Knights still have Thompson and Jacob Saifiti this year and have added Tyrone Thompson + I think Frizzell will move to the middle given they're stacked with backrow options and a few quality depth guys like Croker and Hetherington. It is really just poor halves options and the chopping and changing of those options that I think is holding them back.Its seriously hard to pick.
Honestly it shows where the competition has gone. It's so far from the 80's days of "find a flexible day job".
The knights though are making themselves a candidate for the spoon. Loosing Saififi and Thompson makes their pack look a lot worse and it's a pick n flick choice. Daniel could have gone elsewhere and the knights kicked him. Plus the knights have had the spoon before...
Raiders halves are fine. Ricky wants a halfback that manages the team not a halfback that shows individual brillance. Fogarty can do exactly that, but if he gets injured then the team is in big trouble. I mean spine wise, they are in trouble as hooker=Danny Levi, Fogarty, Weeks and Fullback=Chevy Steward?? (WHO?). Their backline looks really light, Xavier Savage is their only player I recognise.
We should reach out to the raiders. Pinch a decent second rower for a Center/back. Offload Naden or anyone, Hudson Young/Hosking/Noah Martin ... Seriously this seems like an easy swap.
2-5 I think Raiders are solid. Timoko has had a few patches of form where he was one the best performing centres in the comp. Both him and Seb Kris have performed well for NZ the last few years. Hopoate has great work rate and Savage elite speed. Not sure how much they have behind that however if Weekes is preferred at 6 Ethan Strange has proven he can do a bloody good job in the centres.
I don't rate Fogarty outside of a very good kicking game. The bloke offers nothing in attack which puts a lot of pressure on the inexperienced 1 and 6 (whatever combination of Stewart, Weekes and Strange that is) to come up with points.
Stewarts junior resume is elite but he hasn't really showcased it at NRL level. He or Weekes need to step up if Raiders are going to do anything this year.