With season literally 5 sleeps away, yipee, everyone bar my wife is excited for NRL season to start. Though currently we have 28 in our top 30 squad. Now that is normal to have coming up to a season as you do not need to have 30 until June i believe so teams have a spot or two open incase mid year they need a signing to cover an injury. Nathan Brown though is being shopped around desperately, unless we get a trade done, with no players worth trading for, we will be down to 27. So question remains who takes the final three spots?
Firstly here is the 28 players on the squad so far:
Jakob Arthur
Daejarn Asi
Waqa Blake
Dylan Brown
Nathan Brown
Reagan Campbell-Gillard
Bryce Cartwright
Matt Doorey
Haze Dunster
Wiremu Greig
Clint Gutherson
Josh Hodgson
J'Maine Hopgood
Shaun Lane
Sam Loizou
Makahesi Makatoa
Ryan Matterson
Jirah Momoisea
Mitchell Moses
Jack Murchie
Ofahiki Ogden
Junior Paulo
Will Penisini
Mitch Rein
Ky Rodwell
Sean Russell
Bailey Simonsson
Maika Sivo
So that is 28, if Brown goes 27. So who is next up? Toni Mataele will take a spot for sure at some point. That leaves two spots, so what do we need? If go off who we have apparently have chased is a Centre and a Prop. So are there any options in the club right now in either spot? Well for Centre Cini seems to be the one putting his hand up for a squad spot, if Blake is not fit for Round 1 then perhaps he might get it. In terms of anyone else, nobody stands out. Which leads me towards outside the club being the two spots taken up. But who outside the club? Well it depends on what happens with Brown. The Manly deal with Harper is off apparently but then again it is the NRL these things can always pop back up once the CBA is done, so that Harper is an option. Another is looking at clubs with either salary cap issues like Thompson or Waddell from Canterbury or ones not making the 8. Or look at players that are down the pecking order at fellow clubs; examples are Josh Kerr from St. George, Fletcher Baker from Sydney City, Chris Patolo Canterbury, Liam Knight South Sydney and Morgan Boyle Manly.
At this stage Taupau was one that would have been perfect but now need to move on, hopefully the likes of Ogden, Greig and Rodwell can reach another level for a forward. Cini i think will get a top 30 spot as i think there is room for another back regardless if we get someone like Harper in a swap for Brown.
Or the final spot could be for a 3rd hooker whether that is Yates or Hands.
Though on the market there are some players around looking for a contract in 2024 that are happy for an opportunity. Mataele i believe is a shoe in for a spot any day now, who takes the rest remains to be seen but is fascinating.
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There isnt a lot of dollars left. Perhaps Cini and Mataele upgrades perhaps from the development squad.
I just wonder who the third out of that lot would be if we do not get a trade for Brown
Maybe Yates is that final player to have hanging around as a worst case scenario.
I am a big Yates fan but not sure he could cover our 9 spot full time if Hodgo goes down. Maybe we can rent Gordon Chan Kum Tong who isn't in their 30 or Woolford? Is his old man still with us?
Yates would be a good 14, or if completely desperate near finals if Hodgson is out for a few weeks he can get us by.
Zac Woolford would be a fine no.3 to have, if we lose Rein and Hodgson for finals he can do a job.
Hey LB,
love the blog.
I think Cini has done enough to be Opacics replacement.
Toni Mataele would be another pick to play first grade, especially given our depleted depth in the back row.
I'm so sure Frizell is going to end up on a different team other than the Knights this year. Would love him playing prop for 30 minutes to partner Woody.
but that's a pipe dream and I've gone on about that enough.
I also like keeping 1 spot open, you never know, someone might become available. Dragons will likely be looking to clear some space halfway through the year. Do they have any good young props?
Raiders are really out of whack in my opinion, do you like Morkos?
I could see Frizell being someone to go, O'Brien to be sacked and players started abandoning ship, Frizell will look to play finals and will try to get to a different club. I think we need a middle forward more than an edge, call me crazy.
In terms of a young forward, I think Parramatta would prefer a forward that can come in and they can throw straight in with no concerns, if we are to add young forward from another club it will be for development in 2024.
As for a young Centre like Morkos, I could see that happening actually, having a young centre to develop and maybe throw in if we need too as we are looking to replace Blake with someone young and cheaper. Cini could be that but atm it seems we want more experienced centre. As season goes we might be open to young centre to have around.
Tbh I think Frizell would play prop for a top 4-6 team.
love your comments. Hopefully Mitch gets in his Lebanon teammates ear.
Fair call about needing an experienced forward.
Frizeel forever!
I think Knights Dragons and Raiders are the clubs that could make drastic moves after the first month.
Would love to offload NB to Sticky. They seriously have 5 first grade ready Centres and no FBs. They need to make changes
According to the Knights forums Frizell is busted and on big money.
Bit like Brown for us.
Only thing with Frizell is he would surely be on around 700k or so, he would only come for more than just the year, Newcastle will only release if we pay majority of his deal. Not sure we want to do that, if we did we are just better off keeping Brown.
If Canberra is a team that is willing to offload i would look at Emre Guler for sure.
Frizell's new price would be 400/450 because that is all he is worth now....the Brown analogy is a good one.
In saying that I am still looking for someone who is capable of playing at Brown's level this season. I would love to know how many of BA's relatives he murdered and I believe he would put in for a season for us, why? because its in his interest's to attract a club for next year.
Some people talk about depth on our bench, assuming we are injury free would indicate a bench including Matterson and Brown, throw in say Asni as a utility and depth is not our problem.
The nellies that are writing us "orf" are very short sighted......who are our actual top 30, apparently 28 as we stand now?
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