YesThe players contracted 26-30 in our top 30 list or those on Development deals do not have any effect on the recruitment/retention for more high profile players on a much bigger salaries such is Terrell May, Royce Hunt, Sunia Turuva, Jeral Skelton etc
Top 30 contracted players 26-30 on every NRL team list are players on the minimum wage still trying to force their way higher up that list and hoping to become genuine NRL top 17 contenders.
Willett was in direct competition with the likes of Luke Laulilli, Solomone Saukuru and Alex Lobb, while Faagatu was in direct competition with the likes of Kit Laulilli and Justin Matamua.
Obviously Manly have pounced on Willett and are of the belief he’s a player with NRL potential, strangely enough the much more highly rated Faagatu does not appear to have landed at any other NRL club as yet.
Sometimes when young players are as highly rated as what Faagatu was from a young age suddenly start to hit a few road bumps in their career progress, they can become disillusioned and lose the drive and determination they once had.
You don’t be an elite player at 18/19 and then suddenly become a passenger at 20-22 without something going drastically wrong and it is generally the mind that loses confidence not being able to handle the roadblocks that were never there previously. Coaching also plays a massive part in this.
I’m sure we all played with and against some man-Childs when we were 16/17 that everyone was saying would make it, But surprisingly most struggled once everyone else grew to the same size or bigger,
Many a child superstar gave the game away once things became hard.