The Transfer Rumour Mill Thread

[Chrispmartha]

9 minutes ago, graveyard johnny said:

will be 30 next year - only played 18 NRL games - dropped instantly by the knights as soon as Ponga is fit and no other place for him - do we never ever learn with these  sort of signings? where are our homegrown talents?

We don’t have them.

In his 11 games for the Knights he’s averaged 180 metres and had 79 tackle busts.

He’s only played 18 NRL games because he’s only played RL for just over 2 years as hes a RU convert who played 7s in the Olympics.

Two similar recent imports are Jai Field and Bevan French I’d say SL is better with those players in it.

[Damien]

11 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

We don’t have them.

In his 11 games for the Knights he’s averaged 180 metres and had 79 tackle busts.

He’s only played 18 NRL games because he’s only played RL for just over 2 years as hes a RU convert who played 7s in the Olympics.

Two similar recent imports are Jai Field and Bevan French I’d say SL is better with those players in it.

Not really similar at all. Miller was a RL player that never made it and switched to RU 7s for the opportunity. He longed for a second shot at RL and has lasted a season at Cronulla then a season at Newcastle before being shipped out to SL. He has looked raw at both clubs and defensively frail.

French signed for Wigan at the age of 22 after playing 50 NRL games. I think his pedigree was quite different. Field may have more similarities in terms of NRL appearances but he signed for Wigan at a young age after playing NYC and NRL and was signed cheap on potential.

[Chrispmartha]

16 minutes ago, Damien said:

Not really similar at all. Miller was a RL player that never made it and switched to RU 7s for the opportunity. He longed for a second shot at RL and has lasted a season at Cronulla then a season at Newcastle before being shipped out to SL. He has looked raw at both clubs and defensively frail.

French signed for Wigan at the age of 22 after playing 50 NRL games. I think his pedigree was quite different. Field may have more similarities in terms of NRL appearances but he signed for Wigan at a young age after playing NYC and NRL and was signed cheap on potential.

I meant similar in style.

 

We’ll see but he seems to be pretty much universally hailed as a good signing by Leeds fans which is highly unusual.

I’m looking forward to seeing him play in SL

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Chrispmartha

[Tommygilf]

17 minutes ago, Damien said:

Not really similar at all. Miller was a RL player that never made it and switched to RU 7s for the opportunity. He longed for a second shot at RL and has lasted a season at Cronulla then a season at Newcastle before being shipped out to SL. He has looked raw at both clubs and defensively frail.

French signed for Wigan at the age of 22 after playing 50 NRL games. I think his pedigree was quite different. Field may have more similarities in terms of NRL appearances but he signed for Wigan at a young age after playing NYC and NRL and was signed cheap on potential.

As long as he is relatively cheap and isn't a star signing...

[Damien]

24 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

As long as he is relatively cheap and isn't a star signing...

Yeah that's always the question. A cheap punt and it's worth a shot. Hard to know these days with the money in the NRL and the minimum wage being so high.

[Ragingbull]

2 hours ago, Chrispmartha said:

I meant similar in style.

 

We’ll see but he seems to be pretty much universally hailed as a good signing by Leeds fans which is highly unusual.

I’m looking forward to seeing him play in SL

 

Id be willing to bet the majority of of their fans have never even seen him play and never even heard of him untill he was linked with the club

[Derwent]

Jordan Turner to Oldham as Player Coach

[DACS]

I've seen Miller play a fair bit. He's an exciting attacking player, which SL desperately needs more of (and Leeds especially!). The reality is nobody is signing a top flight starting fullback from the NRL. The closest recently is Dufty, who was perceived to have huge defensive flaws despite being one of the most exciting attacking full backs in the competition.   

Miller came back to RL after playing on the pro rugby 7s circuit for years. He went down that route in his early 20s, and did very well, travelling the world and earning more than most SL players. 

He looked very good when he got a few games for the Sharks, and was snapped up by the Knights (a three year deal) because their plan was him at fullback and Ponga at 6. That experiment failed due to Ponga's inability to defend in the line, so he moved back to fullback. Since then Miller has been playing 6 in reserve grade, because the Knights are very strong on the wing, where he has also played. Had Ponga worked at 6, Miller would likely still be fullback.

The clip game is childish. Do you want me to dig up clips of Bevan French being run over in the NRL, which is why nobody wanted him when he left for Wigan, despite scoring almost a try a game for the Eels? If you think he or Field are playing in England because they love it then give your head a wobble. They are in SL because no NRL side sees much value there. The same is true for Miller. But they are all entertaining players who add a lot to SL.

[Saint Toppy]

21 hours ago, Damien said:

Hopefully we will see this kind of defensive quality at the Rhinos:

 

 

Makes Dufty look like the worlds best defensive FB 

[Chrispmartha]

41 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

Makes Dufty look like the worlds best defensive FB 

We can all play that game, Jack Wesley has shown some pretty poor defence - was it that try Kevin Naquama scored recently where he was flapping his arms around whilst being out of position

[Damien]

4 hours ago, DACS said:

Miller came back to RL after playing on the pro rugby 7s circuit for years. He went down that route in his early 20s, and did very well, travelling the world and earning more than most SL players. 

He went down that route because no NRL club wanted him by his early 20s.

RU7s wages are notoriously low. The basic wage of a Australian 7s player in 2019 was around £23k. It's hardly earning more than most SL players.

[Chrispmartha]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

He went down that route because no NRL club wanted him by his early 20s.

RU7s wages are notoriously low. The basic wage of a Australian 7s player in 2019 was around £23k. It's hardly earning more than most SL players.

Did he run over your dog or something?

[Saint Toppy]

1 hour ago, Chrispmartha said:

We can all play that game, Jack Wesley has shown some pretty poor defence - was it that try Kevin Naquama scored recently where he was flapping his arms around whilst being out of position

Difference is one's a young Brit in his first full season playing in the FB position and still learning that role, and the other is a 30yr old reserve grade Aussie release after just 1 season by all his NRL clubs for not being good enough.

Dufty is the only other player I can ever remember seeing run the other way to avoid having to make a tackle. That clip from earlier this season has to be the single worst and most pathetic piece of full back play i've ever seen - it was truly embarrassing !!! Will the amber on Millers Leeds shirt next season just be a single streak down the back 

 

[Damien]

Just now, Chrispmartha said:

Did he run over your dog or something?

Sorry for stating facts.

[Chrispmartha]

2 minutes ago, Damien said:

Sorry for stating facts.

State whatever you want you just seem overly keen to rubbish the guy.

As a Leeds fan I think he'll be a good signing.

[Chrispmartha]

3 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

Difference is one's a young Brit in his first full season playing in the FB position and still learning that role, and the other is a 30yr old reserve grade Aussie release after just 1 season by all his NRL clubs for not being good enough.

Dufty is the only other player I can ever remember seeing run the other way to avoid having to make a tackle. That clip from earlier this season has to be the single worst and most pathetic piece of full back play i've ever seen - it was truly embarrassing !!! Will the amber on Millers Leeds shirt next season just be a single streak down the back 

 

You're missing my point, playing the posting clips of poor play game is daft because you could do it for most players.

Leeds needed a fullback, and are desperately lacking pace, he fits the bill and we'll see how he goes but I'm looking forward to seeing him in SL.

The problem is Players like Miller are pretty much all that are available these days to come from the NRL, that's more worrying than Miller having a brain fart in a game.

[Damien]

Just now, Chrispmartha said:

State whatever you want you just seem overly keen to rubbish the guy.

As a Leeds fan I think he'll be a good signing.

And you are being way too defensive because you are a Leeds fan and making comparisons to  just about anyone. If everyone was applauding him then you wouldn't be moaning.

If this is a cheap signing, like French was at the time, then yes its worth a punt as I have said. However the landscape has changed since then and this isn't a young player trying to get a shot. The NRL minimum wage is now over $120k AUD (over £60k GBP) and this Leeds deal was good enough for Miller to be released from the final 2 years of his Newcastle Knight contract.  For this to be a cheap signing it would also require none of the other 17 NRL clubs being interested, either as a starting full back or half or even as backup for either. If no one else wanted him even as cheap cover then that raises its own questions as to why. If they did then Leeds are paying considerably more than 60k.

As Tommy said as long as he is cheap and isn't a star signing.....

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Damien said:

And you are being way too defensive because you are a Leeds fan and making comparisons to  just about anyone. If everyone was applauding him then you wouldn't be moaning.

If this is a cheap signing, like French was at the time, then yes its worth a punt as I have said. However the landscape has changed since then and this isn't a young player trying to get a shot. The NRL minimum wage is now over $120k AUD (over £60k GBP) and this Leeds deal was good enough for Miller to be released from the final 2 years of his Newcastle Knight contract.  For this to be a cheap signing it would also require none of the other 17 NRL clubs being interested, either as a starting full back or half or even as backup for either. If no one else wanted him even as cheap cover then that raises its own questions as to why. If they did then Leeds are paying considerably more than 60k.

As Tommy said as long as he is cheap and isn't a star signing.....

Ive really not made comparisons to just about anyone.

He's a player that fits the bill as to what Leeds need for the next few seasons - I don't think it will have been an overly 'cheap' signing but that doesn't bother me if he delivers.

We as a club have gone for star signings in the recent past from the NRL, they don't automatically work out. 

As I say Im happy with the signing, let's see how he goes - the point about Frenchand Field is that players who are deemed not good enough for the NRL doesn't mean they aren't good enough for SL and can even turn out to be stars of SL.

Miller could be like that to it could turn out to be a poor signing - that can be said of pretty much any signing for any club.

[redjonn]

We all know that the NRL is a higher performing league than our SL, we know that any player (or coach) would rather have a starting place or regular game place in the NRL on a higher salary,. That is they would not be coming to the SL otherwise.  So yeah this player may not be a top NRL talent at the peak of his game so yeah every NRL player here is of course rubbish and should have on his shirt not good enough for the NRL whenever he plays.     Hopefully that rubbish NRL player turns out to be a good SL player worthy of whatever his salary as many have been and many have not. Time will tell.

Anyway we further reinforce that our game is of poor quality compared to NRL, that any player that come here is not good enough for NRL and that most of our home grown players that have not been offered a contract  by an NRL club have been deemed not good enough for the NRL. So lets just suck it that we know we ain't as good as the NRL and try and enjoy our less than super SL anyway - I do.

 

[Chrispmartha]

5 minutes ago, redjonn said:

We all know that the NRL is a higher performing league than our SL, we know that any player (or coach) would rather have a starting place or regular game place in the NRL on a higher salary,. That is they would not be coming to the SL otherwise.  So yeah this player may not be a top NRL talent at the peak of his game so yeah every NRL player here is of course rubbish and should have on his shirt not good enough for the NRL whenever he plays.     Hopefully that rubbish NRL player turns out to be a good SL player worthy of whatever his salary as many have been and many have not. Time will tell.

Anyway we further reinforce that our game is of poor quality compared to NRL, that any player that come here is not good enough for NRL and that most of our home grown players that have not been offered a contract  by an NRL club have been deemed not good enough for the NRL. So lets just suck it that we know we ain't as good as the NRL and try and enjoy our less than super SL anyway - I do.

 

When we sign players from other clubs, I always try t gauge what the fans of that club think about them leaving, as Ive said the Knights fans seem to be gutted they've let him leave - but we will see.

[redjonn]

1 minute ago, Chrispmartha said:

When we sign players from other clubs, I always try t gauge what the fans of that club think about them leaving, as Ive said the Knights fans seem to be gutted they've let him leave - but we will see.

time will tell  but Leeds sure needed more cover at full back and hopefully someone with speed... Myler I like and for sure is always on someone's shoulder but even though as a result he goes through the line, he certainly is easy to catch, so to speak...

[Damien]

8 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Ive really not made comparisons to just about anyone.

He's a player that fits the bill as to what Leeds need for the next few seasons - I don't think it will have been an overly 'cheap' signing but that doesn't bother me if he delivers.

We as a club have gone for star signings in the recent past from the NRL, they don't automatically work out. 

As I say Im happy with the signing, let's see how he goes - the point about Frenchand Field is that players who are deemed not good enough for the NRL doesn't mean they aren't good enough for SL and can even turn out to be stars of SL.

Miller could be like that to it could turn out to be a poor signing - that can be said of pretty much any signing for any club.

I do agree that star signings rarely work out and it is often the lesser lights that excel in SL. They are usually much younger though. We don't actually know if Miller is the former or latter. At no point have I said this is a poor signing, I have only replied to comparisons by Leeds fans to other players or statements around money either in RL or RU, although if he was on £100k+ or marquee money I would seriously question it.

This may work out or it may not, frankly I hope it does as SL needs all the star quality and bums on seats players that it can get.

[Harry Stottle]

18 hours ago, Chrispmartha said:

We’ll see but he seems to be pretty much universally hailed as a good signing by Leeds fans which is highly unusual.

He must be good then

[Harry Stottle]

3 hours ago, Chrispmartha said:

We can all play that game, Jack Wesley has shown some pretty poor defence - was it that try Kevin Naquama scored recently where he was flapping his arms around whilst being out of position

Agreed re Welsby it has become a given that he will make some defensive blunder or bad read at one on one tackles. Still he has time to learn at his tender age.

[RSN]

Anyone who watches NRL regularly will know Miller is a top signing. 

He was late into the NRL and was performing very well for the Knights. He lost his place to Ponga after the stand off experiment didn't work but Pongas form in the last 7-8 games has probably been the best of anyone in the NRL. Miller has been unfortunate that Will Kennedy and Kalyn Ponga have been exceptional at both their clubs hence fell down the pecking order. 

He is lightning and a metre machine. He doesn't have the best set of hands but will score tries and get Leeds on the front foot with his kick returns. 

If people say this isn't a good signing they don't watch NRL regularly.