To me, the answer all depends on what BA and Papali'i want. Late in the year, Papali'i shifted onto the bench to play in the middle where he was solid but not as spectacular to when he played in the backrow. Papali'i has publically said he prefers to play in the middle. So perhaps BA is forced to playing him there to keep him happy. So if Papa does play in the middle is $450k the right offer? If he plays in the backrow, is $550k+ the correct offer?
Personally, I would pay the extra $100k and try convince Papali'i that backrow is his spot. He won the backrower of the year for a reason. He was providing runs that only few players on their day (Kikau) can match. Whereas in the middle he is highly replaceable. Honeslty, if he only wants to play in the middle, he would slip right down my priorities because a bench prop demanding $450k is too much given our issues managing our salary cap and off contract players.
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He's dally m front rower of the year and on the upward curve, 600 is about right now.
Hes worth what others are willing to pay on the open market, i dont think he'd have much problem getting 6 now.
He's not front rower of the year?? He is backrower of the year
sorry, youre correct, dally m regardless, that puts his value up and really puts him on the map
Yes, that puts his value up but eels need to consider whether matching his market value is smart given their off contract issues and Papalii preferring a position that is not actually his best position
If we were the Roosters, we'd find a way to "match" his market value.
Up, up and away.....
I would not get lost on his prefferred position being in the middle. When he made that statement there was a context of him being picked there by BA and it was also in the early period of his personal season launch.
I am prepared to say, that there is a very high chance it is not his preferred position.
Personally I prefer him as a starting edge or lock with a very definitive change to the new locks coming in and making there marks, Cameron Murray and Victor Radley being same.
The reason I say this is that he is capable of lateral movements and as such he can cover defend. No way does Nathan Brown cover defend in his definition of middle forward (lock) and our edge forwards Matterson and Lane do not cover defend more edge blockers, Niukure has more natural movement than those two but if we took Dyllan Brown out of the situation our backline and cover defence would be unmanageable.
Yes I would argue strongly that Papallii be considered soley as a lock or edge forward.
Yea, I hope Papali'i plays on the edge. Whenever N Brown is off the field, I really hope to see Matterson at lock from the bench. Has ball playing and offloading abilities to be a great lock.
I do believe he gets tired but he doesn't need to play all 80min. Give him a break. Carty is on the bench for a reason. Not just to warm up the bench ... oh wait ... it appears that was his role for many games this year
I couldn't understand why BA kept wasting Papali'i on the edge. He's the type of player that likes to go mongrel on the field (like Brown). From a few games in the middle he's put out over 180m 3 times - that is more than any of our other middle forwards in an entire season.
I just hope BA let's him go wild in the middle for half a game instead of trying to spread him out for 80 on the edge
I'd say to prevent him burning out. I think BAs management of players is one of the reasons players and decent managers alike are fond of him. This year BA seemed to have a strategy wheras he wanted them to be fresh in the tail end of the year. Let's not forget half of our team were either journeymen or virtual rookies with not a lot of gametine under their belts , Ice included. He only played about half a season in the NRL last year.
He's only 23 so he has a hell of a lot of footy left in him and if I'm his manager one of the very important things I'm thinking is do I put him at a club that's going to use him as a wrecking ball or one that's going to use him strategically and mould him slowly into a star.
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