Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

IronFist said:
You make it sound like this is bad. Don't understand why anyone hangs their hat on this. What matters is NRL competitiveness, making finals, and ultimately, NRL premierships.

An NRL club has zero input in 12yo Johnny playing at a local club in their NRL catchment. Fark, Roosters have one or two clubs in their district. But they have been one of the most dominant NRL clubs for more than two decades. Right now their roster is Tupou, Toia, Billy Smith, Savala, Walker, Radley, Watson, Collins, Wong, Whyte, Marky Mark, etc. They've all made their NRL debuts with them. Nothing stopped opposition clubs identifying them in their development years. Roosters did, and turned them into good NRL footballers.
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exactly my point , instead we solely rely on throwing our juniors into first grade way before their time stunting their development in the name of producing “our” juniors . and then when that doesn’t work we pay overs for already made NRL players . nothing stopping us cherry picking good young talent like the dogs , but we don’t have the good development systems like those clubs to attract the kids to come .
 
Vicious said:
I’m not so sure about this one RHS.
Yes he is a big man who keeps himself in extremely good condition, so he shouldn’t slow down too much now in his early 30’s.
He never plays badly and always does his job, but my concern is he’s never a standout .
When you consider we have players such as Kit Laulilli, Peter Taateo and Jaxson Rahme in our own ranks, does someone like Kamikamica offer much more than any of them and he would likely cost at least double of those 3 who would likely be happy to accept minimum wage contracts at this stage.
We do probably need one more solid middle, finding the right player at the right cost is the problem.
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Been thinking about this @Vicious & IMO I reckon you’re right that Kit, Rahme & Taateo may be ready to step up for us very soon.

But what we lack that these guys don’t have yet is that combination of experience & a voice amongst our middles to direct & motivate. Terrell has this to a degree but I don’t think we have another yet, maybe Bird & Seyfarth.

The likes of Kamikamica, Josh Papaali & Frizell could be options but not really talkers.

One player who fits the bill of a mid sized middle with great work ethic & a voice is Adam Elliott, off contract & won’t be extended at Knights. Plus can play edge at a pinch.
 
IronFist said:
You make it sound like this is bad. Don't understand why anyone hangs their hat on this. What matters is NRL competitiveness, making finals, and ultimately, NRL premierships.

An NRL club has zero input in 12yo Johnny playing at a local club in their NRL catchment. Fark, Roosters have one or two clubs in their district. But they have been one of the most dominant NRL clubs for more than two decades. Right now their roster is Tupou, Toia, Billy Smith, Savala, Walker, Radley, Watson, Collins, Wong, Whyte, Marky Mark, etc. They've all made their NRL debuts with them. Nothing stopped opposition clubs identifying them in their development years. Roosters did, and turned them into good NRL footballers.
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Pointing out that no matter how well your pathways system is set up or how big the area it draws from, it all comes down to being able to recruit the best players - from junior level right through to FG level wherever they come from - despite talking up the quality of your junior Pathways systems that the Bulldogs are vocal about.
 
Telltails said:
Pointing out that no matter how well your pathways system is set up or how big the area it draws from, it all comes down to being able to recruit the best players - from junior level right through to FG level wherever they come from - despite talking up the quality of your junior Pathways systems that the Bulldogs are vocal about.
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i don’t even know who looks after our pathways and recruitment , my guess is gallant does juniors and benji / richo literally do FG themselves ? we had more but I think they cut them because of always leaking
 
Telltails said:
The Bulldogs pathways working a treat by raiding the best juniors from other areas.
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Agree. Don’t know how you can be called a development club when you basically turned over your entire top 30 over a few years by bringing in new external players. And then more recently poaching the best junior talent from other clubs.

Admittedly they did do a fine job refreshing their roster from say 3 years ago (combined with getting Ciraldo who I think will be a generational coach). But no way can you call them a development club at the moment, although I have no doubt Gould will be trying to set up something similar to what he did at Penrith.

Gus obviously working overtime with the media who are in his pocket commissioning feel good stories about the club and Galvin.
 
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IronFist said:
They're leading the NRL comp with what most people said we're a rag-tag bunch of utility players.

In 2023 & 2024, they won Jersey Flegg. They made the SG Ball GF in 2024. They won Harold Matts comp in 2023.

Their KOE team are a bunch of Flegg and SG Ball age players. They're currently 6th.

WT had the same last season. They were last. Half those players aren't even there now. Where are Cayne Nicholas, Baily Hodges, Chris Faagatu, Jordan Miller, Justin Matamua, Brandon Tumeth, Zaukuri Clarke, etc?

Roosters have been a destination club for development as well. They've regularly made finals in lower grades, won SG Ball this season.

Eels will be a destination club now under Ryles. He's in the same mould of Ciraldo. He's hands-on with development. They have a new CoE were all their grades are together at Kellyville, like the Dogs at Belmore, and Penrith at Western Sydney Rugby League Academy. They're competitive again in the lower grades.

WT in contrast are fragmented. NRL at Concord, ron massey at Lidcombe, Flegg at Liverpool, Balmain at Leichhardt, Magpies at St Greg's campbelltown. Do you think these guys are seeing a pathway to NRL at shitty venues with shitty facilities?
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Kiraz and Montoya are the only juniors starting in the NRL team. They just dropped Galvin in front of Woods, their most highly regarded pathways player. Pathways are a myth.
 
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