OFFICIAL Pathways - KOE General Discussion

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The Chad said:
This season has been about bringing through some players from the junior ranks. With a full off season in charge, I would assume that Richo is working on adding some pieces, removing some others, so that the overall balance of the squad is better, allowing some of our younger guys to play through KOE instead of launching straight into 1st grade.

Having a few players exposed early isn't a bad thing. Writing them off & discarding them based on what we see this year is a bad thing.

Earlier post said we are combatting years of poor roster management. True. And that isn't solved in 3 months. When the likes of Faataape, Porter etc are the bulk of our KOE team- then you have a more balanced roster, allowing the young players to earn their shot at 1st grade.

The key next year is to let TDS, Luke & Kit Lualili'i, Miller, Sukkar learn through the KOE & lower grades, while playing alongside fringe 1st grade players like Porter, Faataape, Naden, Sullivan & Seyfarth etc. Adding a couple more experienced depth pieces in the forwards wouldn't hurt either.
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The thing is, most players haven't learnt much. They're thrown in the deep end, with bugger all support and are losing by 40 points every week. While you can get a feel for the fitness and physicality of being a pro athlete out from schoolboy footy. They're not learning defenseive or attacking structures. They're not learning how to dominate the ruck against men.

Sadly, all they're learning is how to lose.

I'm not writing them off, i'm saying we have failed them in the development, due to not having a plan and being wooden spooners in the top two grades and surrounding them with lazy, slow skill-less dumb players.
 
Godinet and CTM are good young forwards, but they should not be locked into the club by giving them NRL contracts in 2026. The best juniors should get development contracts, once they excel on development they get NRL contracts. If they don't succeed as dev players then it's either train and trial or sayonara. The rest of the juniors go to flegg and impress there, if they're good enough to start playing Cup (in a strong Cup side) then they warrant consideration for a dev/NRL contract.
Only very rarely should we feel obliged to rush a kid into the to 30, and that's for the Galvins, Larges' and Makasinis... The Harold Matts winning team was not full of standout superstars. Many of them won't make first grade.
 
pawsandclaws1 said:
I don't believe there is a template for when players' mature. We need to demonstrate patience even if our NRL side is not doing well. This young man has had both Bellamy and Bennett chasing him so that is enough to suggest he has a lot to offer our NRL team. He needs to work hard but we need to develop him.
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Fair points, Paws.
Yes, we need to show patience, but so do some of our young "stars".
It seems some (their managers also) expect a top 30 spot before they've earned it. 2 way street.
 
balmain boy said:
Godinet and CTM are good young forwards, but they should not be locked into the club by giving them NRL contracts in 2026. The best juniors should get development contracts, once they excel on development they get NRL contracts. If they don't succeed as dev players then it's either train and trial or sayonara. The rest of the juniors go to flegg and impress there, if they're good enough to start playing Cup (in a strong Cup side) then they warrant consideration for a dev/NRL contract.
Only very rarely should we feel obliged to rush a kid into the to 30, and that's for the Galvins, Larges' and Makasinis... The Harold Matts winning team was not full of standout superstars. Many of them won't make first grade.
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I’d say that is exactly the plan with these 4, maybe the club is learning from past mistakes.
 
Vicious said:
I know it was rumoured the Dolphins were chasing him, but I find it very hard to believe as he is nothing like the players Bennett or Bellamy regularly chase.
They both only generally sign players who are extremely fit and not carrying any excess weight and players that play with high intensity levels.
Of course there is the odd player with freakish ability such as Latrell who are an exception to this rule.
If Bellamy is not happy with NAS’s fitness levels, he sure would not be happy with the physical condition young Jordan is currently in.
He has put in a few good efforts for our NSW Cup team, so he deserves another season to see if he can get himself into shape.
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Could see Belly ache signing him and hiding him away in QLD cup until he’s physically ready. We are elevating guys too soon out of necessity.
 
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balmain boy said:
The thing is, most players haven't learnt much. They're thrown in the deep end, with bugger all support and are losing by 40 points every week. While you can get a feel for the fitness and physicality of being a pro athlete out from schoolboy footy. They're not learning defenseive or attacking structures. They're not learning how to dominate the ruck against men.

Sadly, all they're learning is how to lose.

I'm not writing them off, i'm saying we have failed them in the development, due to not having a plan and being wooden spooners in the top two grades and surrounding them with lazy, slow skill-less dumb players.
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At the moment its either learn by getting beaten by 40 in first grade, learn by getting beaten by 40 in reserve grade or learn by punishing inferior kids in Flegg
 
stephen said:
Appreciate your thoughts, mate, and don't completely disagree. Get your point re Latrell. However, he's not in the front row, & much of the criticism of his fullback play earlier this season was that he saved himself for highlight efforts.
Some athletes can Absolutely carry a bit of condition, yet still be effective & explosive.
I'm not concerned, necessarily, with how Jordan looks, or if he carries a bit of puppy fat. Like you, I want him to develop his motor to allow him to contribute effectively & take the next steps towards becoming a 1st grader.
It's still my opinion,though, that the body shape is due to him not doing the hard work required.
I'll repeat, just my opinion.
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I have a suspicion that a fair amount of hard work has already got him to the physical position he is in, i.e. his natural weight would be much much bigger. Next year or so will be a real telling point given he will be 20 and have had some proper first grade pre-seasons.
 
jirskyr said:
I have a suspicion that a fair amount of hard work has already got him to the physical position he is in, i.e. his natural weight would be much much bigger. Next year or so will be a real telling point given he will be 20 and have had some proper first grade pre-seasons.
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Remember Miller missed most of the pre-season with a foot injury I think it was. Not the injury you want to maintain fitness & keep weight off as a big man.
 
Honesty the main problem I see with our young ones is that they are on NRL deals, not development deals, thereby reducing our actual count of nrl players but 4-5 so when they inevitably get called up before their time, it’s in a team that overall is way too young and not ready.

Millers, K laulili, l laulili, Sukkar and Tumeth should have all still been on development deals this year (and possibly even TDS but can excuse that imo cause he is clearly going to make it). And then you judge them end of this year as to who makes the next step etc (Tumeth no, k laulili likely no, the others maybe etc)
 
pawsandclaws1 said:
I don't believe there is a template for when players' mature. We need to demonstrate patience even if our NRL side is not doing well. This young man has had both Bellamy and Bennett chasing him so that is enough to suggest he has a lot to offer our NRL team. He needs to work hard but we need to develop him.
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Let's hope we get the chance to see him blossom at the tigers and not at the storm

Because I have no doubt once his made up his mind and gets this distraction of his chest he will
 
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