Our immediate future

Harvey

Harvey

Well-known member
Following an ordinary couple of days I woke up wearing brown coloured glasses. I think that our recruitment may not only produce an ordinary season next year, but lock us in to the bottom on the table for years to come.
We have signed experienced first graders who are nothing special and will not improve much (Reynolds, McQueen, Matulino, Packer etc) for a lot of coin over a lot of years.
At the same time we have given fringe first graders like MCK extended deals for at least 2 seasons.
This means that we have locked up a large proportion of our cap meaning younger players with some potential (Aloiai, LoLo, Brooks etc) may be picked off by other clubs if they step up
 
I like our squad excluding Reynolds and McQueen. I think we shouldn't have signed either of them and just waited until high quality talent is available.

Let's see how it goes but I think we lack class next year. Newcastle in signing Ponga and possibly Watson for instance will have some class. It'll be interesting if we perform better than Newcastle in having a more stable team whereas Newcastle to me look like they could potentially be a better team.

I think Ivan made a good point in his recent comments when he said the difference between the top and bottom teams isn't that much. Let's see how we go.
 
@ said:
Following an ordinary couple of days I woke up wearing brown coloured glasses. I think that our recruitment may not only produce an ordinary season next year, but lock us in to the bottom on the table for years to come.
We have signed experienced first graders who are nothing special and will not improve much (Reynolds, McQueen, Matulino, Packer etc) for a lot of coin over a lot of years.
At the same time we have given fringe first graders like MCK extended deals for at least 2 seasons.
This means that we have locked up a large proportion of our cap meaning younger players with some potential (Aloiai, LoLo, Brooks etc) may be picked off by other clubs if they step up
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Cheer up. We'll do alot better than you expect. We don't have any big heads. The coach is very well respected by the players. The team will be much more balanced.
 
@ said:
I like our squad excluding Reynolds and McQueen. I think we shouldn't have signed either of them and just waited until high quality talent is available.

Let's see how it goes but I think we lack class next year. Newcastle in signing Ponga and possibly Watson for instance will have some class. It'll be interesting if we perform better than Newcastle in having a more stable team whereas Newcastle to me look like they could potentially be a better team.

I think Ivan made a good point in his recent comments when he said the difference between the top and bottom teams isn't that much. Let's see how we go.
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McQueen is a gun, he will go well. Very reliable in defence and attack.

Reynolds - I think we pulled the trigger way too early on him and was somewhat in quick response to 3 of the big 4 leaving. Four years is too long - maybe flick him to super league if possible after two.
 
I’m not overly confident …. but I predict we’ll end up at around mid table.
I think our recruitment has been good without being spectacular. Still short of one classy back and a solid second rower. That may be fixed in coming weeks if Sheens picks up Lawrence and we enter the market place again. Still lots of opportunities out there.
It will take time but it’s first brick in the wall.
As can be seen .... length of players contract is only as good as his form.
 
Guys like Reynolds, Matulino and Packer are very good signings, as is McQueen if he stays fit. I'd like to think of them as stepping stones, that will help us get consistent results. When that happens, we can set our sights on higher caliber players. A club like ours can't sign a player of Cronk's quality ATM. Hopefully in another 2 or 3 years that changes.
 
All this player movement certainly creates some negativity around here! Just because the club does not sign one of the players on the market at the moment does not mean next season is going to be a disaster.
The cap situation has been fixed ..an astute coach is in control..recruitment has been positive,the club is taking the right approach waiting for the right time for further recruitment .
I feel the mix of the team is well balanced and if Cleary can gel them together and the injury gods are kind next season could be very positive in deed ..the signings will come over the next season or so I have no doubt.
 
@ said:
All this player movement certainly creates some negativity around here! Just because the club does not sign one of the players on the market at the moment does not mean next season is going to be a disaster.
The cap situation has been fixed ..an astute coach is in control..recruitment has been positive,the club is taking the right approach waiting for the right time for further recruitment .
I feel the mix of the team is well balanced and if Cleary can gel them together and the injury gods are kind next season could be very positive in deed ..the signings will come over the next season or so I have no doubt.
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I'm not sure why all the negativity. We"ve signed pretty well and this Cleary guy can apparently coach, so I don't see what the big deal is.
 
Im very nervous and given what we have spent we need to improve.
Although we have added some depth we have also lost our two biggest draw cards - love them or hate them - in Woods and Teddy.The last few days reinforces that real good players seem to head to clubs with other real good players unless of course they are seeking the big paycheck to see out their career.
I have faith in the coach, but the recruitment of some of our competitors in recent days has me revaluating my level of expectation.
 
@ said:
All this player movement certainly creates some negativity around here! Just because the club does not sign one of the players on the market at the moment does not mean next season is going to be a disaster.
The cap situation has been fixed ..an astute coach is in control..recruitment has been positive,the club is taking the right approach waiting for the right time for further recruitment .
I feel the mix of the team is well balanced and if Cleary can gel them together and the injury gods are kind next season could be very positive in deed ..the signings will come over the next season or so I have no doubt.
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I'm not that concerned about not signing Cronk or Pearce. I think marquee players are really risky because they often don't perform up to their price tag.

I'm still worried about Reynolds and McQueen especially Reynolds on big dollars for 4 years.
 
@ said:
Im very nervous and given what we have spent we need to improve.
Although we have added some depth we have also lost our two biggest draw cards - love them or hate them - in Woods and Teddy.The last few days reinforces that real good players seem to head to clubs with other real good players unless of course they are seeking the big paycheck to see out their career.
I have faith in the coach, but the recruitment of some of our competitors in recent days has me revaluating my level of expectation.
Click to expand...

Woods is a dud. I think we are much stronger in the forwards without him there especially on a dollar per player basis. Moses and Tedesco are the big losses but hopefully someone will come through and provide the spark that we need.
 
Never liked the signing of Reynolds, and still gutted we blew our chance of getting TMM back. Otherwise our recruitment has been pretty solid.

No-one could've predicted this kind of player movement in the off season. Although I do expect one more signing before the start of the season.

The main thing we're lacking is a playmaker that can create something. Forwards/outside backs are serviceable for now.
 
@ said:
Winning Starts Monday..
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Your on fire today…

Bulldogs played better without Reynolds, so I'm not too sure if he will be a good signing or not.

I'm hoping to be reading he is playing week-to-week in the Dummy Half role with Liddle by the end of 2018 heading into 2019\. Hopefully that includes us buying a real 5/8.
 
Change is a good thing and could see our new players reap the reward. Our biggest issue is how our combinations gel, but our biggest plus which far outweighs any negatives is there are no more divas in the team and the players know Cleary is in charge. We just need a good run with injuries and I see us pressing for a top 8 spot.
 
We rushed the signing of Reynolds because the front office were desperate for some positive press. We could've got much better value for money if we just had a bit more patience.

McQueen is a concern because of his neck injury, and I suspect we paid overs for packer.

All other signings I'm pretty happy with, however it's disappointing that at the end of 2018 we won't have much money to spend on recruits for 2019, based on who's off contract at the end of next year.
 
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