LEICESTER TIGERS 2021/22 SQUAD/TRANSFERS/CONTRACTS: Lord of the Mauls

[ay2oh]

Agree would be nice to know but is a lot better than previous regime where we named a strong side only to find 4 or 5 players dropped out just before kick off.

[RagingBull]

Erm “K Van Wyk getting shipped out”
Am I missing something?

Who knows other than Borthwick Thats the truth.

?
Van Wyk been training

[longlivethecrumbie]

The signing and immediate elevation of Ashton to the bench ahead of Kobus van Wyk would seem to suggest to some fans (including me) that his days as a Tiger are numbered. That may not be the case as he could be injured, but as we get no information we, as fans, are drawing our own conclusions.

I, for one, am assuming that Kobus will be off in, at the latest, the summer.

Like many others, I'm worried around van Staden and his recovery from what we assume is a concussion. I have a genuine concern that he could end up like Dave Denton and having to retire. Again, this is an concern based on the lack of information from the club, type of injury and also the types of players we've been linked with. Again, I may be wrong and I hope I am.

[ay2oh]

It’s inevitable that the lack of information fuels speculation.

[anz3001]

I think he could be a little more flexible. Where a player is out for a couple of weeks, I totally get the need not to give details. In the case of MVS for example where there is a lot of fan interest and concern being expressed over the players welfare, I really don’t see an update as a problem as without one fans will come to all sorts of conclusions

It’s entirely possible that the players themselves don’t want this information shared. How open should anyone be about a player possibly having to retire. Were that the case, I’m pretty sure the player would want some time to come to terms with it before it becomes public.
Likewise, what good would it do to say, KVW is available for selection but we don’t see him having a future at Tigers so he’s holding training bags.

[TigerFeetSteve]

The signing and immediate elevation of Ashton to the bench ahead of Kobus van Wyk would seem to suggest to some fans (including me) that his days as a Tiger are numbered. That may not be the case as he could be injured, but as we get no information we, as fans, are drawing our own conclusions.

I think it's the fact we lacked bench depth at 15 with Kini injured. If Kobus was absolutely ripping it up maybe we'd play him and use Potter at 15, but as it is I think all Ashton suggests is that Borthwick reckons he can cover 15 (as he did in HIA period) and confirms to me Kini is injured as most of the users of this forum suspected.

[TigerFeetSteve]

I think he could be a little more flexible. Where a player is out for a couple of weeks, I totally get the need not to give details. In the case of MVS for example where there is a lot of fan interest and concern being expressed over the players welfare, I really don’t see an update as a problem as without one fans will come to all sorts of conclusions

It’s entirely possible that the players themselves don’t want this information shared. How open should anyone be about a player possibly having to retire. Were that the case, I’m pretty sure the player would want some time to come to terms with it before it becomes public.
Likewise, what good would it do to say, KVW is available for selection but we don’t see him having a future at Tigers so he’s holding training bags.

Your first point IMO allowed Tom Youngs privacy, till he was ready to share about Tiff. The whole nothing is released meant the silence round Tom didn't raise additional flags cause him to deal with public pressures. If it helps in any way shape or form in those circumstances then IMO it's the right thing.
If one future player has less pressure when dealing with a personal issue then 100% all of our fan wondering and debating is all worth it.

[sam16111986]

I think he could be a little more flexible. Where a player is out for a couple of weeks, I totally get the need not to give details. In the case of MVS for example where there is a lot of fan interest and concern being expressed over the players welfare, I really don’t see an update as a problem as without one fans will come to all sorts of conclusions

It’s entirely possible that the players themselves don’t want this information shared. How open should anyone be about a player possibly having to retire. Were that the case, I’m pretty sure the player would want some time to come to terms with it before it becomes public.
Likewise, what good would it do to say, KVW is available for selection but we don’t see him having a future at Tigers so he’s holding training bags.

Your first point IMO allowed Tom Youngs privacy, till he was ready to share about Tiff. The whole nothing is released meant the silence round Tom didn't raise additional flags cause him to deal with public pressures. If it helps in any way shape or form in those circumstances then IMO it's the right thing.
If one future player has less pressure when dealing with a personal issue then 100% all of our fan wondering and debating is all worth it.

Very well put.

I'd also add, how happy would any of us be if our employer publicly discussed our medical status as and when they felt like it. The players do deserve some privacy in this world where social media puts increasing amounts of content out there.

[RagingBull]

The signing and immediate elevation of Ashton to the bench ahead of Kobus van Wyk would seem to suggest to some fans (including me) that his days as a Tiger are numbered. That may not be the case as he could be injured, but as we get no information we, as fans, are drawing our own conclusions.

I, for one, am assuming that Kobus will be off in, at the latest, the summer.

Like many others, I'm worried around van Staden and his recovery from what we assume is a concussion. I have a genuine concern that he could end up like Dave Denton and having to retire. Again, this is an concern based on the lack of information from the club, type of injury and also the types of players we've been linked with. Again, I may be wrong and I hope I am.

Yeh but no clubs announce leavers this early unless they have a club so don’t get the point of bringing him up.

[northerntiger]

[/quote]

Very well put.

I'd also add, how happy would any of us be if our employer publicly discussed our medical status as and when they felt like it. The players do deserve some privacy in this world where social media puts increasing amounts of content out there.
[/quote]

I’m fairly sure I remember that that was SB’s reasons for not giving out information on injuries

[Rugbygramps]

It’s entirely possible that the players themselves don’t want this information shared. How open should anyone be about a player possibly having to retire. Were that the case, I’m pretty sure the player would want some time to come to terms with it before it becomes public.
Likewise, what good would it do to say, KVW is available for selection but we don’t see him having a future at Tigers so he’s holding training bags.

Your first point IMO allowed Tom Youngs privacy, till he was ready to share about Tiff. The whole nothing is released meant the silence round Tom didn't raise additional flags cause him to deal with public pressures. If it helps in any way shape or form in those circumstances then IMO it's the right thing.
If one future player has less pressure when dealing with a personal issue then 100% all of our fan wondering and debating is all worth it.

Very well put.

I'd also add, how happy would any of us be if our employer publicly discussed our medical status as and when they felt like it. The players do deserve some privacy in this world where social media puts increasing amounts of content out there.

I totally agree about peoples right to privacy both individual and from their employers, was just musing that in the case of MVS if there is some positive news or timescales, with his agreement, an announcement could be prudent.
I think in the case of OTY and Tiff there were some people very much in the know leaking snippets and everyone’s thoughts and prayers were and still are with them

[sapajo]

Erm “K Van Wyk getting shipped out”
Am I missing something?

Who knows other than Borthwick Thats the truth.

?
Van Wyk been training

Well he has to train even if he is not playing just to maintain fitness does he not?

[westwinds31]

I’m almost in favour of blanket silence regarding injuries and progress of players who are injured, rather than the “he’s back in training and a couple of weeks away” smokescreen. Then we’d get excited but find out that a couple actually turned into 6 weeks etc ! Even now there’s the “I saw him in training photos” thing, where a player may be running around but not ready for contact yet, which could mean at least another few weeks. All in all, it’s a guessing game.

It’s the Van Staden and Henderson injuries that I ponder on the most. Or is Henderson even injured !?

[Tiglon]

I'm fine with the "no news" policy, but I understand other fans' wanting to know more.

If Borthwick thinks it's the right thing to do, then I'm happy to go with it. He clearly believes pretty strongly in it, so he must have reasons.

My main thought is, once you start telling the press one thing, it gets twisted and becomes something else. Before you know it "we're being cautious with MVS because he's been concussed and we're hoping he'll be back in April" becomes "MVS SUFFERING POTENTIALLY CAREER ENDING CONCUSSION!!" and whether it's true or not, that can't be helpful for him next time he wants to move clubs and get a decent contract, or next time he's negotiating a sponsorship deal.

The other side is, once you tell the press when a player is injured, you're also telling them when a player has been dropped. Some leaders like to do that publicly, but I reckon SB is not one of them. I'm sure he'll be as strong as anyone in private if a player isn't pulling his weight, and as direct as anyone if someone is falling short, but I doubt he'd want it to be public, he's not that kind of man - as they say, praise in public and criticise in private.

In general, for me, it's just a sign of Borthwick's personal definition of what it means to act professionally, and that's something I can get behind.

If Borthwick told me to jump off a cliff, would I? Yeah, probably....

[TigerFeetSteve]

It’s the Van Staden and Henderson injuries that I ponder on the most. Or is Henderson even injured !?

I'm pretty sure Henderson was on crutches a while ago.(though I may now be getting him mixed up with Lewis Chessum, but thought both had been spotted on them at times)

The Henderson one though is Cam's cryptic Instagram post (him wearing a tigers shirt with an hourglass emojii) a few weeks past seemingly suggesting he was approaching a return, that's him choosing to say something about his own medical status, though we don't know of any setbacks or if that was him returning to initial training. If he had been fit he would have played rather than Kini as a 2nd row substitution that's for sure...