Recent content by 2041

No, I'm saying we need to start finding and developing a consistent pipeline of junior talent. We aren't doing that at the moment, so we have to sign established players to put a competitive team on the park. But we're never going to become consistently competitive by trying to build rosters out...

Now do Penrith.

It's actually the exact opposite of that. We will never be competitive if we try to build a full roster in free agency, in fact what we need is a production line of first grade talent - from fringe to superstar - coming through the juniors. The teams that are consistently good only sign free...

Then you'll never have an informed perspective on roster construction.

No, that wasn't my point. That was a response to the specific claim that the club thinks Averillo is good value and therefore there's no point speculating about how much we're paying him. My point was that no player can be assessed without taking into account his contract. We'd all love to have...

There's a number in the media, which I think we all know could easily be wrong but equally has a decent chance of not being miles off the mark. Again, this is a rumours thread: comments along the lines of "if the figure being named in the media is anything like correct, I reckon..." is pretty...

It's because in a league with a salary cap footballers aren't just footballers - they're footballers with contracts attached. Do I think Averillo is a good player? Yes. Do I think he'll probably improve the Tigers' first grade team? Also yes. Do I think he'll improve it by so much that I...

"The 30-year-old is contracted until the end of 20276 but has opened talks with Brad Arthur’s Leeds Rhinos." Bloody hell, an 18,251-year contract. No wonder we're always getting into cap squeezes - can't imagine Hunt offering much at18,280 years old particularly given his size and the...

Swap them for one of their good players. Like, er, y'know, that one guy. Nah I got nothing.

I'd put Makasini above Bula, if only because if we can lock up Makasini now it could be for a real bargain whereas Bula's next deal is going to be full-whack market value if not more.

100%. The only way to build a sustainably successful club without financial advantages is to have a production line of junior talent. As soon as you're paying players market rate - or, worse, signing them as free agents in an open bidding war, where paying overs is more or less guaranteed -...

Sure, I'm also just debating a point, nothing personal. I guess what I'm saying is that it's pretty reductive to say signings were "lucky": the strategy was clearly to strip the roster of dross ASAP and bring it better players as quickly as they became available. It's not rocket science but it...

It's no surprise we're hard to please having been conditioned to expect excellence for so many years.

What I'm talking about is Marshall learning on the job. I absolutely agree that he wasn't ready when he first got the job and clearly he made mistakes: if you want to look at my post history you'll see how critical I was of the Bateman signing from before it was even official. Getting rid of...

Something this update has no bearing on whatsoever.