So with Papali'i, Niukore, Stone now looking like Matterson too, we have Shaun Lane........and that's it for our edge players next year. Yeah we have Cartwright but he can't even make it now how will he for 2023 full-time.
Sims had a chance, gone. Bird had a chance, gone (granted, he was not worth what he was asking for). Nikora had a chance, gone. Crichton is the last one we might be able to get to salvage it for 2023. We are apparently desperate to keep Matto, yet put ourselves in this position to keep him, put it simply he had all the leveredge with Origin selection, form and the fact we have lost Niukore, Papali'i and Stone Matto has it on us that we need him, with the market becoming slimer by the minute he has that over us.
I do not blame him for taking the Dolphins deal at all, but i have no idea of our thought process. We have Elie El-Zakham in reserves who looks good in his role, could he be a replacement? Well we wont know as he is behind everyone else, including Cartwright who is now out of favour. Hopgood? well considering Penrith were happy to let him go for Salmon who is not too bad but is not amazing speaks volumes also.
We have a war chest for money in 2023 and 2024 but are never after big names, nor are we a club looking like that. Now areguement can be made that Brown would demand big coin and we will have it for him which is a plus but we still would have money after signing Matto.
It is frustration, we are leaning on juniors for the future yet in the forwards none have jumped out, backline we have juniors but forwards not so much and even if we did they are nowhere near ready for FG. In BA we trust but they have not helped him what so ever at this stage.
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Stone and kaufusi are middles we have lost for next season, add that to papalii, nuikore and likely matterson who can all play edge and middle, that's a massive dent in our forward stocks next year. Throw in the loss of mahoney and you would have to say at this stage our retention and recruitment, which has been very good in recent years, is a massive failure for next season.
Or you could say that the coaching has been too good and the players are massively outplaying their current contracts
ohhh i like that.
If we don't replace them then it's a massive failure.
Im certain we were told last year at about this time that there would be no big signings, BUT we will be making a big name signing next year (which is this year)
We havnt made any big name signings for years really.
I know that his name has been mentioned? But I reckon Crichton would be a great fit for our club Snake.
Yes, but we can't replace them at their current market value. That's what people are not understanding. Papa is a 700k a year player on 200k. Mark O'Neill should be arrested for highway robbery.
Now we might find another Papa out there, and let's remember that most here we're fairly underwhelmed when we signed him, but it's far more likely we'll find them internally.
Brett, agree that right now we are basically playing 1mil over the cap with what some of these guys are worth.
Papa, Marata, Penisini, Dylan, Moses, Reed, Matto are probably all worth more than what they are on - Huge achievement from O'Neill & BA for putting together this squad with such great depth.
What it doesnt explain is why we couldnt keep any of the guys we've lost.
The maths doesnt add up for it to be salaray cap pressure to lose all of them, and a lot of us arent buying that there is a developed production line ready to rock n roll for 23 with 3-4 forwards NRL ready.
Even if those development players step up and do a great job, they arent going to be able to match what we've lost - which sets us back for at least 1-2 years.
Love your positivity around the development, but it needs to be a balance of experience & youth in the squad, we are out of balance badly next year & if Paulo or RCG or even Lane go down long term, we are in serious trouble.
There's a long way to go before 2023 so remaining hopeful, but the trust that the club have got these decisions correct is wavering.
I'd say it has a lot to do with the halves. We are going to need to find more money for Moses, and definitely more cash to keeb Dylan Brown. Brown particularly is adding value to his worth every game he plays. This will leave our squad with the big money tied up in the 1, 6 and 7 - where the big money should be spent.
We are also spending good money in the front row with Paulo.
Hooker is the only other position you could throw good money at, but we may get lucky at hooker with Hodgson, depending on how he recovers from injury.
Yep, thats fair, but there are a lot of teams with big money in their spine - more than ours.
As long as we get Moses upgraded, Dylan & Penisini signed long term, & at least 1-2 forwards with some experience this might all make a bit more sense.
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