LEICESTER TIGERS 2023/24 - KANGAROO MCKELLER: Do you come from a land down under? (Squad thread pt 2)

[johnthegriff]

We do tend to think in terms of the old style football.manager when it comes to signings and think that McKellar our Head Coach is responsible for the acquisition of the players, I am not sure this is correct these days. I assume there is consultation and maybe suggestions from DMK but I question whether he has final say in signings, hopefully he does on retention of players and definitely his should be the final decision on selection.

[sam16111986]

We do tend to think in terms of the old style football.manager when it comes to signings and think that McKellar our Head Coach is responsible for the acquisition of the players, I am not sure this is correct these days. I assume there is consultation and maybe suggestions from DMK but I question whether he has final say in signings, hopefully he does on retention of players and definitely his should be the final decision on selection.

I expect he sits down with Wilks and they discuss the type of players or skill sets they want to add to the squad. Wilks goes away and collates a list of the targets that are then prioritised and the club pursue based on that.

[OakhamTiger32]

It would never happen, especially as he’s just signed a new contract at Exeter but I’d love to have Feyi-Waboso at Tigers.. he is the exact sort of winger we are missing.. perhaps we can pick up someone who is a similar sort of player but isn’t going to miss half the season away with International call ups

[No6_Flanker]

It would never happen, especially as he’s just signed a new contract at Exeter but I’d love to have Feyi-Waboso at Tigers.. he is the exact sort of winger we are missing.. perhaps we can pick up someone who is a similar sort of player but isn’t going to miss half the season away with International call ups

He certainly makes an impressive amount of post-contact yards. I would like to see him play with his head up a bit more and pass to his teammates on the outside - this is what separates the good players from the great ones.

[ABClub]

We do tend to think in terms of the old style football.manager when it comes to signings and think that McKellar our Head Coach is responsible for the acquisition of the players, I am not sure this is correct these days. I assume there is consultation and maybe suggestions from DMK but I question whether he has final say in signings, hopefully he does on retention of players and definitely his should be the final decision on selection.

I expect he sits down with Wilks and they discuss the type of players or skill sets they want to add to the squad. Wilks goes away and collates a list of the targets that are then prioritised and the club pursue based on that.

Charlie Morgan's season preview in the Telegraph mentioned James Wade joining as "head of rugby partnerships" as well.

Wilks himself has been promoted to general manager, with the club appointing James Wade as head of rugby partnerships. Wade will dovetail with Wilks on recruitment and oversee the playing programme of players below the first-team, such as those on loan away from Tigers.

There's two options on who that could be. Either it's the James Wade who was Oxford Uni coach forever, prior to that managed Sale's academy for a decade and was Wasps high performance manager. Who seems the best fit for that role. The other potential James Wade is the "senior game development manager" with the SRU who was formerly in charge of coaching development across Scotland.

I've never seen Tigers actually confirm it though. If either joined, then they didn't bother updating Linkedin which both are on. Charlie Morgan is usually on the money and it's a very specific thing to report, so presumably there was something to it. Does anyone know if a Wade actually joined? If so, which it was?!

[Tigersunited]

Wade is definitely with us, saw him against Gloucester, in a tigers coat.

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Caution should be excercised when speculating about signings

Yeah,I’m still waiting for Gregor Townsend to be unveiled

Is that the second centre we've signed?

[Tigersunited]

We do tend to think in terms of the old style football.manager when it comes to signings and think that McKellar our Head Coach is responsible for the acquisition of the players, I am not sure this is correct these days. I assume there is consultation and maybe suggestions from DMK but I question whether he has final say in signings, hopefully he does on retention of players and definitely his should be the final decision on selection.

Both Steve and DMK definitely chose/choose all signing new and recontracting, they don’t do the scouting and negotiating, they have final stay, quite rightly.

[KiwiTig]

Great scrum from Cronin

[RagingBull]

The more you see JVP the more you got to think is the drop between him and current form Ben Youngs too high?
It's a tough one, cause we won't get a replacement with Ben Youngs here either in terms of cap or depth


Got to wonder Steward prob needs to be looking at bring some more to his game, he could be a very solid international wing with a off season of speed work, he could also be a very good 12.
BUT Shillcock at 15 brings what Furbank brings to Saints and he just looks so much more comfortable as a playmaker with that extra time

[ABClub]

I'd really like to see Steward tried at centre. He profiles as a completely different player to what many coaches are shifting to at 15. The top international fullbacks increasingly have kicking and passing games closer to what 10s offer. I think that Freddie's ability to make yards through contact can be utilised better from centre. I think his size would be more of an asset defensively from centre.

Whilst his high ball work can still be utilised from there with a smart kick chase plan. He could be an absolute weapon regularly chasing box kicks and bombs, rather than being in the backfield waiting for the returning kick.

I also think there has been an evolution of the best teams figuring out how to counter Freddie since his first international season. The better sides have increasingly avoided kicking to compete on Freddie, instead kick long trying to move him around the backfield and force him to return more kicks back to opposition. Neither of which are really his strength. The nature of being a bit slower than some fullbacks means he doesn't cover ground as quickly.

He has a massive boot on him but it isn't as refined as the many international fullbacks who have played a lot of 10. I think that boot could be used really smartly when exiting from the 22 to take pressure off the SH and FH. Similar to James Lowe for Ireland or Jordie Barrett for NZ. I'm not sure I see Freddie developing the variety and accuracy of kicking that many international 15s now have though.

The more I think about it, the more I think his best position could be centre.

With the side frequently looking short carriers before Wiese leaves, I can't help but wonder if Kata and/or Porter could be well utilised on the wing next season as well. Add that extra carrier who can come in tighter and make yards around the ruck when needed. A bit like Jack Nowell did for Chiefs and England at his best.

[Jimmy Skitz]

put your tin hat on ABC, you've dared suggesting moving Freddie's position.

With the back line we picked today you could experiment with

Kelly to 12
Freddie to 13
Kata to 14, with the fall back option of swapping back if its not working, whatever we do we need to get our biggest weapons with their hands on the ball in space.

Of course another option is to find another Gopparth to play 12 and be a play maker from there

[ABClub]

9.JvP 10.Pollard 11.OHC 12.Steward 13.Kelly 14.Kata 15.Shillcock

I'd be making a point of trying to play that before the end of the season. With Jasper going we are going to need all the ball carriers we can get who can make yards after contact.

[LE18]

put your tin hat on ABC, you've dared suggesting moving Freddie's position.

With the back line we picked today you could experiment with

Kelly to 12
Freddie to 13
Kata to 14, with the fall back option of swapping back if its not working, whatever we do we need to get our biggest weapons with their hands on the ball in space.

Of course another option is to find another Gopparth to play 12 and be a play maker from there

I dont think Freddie would make it as a centre, he's big and strong but he doesnt have any other running style other than just straight, yes he could do a crash ball job but he does not have any of that jinking or side stepping or dummying needed to beat his opposition, he does get tackled quite easily because he runs straight and I dont think he has an offloading game. I cant see him in any other positions than FB or Wing. Remember we tried to move Worth, he was a similar style player to Freddie and he failed to make it.

[RagingBull]

Worth and Steward aren't in the same league though.
Honestly I don't see any similarity in style between Worth and Steward tbh either.

Really looking back I thought Worth best potential position was 13, in a potential Henry Slade way but really he didn't have the potential sadly .