The club itself has been fuelling this mindset. Sheens was talking them up, and only recently, 3 or 4 of them did an official club podcast. They’re also signing NRL top 30 deals before their 20th birthday.
All but Galvin should still be on development or junior deals. At least Latu Fainu consistently proved he can excel at Cup level when he was at Manly and the couple matches he played for Magpies early this season. Likewise his brother.
Miller, the Lauliliis, Da Silva, Mason, faagatu, Tumeth, Sukkar have done nothing at either Flegg or Cup level to somehow have WT#xxx next to their name. They really haven’t done anything at SG ball level either over the past two seasons. They’re still living off under 17 form.
The club panicked after the Harold Matthews premiership. Signed up all of these kids on future top 30 deals like it was shooting fish in a barrel. In the mean time, there are no actual senior players outside the NRL top 20, or on reserve grade part-time deals, to provide some experience in reserve grade matches. Porter and Casey seem to be it, and Porter is now regularly in first grade. That tells you that a 27yo train and trialists is a better option than 18-20yo NRL or dev contracted players for an NRL forward pack.
The forward pack being consistently named and sent out to play in reserve grade is a blight on the club. Every player except Johannssen are still eligible for Jersey Flegg or Sg Ball. These are the next men up for the NRL forward pack - to take on the likes of JWH, Collins, Leniu, May, Whyte, etc. as an example.
It’s a joke how the old admin managed the salary cap and recruitment/retention to get to this stage. It’s an absolute mess.