Toulouse New Signings

[Lowdesert]

16 hours ago, Leonard said:

Ford isn't SL level.

I don’t think he is but for different reasons to you.

If you can get a video of Jackson Hastings playing for Wigan you will see how the SO role can be played.  Organising, encouraging, committing the line whilst hardly using any energy.  Ford can do all that but teams target him for his defence.  When they do catch him out, its usually early in the game but really, Ford is no different to any SL stand off in that respect.

If Houles is cute about it, which I think he is, he will have a plan, built on that weakness.  

What I think we will see this year in SL is taller players being able to offload more due the the head high shots being further eradicated.  Ford will be even more of a threat, especially near the line.  TO’s task will be getting staying in the game to get close enough to it.

[audois]

21 hours ago, Lowdesert said:

Good signing imo.  Hankinson has been on the wrong end of the ‘loan’ arrangements before so I think he will do ok with a settled club.    TO sole objective is to stay up at all costs so having some depth in the squad, with some decent bench or reserve players is paramount.  Good to see they’re getting on with it.

Dragons first up 2006 P28 W8 .Nine French players from the Elite1 semi-pro comp played in that opener against Wigan

Edited November 10, 2021 by audois

[audois]

Group here so far...

https://www.to13.com/a-la-une/un-point-sur-leffectif-du-to/

 

[Agbrigg]

19 hours ago, audois said:

Group here so far...

https://www.to13.com/a-la-une/un-point-sur-leffectif-du-to/

 

Well , looking at that squad, they will be lucky if they win a game  

[The Daddy]

Sylvain Houles has confirmed that Toulouse have all but completed their recruitment with 27 out of the 28 squad players signed. 

Lambert Belmas was supposed to be the 28th and final signing but he suffered a long term and potentially career threatening injury playing for Lezignan. 

I'm guessing or hoping that the final player will be a loan signing from Catalan, a prop that's a bit down the pecking order, Hugo Salabio has already played for Toulouse on loan and I think he is a good fit 

[Leonard]

Shame. Was hoping they might have gone for one big name in the pack. 

However, makes sense longer term for financial stability.

No point being Leigh and just recycling the same London and Toronto cast offs. 

[The Daddy]

8 minutes ago, Leonard said:

Shame. Was hoping they might have gone for one big name in the pack. 

However, makes sense longer term for financial stability.

No point being Leigh and just recycling the same London and Toronto cast offs. 

The problem that Toulouse have is that all of their quota spots are filled, so they can only sign European born players or players that have a European passport. But yeah, agreed the spine of the team is good but I felt like they needed a couple of big signings in the pack, just to add some freshness and youthfulness. They have a few players in the pack that are pushing on age wise

[Tabby]

32 minutes ago, Leonard said:

Shame. Was hoping they might have gone for one big name in the pack. 

However, makes sense longer term for financial stability.

No point being Leigh and just recycling the same London and Toronto cast offs. 

Of making a mess of recruiting, due to existing contracts.

[Tex Evans Thigh]

1 hour ago, Leonard said:

Shame. Was hoping they might have gone for one big name in the pack. 

However, makes sense longer term for financial stability.

No point being Leigh and just recycling the same London and Toronto cast offs. 

Like Matty Russell or Cunningham? I agree, good job they've avoided those types of player.

Really disappointed with this squad, it needed refreshing with a big name or two, given it's an old squad, they'll probably be worse than last season. Home form going to be key.

[Dallas Mead]

On 11/11/2021 at 13:39, Agbrigg said:

Well , looking at that squad, they will be lucky if they win a game  

Like….er….Degsy’s boys?

[LeytherRob]

39 minutes ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

Like Matty Russell or Cunningham? I agree, good job they've avoided those types of player.

Really disappointed with this squad, it needed refreshing with a big name or two, given it's an old squad, they'll probably be worse than last season. Home form going to be key.

Or Gigot, or Springer....

[Saint Toppy]

That squad looks considerably weaker than Leigh's from 2021. They might pick up the odd win at home against other relegation strugglers like Salford but I can see quite a few really heavy defeats for them in 2022 and a quick relegation to the Championship

[DoubleD]

That’s certainly a bottom 4 squad but people underestimate what a good coach can do as well as home advantage in Toulouse. They have a settled spine of a team which makes a big difference. They’ll be in a battle but too early to write them off by any means. They surprised plenty in the middle 8s format, and that was a weaker squad

[Damien]

58 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

That squad looks considerably weaker than Leigh's from 2021. They might pick up the odd win at home against other relegation strugglers like Salford but I can see quite a few really heavy defeats for them in 2022 and a quick relegation to the Championship

This is a Toulouse squad that was unbeaten last year and has consistently finished above Leigh in the Championship in recent years, including the year prior to Leigh going into SL. They are going into SL with a much stronger squad than what Leigh had in their last year of the Championship. Yes Leigh may have made signings but they didn't add any real quality and had players like Ben Flower watching from the sidelines.

I also think that a mistake teams often make is ditching all the players that got them into SL in the first place and signing a load of players from the relegated club. They shatter the team spirit and cohesion that made them successful. Often the clubs that do best are the ones that retain a strong core of their existing squad, as London did when they won 10 games.

[Scubby]

10 minutes ago, Damien said:

This is a Toulouse squad that was unbeaten last year and has consistently finished above Leigh in the Championship in recent years, including the year prior to Leigh going into SL. They are going into SL with a much stronger squad than what Leigh had in their last year of the Championship. Yes Leigh may have made signings but they didn't add any real quality and had players like Ben Flower watching from the sidelines.

I also think that a mistake teams often make is ditching all the players that got them into SL in the first place and signing a load of players from the relegated club. They shatter the team spirit and cohesion that made them successful. Often the clubs that do best are the ones that retain a strong core of their existing squad, as London did when they won 10 games.

They may also have watched the SL and NRL closely in recent years and found out that there are many opportunities to add to the squad before the business end. Lots of quality players looking for an early release or injured or in trouble. Had Toulouse been in SL in 2021 for example, they could probably have picked up the likes of Anthony Milford, Adam Elliott etc. for 4 month loan spells to help them in the run in.

Edited November 17, 2021 by Scubby

[Just Browny]

24 minutes ago, Damien said:

This is a Toulouse squad that was unbeaten last year and has consistently finished above Leigh in the Championship in recent years, including the year prior to Leigh going into SL. They are going into SL with a much stronger squad than what Leigh had in their last year of the Championship. Yes Leigh may have made signings but they didn't add any real quality and had players like Ben Flower watching from the sidelines.

I also think that a mistake teams often make is ditching all the players that got them into SL in the first place and signing a load of players from the relegated club. They shatter the team spirit and cohesion that made them successful. Often the clubs that do best are the ones that retain a strong core of their existing squad, as London did when they won 10 games.

Agree with this. While it isnt a world beating squad, there isn't a group of top players sitting around ready to be signed whom Toulouse have ignored.

As you say, keeping their spine of players is what has got them promoted and the 10% extra they will get from not having to bring together a scratch set of players might pinch them an extra win or two. If it doesn't, and they get relegated, they'll find retention much easier too.

[GUBRATS]

40 minutes ago, Damien said:

This is a Toulouse squad that was unbeaten last year and has consistently finished above Leigh in the Championship in recent years, including the year prior to Leigh going into SL. They are going into SL with a much stronger squad than what Leigh had in their last year of the Championship. Yes Leigh may have made signings but they didn't add any real quality and had players like Ben Flower watching from the sidelines.

I also think that a mistake teams often make is ditching all the players that got them into SL in the first place and signing a load of players from the relegated club. They shatter the team spirit and cohesion that made them successful. Often the clubs that do best are the ones that retain a strong core of their existing squad, as London did when they won 10 games.

Agree completely with the last bit , first bit is nonsense , the 2020 season consisted of 6 games each for Leigh and Fev , who both won all 6 , and 7 for Toulouse due to them dodging the CC , of which they won all 7 , the years previous to that were all very close 

Toulouse will struggle especially if they get injuries ( as Leigh did massively this year ) , again dodging the CC is a good idea as that might buy them a couple of wins 

You are correct in that they have kept together a winning squad ( unlike Leigh who basically get a completely new one every year it seems ) 

They will need a big dose of luck , and to target the home games against the bottom 7 

[Saint Toppy]

41 minutes ago, Damien said:

This is a Toulouse squad that was unbeaten last year and has consistently finished above Leigh in the Championship in recent years, including the year prior to Leigh going into SL. They are going into SL with a much stronger squad than what Leigh had in their last year of the Championship. Yes Leigh may have made signings but they didn't add any real quality and had players like Ben Flower watching from the sidelines.

I also think that a mistake teams often make is ditching all the players that got them into SL in the first place and signing a load of players from the relegated club. They shatter the team spirit and cohesion that made them successful. Often the clubs that do best are the ones that retain a strong core of their existing squad, as London did when they won 10 games.

The TO squad is made up of players completely untested at SL level, and of the ones who do have the experience a fair few of them are well past their best (Garbutt, Gigot, Hansen, Pelissier) and others were largely flops at that level (Paulo, Vaivai, Springer, Navarette, White, Cunningham). There's only really Peyroux who's still performing at SL standard.

Lets wait & see but IMO TO's squad seems an awful lot weaker than everyone elses for next year. Their pack in particular looks really poor. 

[Scubby]

1 minute ago, Saint Toppy said:

The TO squad is made up of players completely untested at SL level, and of the ones who do have the experience a fair few of them are well past their best (Garbutt, Gigot, Hansen, Pelissier) and others were largely flops at that level (Paulo, Vaivai, Springer, Navarette, White, Cunningham). There's only really Peyroux who's still performing at SL standard.

Lets wait & see but IMO TO's squad seems an awful lot weaker than everyone elses for next year. Their pack in particular looks really poor. 

But playing Devil's Advocate the squad is 50% French players so they are either trying to give those guys every opportunity possible to prove themselves in SL or they simply fill it with overseas signings and English players. It can't be both ways - you want French players in SL they will be untested.

[Damien]

13 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Agree completely with the last bit , first bit is nonsense , the 2020 season consisted of 6 games each for Leigh and Fev , who both won all 6 , and 7 for Toulouse due to them dodging the CC , of which they won all 7 , the years previous to that were all very close 

Toulouse will struggle especially if they get injuries ( as Leigh did massively this year ) , again dodging the CC is a good idea as that might buy them a couple of wins 

You are correct in that they have kept together a winning squad ( unlike Leigh who basically get a completely new one every year it seems ) 

They will need a big dose of luck , and to target the home games against the bottom 7 

Its not nonsense. Its a fact. I know 2020 was shortened, hence I said recent seasons too. Toulouse finished above Leigh in 2018, 2019 and 2020, every season since 2017 when Leigh were in Super League. That's regularly in my book. Yes it may have been close but they still did.

I do think teams sometimes change for changes sake and don't necessarily sign players that are better than the ones they let go.

[Davo5]

1 minute ago, Scubby said:

But playing Devil's Advocate the squad is 50% French players so they are either trying to give those guys every opportunity possible to prove themselves in SL or they simply fill it with overseas signings and English players. It can't be both ways - you want French players in SL they will be untested.

This.people at quick to criticise TO & Catalans for their “lack” of French players then have a pop when they recruit those same French players.

[Damien]

31 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

The TO squad is made up of players completely untested at SL level, and of the ones who do have the experience a fair few of them are well past their best (Garbutt, Gigot, Hansen, Pelissier) and others were largely flops at that level (Paulo, Vaivai, Springer, Navarette, White, Cunningham). There's only really Peyroux who's still performing at SL standard.

Lets wait & see but IMO TO's squad seems an awful lot weaker than everyone elses for next year. Their pack in particular looks really poor. 

Untested does not mean they aren't good enough.

The likes of Navarette and Springer have played 60 odd games each at Super League level. Its an odd view that you have that if they are untested they automatically aren't good enough but if they have played in SL they are flops and/or past their best and still aren't good enough. Similarly if they sign French players they aren't good enough but if they sign foreign ones they aren't developing French players.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't springs to mind.

Edited November 17, 2021 by Damien

[Saint Toppy]

53 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

This.people at quick to criticise TO & Catalans for their “lack” of French players then have a pop when they recruit those same French players.

Difference is Catalans were protected from relegation for 3 years and have had 15 years now to incorporate french players but still fill their team with Brits & Antipodeans. That's why I give them so much criticism.

TO i haven't criticised for their recruitment, just commented that their squad looks weak.

[Saint Toppy]

49 minutes ago, Damien said:

Untested does not mean they aren't good enough.

The likes of Navarette and Springer have played 60 odd games each at Super League level. Its an odd view that you have that if they are untested they automatically aren't good enough but if they have played in SL they are flops and/or past their best and still aren't good enough. Similarly if they sign French players they aren't good enough but if they sign foreign ones they aren't developing French players.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't springs to mind.

Springer & Navarette were poor during their time in SL, and Paolo & Vaivai were just plain garbage. I'd go so far as to say Paulo was one of the worst overseas signing Saints have ever made 

[binosh]

I think we were all hoping Toulouse would bring in some quality reinforcements but it was apparent early on that wasn’t going to be the case. 

The noises from Toulouse from early on were quite negative in regards to spending the cap and really going for it now they had finally won their chance they have failed to add any real value to their side.

I have remarked a few times about certain fans believing Toulouse to be the saviours of SL but with their current apathy towards making it a success in 2022 I think it’s going to be a long old year for them and I believe they could have done more to build on the positivity coming out of France. Deep down I was hoping to be proven wrong and want Toulouse to light up the comp but I just can’t see it happening. Unless of course they have been told they won’t go down next year?