I thought it was telling when Madge said the following during an interview through the week: "Ultimately you're always looking at your salary cap and the list of players and we're not satisfied where we are as a group. I'm in the process now of looking at where we're going into the next 2-3 years. That's part of what our job is, to have one eye on where we're going but it's also pretty important what we're doing now."
I think this was the first time I’ve heard Maguire openly express to the media his discontent - “not satisfied” - with the current playing roster. He also didn’t hold back in his criticism of the team in post game presser after the Raiders loss. He obviously needs to change it up but is going to be severely constrained by Ivan the Terrible’s recruitment mess. Unfortunately the words “next 2-3 years” confirms there’s not much cap space for next season, and at the moment I’m starting think we’ll be fortunate if we can land one decent signing for next year. It’s disappointing that we’re fast tracking towards a bottom four finish, and even more so that we’ll be effectively rolling out the same squad of players next season - that’s not good, the club continues to wallow in an unpleasant hole...!! Surely the club must be concerned as this situation will start to have an adverse effect on memberships and sponsors, which is basically money draining away from the club.
These players on over inflated and lengthy contracts have to face the realisation they’re part of the problem and not the solution, it’s time for them to amicably sever ties and look elsewhere or restructure their contracts (be prepared to take less) when they receive a tap on the shoulder. Lawrence who had his contract restructured 2 years ago, he took less but was extended to be more fitting with his market value is an example of a player putting the club first. Lawrence to his credit is now inline to be legible for cap exemption.
The club has turned around its governance and finances, and future infrastructure of the Centre of Excellence will elevate the club as a destination and support retention providing the high quality resources for players to develop their careers - the shovels can’t hit the ground quick enough! But a certain level of rugby league IQ seems to have gone missing from the overseers and administration ever since Sheens was sacked one year into 4 year contract extension, a decision whose consequences are still reverberating to this day. Whether Sheens was the right coach or not isn’t the point, it was the shambolic miss-management of the board that’s flung the club into the abyss. They’ve sacked numerous coaches since. They failed to recognise the talents of Tedesco when he signed with the Raiders, and this was only rectified at the 11th hour by teammates such a Farah making some noise. They also got it terribly wrong when all the ‘big four’ came off contract at the same time, and also failed to lock up talents such as Addo-Carr and Papenhuyzen. The complete autonomy for Ivan to rule the roost was another huge mistake that completely lacked the necessary checks and balances - smacks of a clueless and desperate board throwing all their eggs into one basket, hoping a messiah will show them the way to the promised land. Pascoe, when interviewed on NRL 360 indicated a recruitment and retention committee was being put in place to ensure checks and balances - which only highlighted the fact the club didn’t or doesn’t have sufficient resources and management structure around this all important aspect of running a club. Add the likes of Tedesco, Addo-Carr, Taupau and Tatola into the current Tigers squad instead of these blokes on the sideline or playing reggies and I’ve no doubt we’d be in the top eight and heading for the semis. As frustrated as we all are regarding recruitment and retention and the mess Ivan has left behind, the board should never allowed him to do it in the first place.