Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

The unfortunate thing about Stef being offered an option to extend or being off contract end of 24 is we have nothing to bargin with other clubs looking to make space to sign him.
If he was signed up for 25 season, we might of been able to push the Storm for Xavier Coates given the rise of Anderson, Fa’longo and some extra cap room for Melbourne
 
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If Hooper dribbler is correct and Stef heads to Storm , no problem as it gets it sorted out and gives us $ 800 k to play with , and don’t say he is a loss he has been just average over this season , not one game the whole season ,
he has been nothing , hence we are on the bottom, it’s not the end of the world but just maybe a chance to spend some cash on QUALITY players not slugs
 
Needaname said:
The unfortunate thing about Stef being offered an option to extend or being off contract end of 24 is we have nothing to bargin with other clubs looking to make space to sign him.
If he was signed up for 25 season, we might of been able to push the Storm for Xavier Coates given the rise of Anderson, Fa’longo and some extra cap room for Melbourne
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The point we are missing about Stef’s contract clauses is he would have departed the club 2 years ago if it was not for those clauses.
He stayed to see if we improved our results and we haven’t, so if he departs we only have ourselves to blame.
 
balmain boy said:
Similar size to Miller, just all lean and athletic (albeit he had back issues when younger). Miller has the puppy fat that he absolutely needs to lose if we wants to have a first grade career.

We were always just so amateur as a club. Paseka wanted to move swiftly up the ranks, the club told him to wait his turn and develop in Flegg (fair enough to an extent, its the opposite approach to what we have now) and we just let our best young forward go to a rival, for nothing, because "if he doesn't want to be part of what we're building then we don't want him here". I'm pretty sure if he stayed another year he would have progressed quickly and been happy to stay. We just didn't have a football department that was effective aback then.

Even now there's no link, no synergy. Benji and the CEO forming the bulk of the football department, Betsey been moved from where he's best suited (pathways coordinator) and now we have zero coordination across our grades, no one watching our youngsters playing. We're still bloody amateurs and still coming last.
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In defence of the Paseka decision, he signed for Manly in March 2017. He did not play more than 13 games for each of the first two seasons and only started 2 matches in that same time, the other 24 matches off the bench.

At that particular time our prop rotation was Origin-level Aaron Woods, Ava S, Jesse Sue, Tim Grant, Lawnmower boy, JJ Felise and The Huth. We had also just signed Twal from Parramatta, who played immediately and managed 9 games in total 2017.

I can understand therefore both the desire for the club to want Paseka to stay and bide his time, and also why the player didn't want that. I recall Paseka being huge but struggling with his minutes and the defensive requirements of the game.

I genuinely don't believe Paseka became a legitimate FG prospect until 2021 when he finally began starting matches and played 21 games that season. I still don't think he's a particularly great prop. Guy has never played rep football of any kind, though he would be eligible for both Tonga and NZ.

So if a club wants to buy one of our juniors and invest 4-5 years in their development to get them to consistent FG standard, in that case I say "good luck to them" because it's a very significant investment of both time and money. It's not necessarily the time and/or money we could have or needed to have spent.

It clearly did not help that we were in the process of sacking JT and the further player losses in 2017 would hurt far more than Paseka.

Now if he turned out to be Payne Haas after 1 or 2 seasons then fair enough, but Paseka is not even remotely in that echelon. He doesn't have much competition at Manly, who have always known their prop stocks were low given they headhunted Lawnmower Boy from us, signed both Nathan Brown and Matt Lodge this year from the wilderness, and continue to field Tof Sipley week on week (who is an average player at best).

Nah I'm not going wring hands about Paseka. Your other points are valid but this player isn't a posterchild for our inadequacies in player development.
 
Needaname said:
The unfortunate thing about Stef being offered an option to extend or being off contract end of 24 is we have nothing to bargin with other clubs looking to make space to sign him.
If he was signed up for 25 season, we might of been able to push the Storm for Xavier Coates given the rise of Anderson, Fa’longo and some extra cap room for Melbourne
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Surely Coates is a long-term lock for Storm? Anderson is nowhere near that ability.
 
Vicious said:
Both good players, but as a wing combo there doesn’t appear to be enough size or power in the yardage carries between them.
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Turuva was great at yardage last year. He can do it. I don't think staines will ever be that good. That's why we need a strong centre to help him. Someone like a nick meaney who doesn't stop working hard and wouldn't cost too much
 
Of course Stef is a loss even if we were offering him way too much, and no doubt will be on the lament list just like Blore Talau Papalli Brooks Tupou Laurie all strengthening other clubs while weakening ours. Who would of thought that retention would become a bigger problem than recruitment. Two steps forward three steps back.
 
innsaneink said:
He was little help
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Well if he departs we will find out.
Buzz on 360 mentioned he believes the Dragons are expecting the Knights to kick in around 300k of Daniel Saifiti’s 800k contract if they are to sign him.
In my opinion there is no chance the Knights will release a player of his calibre with the intention of clearing up cap space and chipping in 300k per season.
If we ended up even paying 700k per season for Daniel Saifiti, managed to get someone like Royce Hunt for around 450-500k, added a hard nosed aggressive edge forward in Joe Chan from the Storm as well as an experienced no nonsense versatile backbrower such as Jack Williams from the Sharks, I’d say losing Stef and possibly offloading Klemmer and Bateman would see us still finish well in front in regards to our forward strength for 2025.
 
Based on what Weidler and Hooper have said, it sounds like Stef wants to stay in Sydney. If that is true I think Penrith is the only danger.

I’m in 2 minds. He has the ability to be an 800k front rower and he’s the only player we have that bumps off defenders but is wildly inconsistent.

At least we’ll know this week one way or another.
 
The more I think about what we lack compared to ALL other clubs is … consistent leaders.

The only ONE we have is Api.

Out of the others …

Olam - could be one but no consistency in staying fit.
Klemmer - gone backwards in performance this year.
Bateman - too many stupid costly moments.
Sezer - inconsistent & costly suspensions.
Doeuihi / Naden - frail defence.
Twal - concussion concerns, lacks impact.

Our next tier of experience like Stef, Staines, iPap & To’a have their heads elsewhere or too passive. Seyfarth has potential with his effort & aggression if he can fix up his brain snaps at times but he’s not a 1st 13 player anyway.

This lack of leadership amongst our experienced core is nothing short of disgraceful.

We need to address this in our next 1-2 seasons of recruitment as a priority.

The Bulldogs have with Chrichton, Tracey, Kikau, Mahoney, Curran, Hutchison, Mann etc & look at the impact on their emerging leaders in Burton, Kiraz, Preston & co.

Yes we have Luai coming but we need at least 2-3 more, especially those high in effort, high in footy IQ and loud in voice.

Another issue is clearing players to create room for incoming.
 
rugbygoated said:
Turuva was great at yardage last year. He can do it. I don't think staines will ever be that good. That's why we need a strong centre to help him. Someone like a nick meaney who doesn't stop working hard and wouldn't cost too much
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Turuva looks much slower this year and always has that knee heavily strapped. It’s a worry to say the least.
 
Vicious said:
Well if he departs we will find out.
Buzz on 360 mentioned he believes the Dragons are expecting the Knights to kick in around 300k of Daniel Saifiti’s 800k contract if they are to sign him.
In my opinion there is no chance the Knights will release a player of his calibre with the intention of clearing up cap space and chipping in 300k per season.
If we ended up even paying 700k per season for Daniel Saifiti, managed to get someone like Royce Hunt for around 450-500k, added a hard nosed aggressive edge forward in Joe Chan from the Storm as well as an experienced no nonsense versatile backbrower such as Jack Williams from the Sharks, I’d say losing Stef and possibly offloading Klemmer and Bateman would see us still finish well in front in regards to our forward strength for 2025.
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Yep I like those suggested recruits. All would help add to our leadership void which I just posted about.

Another who could be a huge get for us is Morgan Knowles from ESL. He is a good age & has the right characteristics to make an impact in the NRL.
 
Vicious said:
Well if he departs we will find out.
Buzz on 360 mentioned he believes the Dragons are expecting the Knights to kick in around 300k of Daniel Saifiti’s 800k contract if they are to sign him.
In my opinion there is no chance the Knights will release a player of his calibre with the intention of clearing up cap space and chipping in 300k per season.
If we ended up even paying 700k per season for Daniel Saifiti, managed to get someone like Royce Hunt for around 450-500k, added a hard nosed aggressive edge forward in Joe Chan from the Storm as well as an experienced no nonsense versatile backbrower such as Jack Williams from the Sharks, I’d say losing Stef and possibly offloading Klemmer and Bateman would see us still finish well in front in regards to our forward strength for 2025.
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Saifiti on form isn’t worth 700k. He is not the player we should target and pay overs for.

Knights will prefer to free up 500k and cover 300k than keep a roster spot & pay for a player they don’t want.

It’s like us with Naden, Bud, Klemmer, Bateman etc. Form them to move we will have to pay a chunk as they aren’t performing to their contract amounts. Papa was the otherside - he was on a good contract and Panthers covered him.
 
Losing Utoikamanu opens up the chance to get more physical in the middle.

Look how the Dolphins play.

Think how the Roosters forwards play- JWH, Collins & Radley.

It's great to have big, bustling tackle breaking forwards.

It's just as good to have guys that knock the snot out of those guys too.

Siona Fainu, Sam Fainu & Pole are great for running metres. We don't have the snot knockers.
 
BAGNF05 said:
Turuva looks much slower this year and always has that knee heavily strapped. It’s a worry to say the least.
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He's been playing right wing a lot and is probably suffering a bit of second year syndrome. That's ok though. I'd prefer him to have a lean year this year than take it easy as soon as he gets to us. Can't expect him to back up his great 2023 season seamlessly
 
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