I'm gonna throw it out there but hear me out..... I think we should target both Tom and Jake Trbojevic - now I know it's obvious of the talent of the pair but I'm gonna explain to you how this wouldn't be fantasy but an actual possibility!
Now if we were to successfully cut some of Packer, Mbye, Reynolds, Taylor and Mcqueen from our roster we would have a pretty significant war chest to attack the market for marquee signings - along with picking and choosing who to re-sign etc which would only free up more space
Not many clubs out there have the salary cap to attract both Tom and Jake as they would command quite significant money and I believe they want to play with each other - while also most teams have fullbacks and locks on there roster and don't necessarily need them
Brisbane - Issako and Pangai
Raiders - Chance and Tapine
Cronulla - Moylan/Dugan and Gallen (retiring)
Titans - Brimson and Arrow
Warriors - RTS and Adam Blair
Cowboys - Morgan and Tamololou
Knights - Ponga and Glasby
Storm - Hughes/Papenhyzen and Finucane
Rabbits - Johnston and Burgess
Penrith - Edwards and Martin (however zero cap space)
Parra - Gutho and Brown
Dragons - Dufty and Frizzell
Roosters - Tedesco/Latrell and Lui
Dogs - Meaney and Elliot
Out of all those teams potentially only the Bulldogs have an ideal chance of signing them and will have cap space if they operate there cap well enough as most players are off contract within the next 2 years
Parra also have a chance however, they're just resigned Gutho on a pretty lenghty deal to play fullback plus probs won't have the cap space if they do re-sign Moses on good coin
And then there's us after looking at all the teams fullback/lock combo - I think it's fair to say ours might not match up well. This week it's Thompson/Huth which tbh is quite depressing if you ask me.
We will have the cap space if we do end up clearing the roster which is predicted to happen, it's hard to sell the Wests Tigers but when the rivals are Manly I think we have something in our favor as they're screwed for the future and in a mess with terrible cap managment and very poor mangement with facilties as worse as ours - if this centre of excellence does happen along with being coached by a former premiership-winning coach with some good young players around we could be attractive for the pair
Players such as Brooks, Masters, Twal, Mats, Matterson, Liddle, Mikaele, Alioai and Nofo would all benefit significantly just with the presence of Tom and Jake - especially Brooks
Offer Tom 1-1.1 mil and Jake 850-900k a year as both would add to 2 million a year - if we think about it Reynolds, Packer and Mbye together are on about around 2.3 million
I think it's time to be aggressive in the market - if a team like Newcastle who was in the state they were in can sign Ponga, Pearce and Klemmer - I'm sure we can bloody do it too, enough with the low expectations of being content with mediocre signings and I think Madge has come to that realization hence the reported clean out!
