Jedi_Tiger
Well-known member
club probably concerned about what type of money latu wants considering all those injuries.
Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion
- Thread starter MacDougall
- Start date
clontarfkid
Well-known member
Sam shld be a priority,but only ay the rite $$$.Weve seen Preston sign for $800k,who is currently the better player but Sam has more upside IMO
Latu is optional,and my priority wld be Volkman.Douhie is in there somehere too,
Its complex
We could hire the 3 best defensive coaches from this season statistically across the NRL, but if our players are not willing to go after the contact, not fit enough or willing enough to demonstrate good defensive line speed, not smart enough to follow defensive principles or number up correctly, not agile enough or fast enough to get to the required spaces laterally , then there is not much a defensive coach can do about it no matter how good and thorough they are.
Nearly all defensive issues apply to one of the above listed categories and I would assume all this information is provided and demonstrated with video analysis time and time again,
For many players it just does not sink in and the only solution is to drop them back a grade to think about it and work on it, but of course you need the right depth to allow this to happen.
The shortened version of this is improve and fix our depth so that no player is irreplaceable and it should easily fix the defensive issues once all players are well aware they will be dropped if their defensive intent and defensive IQ is not up to standard.
Last edited:
Is it a case of our biggest strength, sometimes becoming our biggest liability?
The strength of having family members and very close friends as part of our team is of course a strength when everything is going well, but when it comes to having to make decisions on who to keep and who to let go, you can see how it would make it very tricky and hard to keep everyone happy.
AD is seemingly very close with Twal and Seyfarth.
I know many of our fans could not care less if we offloaded AD and it upset Seyfarth and some may also not care if it upset Twal, but Seyfarth and Twal are important parts of our forward depth, so we need to keep them unless we can replace them other players as good or better on similar contract values which is easier said than done.
Turuva’s starting position his starting to come under question and he is very well paid, I would say overpaid for the qualities he provides. But he is Api’s cousin and Api played a major role in getting him to the club, so it would no doubt upset Api if we were to even consider letting Turuva look at other options shortly after re-signing with us.
Same story with the May brothers. They are a package deal and now both need to live up to their big money contracts, so it would be almost impossible to offload one and not the other if either of them do not perform up to standard.
Then we have the Fainu brothers who are also no doubt somewhat of a package deal.
We supposedly have Sione contracted for somewhere around 350 - 400k which I believe is very reasonable for a player of his calibre.
Samuela no doubt will need to be upgraded from what was rumoured to be a 500k per season contract with us.
I would say if we offer him 800k with ratchet clauses which would make his contract very similar to what is has been reported the Bulldogs are paying Jacob Preston, I think that would be very fair and our limit.
Latu would be very hard to price. Due to a bad run of injuries, suspensions and Benji not really handling his development all that well, we ideally want to keep him, but we do not know for certain if he will fulfill his potential.
I think we probably have to match his previous 500k contract which is a lot of money to find out if he lives up to his potential, therefore I hope we do not go any higher than that until we him regularly play well and at times dominate as an NRL halve.
We can obviously upgrade him if he does start fulfilling his potential.
Last edited:
happy_tiger
Well-known member
Well if we are picking 2005 candidates as defence coach it has to be Bryce Gibbs
Jedi_Tiger
Well-known member
agree
in an ideal scenario we should be signing sam f and maybe volkman AD (if we are keeping him etc and Andrews.
To me Latu would be the odd man out if we keep AD
problem is sam f may not sign if we dont sign latu
Tiger_claws
Well-known member
I can’t remember what podcast I heard it on but Mario & the Fainu are extremely close. Mario was very open about purchasing the parents a house through the boys & you can hear it in his voice the boys are more than just clients. Unless there has been a falling out with Benji I think the boys will stay. Mario also spoke openly about discussions between he & Benji regarding Manase & what the club would like to do for him. That in itself will be highly regarded by the boys & entire Fainu family
Odessa
Well-known member
I heard Blind Freddy applied hopefully with a bit of luck he gets it because it will be a big improvement
happy_tiger
Well-known member
Cam McInnes off to York
At the right price would have taken him for a season
At the right price would have taken him for a season
100% should be let go over the off season
People are throwing Volkmans name around like he is going to be our saving grace and/or marquee halfback.
He is the 5/8 for the team coming 13th with 6 wins out of 20 games he played in.
He might be a decent 5/8, but he is not adding any value to a team running 14th.
Not every player that has a few good games is a good fit for our team, and that has been a problem for our recruitment and retention for the longest time.
We need to be patient before tying up cap space and filling roster spots for players that are not going to significantly improve our team.
Like I said before, we need to be exploring whether teams with excess halves would be willing to let go of any, for e.g. Fogarty who has played nicely this season (22 try assists), good kicking game etc. who would not only enhance our current squad but would also provide invaluable guidance to Latu and Javon.
He is the 5/8 for the team coming 13th with 6 wins out of 20 games he played in.
He might be a decent 5/8, but he is not adding any value to a team running 14th.
Not every player that has a few good games is a good fit for our team, and that has been a problem for our recruitment and retention for the longest time.
We need to be patient before tying up cap space and filling roster spots for players that are not going to significantly improve our team.
Like I said before, we need to be exploring whether teams with excess halves would be willing to let go of any, for e.g. Fogarty who has played nicely this season (22 try assists), good kicking game etc. who would not only enhance our current squad but would also provide invaluable guidance to Latu and Javon.
Jedi_Tiger
Well-known member
manly will not let fogarty go, they are letting brooks go at end of his contract
Lionheartj
Member
Ever since I can remember,and that’s a long time,we have only been successful when we have found a game breaking 7,that’s why I have been hoping in Latu,Madden is a 7,but he’s not a game breaker as such,he’s a good organiser and runs a straight line for he’s backline,and can put over a game winning field goal,one more gun forward,Latu or Madden come to the next level and Andrew’s delivers and we are on our way with our squad and the juniors coming thru,we need that 7
Is there anyone anywhere that you wouldn't sign?
happy_tiger
Well-known member
Heaps Col ....not sure if you have me mixed up with someone else
hank37w
Well-known member
How about if we get Liam Fulton as well, if nothing else we should at least have a few laughs with that pair. 🤣
hank37w
Well-known member
With his teef I'm surprised he's not at Souffs. 🤣
liltiger
Well-known member
Youve got the o.g hat to prove it. 🤣
This!
Honestly, as a long term fan this is beyond obvious to me. I get it’s hard but we are kidding ourselves until we get a decent 7. It was meant to be Luai. It wasn’t. Now we need to go again. They need to keep $1m of 2028 salary cap free for a half.
Sign Brad, Brett, Barry, Blake or Bozzo the clown for all I care. It won’t matter without a proper 7.
