Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Holman Barnes #1 Fan]

Wish I cld share the optimism,but the way I see it is weve lost our best player(Harry)and our best playmaker(Benji)nd have picked up a couple of prop forwards who were surplus to requirements at Penrith and Eels.Nothing or nobody else
Cant see how were a better team in 2021,and with Titans /Warriors /Dragons/Broncos/Dogs all improving with player and /or coach changes ,were a real chance at the spoon unless Madge gets em firing...
Sure hope not,but reality bites

We also lost our worst defensive player in Benji
So our defence should hold better you would hope
Harry is a loss but its time for Liddle to shine

The benji addition by subtraction, IMO , cannot be underestimated.
The defence is obvious , but seriously so many times this year we had something setup for him to over call. And I honestly think grant got a bit star struck by him at times , He went to him so much more often , even when it wasn’t on. Liddle seemed to look for Brooks first , benji second , which IMO , it was one of the reasons we were far more direct when he was on the field . As is known , Brooks looks to run first , but it’s direct and at the middles . Benji would skirt across field, and at times collapse the space for his centres , which is why at times it seemed BJ was doing nothing .

Don’t shoot me , Benji lovers , he’s still our greatest player , I just am calling it how I see it .

Benji in his prime was great for centres. He shot across the defence so fast they had overcommitted to him, allowing the centre to run through untouched. Nowadays, he crabs across field, realises he's in trouble and hands it off to a centre who has guys ready to swamp him.

 

[tiger_one]

Just 2 questions:

Has the salary cap for 2021 been made public yet?

And how can clubs work with a cap if they're guessing?

 

[cochise]

Just 2 questions:

Has the salary cap for 2021 been made public yet?

And how can clubs work with a cap if they're guessing?

Neither the Cap or squad sizes have been released publicly yet as far as I know.

 

[tbones10]

Why is Benji dominating this " Signing Suggestions & Rumors" thread, we love Benji, but he is gone and the team is be better of that way. The are enough Benji threads out there, this is our thread about players we won't sign with money we don't have, for a team that doesn't share our passion and only aspire to make the top 8, not any higher.

 

[clontarfkid]

Wish I cld share the optimism,but the way I see it is weve lost our best player(Harry)and our best playmaker(Benji)nd have picked up a couple of prop forwards who were surplus to requirements at Penrith and Eels.Nothing or nobody else
Cant see how were a better team in 2021,and with Titans /Warriors /Dragons/Broncos/Dogs all improving with player and /or coach changes ,were a real chance at the spoon unless Madge gets em firing...
Sure hope not,but reality bites

We also lost our worst defensive player in Benji
So our defence should hold better you would hope
Harry is a loss but its time for Liddle to shine

The benji addition by subtraction, IMO , cannot be underestimated.
The defence is obvious , but seriously so many times this year we had something setup for him to over call. And I honestly think grant got a bit star struck by him at times , He went to him so much more often , even when it wasn’t on. Liddle seemed to look for Brooks first , benji second , which IMO , it was one of the reasons we were far more direct when he was on the field . As is known , Brooks looks to run first , but it’s direct and at the middles . Benji would skirt across field, and at times collapse the space for his centres , which is why at times it seemed BJ was doing nothing .

Don’t shoot me , Benji lovers , he’s still our greatest player , I just am calling it how I see it .

all of that cld be true,and I certainly dont disagree on Benji being more of a liability than asset,but someones gotta replace those 21 try assists and I dont see Brooks doing anything close to that on this years form,and the jury still out on Liddle and his durabillity cf with Harry who is sitting in SOO camp and deservedly so,but
..... our roster has gone backwards on paper and our much highly fancied recruitment team have failed to deliver a genuine step up for next year
Were wholly reliant on organic growth from a bunch of incumbent guys all improving concurrently(which rarely happens)
We still need a more powerful backrow,a speedy quality winger(incumbent has to learn to defend and take high ball) and a genuine full back as a minimum(Mybe hopeless under high ball and lacks urgency anf
d field position in defence at FB)
We want2 or 3 genuine first graders in these positions to ensure our way forward
JAC aint coming in 21,,,spend the $$ on others NOW..if JAC comes in 22 we'll have a truckload from Packer/Reynolds
We need cred asap

 

[Deleted member 3518]

Wish I cld share the optimism,but the way I see it is weve lost our best player(Harry)and our best playmaker(Benji)nd have picked up a couple of prop forwards who were surplus to requirements at Penrith and Eels.Nothing or nobody else
Cant see how were a better team in 2021,and with Titans /Warriors /Dragons/Broncos/Dogs all improving with player and /or coach changes ,were a real chance at the spoon unless Madge gets em firing...
Sure hope not,but reality bites

We also lost our worst defensive player in Benji
So our defence should hold better you would hope
Harry is a loss but its time for Liddle to shine

The benji addition by subtraction, IMO , cannot be underestimated.
The defence is obvious , but seriously so many times this year we had something setup for him to over call. And I honestly think grant got a bit star struck by him at times , He went to him so much more often , even when it wasn’t on. Liddle seemed to look for Brooks first , benji second , which IMO , it was one of the reasons we were far more direct when he was on the field . As is known , Brooks looks to run first , but it’s direct and at the middles . Benji would skirt across field, and at times collapse the space for his centres , which is why at times it seemed BJ was doing nothing .

Don’t shoot me , Benji lovers , he’s still our greatest player , I just am calling it how I see it .

Benji in his prime was great for centres. He shot across the defence so fast they had overcommitted to him, allowing the centre to run through untouched. Nowadays, he crabs across field, realises he's in trouble and hands it off to a centre who has guys ready to swamp him.

Yep exactly ! And when he crabs he occupies the space where the centre should be and looks to pass to the winger . Hence all the try assists , that should have gone to the centre ie. BJ.

 

[Deleted member 3518]

Wish I cld share the optimism,but the way I see it is weve lost our best player(Harry)and our best playmaker(Benji)nd have picked up a couple of prop forwards who were surplus to requirements at Penrith and Eels.Nothing or nobody else
Cant see how were a better team in 2021,and with Titans /Warriors /Dragons/Broncos/Dogs all improving with player and /or coach changes ,were a real chance at the spoon unless Madge gets em firing...
Sure hope not,but reality bites

We also lost our worst defensive player in Benji
So our defence should hold better you would hope
Harry is a loss but its time for Liddle to shine

The benji addition by subtraction, IMO , cannot be underestimated.
The defence is obvious , but seriously so many times this year we had something setup for him to over call. And I honestly think grant got a bit star struck by him at times , He went to him so much more often , even when it wasn’t on. Liddle seemed to look for Brooks first , benji second , which IMO , it was one of the reasons we were far more direct when he was on the field . As is known , Brooks looks to run first , but it’s direct and at the middles . Benji would skirt across field, and at times collapse the space for his centres , which is why at times it seemed BJ was doing nothing .

Don’t shoot me , Benji lovers , he’s still our greatest player , I just am calling it how I see it .

all of that cld be true,and I certainly dont disagree on Benji being more of a liability than asset,but someones gotta replace those 21 try assists and I dont see Brooks doing anything close to that on this years form,and the jury still out on Liddle and his durabillity cf with Harry who is sitting in SOO camp and deservedly so,but
..... our roster has gone backwards on paper and our much highly fancied recruitment team have failed to deliver a genuine step up for next year
Were wholly reliant on organic growth from a bunch of incumbent guys all improving concurrently(which rarely happens)
We still need a more powerful backrow,a speedy quality winger(incumbent has to learn to defend and take high ball) and a genuine full back as a minimum(Mybe hopeless under high ball and lacks urgency anf
d field position in defence at FB)
We want2 or 3 genuine first graders in these positions to ensure our way forward
JAC aint coming in 21,,,spend the $$ on others NOW..if JAC comes in 22 we'll have a truckload from Packer/Reynolds
We need cred asap

Mate our squad is actually better this year . We had so much filler like Smith , Jennings , Clarke , McQueen , doing nothing .Tamou, Stefano and hopefully JAC, and we still have 3 other positions to to fill. I disagree about Grant . And think Benji benefitted from passing to BJ and Nofa . I’ve explained how I believe his crabbing actually whilst giving himself better stats actually limited opportunities for the centres . And Brooks was top 4 in the league for try assists and set repeats just 1 season ago.
Like I said Benji got the ball A lot . Especially when Grant was at dummy half . Which is why at times it felt like brooks was a passenger .
I think our style will be far more direct , because our halves will be .
Also we s

 

[pawsandclaws1]

Fix the defence we we will make top 8 it’s that simple. We can score points, when we get on the front foot we can roll any team in the competition problem is we keep letting teams get huge leads on us. Defend well, learn to build pressure and we’re fine, sure the roster could be better but they’ve shown they can compete with top teams they just don’t do it enough

Unfortunately we've players in their mid to late twenties who can't make the correct decisions in defence or are plain lazy. It comes down to personal pride, pride in the jumper they wear and respect for your team mates that you can be counted on when needed. This is not the case at present. Maguire can only do so much. These players have to want to improve.

 

[twentyforty]

Fix the defence we we will make top 8 it’s that simple. We can score points, when we get on the front foot we can roll any team in the competition problem is we keep letting teams get huge leads on us. Defend well, learn to build pressure and we’re fine, sure the roster could be better but they’ve shown they can compete with top teams they just don’t do it enough

Unfortunately we've players in their mid to late twenties who can't make the correct decisions in defence or are plain lazy. It comes down to personal pride, pride in the jumper they wear and respect for your team mates that you can be counted on when needed. This is not the case at present. Maguire can only do so much. These players have to want to improve.

It looks that way to me too Paws. 10 years of riding the slippery slope to mediocrity, peppered with some poor decisions. Lee and Madge have a huge job. I have a feeling that Matterson wasn’t the only one moping, he was just doing it better than the others. It’s about time someone started listening to the players..or get them some professional counselling if the job is too big? Maybe the eggshell story was scarring from pre Madge days? They did a lot of damage by cutting the head (Farah) off the team.

 

[Red88_Tiger]

Fix the defence we we will make top 8 it’s that simple. We can score points, when we get on the front foot we can roll any team in the competition problem is we keep letting teams get huge leads on us. Defend well, learn to build pressure and we’re fine, sure the roster could be better but they’ve shown they can compete with top teams they just don’t do it enough

Unfortunately we've players in their mid to late twenties who can't make the correct decisions in defence or are plain lazy. It comes down to personal pride, pride in the jumper they wear and respect for your team mates that you can be counted on when needed. This is not the case at present. Maguire can only do so much. These players have to want to improve.


It looks that way to me too Paws. 10 years of riding the slippery slope to mediocrity, peppered with some poor decisions. Lee and Madge have a huge job. I have a feeling that Matterson wasn’t the only one moping, he was just doing it better than the others. It’s about time someone started listening to the players..or get them some professional counselling if the job is too big? Maybe the eggshell story was scarring from pre Madge days? They did a lot of damage by cutting the head (Farah) off the team.

The club has listened to the players far too often in the past. It’s has never helped before. I want them to just suck it up and push forward. I believe the wheels are slowly starting to move in change of mentality but if we back off now we will be back at the beginning again

 

[THE_POM]

Couple of points over the last couple weeks:

McIntyre has re-signed (not sure on why it hasn't been announced as yet)
Seyfarth only has an actual contract on the table from us, one Out of Sydney team has had direct discussions with him but don't see him going anywhere, was mentioned that he's coming off a bit "self entitled" during negotiations.

Nofoaluma in the process of finalizing a 3 year ext, should be a nice Christmas present.
Aloiai & Blore just a formality now with their ext,

Garner going to Manly seems to be still a go but something is holding it up & not on our end.

Madge had a phone conversation with Angus Crichton last week to gage interest, he's seen as a top target for 2022 (Or 2021 depending how things play out at the Roosters)

We are also close to bringing over a young outside back from the UK for 2021, I didn't get the name but will provide once known.

 

[TheDaBoss]

Couple of points over the last couple weeks:

McIntyre has re-signed (not sure on why it hasn't been announced as yet)
Seyfarth only has an actual contract on the table from us, one Out of Sydney team has had direct discussions with him but don't see him going anywhere, was mentioned that he's coming off a bit "self entitled" during negotiations.

Nofoaluma in the process of finalizing a 3 year ext, should be a nice Christmas present.
Aloiai & Blore just a formality now with their ext,

Garner going to Manly seems to be still a go but something is holding it up & not on our end.

Madge had a phone conversation with Angus Crichton last week to gage interest, he's seen as a top target for 2022 (Or 2021 depending how things play out at the Roosters)

We are also close to bringing over a young outside back from the UK for 2021, I didn't get the name but will provide once known.

Thanks as always for the info Pom

is the outside back Regan Grace prehaps ?

he has speed and talent to burn, good news regards to Nofo heard a while ago that benjis money was going to be used to extend him :fa-thumbs-up:

excellent news regarding Blore, Aloai and Mclntyre

 

[Another Pom]

I was just about to get some shut eye and the POM gives me a little treat 😍

Great news on the resigning. They're the players that we need tied down ASAP.

If Crichton comes in for 2021 as a replacement for Garner then that's a massive upgrade.

I know its a big IF, but IF we could snap up JAC and Crichton to go along side the signings of Tamou, Stefano, then all of a sudden we are looking much stronger that last year.

 

[Rusty]

Couple of points over the last couple weeks:

McIntyre has re-signed (not sure on why it hasn't been announced as yet)
Seyfarth only has an actual contract on the table from us, one Out of Sydney team has had direct discussions with him but don't see him going anywhere, was mentioned that he's coming off a bit "self entitled" during negotiations.

Nofoaluma in the process of finalizing a 3 year ext, should be a nice Christmas present.
Aloiai & Blore just a formality now with their ext,

Garner going to Manly seems to be still a go but something is holding it up & not on our end.

Madge had a phone conversation with Angus Crichton last week to gage interest, he's seen as a top target for 2022 (Or 2021 depending how things play out at the Roosters)

We are also close to bringing over a young outside back from the UK for 2021, I didn't get the name but will provide once known.

and the word on JAC?

 

[Another Pom]

As for Regan Grace I personally don't think that he will cut it in the NRL.

I'm a season ticket holder at St Helens and I love the lad, he's had a brilliant 18 months for us at Saints and he's devastating in open play but that's something that he will find hard to come by in Australia compared to the ESL.

He doesn't make the hard yards due to his lack of size and he isn't particularly great under the high ball.

 

[Telltails]

Couple of points over the last couple weeks:

McIntyre has re-signed (not sure on why it hasn't been announced as yet)
Seyfarth only has an actual contract on the table from us, one Out of Sydney team has had direct discussions with him but don't see him going anywhere, was mentioned that he's coming off a bit "self entitled" during negotiations.

Nofoaluma in the process of finalizing a 3 year ext, should be a nice Christmas present.
Aloiai & Blore just a formality now with their ext,

Garner going to Manly seems to be still a go but something is holding it up & not on our end.

Madge had a phone conversation with Angus Crichton last week to gage interest, he's seen as a top target for 2022 (Or 2021 depending how things play out at the Roosters)

We are also close to bringing over a young outside back from the UK for 2021, I didn't get the name but will provide once known.

and the word on JAC?

In the JAC thread

 

[teddy23]

NRL forgotten man was spot on about Angus Crithcon, which gives me confidence his mail about JAC being done to us after origin is true

If we can nab JAC and Crithcon.... wow

 

[teddy23]

Couple of points over the last couple weeks:

McIntyre has re-signed (not sure on why it hasn't been announced as yet)
Seyfarth only has an actual contract on the table from us, one Out of Sydney team has had direct discussions with him but don't see him going anywhere, was mentioned that he's coming off a bit "self entitled" during negotiations.

Nofoaluma in the process of finalizing a 3 year ext, should be a nice Christmas present.
Aloiai & Blore just a formality now with their ext,

Garner going to Manly seems to be still a go but something is holding it up & not on our end.

Madge had a phone conversation with Angus Crichton last week to gage interest, he's seen as a top target for 2022 (Or 2021 depending how things play out at the Roosters)

We are also close to bringing over a young outside back from the UK for 2021, I didn't get the name but will provide once known.

Any news on Harry Grant, or is it a guarantee he’ll be at Melbourne next year or still up in the air?

Thanks for the info btw, makes this forum a much less depressing place during a time like this

 

[THE_POM]

Couple of points over the last couple weeks:

McIntyre has re-signed (not sure on why it hasn't been announced as yet)
Seyfarth only has an actual contract on the table from us, one Out of Sydney team has had direct discussions with him but don't see him going anywhere, was mentioned that he's coming off a bit "self entitled" during negotiations.

Nofoaluma in the process of finalizing a 3 year ext, should be a nice Christmas present.
Aloiai & Blore just a formality now with their ext,

Garner going to Manly seems to be still a go but something is holding it up & not on our end.

Madge had a phone conversation with Angus Crichton last week to gage interest, he's seen as a top target for 2022 (Or 2021 depending how things play out at the Roosters)

We are also close to bringing over a young outside back from the UK for 2021, I didn't get the name but will provide once known.

Any news on Harry Grant, or is it a guarantee he’ll be at Melbourne next year or still up in the air?

Thanks for the info btw, makes this forum a much less depressing place during a time like this

Appears ship has sailed, money was put aside in the event he might become available for 2021, focus now turned elsewhere currently.

 

[Papacito]

The cupboard is looking extremely bare for 2021.

Apart from Tamou, all we've signed rookies that other clubs obviously didn't see as priorities.

Unless there are a few decent signings on the way, we're going to be battling for the spoon.


Well i think the policy is that if players are not worth signing from other clubs apart from JAC that's been tabled there is not much room within our cap to go on a spending spree like the bulldogs have done.

I have nil expectations making the 8 next year and do think we will finish somewhere where we did the this year.

The following year we will have some room and a new Centre of Excellence with facilities to attract some talent.

Suppose we just have to be patient until the following year.

Waiting for a centre of excellence to save us could be like waiting for Godot.

All the other clubs are buidding coes. Some even have a massive head start on us in running a successful coe (e.g Penrith).

Bottom line is that, as it stands, we're going into 2021 with our weakest roster for many years.

I don’t think our roster is that bad to be honest

Aloiai-Twal-Leilua-Garner-Utoikamanu-Musgrove-Tamou
That’s not the worst forward pack we’ve had in the last 4 or 5 years In fact it’s probably the best we’ve had for a long time.

Doueihi-Nof-Talau-Leilua-Momo-Mbye-Brooks-Kepaoa
Reynolds

It’s in the backs were we will win or lose games, where some of these guys are picked and how much positional changing takes place.

Everyone sees things from different angles, I reckon our roster is not too bad and if we learn how to edge our those games we shouldn’t lose we just might make the 8

As a fan, I obviously hope you're right.

But as someone who has watched footy for a very long time, I'm realistic enough to know you don't magically rise up with the same plodders that only got you to 11th the season before.