you have to keep motivated as he is prone to drifting out of games. Should be lethal at championship level. Sims is a decent player at super league level and should be a good championship player. If he'd stayed at Warrington his game time would have been limited but he is another who should do very well at this level plus he has the whole 'thor' thing going on so he is another very marketable figure and in that respect is IMO a very astute signing. I don't know too much about McCrone as I don't see much NRL, but any player who has managed 170 NRL games at halfback must be a halfway decent player and in all probability too good for the championship! Olsi  Krasniqi is a solid player; one of those no frills but 100% effort types that every team needs, again, for me, a super league quality player dropping down into the championship, spectacular he ain't but he'll do a solid shift game after game. 

With regards to these players helping to bring additional fans; I think the move to a higher league and the more competitive games that will bring should do that anyway, but certainly Taylor and Sims are the type of player that are easy to 'sell' to new fans of the sport. I'm not sure whether these players will bring more fans to away games, However, I believe the general buzz about TWP may just do that on its own - make no mistake, along with whoever gets relegated from super league - you will be the team everyone wants to beat next year. Plus, I think the Wolf Pack have made a positive impression on a decent chunk of UK RL fans so maybe a uk branch of the pack is on the horizon; Catalan have a uk based fan group who turned up in decent numbers a few years ago when the dragons did well, so i don't see why TWP can't have something similar in time. 

Next season will be a whole different ball game. That's the one thing that isn't skewed or underplayed or exaggerated in the comments on this, and other threads about TWP. There are a few teams who you will roll over with relative ease (although nothing like as easily as some teams this season) but I think away from home especially you will have some really tough games. The likes of Featherstone, London, Halifax, Toulouse and the relegated SL side are going to have squads on a very similar ability level as yours. These teams will also likely raise their games when playing you. And they will in all likelihood travel early to Toronto and acclimatise. Be prepared for some real hard battles. That said, you have arguably the most professionally run club outside SL, they will prepare meticulously for the championship. Top four is a realistic goal. And come the qualifiers - anything can happen. 

[JoneslessBishop]

Good signings in terms of playing and marketing ability. Toronto will probably get bigger crowds at champ crowds due to their novelty and profile, just like they have in League 1 next season. 

 

Given SL has confirmed 12 team format for next season (only) , and Lenegan has already planted the seed for a 14 teams competition (albeit for different reasons), I think a top 2 finish resulting in automatic promotion to SL is not beyond the realms of possibility. Gotta make room for the 2nd  Canadian team to be announced within 6 months (Perez quoted) joining the Championship (Wood does not 'rule out'). There is definitely a plan evolving behind the scenes.

[DavidM]

11 hours ago, DG70 said:

Toronto have a seriously big pack in Taylor,Sims and Moimoi, Krasniqi puts in a shift also.

Should be far too good for the Championship next year. 

We'll see , i wouldn't count on that . It'll be very interesting to see , some very solid established units there 

[Swansea Jack]

8 hours ago, PatrickB said:

First post on the forum.

I'm a long time RL fan from Cambridge, Ontario.. about 60 miles from Toronto.  I was transferred to Aus, and I lived in North Sydney, NSW about 20 years ago and got addicted, and really missed it on our return to Canada.

My wife and I went to 5-6 Wolfpack matches this year, and are excited about the move up, as well as the new signings.

Welcome to the forum of the greatest game.