The struggling Wests Tigers sit in the bottom four on the NRL competition ladder and, with their top eight chances dead in the water, must turn their attention to 2022.
Michael Maguire's future is reportedly clouded at the joint venture as they search for the solution to turn the club around, having managed to lose to a severely understrength Warriors' team on Friday night.
He was reportedly told before the game he had the final six games of the year to save his job, but the loss to the Warriors will surely leave him on shaky ground, although there is scope for things to turn around with games against two games against the Canterbury Bulldogs remaining, as well as a clash with the North Queensland Cowboys.
Fox Sports analyst Michael Ennis believes he has found the answer to the problem however, telling the Big League Wrap on Sunday evening that the club should chase Joseph Manu, doing whatever it takes to bring the star to the club, having already missed plenty of big names this year.
“The Wests Tigers have missed Latrell Mitchell, they’ve missed Dale Finucane, they’ve missed out on Tevita Pangai," Ennis told the show.
“When Maguire was a top coach he had top players doing all those little things for him where he doesn’t seem to have that (at the Tigers).
“Why don’t they throw the kitchen sink at a Joseph Manu? Pay way overs for him — and not one of these plays around the $800,000 mark — I’m talking about some serious money.
The Sydney Roosters' centre, who reportedly wants to make a permanent switch to fullback, is widely regarded as one of the NRL's hottest signatures.
The Roosters are desperate to keep him but will struggle due to salary cap issues, while the New Zealand Warriors are also "certain" to make a play for the 25-year-old Hamilton-born Kiwi.
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It's tipped Manu could be the NRL's next million dollar man, having played an enormous part in the Roosters' success over the past couple of seasons, while also filling in strongly for James Tedesco at fullback when he has been out with injury or Origin commitments.
The Tigers will be looking at a full rebuild however, but with their only signings being English Super League players Oliver Gildart and Jackson Hastings for 2022, things are looking bleak as they struggle to attract talent to the club.
They have made four re-signings in the way of Jock Madden, Jake Simpkin, and Jacob Liddle, as well as Zane Musgrove, while Tom Amone, Michael Chee-Kam, Zac Cini, William Kei, Thomas Mikaele, Russell Packer, Alex Seyfarth and Billy Walters are all still off-contract, while James Roberts and Joseph Leilua may not be retained, only having a club option for 2022.
Manu would be unable to arrive at the club until 2023 though, but by then, the Tigers could be looking at a complete rebuild, with big-money earner Moses Mbye headlining the list of off-contract players that season. He is joined by Luke Garner, Asu Kepaoa, Luciano Leilua, Moses Mbye, Joe Ofahengaue, Tommy Talau, James Tamou and Alex Twal.
James Hooper told The Big League Wrap however that the Tigers may be unlikely to spend big money on one player, having been burned previously on their inability to pick up big-name signatures.
“The reason why they won’t do it is because they’re battle-scarred from having missed out on so many key signatures,” Hooper said.
