Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

BAGNF05 said:
There shouldn’t be much development left to do once a guy arrives in first grade. At that point it’s about gaining match experience and growing their confidence. What you’re explaining in large part is good players looking better when playing in better footy teams.it’s also the reason Ice looks somewhat average again here. There’s plenty of other examples of it.
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Ice still looks good to me .. give him a break , look at the shit passes he has thrown at him and the muppets he has next to him.. Ice, Bateman and Klemmer are not the problem, they are part of the solution but we desperately need some decent halves
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
The way I now see the Fainu brother situation is we are keen to recruit them but won’t be held to ransom and overpay to the detriment of our young pathway guns. Both have potential but are unproven.

Lachlan Galvin, Heath Mason, Chris Faagutu, Kit Laulilii may all turn out better players than the Fainus. We shouldn’t be paying them ‘significantly’ more than those guys.

However in saying that we have to also consider that signing them does send a message that we can recruit super talent from other clubs.
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totally agree with you there, Faagutu looks a gun!!! Well said Black White Gold.. would be good to get some bright young talent
 
Seems 2 issues for sure.

1. Benji and Sheens didn't like the board hiring Fulton without their input. Reasonable
2. The players Fulton has tried to shop to Benji so far have not fit Benji's vision.

I think these 2 things are certainties.

Reading between the lines I'd suspect that Fulton is mostly just trying to shop Benji players so far who his player agent mates want us to overpay for. Which Benji doesn't want a bar of. Fulton is stroppy that Benji has rejected Schuster and wanted to meet the Fainu's before signing them and feels like Benji is being petulant. The fact Benji has sort of put the foot down has weakened Fulton in the eyes of Tartak and company but also is a good thing because I'm sure they saw us as an easy place to get overpay from like the Dragons, Manly and Dogs have been. The agents are now trying to help Fulton regain some power in there by insisting he be there or we don't get their talent which honestly should be illegal.

I'd also say that if Benji just rubber stamped Fulton's agreements we'd have Schuster and the Fainu's already (probably all on massive overs) and Fulton is probably getting anxious and frustrated about the fact Benji has blocked what he felt like he'd been signed to accomplish.

I'd say at this juncture they both truly just need to work together. Lee said they have committed to doing so. I hope they do. I also hope they both stop using their media contacts to push their agendas for them which they are both blatantly doing. Fulton clearly feeds information to Rothfield and Benji to Braith and Chammas.

Fulton having good connections with the agents who hold all the Western Sydney talent is highly valuable but only if it gets us good players on good deals not if it just gets us access to being extorted.

All in all I think from what I can infer from the way the media men who rep each of them are talking I think Benji is the one being more reasonable.
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
The way I now see the Fainu brother situation is we are keen to recruit them but won’t be held to ransom and overpay to the detriment of our young pathway guns. Both have potential but are unproven.

Lachlan Galvin, Heath Mason, Chris Faagutu, Kit Laulilii may all turn out better players than the Fainus. We shouldn’t be paying them ‘significantly’ more than those guys.

However in saying that we have to also consider that signing them does send a message that we can recruit super talent from other clubs.
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Well said BlackWhiteGold.
When all high profile players are refusing to sign with us it means we have to gamble a little and likely spend well above the market value to give ourselves a chance of signing some players on potential, however there still has to be a limit on this.
If we pay ridiculous amounts for young talents unproven at NRL level, there is always the chance they may not progress as well as expected and could stifle our salary cap spend.
So there is difficult decisions to make, no doubt about that.
 
Vicious said:
Not good.
In fairness we gave Maguire a decent chance to get it right and despite being a good coach and man manager, he couldn’t manage to get our recruitment & retention right. Therefore surely we give Benji a couple of seasons to try and turn it around ?
I know it’s frustrating for all our fans, but every time a new coach is appointed it’s basically starting from scratch.
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For where we are right now - we need a circuit breaker as the status quo is not working.

That's why I believe the board went after Fulton.

Our recruitment strategy needs to be two fold.

Initially we need to;
- Recruit players for the club
- Accommodate player managers (Even if it means stacking the club with certain managers' players)

Once we climb off the bottom of the ladder we can then
- Recruit players for the coach
- Dictate terms with mangers

We have zero cred and zero appeal. We're not in any power position and need to use any advantage we can get. If that means Scott and Mario working hand in hand in the short-term - then so be it.
 
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BlackWhiteGold said:
The way I now see the Fainu brother situation is we are keen to recruit them but won’t be held to ransom and overpay to the detriment of our young pathway guns. Both have potential but are unproven.

Lachlan Galvin, Heath Mason, Chris Faagutu, Kit Laulilii may all turn out better players than the Fainus. We shouldn’t be paying them ‘significantly’ more than those guys.

However in saying that we have to also consider that signing them does send a message that we can recruit super talent from other clubs.
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I actually see it the other way. The fact the bros haven't signed elsewhere is because thier management have given us a list of concerns (Call them demands) and are waiting on assurances from us.

As per my post above, we've got zero leverage in negotiations ATM and need to appease player managers if we're any chance of signing stock.
 
Aubanon said:
For where we are right now - we need a circuit breaker as the status quo is not working.

That's why I believe the board went after Fulton.

Our recruitment strategy needs to be two fold.

Initially we need to;
- Recruit players for the club
- Accommodate player managers (Even if it means stacking the club with certain managers' players)

Once we climb off the bottom of the ladder we can then
- Recruit players for the coach
- Dictate terms with mangers

We have zero cred and zero appeal. We're not in any power position and need to use any advantage we can get. If that means Scott and Mario working hand in hand in the short-term - then so be it.
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💯

Benji sheens lost me on the Melbourne game. Then proceeded to loose by 70 to cows and haven't won a game since. Results should not be forgotten in all this.
 
I think it's important to recognise that our pathways being elite is not some fever dream. Our Harold Matthews undefeated Wests Magpies side all came up go SG Ball and lost to the eventual premiers in a game they dominated. This years Magpies Harold Matts were all a year young and had a great year. The Balmain sides haven't been quite as good but they have their fair share of talent to lend to the pathways too.

So when we say we have nothing to offer, that we have no way out... buying our way out is not the solution. We've tried that and it doesn't work. We are following the Penrith model.

In 2 years time we will have the following players in the first grade top 30.

Jahream Bula
Junior Tupou
Tallyn Da Silva
Fonua Pole
Lachlan Galvin
Josh Feledy
Chris Fa'agutu
Onitoni Large
Luke Laulili'i
Kit Lauilili'i
Heath Mason
Jordan Miller
Hemeasi Makasini
Alex Conti

And that's just the ones who are nearly can't miss first graders. And they're going to come through together, as winning footballers, with loyalty to each other and to the club.

Throw in some key re-signings and a few good experienced heads and it's fine. What we are aiming for here is a club that in 5 years time looks like the 2023 Penrith squad not the 2023 Bulldogs squad.

The light at the end of the tunnel is bright.
 
It’s unlikely any of us in here would really know, but what is a fair price for us to pay for each of the Fainu brothers ?
I’m purely guessing, but I have a strong feeling they expect us to pay somewhere above 400 for Samuela and well above 500 for Latu.
If I am even close to the mark, I’ve got to say I would not pay it as I think we can get established NRL players for around those same amounts.
Surely we are some chance of enticing the likes of Metcalfe or Taafe if we are willing to pay them 600 per season or better. Then you could argue Talatau Amone who’s rumoured to be unwanted by the Dragons was just as highly rated as Latu Fainu at the same age. He hasn’t progressed as well as many thought, but he’s still very young and showing signs being dropped back to NSW Cup May have been the reality check he needed. I’m fearful he will destroy us this weekend.
Then as a barnstorming edge forward, I’ve heard whispers that Josh Curran may be looking to return to Sydney and I am near certain he’d offer us a bit more than Samuela Fainu would if willing to pay either of them around 500 for the next 2 seasons.
Samuela Fainu could very well end up the better player long term, but we need to recruit players who can help us provide instant success, we have our own juniors with a longer term point of view.
 
BAGNF05 said:
There shouldn’t be much development left to do once a guy arrives in first grade. At that point it’s about gaining match experience and growing their confidence. What you’re explaining in large part is good players looking better when playing in better footy teams.it’s also the reason Ice looks somewhat average again here. There’s plenty of other examples of it.
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Yes I get it. But you’ve got to give credit to the guys that create the better systems these players enter into.
Josh King is another 1. How you see an 80 minute lock out of a guy that played limited minutes for impact off the bench for Newcastle is beyond me.
Sure he is playing in a better team; but the guy that Melbourne created are you telling me he doesn’t have the potential to deliver similar performances if he went back to Newcastle? 1 is talent identification. 2 is talent harnessing.
 
Aubanon said:
Definitely sounded like Braith and Benji have had some conversations in the background.

First time in a long while I've agreed with braith.

Some telling points;

- Said any back would look good in Penny's system (Re:Cogger)
- Implied Latu 'Hype' might be an exaggeration/overdone
- Suggested Sezer (Benjis call) was a good signing given the situation
- Rubbished the claim that Fulton Was the best recruiter out there (Lee's claim) - based on manly current position and the fact that Fulton Was in his 1st year of top 30 recruitment
- Then ridiculed Manlys Signing of Schuster for 800k / and then scoffed at the suggested he was worth 1.2mil (Assumeb this is what he was after to come to the tigers) - Fulton's pick and hence another dig at Scott

Looks like they're gonna have to hitch their wagons to the benji train
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More money the player earns, so does his manager
 
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