Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Vicious said:
It can be near certain that Saukuru, Tumeth, Sukkar and Kit Laulilli would all be on the bare minimum contracts
While none of these young players have showed much to contribute to our NRL team at this stage and I do agree they should all be on Development Contracts, they are also not the ones hurting our Salary Cap, they have all come through our junior development systems and it will not hurt us to give them all another season to see how they develop.
The ones that are hurting us are the ones on big money that we have no interest in playing in our NRL team such as Bateman, Sullivan and Naden.
I’ve previously made my stance known on Sullivan and Naden and I think it’s very wrong how they have been treated, but it’s now gone too far and surely they must be starting to think it’s better for their careers to head elsewhere, rather than stay at a club that doesn’t want them.
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We would be stupid to let go of saukuru kids a gun
 
jrtiger said:
I want Terrell May as much as the next bloke, but what a complete load of shit.

Craig Bellamy says that he only signs upstanding blokes at Melbourne because teams and their players are at their best when there's nothing going on off-field.

there's a reason why they've remained at the top for so long, and it is, in fact, "culture nonsense".
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This ‘culture’ includes recent incidents of

two of their international forwards getting caught with white powder and stood down

Two internationals hooker/five eight being seen in a room with white powder

Culture is a good thing, but ability seems to generally outweigh it, unless it provides the club with some benefit (say addo Carr - expensive winger at the end of his career - can be replaced)
 
tigertragic said:
This ‘culture’ includes recent incidents of

two of their international forwards getting caught with white powder and stood down

Two internationals hooker/five eight being seen in a room with white powder

Culture is a good thing, but ability seems to generally outweigh it, unless it provides the club with some benefit (say addo Carr - expensive winger at the end of his career - can be replaced)
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The above doesn’t include NAS madness
 
innsaneink said:
I get a feeling this is the lot for our signings.... Promoting from lower grades to fill any vacancies.
Expect little.. Avoid disappointment... Anything else is a bonus. (maybe)
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they say that expectations minus reality equals disappointment..

Best to keep expectations low
 
Kelce68 said:
Sione is yet to be officially resigned.

Without inclusion of Fa’agutu on this, I'd say that's a pretty strong clue he might've been the first moved on.

I hope not. I've got huge wraps on him.

Hope I'm wrong.
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I agree. He's got leg speed that you can't coach. He had deficiencies in defence and his motor but both could be worked on. Out of Kit, Fa'agutu and Miller I rate Chris the most likely to make it in the NRL so it's very odd.
 
chiranth said:
100% agree! These two brothers, when they step on the field they play like animals! Hate lose, just massive competitors. Forget the off field BS, we these guys get going they’re hard to stop! Stop with this culture nonsense. We tried being the good guys and haven’t made finals in 13 years lol
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It's a tough job to do, but I think most clubs strive for a complete squad of players who get along, and - in a perfect world - actually like each other.

Because talent will get you to the big league, but to stay there you not only have to keep improving talent wise, but you have to have the personal attributes that make you good for the whole team - now, and through any influence you might have on younger players.

And it's also inherent that people are going to gel better when they truly want the best for someone they're working or in a team with.

You can see the effect real unity has, and you can also see the opposite. An extreme, but apt analogy would be the entire team getting around a player who has scored a try and seeing genuine happiness for him... And then there's when Mitch Moses scores.... 🤣

This is "culture", and it's holistic effect is why people place such a high emphasis on it.

As they say, "winners are grinners"; But you could probably also say "grinners are winners".
 
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I think the club has it's spine players locked in now. The Nov 1 signings for 2026 need to be quite specific I think.

We need an elite centre & for mine- there's only 2 in Cobbo & Staggs. If we can't get these guys, the club is going to need Makasini to become all that very quickly. If we can't gran Cobbo or Staggs, Sam Stonestreet or Ronaldo Mulitalo might allow Skelton to play centre & mask our lack of elite strike out wide. Or, JAC might hold value for the same reason & could come immediately.

We need to sort out #13. Bird, Lualili'i & Matamua are the options at the moment. We need leg speed in that #13 role. Tallis Duncan has been popular on here, Kobe Hetherington (not sure how much of an upgrade over Matamua he really is) has obviously been linked. Hohepa Puru from the Raiders is a cracking #13 in the Raiders KOE. Bird & Matamua might hold #13 in 2025. But we need to get that spot sorted by 2026.

Our front row is in flux. If Pole signs, that's great. But in the same breath, he's as flawed as Utoikamanu at this stage. Klemmer is coming to the end. Hunt is simply impact. Twal is low impact. Seyfarth is somewhere in the middle & Sione Fainu looks promising. The Storm, Dolphins, Bulldogs & Sharks have shown you can play without an 'elite' front rower & make up the numbers with 4 or so quality players. I think this is the way to go. We need probably 2 middles that can get some go forward & hold the middle in defence. The Couchman brothers from the Dragons are very promising, so they could fit nicely. This is where a Toby Rudolph isn't a bad addition also. He's not elite, but like the Bromwich's at the Dolphins, he is solid in all aspects. If Pole is lost, however- then the club seriously needs to look at a high impact player like Willison.
 
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