Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[pawsandclaws1]

Bulldogs offered more money for Burton plus had the player coach connection, my concerns about Madge are his team selections and failure to improve the team in the areas that need it,

* Choosing Leilua and Roberts as starting centres over Momirovski who would of been the smarter choice

* Nofoaluma re-signing (4years) who has always had defensive issues

* Team selections and use of the bench often not making sense

* Releasing Thompson who in hindsight is a better winger than any other player here

Every player you mentioned is pretty ordinary though. Switch the names around and I reckon we're still at the same place.

None of the players are game changers, Joey and Roberts at least had the potential to be and that is why they were signed. As an attempt to get an ordinary squad into the finals.

These were shortcuts in recruitment much like the shortcuts we take on the field. These guys can’t hold down a club because they’re not mentally tough. Bellamy sends young players out to work on building sites to find out their character. We should have given BJ an Oporto ‘s apron.

I don't have a problem with either signing as they were short term signings for a specific purpose.

To run 14th? I get your point but it needs to end. Need to start signing winners to teach the kids who can play (supposedly)

The winners said no, these were signings with good upside that could have made a difference if they worked out. If not there was an easy out when we will be in a position to try again with the better targets. The Roberts signing in particular was a good risk to take.

Come on mate he’s copping about 4 grand a week to do nothing. We could have a young kid learning the ropes right now. It was always doomed.

Who Talau? Roberts is on close to minimum wage, we are about $750k under the cap, with 2 spots still vacant and all reserve grade players being eligible for firsts grade. His signing held no one back.

We should have been looking for a young speedster not a washed up hack.

Nothing stopped us from both.

18 year old kid who tore us shreds on Friday has changed clubs recently. Doubt we even knew his name.

Complete nonsense

Madge literally said they knew about him 2 years ago

I've also seen the talent identification system they use, there isn't a player they don't know about.

do they use a dartboard?

I wouldn’t mind guessing they’re putting way too much influence on stats. The good teams sign guys based on character and propensity to work hard. Not many spreadsheets can capture those details.

We don't sign based on stats.

Maybe we should then, whatever we’re doing, change it.

The biggest issue is we are struggling to attract the elite senior talent, we are doing very well with the junior identification. The elite talent issue is very complex to address and I don't know if it is something that will change until we are playing better football.

If we’re going after the best junior talent we certainly missed on Burton, Walker, Walsh, Schuster, Suaalii etc. when our our young guns going to catch fire?

You are correct. We haven't signed any elite juniors, or if we've tried we've failed.

We do have a bunch of talented youngsters who are still very much project players. Tuki is a player with a lot of potential but getting in the pack and still very young he needs a bit more time in NSW cup.

We have 600k to spend this season. That could get us practically any player that's looking for a new home. Origin or anyone for half a season. Or we target the next Burton, Walker, suaalii etc and try get them ASAP.

What is an elite junior? Madden, Talau, Cini etc. all schooboys. Stefano is an elite-level junior prop. Daine Laurie.

For me it’s a guy whose that much better than his age group that you know he’ll succeed among men. It still could fail if his attitude is wrong. Suaalii/Ponga, guys who are household names before they debut. The strong clubs have a mortgage on these kids too.

Korobeite, JAC and Papenhuyzen familiar? We had them and we lost them. We have a chronic shortage of wingers and pace in the NRL team.

 

[Russell]

Reality is there isn’t 2-3 marquee style players on the market.

There are some good players, some rising talent and fringe players up for grabs.

Issue is in a competitive market where a few clubs have cash we either have to take huge risks or we go the slow burn - pay huge overs or buy for price, invest in yet to be known players and grab out of sorts players to hopefully build a competitive squad which may take another 2-3yrs to see the benefits of.

We suck and not alot of current 1st graders would jump from the storm etc to come here unless they got well compensated & even then most pick winning over the cash anyway.

TBH after watching Hynes do it again last night. He is the real deal. He is 100% a marquee player. Demands the ball every single set and makes consistent correct decisions. Not to mention his support play. He literally backs up almost every hit up.

Can play anywhere.
I'd like him in the centres for us.

I like him at 1. I’m wondering if Gus is right and Laurie’s best position is 6.

It’s really hard to judge because we somehow haven’t worked out how to use him properly in attack at fullback.

It baffles me that we haven’t worked out how to run an effective block play that gives Laurie some room to make a decision. Every other fullback in the game gets that opportunity.

He may well be a good player in the future - HOWEVER, he needs about six months of tackling lessons before that happens.

 

[BZN]

The tigers have the third equaly biggest pack in the comp.'
Many thought the game was moving towards smaller more mobile forwards. With the new crackdown on high tackles, this could change the scenario again. The donkeys big guys steamrolled the chickens last night.

Forum members thoughts ?

Our troubles start without the ball. Our defence has remained consistently appalling.

I thought our middle is OK, its the edge that is the problem?

Definitely the edges

Middle defence is poor but edges are close to the worst I’ve ever seen in NRL.

We need 2 hardcore back rowers .

2 new wingers who can jump and defend and have pace

2 centre’s who can hit hard with pace

And a decent hooker


And people want to blame the coach. Geez.

Show me one winger, centre, second rower or hooker he didn’t sign or re-sign?

All clubs have sign duds, they don’t do it knowingly though. It’s then a process of weeding them out when there contracts are finished.

So now he needs time to weed out the bad signings he made so he can truly get the team he wants? What a cop out.

Dont forget Madge is only one part of the team that decides what player to purchase.
We employed Hartigan to be in charge of this sort of decision making, as he had the knowledge after working in the successful Roosters system. And I reckon a very large % of us would have been thrilled to have him on Our Team.

 

[avocadoontoast]

The tigers have the third equaly biggest pack in the comp.'
Many thought the game was moving towards smaller more mobile forwards. With the new crackdown on high tackles, this could change the scenario again. The donkeys big guys steamrolled the chickens last night.

Forum members thoughts ?

Our troubles start without the ball. Our defence has remained consistently appalling.

I thought our middle is OK, its the edge that is the problem?

Definitely the edges

Middle defence is poor but edges are close to the worst I’ve ever seen in NRL.

We need 2 hardcore back rowers .

2 new wingers who can jump and defend and have pace

2 centre’s who can hit hard with pace

And a decent hooker


And people want to blame the coach. Geez.

Show me one winger, centre, second rower or hooker he didn’t sign or re-sign?

All clubs have sign duds, they don’t do it knowingly though. It’s then a process of weeding them out when there contracts are finished.

So now he needs time to weed out the bad signings he made so he can truly get the team he wants? What a cop out.

Dont forget Madge is only one part of the team that decides what player to purchase.
We employed Hartigan to be in charge of this sort of decision making, as he had the knowledge after working in the successful Roosters system. And I reckon a very large % of us would have been thrilled to have him on Our Team.

I don't think our recruitment has been that bad since Hartigan arrived. Before he got here we were signing people like Robert Jennings and trying (unsuccessfully) to sign Tim Mannah.

 

[BZN]

The tigers have the third equaly biggest pack in the comp.'
Many thought the game was moving towards smaller more mobile forwards. With the new crackdown on high tackles, this could change the scenario again. The donkeys big guys steamrolled the chickens last night.

Forum members thoughts ?

Our troubles start without the ball. Our defence has remained consistently appalling.

I thought our middle is OK, its the edge that is the problem?

Definitely the edges

Middle defence is poor but edges are close to the worst I’ve ever seen in NRL.

We need 2 hardcore back rowers .

2 new wingers who can jump and defend and have pace

2 centre’s who can hit hard with pace

And a decent hooker


And people want to blame the coach. Geez.

Show me one winger, centre, second rower or hooker he didn’t sign or re-sign?

All clubs have sign duds, they don’t do it knowingly though. It’s then a process of weeding them out when there contracts are finished.

So now he needs time to weed out the bad signings he made so he can truly get the team he wants? What a cop out.

? Not a cop out at all, some players perform to expectations, some don’t. It’s a constant process to upgrade your team. They all do it.
But you have to wait out the contracts and salary cap doesn’t allow you hide duds under the carpet.
It takes time, I would have thought we would all understand this?
Plus, you have to have the players you want, to be available, when you want them?

What would you think a new coach would do if he came in?

Good, sensible post TW :+1:

 

[finnzo]

If billy Walters goes to Brisbane I wonder what we will get in return

 

[isaaktigers]

A lot of people think if you offer a guy 30% more than the next club the guy will sign on the dotted line.

Take a guy like Hynes, if we offered him 30% more than the Bronks would he sign, I say no. There are lots of considerations a player makes and money is just one of them. Future success, life style, location and ability to play my favourite position are all considerations. At present players from outside our club probably rate us near if not bottom of the 16 clubs.

I personally don't think that at all.

I believe that people know the Wests Tigers have a huge fan base, but are awaiting till we show signs of getting somewhere close to the top 6-8..

For an example, Jai Arrow said this of the West Tigers:

"Looking at Madge [Maguire], he's won a comp, he expects the best from you. I think they do have a quality side.

*"It's just they've sort of struggled the last couple of weeks. Not only that, they've scored some points as well - they just haven’t been able to get the job done. I have no doubt that they'll be out firing."

"No disrespect to the Tigers, but the proud history of Souths and obviously Wayne Bennett and the coaching staff here is second-to-none," the Queensland State of Origin winner said."*

I believe once we start winning more, things will change and people will want to try and take us to a premiership.

As for Addo-Carr, I thought he would have signed with us, but obviously he went to the Bulldogs for more cash.. which I am glad that we didn't provide him it.

Not sure if the Talau Addo-Carr trade was true, but even then.. as bad as Talau has been.. I'd prefer him over Addo-Carr whom seems to be slowing down lately.

If we look at the market at the moment, there aren't many KEY players that we are after that are affordable (Forward and Winger), I wouldn't spend 700-800K on Finucane at all, I'd prefer to spend it on an aggressive forward and a fast winger.

The wingers that are currently off contract are (yes most likely not up-to-date, from Zero Tackle), the below bolded are the ones I feel like we should target.

Zac Cini, Christian Crichton, Tevita Funa, Dane Gagai, Reuben Garrick, Patrick Herbert, Dean Ieremia, Matt Ikuvalu, Tui Katoa, Edrick Lee, Isaac Lumelume, David Mead, Brett Morris, **Jayden Okunbor**, Michael Oldfield, Jonus Pearson, Jordan Pereira, Jordan Rapana, Jorge Taufua, **Daniel Tupou**, Semi Valemei.

I also believe we could get Dallin Watene-Zeleniak for cheap IF the bulldogs decide not to continue with him, also if Bulldogs are having a sale I would also take Renouf Atoni.

As for big men I class as Forwards (Prop, Lock, Second Row) , there are many to choose from the "Off Contact 2021" list. (Once again, may not be up-to-date; Source: Zero Tackle, i'd look at getting:

Kaide Ellis, Dale Finucane, Corey Jensen, Max King, James Roumanos, Chris Smith, Ray Stone, Sam Stone, Bunty Afoa, Leeson Ah Mau, Tom Ale, Tom Amone, Morgan Boyle, Jackson Frei, Wiremu Greig, Samuel Hughes, Josh King, **Isaac Liu**, Dunamis Lui, Patrick Mago, Thomas Mikaele, Dylan Napa, Ofahiki Ogden, Russell Packer, Aaron Pene, Darryn Schonig, Ava Seumanufagai, Toafofoa Sipley, Aiden Tolman, Jai Whitbread, Aaron Woods, John Asiata, **Fletcher Baker**, Dean Britt, **Egan Butcher**, **Kurt Capewell**, Bryce Cartwright, Michael Chee-Kam, Angus Crichton, Josh Curran, **Jack de Belin**, Darius Farmer, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Brock Gardner, Alex Glenn, Jack Gosiewski, Brodie Jones, Billy Magoulias, Sam McIntyre, Mark Nicholls, Keenan Palasia, Tyrone Peachey, Alex Seyfarth, Iosia Soliola, Scott Sorensen, **Jaydn Su'a**, Ben Te'o, Shane Wright.


I also have a question for people, who do you see at other clubs that look un-happy, or the coaches are un-happy with? I believe these are the people we could purchase at a low price during the transfer times or end of season.. Normally these types of people have a point to prove against their old teams.

Isaac Lui yes for me.

Okonbor would be good, big and tall.

Jayden Su’a would be good, but wont come.

And prefer Ogden over Reounof

 

[The_Patriot]

I keep reading how our recruitment's improved.
Why didn't we throw everything we had at Burton?
Burton + the current squad = WINNING.

Maybe they thought like most of the Forum did.

"Unproven," "Can't even make their first grade team," "Plodder," "Has shown nothing"

Now the Forum "In hindsight" - think he is a "world beater."

Unfortunately it is now going to be the same with Nico Hynes.

He was a plodder on the Forum a few weeks back now in hindsight - could be anything.

100%

This forum is one of the worst recruiters ive encountered.

Anyone with rep talent is ruled out to being a bog head or having an ego.

We only rate good blokes who no other club cares about here.

 

[tigerap]

If billy Walters goes to Brisbane I wonder what we will get in return

let me guess $5...?

 

[finnzo]

If billy Walters goes to Brisbane I wonder what we will get in return

let me guess $5...?

Well we already have 2 free spots in our top 30 so I doubt we are releasing him just to gain a spot

 

[Cairnstigers]

If billy Walters goes to Brisbane I wonder what we will get in return


 

[Cairnstigers]

If billy Walters goes to Brisbane I wonder what we will get in return

On the other hand, this may be why our men went to Brisbane for a quick visit

Imagine if we indeed did sign both Isaako and TPJ
They both had a big game on the weekend
Brisbane supporters would be livid

 

[BZN]

The tigers have the third equaly biggest pack in the comp.'
Many thought the game was moving towards smaller more mobile forwards. With the new crackdown on high tackles, this could change the scenario again. The donkeys big guys steamrolled the chickens last night.

Forum members thoughts ?

Our troubles start without the ball. Our defence has remained consistently appalling.

I thought our middle is OK, its the edge that is the problem?

Definitely the edges

Middle defence is poor but edges are close to the worst I’ve ever seen in NRL.

We need 2 hardcore back rowers .

2 new wingers who can jump and defend and have pace

2 centre’s who can hit hard with pace

And a decent hooker


And people want to blame the coach. Geez.

Show me one winger, centre, second rower or hooker he didn’t sign or re-sign?

All clubs have sign duds, they don’t do it knowingly though. It’s then a process of weeding them out when there contracts are finished.

So now he needs time to weed out the bad signings he made so he can truly get the team he wants? What a cop out.

That's what all clubs/coaches do. Pretty
sure your man Flannagan signed Moylan and Dugan on huge contracts that they have been trying to get out of for the last three seasons?

How have the sharks gone the last few seasons, relative to us?

Both have won 0 premierships in the last few years

I'd celebrate a first round finals game like a premiership win.

So now you concede that we will get into the finals?

Next year, it will happen.

Sorry what did I concede? We aren’t making the finals under Madge, ever.

I want our team to get into the finals just as much as anyone.
But there is only one major reason to do that, and that is to get into the Grand Final and then win it.
But every year 6 finalists dont get into the GF and every year 7 teams dont win the GF.
Is there a difference between coming 8th and maybe getting knocked out in the 1st round, or coming 9th as we have for the past 9 years.
Do you remember who the 3rd to 8th finalists were last year or the year before that?
I reckon lots of people would feel any year their team dont Win the GF, its been a failure.
Also, we can only purchase the players that are available at the time, and the ones we have purchased may well be the bottom of the barrel from the list of available players that meet Our Clubs criteria.
Why aren't we winning...because Madge just doesn't have the players needed to be able to play them in their correct positions ie Talau. Simpkin was supposed to be better than Harry Grant according to a lot of people on here. Cini has a blinder in his 1st game then a shocker in his 2nd. How do we know if some of our blokes dont like one another, therefore will never play good combinations.
Then we have a galoot like Nofa who leaks like a sieve, and whoever is most responsible for his 4 year ext. [seems like Hagipantellis] should be stoned.
Our team wont and cant be fixed in 48 hours, but I believe
with the purchase of a few of the right players, 2022 will be a BIG improvement with Madge as coach.

 

[mike]

The tigers have the third equaly biggest pack in the comp.'
Many thought the game was moving towards smaller more mobile forwards. With the new crackdown on high tackles, this could change the scenario again. The donkeys big guys steamrolled the chickens last night.

Forum members thoughts ?

Our troubles start without the ball. Our defence has remained consistently appalling.

I thought our middle is OK, its the edge that is the problem?

Definitely the edges

Middle defence is poor but edges are close to the worst I’ve ever seen in NRL.

We need 2 hardcore back rowers .

2 new wingers who can jump and defend and have pace

2 centre’s who can hit hard with pace

And a decent hooker


And people want to blame the coach. Geez.

Show me one winger, centre, second rower or hooker he didn’t sign or re-sign?

All clubs have sign duds, they don’t do it knowingly though. It’s then a process of weeding them out when there contracts are finished.

So now he needs time to weed out the bad signings he made so he can truly get the team he wants? What a cop out.

That's what all clubs/coaches do. Pretty
sure your man Flannagan signed Moylan and Dugan on huge contracts that they have been trying to get out of for the last three seasons?

How have the sharks gone the last few seasons, relative to us?

Both have won 0 premierships in the last few years

I'd celebrate a first round finals game like a premiership win.

So now you concede that we will get into the finals?

Next year, it will happen.

Sorry what did I concede? We aren’t making the finals under Madge, ever.

I want our team to get into the finals just as much as anyone.
But there is only one major reason to do that, and that is to get into the Grand Final and then win it.
But every year 6 finalists dont get into the GF and every year 7 teams dont win the GF.
Is there a difference between coming 8th and maybe getting knocked out in the 1st round, or coming 9th as we have for the past 9 years.
Do you remember who the 3rd to 8th finalists were last year or the year before that?
I reckon lots of people would feel any year their team dont Win the GF, its been a failure.
Also, we can only purchase the players that are available at the time, and the ones we have purchased may well be the bottom of the barrel from the list of available players that meet Our Clubs criteria.
Why aren't we winning...because Madge just doesn't have the players needed to be able to play them in their correct positions ie Talau. Simpkin was supposed to be better than Harry Grant according to a lot of people on here. Cini has a blinder in his 1st game then a shocker in his 2nd. How do we know if some of our blokes dont like one another, therefore will never play good combinations.
Then we have a galoot like Nofa who leaks like a sieve, and whoever is most responsible for his 4 year ext. [seems like Hagipantellis] should be stoned.
Our team wont and cant be fixed in 48 hours, but I believe
with the purchase of a few of the right players, 2022 will be a BIG improvement with Madge as coach.

Insightful post @MAGPIES1963

 

[Camel2281]

Reality is there isn’t 2-3 marquee style players on the market.

There are some good players, some rising talent and fringe players up for grabs.

Issue is in a competitive market where a few clubs have cash we either have to take huge risks or we go the slow burn - pay huge overs or buy for price, invest in yet to be known players and grab out of sorts players to hopefully build a competitive squad which may take another 2-3yrs to see the benefits of.

We suck and not alot of current 1st graders would jump from the storm etc to come here unless they got well compensated & even then most pick winning over the cash anyway.

3 players who I consider just below Marquee but top class who I want us to chase. Brandon Smith, Nicho Hynes and Jaydon Su'a

 

[BZN]

Reality is there isn’t 2-3 marquee style players on the market.

There are some good players, some rising talent and fringe players up for grabs.

Issue is in a competitive market where a few clubs have cash we either have to take huge risks or we go the slow burn - pay huge overs or buy for price, invest in yet to be known players and grab out of sorts players to hopefully build a competitive squad which may take another 2-3yrs to see the benefits of.

We suck and not alot of current 1st graders would jump from the storm etc to come here unless they got well compensated & even then most pick winning over the cash anyway.

Agree, but Reynolds has gone to the Bronc’s for less money than the Sharks offered.
He did mention that the Bronc’s sent a senior delegation down and the Sharks an assistant?
We may have learnt from that, as we did send our most senior delegation up to supposedly talk to a couple of players?

Just on that delegation travelling together, in most companies this is banned, because if anything was to happen, then company management/direction is in disarray?

NRL are supplying Reynolds with a new furnished home and covering the move.

Guarantee he's not uplifting his young family and moving them to a new state without getting looked after.

NRL need broncos to succeed.
Not the first time stuff like this has happened.

WOW!!! you've got me interested in the "Reynolds with a new furnished home" etc.
This could be a new rort...can you post the details on here so we can all read it please?

 

[Ultimate Warrior]

Reality is there isn’t 2-3 marquee style players on the market.

There are some good players, some rising talent and fringe players up for grabs.

Issue is in a competitive market where a few clubs have cash we either have to take huge risks or we go the slow burn - pay huge overs or buy for price, invest in yet to be known players and grab out of sorts players to hopefully build a competitive squad which may take another 2-3yrs to see the benefits of.

We suck and not alot of current 1st graders would jump from the storm etc to come here unless they got well compensated & even then most pick winning over the cash anyway.

Agree, but Reynolds has gone to the Bronc’s for less money than the Sharks offered.
He did mention that the Bronc’s sent a senior delegation down and the Sharks an assistant?
We may have learnt from that, as we did send our most senior delegation up to supposedly talk to a couple of players?

Just on that delegation travelling together, in most companies this is banned, because if anything was to happen, then company management/direction is in disarray?

NRL are supplying Reynolds with a new furnished home and covering the move.

Guarantee he's not uplifting his young family and moving them to a new state without getting looked after.

NRL need broncos to succeed.
Not the first time stuff like this has happened.

WOW!!! you've got me interested in the "Reynolds with a new furnished home" etc.
This could be a new rort...can you post the details on here so we can all read it please?

Didn’t the Titans do the same thing with Scott Prince?

 

[Demps]

Reality is there isn’t 2-3 marquee style players on the market.

There are some good players, some rising talent and fringe players up for grabs.

Issue is in a competitive market where a few clubs have cash we either have to take huge risks or we go the slow burn - pay huge overs or buy for price, invest in yet to be known players and grab out of sorts players to hopefully build a competitive squad which may take another 2-3yrs to see the benefits of.

We suck and not alot of current 1st graders would jump from the storm etc to come here unless they got well compensated & even then most pick winning over the cash anyway.

Agree, but Reynolds has gone to the Bronc’s for less money than the Sharks offered.
He did mention that the Bronc’s sent a senior delegation down and the Sharks an assistant?
We may have learnt from that, as we did send our most senior delegation up to supposedly talk to a couple of players?

Just on that delegation travelling together, in most companies this is banned, because if anything was to happen, then company management/direction is in disarray?

NRL are supplying Reynolds with a new furnished home and covering the move.

Guarantee he's not uplifting his young family and moving them to a new state without getting looked after.

NRL need broncos to succeed.
Not the first time stuff like this has happened.

WOW!!! you've got me interested in the "Reynolds with a new furnished home" etc.
This could be a new rort...can you post the details on here so we can all read it please?

Haha what details?
I'm just guessing....

He went from, "I don't want to take my family away from Sydney" to "yeah... Brissy is nice" real quick.

Moving interstate for less money.
It doesn't sound logical when he had offers from Sydney clubs for more money.

The NRL will make such a move as effortless and rewarding as possible to improve a News Ltd owned club like the broncos.

 

[BAGNF05]

Bulldogs offered more money for Burton plus had the player coach connection, my concerns about Madge are his team selections and failure to improve the team in the areas that need it,

* Choosing Leilua and Roberts as starting centres over Momirovski who would of been the smarter choice

* Nofoaluma re-signing (4years) who has always had defensive issues

* Team selections and use of the bench often not making sense

* Releasing Thompson who in hindsight is a better winger than any other player here

Every player you mentioned is pretty ordinary though. Switch the names around and I reckon we're still at the same place.

None of the players are game changers, Joey and Roberts at least had the potential to be and that is why they were signed. As an attempt to get an ordinary squad into the finals.

These were shortcuts in recruitment much like the shortcuts we take on the field. These guys can’t hold down a club because they’re not mentally tough. Bellamy sends young players out to work on building sites to find out their character. We should have given BJ an Oporto ‘s apron.

I don't have a problem with either signing as they were short term signings for a specific purpose.

To run 14th? I get your point but it needs to end. Need to start signing winners to teach the kids who can play (supposedly)

The winners said no, these were signings with good upside that could have made a difference if they worked out. If not there was an easy out when we will be in a position to try again with the better targets. The Roberts signing in particular was a good risk to take.

Come on mate he’s copping about 4 grand a week to do nothing. We could have a young kid learning the ropes right now. It was always doomed.

Who Talau? Roberts is on close to minimum wage, we are about $750k under the cap, with 2 spots still vacant and all reserve grade players being eligible for firsts grade. His signing held no one back.

We should have been looking for a young speedster not a washed up hack.

Nothing stopped us from both.

18 year old kid who tore us shreds on Friday has changed clubs recently. Doubt we even knew his name.

Complete nonsense

Madge literally said they knew about him 2 years ago

I've also seen the talent identification system they use, there isn't a player they don't know about.

do they use a dartboard?

I wouldn’t mind guessing they’re putting way too much influence on stats. The good teams sign guys based on character and propensity to work hard. Not many spreadsheets can capture those details.

We don't sign based on stats.

Maybe we should then, whatever we’re doing, change it.

The biggest issue is we are struggling to attract the elite senior talent, we are doing very well with the junior identification. The elite talent issue is very complex to address and I don't know if it is something that will change until we are playing better football.

If we’re going after the best junior talent we certainly missed on Burton, Walker, Walsh, Schuster, Suaalii etc. when our our young guns going to catch fire?

You are correct. We haven't signed any elite juniors, or if we've tried we've failed.

We do have a bunch of talented youngsters who are still very much project players. Tuki is a player with a lot of potential but getting in the pack and still very young he needs a bit more time in NSW cup.

We have 600k to spend this season. That could get us practically any player that's looking for a new home. Origin or anyone for half a season. Or we target the next Burton, Walker, suaalii etc and try get them ASAP.

What is an elite junior? Madden, Talau, Cini etc. all schooboys. Stefano is an elite-level junior prop. Daine Laurie.

For me it’s a guy whose that much better than his age group that you know he’ll succeed among men. It still could fail if his attitude is wrong. Suaalii/Ponga, guys who are household names before they debut. The strong clubs have a mortgage on these kids too.

Korobeite, JAC and Papenhuyzen familiar? We had them and we lost them. We have a chronic shortage of wingers and pace in the NRL team.

Don’t underestimate the value of learning in that Storm system. You get taught about not taking shortcuts (don’t think Victoria has Oporto either)

 

[BZN]

Our 3 highest paid players are Moses Mbye, Rus Packer and BJ Leilua plus we have 700k unspent.

Mbye - 800k
Pakcer - 750k
Bj - 600k
Unspent - 700k

2.85m delivering about 300k worth

We Re effectively playing $2.5m under the cap.

Imagine if you could swap that 2.5m top end money for any other 3 players on the comp. We would be top 8 and prob top 4.

It isnt the coaching, it isnt the effort its purley too level talent.

Not 1 player from our club will be in an origin discussion - we are the only club that can say that .

Bj on more than brooks ?

Madge spend on a half back

He must have forgotten Brooks- he is our highest paid player on 900k per season.
Get rid of him and the other 3 and we’re laughing.
PS You can throw in Nofo and Talau as well.

Do we actually have proof that Brooks is on 900k per season?