Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Rudolf imo fits the profile of player we want to recruit. He is from a good system, well spoken, young and has a lot to offer WTs. I hope we can sign him.
I must have the complete opposite view.

I think he’s one of Cronulla’s worst middles and has had a very poor season. I’d take Hazelton, Kafusi, Hunt and Hua Tapau over him.

I live in the shire and have a lot of Cronulla mates they all want him gone. Apparently he’s also not very liked in the locker room…. I think there’s much better options out there personally.
 
1. We need to resign Fainu and extend Pole. That will be 30 in the squad I believe.
2. Free up some spots for next year. Namely
  • Tumeth
  • Feledy
  • Matamua
  • Naden
  • Sullivan
3. Bring in 2 solid middles and an edge forward
4. If space allows, keep Sezar. Great depth for cheap. Especially if Latu plays 13 and we have Luai away at Origin.
5. Keep the last spot for any fire sales (or upgrade Faatappe - assuming he signs cup contract)

Not an easy task for Richo. But he might be able to get some of it done
 
This is the most significant point by miles. We all obsess about free agent signings but if competent clubs like Penrith start mining "our" junior nursery we might as well pack up and move to Christchurch.
Every club in the comp has been exploring talent in the south west (and penrith) for decades. It's nothing new. We just need to play home town boys and make sure we identify and secure the best.
 
I must have the complete opposite view.

I think he’s one of Cronulla’s worst middles and has had a very poor season. I’d take Hazelton, Kafusi, Hunt and Hua Tapau over him.

I live in the shire and have a lot of Cronulla mates they all want him gone. Apparently he’s also not very liked in the locker room…. I think there’s much better options out there personally.
I remember watching the Dogs vs Sharks game... it's always hard to say a player single handily cost their team the game but Rudolf did that night.
 
Faataape is a player , first season in a new completion, structure etc. give him an off season, I will bet my left nut he will be very good for us. Relax.
Wow, sorry to hear about your nut.

He's a reserve grader, a decent backup, that's it. Small, slow, not skillful and poor in defence. NSW Cup contract for next season but we need to identify and develop game breakers. Players that can rip other teams apart, not just developing solid backups.
 
I must have the complete opposite view.

I think he’s one of Cronulla’s worst middles and has had a very poor season. I’d take Hazelton, Kafusi, Hunt and Hua Tapau over him.

I live in the shire and have a lot of Cronulla mates they all want him gone. Apparently he’s also not very liked in the locker room…. I think there’s much better options out there personally.
I agree there's better players at Cronulla that I too would prefer, but I'm just reading the tea leaves.

stacks of middle forwards there, something has to give, we need a middle forward. one of them has ties to the Richardson family.
 
Faatape has improved but is still a state cup player IMO. When he got the ball in space and threw the forward pass, I think almost any centre in the comp would have finished that off.

I'm fine if he's kept as Magpies player, but not top 30 and not one of the development deals that end up top 30.
Suicidal how many tries our outside backs leave out there.should be a stat on that and we’d win something.
 
I must have the complete opposite view.

I think he’s one of Cronulla’s worst middles and has had a very poor season. I’d take Hazelton, Kafusi, Hunt and Hua Tapau over him.

I live in the shire and have a lot of Cronulla mates they all want him gone. Apparently he’s also not very liked in the locker room…. I think there’s much better options out there personally.
The Sharks have many good props with my picks being Colquhoun and Hazelton. Colquhoun for the reason he has had to work very hard to get to the NRL. He has had no luck with injury at present but has a great work ethic which I know Fitzgibbon admires. I don't know anything about the locker room gossip but for 25 years lived 5 minutes walk from Shark Park until moving back home to god's country - South Coast.

PS. The most important issue is if Richardson has inside knowledge of a player that would seal the deal. He is highly respected and undertaken these rebuilds many times. He would well-know who to recruit and I am confident we are in good hands.
 
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1. We need to resign Fainu and extend Pole. That will be 30 in the squad I believe.
2. Free up some spots for next year. Namely
  • Tumeth
  • Feledy
  • Matamua
  • Naden
  • Sullivan
3. Bring in 2 solid middles and an edge forward
4. If space allows, keep Sezar. Great depth for cheap. Especially if Latu plays 13 and we have Luai away at Origin.
5. Keep the last spot for any fire sales (or upgrade Faatappe - assuming he signs cup contract)

Not an easy task for Richo. But he might be able to get some of it done
These guys are the golden 5.
They are the "Must Gos"
 
The problem with saying move Latu to lock or move Galvin to the second row is they won’t want to at this stage of their careers given their pedigree and what they have shown in the halves in first grade so far. The best back rowers are getting paid ~$400k less than the best halves on average. Plus you have to make more tackles and hit ups in the back row increasing the risk of injury and/or a shorter career. I don’t blame them and their managers for resisting any such move at this stage of their careers. Thus, I think it’s inevitable we will lose one of them. If this occurs, the best outcome would be to trade one of them for a very good player in a position we need.
 
The problem with saying move Latu to lock or move Galvin to the second row is they won’t want to at this stage of their careers given their pedigree and what they have shown in the halves in first grade so far. The best back rowers are getting paid ~$400k less than the best halves on average. Plus you have to make more tackles and hit ups in the back row increasing the risk of injury and/or a shorter career. I don’t blame them and their managers for resisting any such move at this stage of their careers. Thus, I think it’s inevitable we will lose one of them. If this occurs, the best outcome would be to trade one of them for a very good player in a position we need.

but the advantage of Fainu to lock is that you can spread that $400k across 3 family members with a bit of sweet talking. We'll give you each an extra $100k to stay together if Latu plays 13. That's less than the $400k, but with the family ties those 3 seem to have, it may well work for them and be worth it for the club to keep all 3. We really want to keep Samuela happy as he could be anything & Sione has been a positive surprise this year too.
 
Following the advice of people on here I've started to watch Seyfarth off the ball more, and compare his effort in D with other forwards.

Watching all our forwards and how hard they work to control the ruck or as Marker, he is becoming a player I can really appreciate. Since I've been paying attention he's been getting better at slowing the ruck down using without using his hands and giving away less penalties.

Pole has potential but as another poster correctly pointed out to me he is all attack at the moment, and I now agree.

Stefs effort without the ball is pretty poor, I think he's in for a shock in Melbourne. He doesn't work hard to get to Marker, and even Klemmer moves better than him in defence in general.

Twal professional and a good overall effort, really lacks impact in any one area and his play the ball speed is going backwards.

Papalii not as dynamic as he was at parra but I think he's our best forward based on all these little things + the more noticeable stuff (in the middle, re really did seem to cruise on the edge for us). Johannsen intrigues me as a replacement but small sample size and honestly would rather not keep gambling on players stepping up as plan A, B and C.

Sione I think can be just as good, has a bit of Poles footwork, but a better passing game and a little closer in D, still not there yet but improving.

Samuela could be anything.

I hope we work on strength and fitness, I think our pack looks tired at times and it was ridiculous how small and weak the dragons made us look, and they are nothing special.

2 or 3 FG quality forwards and I'll be happy.
 
but the advantage of Fainu to lock is that you can spread that $400k across 3 family members with a bit of sweet talking. We'll give you each an extra $100k to stay together if Latu plays 13. That's less than the $400k, but with the family ties those 3 seem to have, it may well work for them and be worth it for the club to keep all 3. We really want to keep Samuela happy as he could be anything & Sione has been a positive surprise this year too.
I think Latu would be happy to play anywhere-seems to so mobile the actual named position would be largely irrelevant.
 
The Sharks have many good props with my picks being Colquhoun and Hazelton. Colquhoun for the reason he has had to work very hard to get to the NRL. He has had no luck with injury at present but has a great work ethic which I know Fitzgibbon admires. I don't know anything about the locker room gossip but for 25 years lived 5 minutes walk from Shark Park until moving back home to god's country - South Coast.

PS. The most important issue is if Richardson has inside knowledge of a player that would seal the deal. He is highly respected and undertaken these rebuilds many times. He would well-know who to recruit and I am confident we are in good hands.
Haven't watched heaps of him but think Hazelton is a bit over rated, seems a bit one dimensional, and pretty poor defensively when I've seen him.
Colquhoun seems a bit more of a goer, but has had some early injury problems.
 
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