Long time reader, first time poster.
With Mateo gone, I believe we need another *spark* on that flank. Not saying Maitua will solve all our issues, but you can sense a aka Todd Carney with him. Could well be buy of the season for 2011.
Ex Kangaroo and Blues (???), surely worth our while.
Dogs will have first dig at him, but I can't see them having too much cash left.
On an other note, is Ben Roberts on the market for next year? A worst case scenario given he would be pee'd the way the doggies have signed so many halve / 5/8ths for next year.
Only other off-contract play making players I saw on NRL on FOX 2 weeks ago was Scott Dureau and Ben Rogers. (no thanks!) Haha, Btw I alway thought he looked like Piggy Riddell ! ;)
Replies
might be a good option as another running forward, we have b smith on one side and mateo on the other without him we loose alot. sorry but hindy doesnt have the impact of b smith and others these days.
re: Playmaker signing, who knows... a pommie might float our way. That's if the tigers are not the only club looking abroad.
But history would tell the eels that it might not be a good idea (think Thorman in the late 90's).
After our halves, I'm still more concerned about front row. I'll be happier when we have a genuine number four prop signed and under our belt. I'd be quite content for us to retain Horo and Oake, and with O'Hanlon coming through there are bigger areas of concern than second row. I'd prefer Eastwood to Maitua.
Yeah great point regarding Front Row. But given the amount of them been flogged off by the Storms and we haven't had a sniff at one of them, I don't think our board are thinking in the same vein as us.
Even a Ryan Tandy that went to the dogs mid year. He would be on a steal!
Regarding Eastwood, definitely a better player. But he would most certainly command much more cash. Dogs are a different side without him this year. BUT, i raised the point on Maitua because he would be cheap. At least a lot cheaper than Eastwood.
But back to the point Porter would be decent with Robbo or Humble outside him. Very confident he is off- contract and i dont see the Sharkies re-signing him and i think he would bring Stability and a cool head to our team.
He's obviously a bloke who isn't particularly 'loyal' to his clubs so I doubt he has any preference to go back to the Doggies, we can offer him a permanent home. We could use another intimidator in the forwards plus Eastwood adds that little bit of flair which we are losing with Mateo.
Annnnnnnnnnnd he can run a hole hallelujah!
I don't particularly rate Roberts, on his day he is a great player I remember last season he tore Brisbane a new asshole made Lockyer look like a schoolboy, however when he has an off day he looks C-Grade standard (and he does throw those performances in fairly often)
With the lack of halves available however he may become a serious option.
I don't know how cheap Maitua would be, he's still a class player and as we've seen with others like Carney - clubs are pretty quick to forget about past indiscretions and cough up. He is 28, he hasn't got too many deals left in him. No, Eastwood wouldn't be cheap but he'd genuinely be worth the money. I'd rate Roberts + Eastwood as a better deal than say Kimmorley + Matuia.