A lot of information swirling around the off season. Ive seen club interviews where officals "Ryles" has stated we have 1 spot left. Many of us took that as 1 spot left in the top 30. A look at our signed lists shows we have signed 27 players to our top 30, and 4 development players. So do we take the 1 spot left as meaning Ryles sees that we need to sign 1 more first choice 1st grader / Starter to the team. If this is the case, what position is he thinking. My mind casts straight away to our missing spine position, a Dummy Half, but I could be wrong.
Having 3 spots open and by my basic calculations, we have some significant money still available after Gutho leaving, means we should be in the hunt still for last minute trades. Our season gets away very soon, first game is only 10 or so weeks away. our first offical trial 6 or 7 weeks away. There should be another round of trades and movements when teams start pre season games and work out where they are and what they need moving forward. What are others thinking re 27 players signed and who we may seriously target from here.
Here is our current list as far as I can make out from internet sources.
2025 squad: Bailey Simonsson (2027), Brendan Hands (2026), Bryce Cartwright (2025), Dean Hawkins (2026), Dylan Brown (2025, PO until 2031), Haze Dunster (MO 2025), J’maine Hopgood (2027), Josh Addo-Carr (2025, CO 2026), Isaiah Iongi (2027), Jack Williams (2027), Joash Papalii (2026), Joey Lussick (2025), Joe Ofahengaue (2025), Jordan Samrani (2026), Junior Paulo (2026), Kelma Tuilagi (2026), Luca Moretti (2025), Matt Doorey (2025), Mitchell Moses (2026, PO 2029), Ryan Matterson (2025, PO 2026), Sam Tuivaiti (2025), Sean Russell (2026), Shaun Lane (2025, MO 2026), Toni Mataele (2025), Will Penisini (2025, PO 2026), Wiremu Greig (2025), Zac Lomax (2028)
Development players: Charlie Guymer (2025, NRL 2026), Kitione Kautoga (2025, NRL 2026), Richard Penisini (2025, NRL 2026), Saxon Pyke (2025)
Replies
I think another back for sure especially a winger they could also upgrade some contracts as well to top 30 spots
The Salary Cap rules dictate each team must have 24 players signed by 1 November, then 28 players the Monday before the 1st round.
On that basis and the coin we have in reserve, another player should be joining us in the next 2 months.
I do wonder with Hunt joining Brisbane so late what happens to their other number nines Billy Walters, Tyson Smoothy and Cory Paix , they are all decent first-grade No.9s, while Blake Mozer is supposed to be a superstar in waiting. One of them could be a very handy pickup for us perhaps.
Then you have Papenhuyzen resigining short term at Melbourne what does Faalogo do. Stay put or is he going on the market perhaps.
Fa'alogo will not be coming to Parramatta, neither would we want him. He wants Fullback and we signed Iongi on ok money apparently so makes no sense.
Paix was talking to Canberra, Smoothey to Roosters too, Brisbane I think want to offload a Hooker to keep Mozer.
What doesn't make sense is saying we've signed Iongi and if a better player is an option we should stick with what we have.
Ok but how do we know Fa'alogo is a better option? Plus i was simply saying it more so as what Parra will do not so much what i want them to do. They will not go for Fa'alogo as they have Iongi now as well Papali'i. We knew Fa'alogo was coming up to negotiate with rivals, Ryles would have known about Fa'alogo's deal, the reason he was linked was due to Ryles and Melbourne connection. Yet Ryles went with Iongi instead then got Papali'i for competition as well as a tweener to see where he could help out.
If Fa'alogo comes free and wants to join Parramatta would i take him? Sure. But i am saying he will go to the highest bidder and the club that can give him a clear path to Fullback, that is not us.
"Matt Tripp, the Storm chairman, has a verbal undertaking with Sua Fa'alogo's manager Liam Ayoub that if Ryan Papenhuyzen wants to extend his time, they will sit back down and look at his contract," Chammas told Triple M radio recently.26 Oct 2024
Yeah i know that, no guarentees we go for him nor he wants to come to Parramatta.
I'm surprised the dogs didn't have a red hot crack at Fa'alogo, in terms of what we need he wouldn't be a priority
Good point, Dogs could do with an upgrade at Fullback. Tracey is a good player but can also play a variety of other spots too, making him valuable. He is a good Fullback but not class.
Dogs also still need a 7, Mitchell Woods could be decent but talk is he is more of a 6? I could be wrong but heard that is where he is better suited at top level.
It makes perfect sense, and the fact you can't see it shows why you shouldn't be running an NRL club. NRL success means using the cap efficiently, which means minimising the amount of cap space you have in reserve grade. This means you don't want top 17 contracts pushed out of the NRL team, even by better players. If you have a top 17 player who is good enough then any spare cap space should be used to improve other areas of the squad. In our case we are looking to recruit for 2026 now, and we have Cartwright and Lussick who are both probably on top 17 money and both are off contract. It is these merkins we should be looking to replace, not Isaiah Iongi.
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