Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[rugbygoated]

Predicted Round 1 lineup as of now:

1. Bula
2. Skelton
3. To'a
4. May
5. Turuva
6. Luai
7. Doueihi
8. Twal
9. Hope
10. May
11. Sam Fainu
12. Pearce-Paul
13. Pole
14. Koroisau
15. Mav Geyer
16. Seyfarth
17. Sione Fainu

 

[rugbygoated]

They see him as their mate. And I think Benji considers himself one of the boys

Not a fan of that at all. Even if it successful for a year where we make finals, it is not sustainable

 

[Tucker]

Friendship/ a sense of brotherhood is so important for high performing teams.

A sense of common purpose and shared success.

I like it for our club

I like blokes who train hard and play harder. We don't have that because they seem too busy playing grab arse and being best bros

 

[Telltails]

That's not a failure of the salary cap, in that case: it's a club building something that players want to be part of. The purpose of a cap isn't to make winning random, it's to ensure that rich clubs don't have an unfair advantage over poor ones just by virtue of being able to pay them more.

It's clearly possible to build this type of setup, as Penrith have done so in the past decade or so. The point is to bring through your own players, who are part of a culture and a setup from day one: playing with their mates, in a system they know, with good prospects of success on the field and the right support around them off it. That's nothing to do with the salary cap, it's about good management.

Melbourne club is owned by a consortium of ridiculously wealthy business men who expect a return for their investment - that requires consistent success on the field. Success generates sponsorship, and third party deals all exempt from the salary cap as long as they satisfy the guidelines.
The more people keep saying players want to be a part of their system and hence their players go there for unders, the more people believe it and not only does it give them an advantage it means that people expect them to get and keep the best players for less money. TPA 's are the difference between the haves and the have nots - and it sort of counteracts everything the salary cap is supposed to do.

Penrith's success is on the back of a great Rugby League nursery and they should be admired for that. And at least they have lost numerous quality players still at their best because they couldn't compete with offers from other clubs.

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

It was concerning seeing the way Benji speaks to TMay. Very concerning. I think the players love him and respect him, but they don't view him how you should view a coach

It's the new wave of coaching approach and too early to criticise, I can guarantee that it's not all smiles and slaps on the back there's too much at stake.

When the pressure is on and it becomes serious, the stick would make an appearance, I'm sure of that.

 

[The Chad]

I think the biggest issue is how close they are to Benji. Of course you want the coach and players to have a good relationship, but there is such a thing as being too close, and I think proof of that is when supporters start getting anxiety about potential repercussions to the playing group if the coach gets sacked.

Ivan Cleary is pretty close to a few of his guys...

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Ivan Cleary is pretty close to a few of his guys...

When you have won 4 comps in a row, shooting for a 5th, you can do what you want.

 

[Wezt]

Predicted Round 1 lineup as of now:

1. Bula
2. Skelton
3. To'a
4. May
5. Turuva
6. Luai
7. Doueihi
8. Twal
9. Hope
10. May
11. Sam Fainu
12. Pearce-Paul
13. Pole
14. Koroisau
15. Mav Geyer
16. Seyfarth
17. Sione Fainu

We will get the spoon if Geyer is near our best 17

 

[GNR4LIFE]

We will get the spoon if Geyer is near our best 17

He’s in the extended squad at best at full strength. Not much chop.

 

[innsaneink]

It was concerning seeing the way Benji speaks to TMay. Very concerning. I think the players love him and respect him, but they don't view him how you should view a coach

How should they view him?
How should May address him on his podcast?

 

[The Chad]

LOL culture.
Calling everyone bro?
We have no leadership.

It has to start somewhere.

Easy to be critical of things in their infancy, but a couple of years ago we were talking about 'toxic culture'. Not so much the case now.

Every coach will build their group, and the club culture differently. Benji & Richo are clearly looking to build around that 'family first' type slogan.

It's more about the buy-in, than the message. The club needs everyone believing they are in it together. I know you get criticised for being negative, but I also know you commented that this season there were signs that the team was playing with belief.

Do we have leadership? I think we do. Starts at the top in Benji & Richo, but guys like Api, Luai, Turuva, Twal....they have a bigger influence on the guys around them than anyone over the last 5-10 years at the club.

Do they all call each other bro & giggle? Probably. At Bondi they all call each other darling & grab each others crotch while sipping coffee.

 

[The Chad]

When you have won 4 comps in a row, shooting for a 5th, you can do what you want.

And if he left, all the fans would be very concerned about keeping their #7....apparently coaches can be too close to players..

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

He’s in the extended squad at best at full strength. Not much chop.

That might well be mate but come on, the poor bugger hasn't pulled on a jersey yet, give him a chance before you write him off, you never know he might surprise you.

 

[The Chad]

We will get the spoon if Geyer is near our best 17

He's played 3 games in the NRL this season. In a team playing for the GF.

How far off the top 17 is he if he gets game time?

 

[tigahhh]

this forum is dreadful at times, negative about things that aren’t even relevant. benji literally talked about how tough he is with the playing group & he’s not in it to make friends and you think he wants to be besties with them all. yawn

 

[liltiger]

The club can't be involved in sourcing TPAs. In all honestly actual, registered, above board TPAs are more or less meaningless nowadays. The NRL cracked down on them in 2017 and by 2022 the total value of TPAs was about 3% of the cap: https://www.nrl.com/news/2022/04/29/nrl-unpacked-how-does-the-salary-cap-work/ That would be about $345k per club, total.

Basically, if a club wants to pay its players more than it has cap room it is cheating. Does that happen? Sure, I don't doubt it. But if we've got contracts registered with the NRL that are $750k short of the cap and suddenly sign Payne Haas I suspect the auditors would be at Concord within the hour.

So we can't basically line up sponsors to just pay players outside of the cap as a third party agreement

 

[The Chad]

And played 11 games last year.

When they won the GF.

So yeah.

 

[tigahhh]

He's played 3 games in the NRL this season. In a team playing for the GF.

How far off the top 17 is he if he gets game time?

no we apparently need 1-17 of absolute superstars just nvm the salary cap or depth.

 

[The Chad]

no we apparently need 1-17 of absolute superstars just nvm the salary cap or depth.

I kind of get where people are coming from.

But Mav Geyer is really the exact kind of player we have been missing in our KOE.

We played Rueben Porter in 1st grade in 2024.

Career reserve grader debuting at 27.

That was the strength of our 'depth'.

Mav Geyer is a serviceable back up. It means Tony Sukkar isn't automatically thrust into 1st grade if we get an injury. It extends the quality we have to draw on by another player.

If we can have 5-6 guys like Geyer, Naden, Tu'itupou, Sukkar etc in the KOE to call on- guys with NRL experience, then we don't enter games saying "oh no! our bench!" which I'm pretty sure I read 23 weeks this season.

 

[Dr_Ice]

So we can't basically line up sponsors to just pay players outside of the cap as a third party agreement

No you can’t (officially)