This may come as a huge shock to you all this morning, as it seems the 'chosen 1' has abandoned us AGAIN.
In my experience, the best teams are all built on a common desire. No one person is bigger then the team. JT is obviously the man at the Cowboys, but he isn't a one man media circus. When Hayne left the game in 2013 he said he'd achieved everything there was to achieve in the NRL. He'd won 1 Origin series and made a grand final. What does that tell you? His goal was to win NSW an Origin and 2 Dally M's whilst being regarded as the best individual player in the world?
The other thing is great players know that to win a comp there is a $ value to be placed upon winning. If you're market worth is $1mil you may take $900k to strengthen another position in the team . Hayne wasn't about to do that. If Hayne , having not played the game for 2 years is worth $1.2 mil what is JT worth? $5 mil?
All in all we have shown we can win games without Hayne. We have the makings of a solid squad. We've reportedly re-signed a key half for 500k less then what Hayne is on. If we spend the money wisely the sun will shine again. Hayne will probably not hit the ground running where he left off, we will be fine without him. It would've been exciting to get him back, and helped eased the pain of a shithouse year, but its probably not the best model to build a successful squad on. It's a model we tried. It got us in awful strife with the cap and a 50/50 most years at best. Time to move on, the future starts today.
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This is true! Hayne will never amass the type of fan base he had at Parra and will probably never reach the heights he hit before walking out. NRL's popularity on the Gold Coast will hit record highs though.
Well said DD. GC certainly paid overs for Hayne, especially given he has not played RL for 2 years. The short stint he had in the 7s did not go well either. I can't wait until Parra play GC in Sydney, although I'll bet that Hayne will break a fingernail that week and won't be able to play.
Parra have some very good young players, but we just need some older players to guide them. Time for Norman, Jennings and Taka to really step up next year and become leaders.
I wouldn't worry about it . This isn't the NBA where you have 5 players on the court and individuals shine more.
It's a team game. Build a strong squad. Halves control and direct. They should be your highest paid and best players. It helps having quality spread across the park. The Titans are lucky in that they have a strong but young spine. When Taylor is off contract , it's likely they won't be able to keep him, Peats and Hayne in the same side anyway so they've opened themselves a 2 year window.
Parra need a half (preferably a goal kicker), a dummy half and to top up the front row. $1.2 mil can probably do all that.
Thats it. He's 29 years old going into next season. My prediction is he'll be a great player for them. Be great for their membership numbers, but he'll never reach the individual heights of his 2014 season again.
All i can say is good luck to the titans keeping a competitive team around him when he is on the books for $1.2mil a season.
He had no bodies around him at parra and won a couple of wooden spoons.
What a fickle lot, if he had sign with Parra he would be the greatest player of all time, now he is not a team player blah blah blah.
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