@bagnf05 said in [Signing Suggestions & Rumours](/post/1525135) said:
Can we please talk definition of depth. IMO It gets tossed around too much on here. For me a club has ‘good depth’ where it can replace proven first graders with other first grade talent. e.g. Teddy goes down, Joey Manu goes to FB and Aubo steps into centre (pre retirement).
A. Not many of our players are consistent FGers
B. Most of our back up players are fringies at best.
Let’s keep it real.
https://weststigersforum.com/topic/33169/2022-depth-chart/29?_=1643579876258
I like your definition but I disagree.
Having proven first graders as "Depth" is a bad idea.
Because if they are proven first graders, they are on a high salary OR are taking unders for weird reasons.
We have 9ish million on a salary cap?
Many said we should hire Cotric who would be between 200k and 400k. 200k sure, but doubt that is happening. 400k is where the problems happen.
I forget if the minimum in the NRL now is 80k or 130k, but at a minimum you need 2.4m just to pay your entire team 80k.
You then have your halves pairing. In our case Brooks is on 900K (-80k above) and Hastings is on 500k (-80k above). 3.6M down already. Add our wingers who are Noffa (500k) and Ken M (450K) you get a total cap of 4.4m
Were half way through the cap, with bare minimum players and only 4 regular first graders.
Your example with Easts rocks. People like Gavin Cooper and Aubursson were great because they could add to the forward pack but fill in at center if needed.
400k on the sidelines is not good. Just like we had 700k Josh Reynolds and 600k Packer on the sidelines not good. Because if we give them 700k, it means were looking for 200k players in other positions.
400k is a proven first grader. Too expensive for depth. Means when someone is out too and our Junior laces up, they are on the bench and not blooded in first grade.
Cleary's Big 17 was a dumb idea. Not because it talked up the Big 17 but because Cleary signed a stack of Depth, not talent. We signed average, we got average or hopeless players.
An Average player will usually stay an average player. Sure Wayne Bennett can coach the best out of these, we cannot. A poor player though can at least play average and a great player raises the squad.
We need good players, players in the top 3 of their positions. I like Newcastle's attitude of hitting up high performing props. Tyson Frizzle will perform from good-fantastic, even on a good day he will outperform our average.
Good assessment, but I think this season could be a slight anomoly. With COVID raging in an unrestricted environment, it is possible that a club with a broader range of depths (lots of 5 or 4/10) could benefit over a club that is top heavy with stars ( lots of 8's and 2's).