Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

InBenjiWeTrust said:
Pole is one of our best and most consistent players, game after game. IMHO, # 13 is his, and this position become one of our strengths.
If the last game is his break-through, Talau should be our LC.
Agree about halves, this season has clearly shown that they re our weakest spots, and either both of them have a break-out in the rest of the season or they must be replaced.
By saying that, one of the replacements must be 80+ goal kicker, as Wakeham's goal kicking is exceptional.
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Pole is great, but he is not a 13. He may wear the 13 jersey.. but the days of a third prop as your lock are over. There is a great example of why he shouldn't be our 13 from the last play this weekend. Pole had a 4 on 2 overlap. Do we think Bateman would of tried to draw a defender in and pass? or would he try to straighten it up like Pole did? What would Yeo do?
Pole took the front rowers option.. run hard and straight at the post. Pole's best game before this week was playing as an impact prop off the bench. Then this week, his best stint was his 2nd one when he came off the bench and started WW3 with the raiders pack. I love Pole, but 13 he is not.

Also, why are we investing into Talau as a left centre?
  • He isn't very good
  • We are 3-9.. almost no shot of making finals
  • He is off to manly, why develop a player when it is of no benefit to us
  • Naden is better and has a 3 year contract
 
Tucker said:
I’m not pushing the Frizell barrow too much, but the guy is still Origin material and was the Blues best player last Wednesday.
I’d much prefer a young Tapine or Luki type if they are around.
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Tapine re-signed with the Raiders long term,.
Luki is also locked up with the Cowboys, but I’d say he’s taken big unders to stay with them as they have others forwards on big money contracts such as Taumalolo, Leilua, Nanai, Cotter etc.
So making Luki’s manager aware he’s worth a lot more than he’s getting wouldn’t be a bad ploy.
The one I like who’s also under contract until the end of 2024 with the Warriors is Josh Curran. I’d be near certain he too would be on a contract far less than his true vulue and being from Sydney would surely be interested in returning to Sydney with a contract upgrade.
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
I agree with Half but I would have Impact Prop (instead of Lock) and agree on Centre/Wing in 3rd.

I feel that Fonua Pole will transition to our predominant Impact Prop but we need another in our Top 30 (possibly could be an upgrade for Aitasi James).

If Talau is moving on as rumoured, we have T'oa, Naden and then Reilly & Feledy as our centre options. Yes Tupou could transition to centre with Nofa & Staines on the wing but Tupou atm has more value for us developing as a damaging winger.

IMO Feledy is going to be a gun explosive centre but I would rather him spend an entire season in Cup in '24 with a focus on him getting physically stronger, increasing leg drive & working on his speed with a Roger Fabri type. He would be found out defensively against men atm. Has a real Kotoni Staggs feel about him without being as fast over longer distances.
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We don't need to transition Pole to our dominant impact prop. He is already there and can only improve exponentially. He has shown no signs at all this year of being the lock we need. His 4 on 2 overlap this weekend heavily exposed that. Let's not waste our time trying to change him and just help him grow to be the beast he is. I am sorry but players like Pangai jr and Papali'i are much better ball players than him and they are both props.
 
teddy23 said:
Brooks is our $1.1 million dollar halfback/leader. Reality is the club should’ve never offered him that money, let alone that position. The pressure and responsibility of being our halfback and making that sum of money doesn’t suit Brooks play or persona.

Unfortunately Papali’i hasn’t been able to be as effective attacking wise, his last two years at Parra he scored 17 tries. So far with us halfway through the year he only has 1 try.

Brooks biggest weakness imo is utilising his edge forwards, probably the most predictable play in football is his short no look pass to the edge which Papali’i has been accustom to so far this year.

Bateman is the type of who goes looking for the football and likes to cut in the inside and create for himself. So he can still be able to impact the game due to his playstyle regardless on his halfback. Whereas Papali’i needs direction and allows his work rate and strength to do the rest.

Defensively Papali’i has been unreal, so his work ethic and effort hasn’t dropped at all. It’s just his ability to be injected from an attacking perspective by his halfback.

This isn’t a bash Brooks post… I think he can be one of the best 6’s in the league and personally don’t know why the club keep persisting with him at 7.

Brooks strengths is his running game and has really improved his kicking game so far this year imo, but having a genuine 7 next to him to steer the team around and inject our edge rowers more and giving Brooks the sole role of just running the football, creating overlapping plays and taking some kicks will take him even to another level. The emergence of Bula and the experience of Api is helping create a lot of space for Brooks to take the line on as the spaces opening up are becoming larger. Adding that genuine 7 will even further that more.

Wakeham has been impressive but currently we’re playing like a 10-12th ranked team and we keep improving however I don’t think we’ll ever reach the heights of being a top 8 team with them as our halves combination. He’s definitely earned the right to be our backup half however.

I genuinely believe we’re one position away from being a top 8 team…. to me it’s clear that Ben Hunt is the answer each day goes past more statements are coming out about him wanting out. May as well try get in front of the line.
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For much of his career i have not been a fan of Hunt but over the last 12 to 18 months he has lifted his game massively and would love to have him playing in the 7 jumper with us.
Like us with Brooks he needs a change of scenery
 
jadtiger said:
For much of his career i have not been a fan of Hunt but over the last 12 to 18 months he has lifted his game massively and would love to have him playing in the 7 jumper with us.
Like us with Brooks he needs a change of scenery
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Terrific footballer could be the perfect short term option for 2-3 years.

Mentoring both Onitoni Large, Alex Conti and Zac Mar in the lower grades could also be an encouraging factor.
 
supercoach said:
Cant see Staines hanging around to be back up full back and back up winger. He should get an offer elsewhere. Although I would love to have him stay
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With Nofa already on big money and with 2 more years to go, and Bula and Tupou commanding upgrades and extensions, Stains is likely to be a salary cap casualty I expect. He’s currently on $500k or thereabouts as I understand we took on his whole contract from Penrith. Even if we got him for $350k next year it’s probably too much for a backup winger/fullback option. I agree he’ll get more money and opportunities elsewhere.

This is where that dud deal for Nofa is coming back to bite us (if you prefer Stains over Nofa). It’s a lesson to never just spend salary cap money, you need to spend it wisely as there’ll always be an opportunity cost somewhere down the line.
 
WesternSuburbsBoy said:
Yep shows the difference of class between the two halves. Even Bryce Cartwright has improved massively playing outside of Moses which is saying something lol. I feel Brooks has never been able to use his 2nd rower properly his whole career... he looks outside everytime but always just hits his 2nd rower with a short ball while they're basically flat footed. Very predictable.
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Selectively statting again?

Cartwright has been in the Parra system for 2.5 years - and been dross for most of that time… come on a little late last year and seems ok this year - in his 3rd year at the club!!
Paps has been here for 6 months…

Brooks has never had a second rower worth passing the ball outside matterson until this year…
 
Wiz said:
With Nofa already on big money and with 2 more years to go, and Bula and Tupou commanding upgrades and extensions, Stains is likely to be a salary cap casualty I expect. He’s currently on $500k or thereabouts as I understand we took on his whole contract from Penrith. Even if we got him for $350k next year it’s probably too much for a backup winger/fullback option. I agree he’ll get more money and opportunities elsewhere.

This is where that dud deal for Nofa is coming back to bite us (if you prefer Stains over Nofa). It’s a lesson to never just spend salary cap money, you need to spend it wisely as there’ll always be an opportunity cost somewhere down the line.
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I will say that all clubs get a 200k veterans allowance on the salary cap. Basically if you play for a club for 8 years you are eligible. It is the money we just used to give to Benji and Robbie. We have 2 players eligible, Brooks and Nof. I honestly assume we are just throwing the whole veterans allowance at Nof next year which will get him down to something reasonable on the cap.
 
FrodoTBagin said:
I will say that all clubs get a 200k veterans allowance on the salary cap. Basically if you play for a club for 8 years you are eligible. It is the money we just used to give to Benji and Robbie. We have 2 players eligible, Brooks and Nof. I honestly assume we are just throwing the whole veterans allowance at Nof next year which will get him down to something reasonable on the cap.
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If Brooks goes, it would make Nofo a very good cap hold player tbh.
 
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teddy23 said:
Brooks is our $1.1 million dollar halfback/leader. Reality is the club should’ve never offered him that money, let alone that position. The pressure and responsibility of being our halfback and making that sum of money doesn’t suit Brooks play or persona.

Unfortunately Papali’i hasn’t been able to be as effective attacking wise, his last two years at Parra he scored 17 tries. So far with us halfway through the year he only has 1 try.

Brooks biggest weakness imo is utilising his edge forwards, probably the most predictable play in football is his short no look pass to the edge which Papali’i has been accustom to so far this year.

Bateman is the type of who goes looking for the football and likes to cut in the inside and create for himself. So he can still be able to impact the game due to his playstyle regardless on his halfback. Whereas Papali’i needs direction and allows his work rate and strength to do the rest.

Defensively Papali’i has been unreal, so his work ethic and effort hasn’t dropped at all. It’s just his ability to be injected from an attacking perspective by his halfback.

This isn’t a bash Brooks post… I think he can be one of the best 6’s in the league and personally don’t know why the club keep persisting with him at 7.

Brooks strengths is his running game and has really improved his kicking game so far this year imo, but having a genuine 7 next to him to steer the team around and inject our edge rowers more and giving Brooks the sole role of just running the football, creating overlapping plays and taking some kicks will take him even to another level. The emergence of Bula and the experience of Api is helping create a lot of space for Brooks to take the line on as the spaces opening up are becoming larger. Adding that genuine 7 will even further that more.

Wakeham has been impressive but currently we’re playing like a 10-12th ranked team and we keep improving however I don’t think we’ll ever reach the heights of being a top 8 team with them as our halves combination. He’s definitely earned the right to be our backup half however.

I genuinely believe we’re one position away from being a top 8 team…. to me it’s clear that Ben Hunt is the answer each day goes past more statements are coming out about him wanting out. May as well try get in front of the line.
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Brooks always was and always will be a running 6 if he had a game manager half at 7 and didn’t have the pay packet pressure he would be a more than decent player.
Problem is we’ve always wanted him to live up to and play like a million dollar player which he’s just not. Constantly being told it’s your team you need to run the team isn’t his go he goes to water. Take the pressure off let him run and not overplay his hand, which in fairness has been what Sheens and co have been trying to do but with no luck. If we keep trying to make him something he’s not why does anyone expect a different result.
 
TigerVinnie said:
Whilst I agree he hasn't been up to his barnstorming attacking best - I largely think having the standard of quality of half in Moses and Brown at Parra feeding him the right ball at the right time is a contributing factor to this.

I think we however, aren't acknowledging the work and effort area's he puts in defence. . IP is constantly chasing kicks, making multiple tackle effort plays and is always the first at attempting to charge down a kick, considering he comes from an edge, it's these 1% and heart that we have lacked for many years. Never saw Garner or Tuilagi making those plays.
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Agree with the effort areas but it's an indictment
On our left edge/half that he hasn't scored more
than 1 try this year. They use him on crash balls
and unders. He scored 10 tries last year smh.
Mostly from inside the 10m. And we've been
Struggling to post points in the red zone smh
 
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So between Brent Read, Danny Weidler & co, we would be willing to move on Nofa, Simpkin, Laurie, Blore & Talau asap if the return value is appropriate.
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
A preview of Talking Footy on 9 tonight:

Nine's Wide World of Sports, Match Results & Live Scores

Nine Wide World of Sports breaking news headlines, live scores and match results
wwos.nine.com.au wwos.nine.com.au
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Find this amusing

We have 8 current players off contract in season 24 and 19 players total potentially gone by 25

Realistically we are at the bottom so keeping most of the roster was never happening anyway.

Our issue will be filling the roster with better players over all and cost rate per player.
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
So between Brent Read, Danny Weidler & co, we would be willing to move on Nofa, Simpkin, Laurie, Blore & Talau asap if the return value is appropriate.
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let's dissect. for mine, all of this points to Marshall and Sheens wanting every single player in the club to be paid to their appropriate salary.

Nofo – on huge dollars for a winger until 2025 and was only promoted back into the starting side after Staines' freak injury. attitude has not been an issue in recent weeks, but was for years previous. the fact he's playing well gives us the opportunity to find him a new home and to hopefully only pay a small portion.

Simpkin – signed midway thru 2021 on a Hartigan-esque backended deal which I'm sure is way above his market value. shown promise thru the year but with Da Silva's development fast tracked he is most certainly collateral. ideally Rua moves on too and you promote TDS to 14 and Cherrington on minimum wage as cover.

Laurie – been expected for months. both Bula and Staines have overtaken him and his attitude in Cup defensively has been atrocious. will need to look at a guy like Taaffe to replace him.

Blore – this one is disappointing. on the comeback trail, looked a class above in Cup and has always been consistent in grade. if anything, I'd say he's on big dollars and the club's decided it's time to part ways, given Kepaoa's rise and the pursuit of Frizell. one of the players I've always loved, but a release I can understand.

Talau – as far as everyone's aware he's signed with Manly. very disappointed considering we nursed him back to full health, but who knows? maybe it's not done.
 
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