He's on the outer on the Broncos.
We need a specialist winger. He's not the fastest but he's big, can bring the ball back without being bullied when tackled, is good under the high ball, experienced for good positioning in defence, veteran of 9 Origins (last one in 2022) and would be a steal if we picked him up for 400K-500K. He's only 800K at the Broncos and as chumps, they can pay him to play for us.
I'm sure he'd say "YES PLEASE " if BA made a call. Broncos too would be happy to let go of a disgruntled player. Such a signing would shore up our weak back line. He's only 29 so he has a couple good seasons left for sure. If I remember correctly we were going hard for him a few years back but BA decided to go for Fergo instead.
Make it happen. I'd rather sign Oates for 400K than Lomax for his 800K and having to trade Matterson for him. I think Matto is needed if we are to have success this season. He can play in the middle. Greig seems a bit injury prone whilst Oggie is just a decent backup.
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Corey oates would have scored every try that sivo scored for us last year, and would make better defencive decisions. So if he came for cheap, id say yes for this and next year to give us time to get something better
Very similar to sivo in size, both in height and weight. He makes more metres per run on average, is defensively sound and is a good finisher. I see him as a direct upgrade and the team should jump at the opportunity if it arises.
Yep
I'd be happy to replace Sivo for Oates, that would be a great trade, but I think we still need a strike centre like Lomax.
Oates won't leave QLD though. He's a country boy, moving to Sydney suburbia wouldn't be a great fit for him unless he got a place out Dural or Arcadia way.
Oates has scored 118 tries in 202 games.
Sivo had scored 87 tries in 103 games.
Sivo has a far better strike rate.
Also, Sivo gets the home ground fans excited and up out of their seats whenever he gets the ball. We probably wouldn't get that with Oats.
Speed wise, Oates is just as slow as Sivo so if we are going to replace him it should be for a genuine speedster.
Centre is our biggest issue and even though he would cost more than Oates,, Lomax would improve our backline substantially more than Oates would.
The thing is that we don't have 800K for Lomax, nor do we want to weaken our strong forward pack. There's no chance the Dragons would carry any of Lomax's contract even if they did green light for him to start talking to other clubs.
We have coin as we are chasing Lomax.
I doubt the club would make enquiries for an immediate switch if we didn't have the money.
Letting go of Matterson would free up his 650k and as we have plenty of forwards and only a few bench spots, it wouldn't be a loss that we couldn't cover.
If BA wants to run with two hookers our bench could be Hands, Ofahengaue, Greig and Tualagi. That's still a very strong quality bench.
I'm against letting Matterson go unless there is a problem between him and BA. His harmony with the rest of the team seems fine. I think too many on here got lost with his in principle view in paying the fine (everyone aknowledges the error in hindsight). The only way I would let matto go is as a straight swap for JAC.
I cannot believe we would consider paying Lomax 800 and if the Dragon's dont want to let him go, they are not going to pick up the difference. Actually it is a good opportunity for Dragons to open the door, I'm sure they can do better with that 800k in their pockets than persisting with someone that doesn't want to be there. Mr Lomax may also then realise he is not worth 800. I know we said we would pay 650? ish but I then go back to my original point.
I would take JAC for that money, even with a busted shoulder. Gould can then go find himself a forward! or maybe a straight swap for either Matto or Wiremu or two of our "would be promising young forwards" whoever they are??
NB I know Wiremu is promissing or even past promissing, but take the word literally and we still haven't got a return there!
I said several times that Matterson taking the fine was stupid but it had little bearing if any on our early season woes last year.
Matterson is a quality player as is Lomax. St George aren't going to entertain a swap for just anyone and Matterson is the easiest quality player to replace.
With a bench of Hands, Greig, Ofahengaue and Tualagi, we really don't lose a lot by not having Matterson there but we gain a hell of a lot by having Lomax in the centres.
No point having JAC on the wing with an average centre beside him.
Sivo was exceptional when he was next to Jennings and Opacic as both were solid defenders and very good at setting up Sivo.
Simonsson is an average defender and goes for the glory instead of setting up his winger.
Harper is a better defender than Simonsson but haven't seen enough of him yet to see if he can position his winger and we won't see that until Sivo is back.
The only problem there BEM is Lomax really that good, he looked a lot better last week for the dragons, but I saw enough of him last year to form an opinion of not trusting him..... so I take JAC for the trust factor and the setting up of JAC I will leave to our halves and edges, especially Carty playing wide.
The other relevant thing is that we wouldn't get Lomax for 650 but we would be able to get JAC, especially because Gould is scrambling with his obvious forward shortfall.
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