I believe losing a lot of players this year is a bit of a blessing in disguise. This team has a very poor attitude. I think changes are a must. I think we should be going hard for Fidow next year. He's stuck on the bench at the Cows and if we can guarantee him a spot I think he could be worth it. We can always shift him to 1 later and Gutho can move into the centres. I'm a big fan of Faitalia-Mariner and think he's a very underrated player. He's a strong defender and he does a lot of hard work in both defence and attack. He'd be cheap as well. Also think we should go after Turpin who'd be handy for us on the bench, feel like he's hard done by at Brisbane not being picked. I think he could develop into a good player if given an opportunity. Think it was a poor decision for us to keep Sivo I would be trying to offload him to Dolphins while we have the chance. I think the team below is competitive and Fidow provides X-factor which we are lacking, Hodgson provides leadership and experience and Faitala-Marnier provides us with a strong defender on the edge for a decent price.
2023 Eels Team
- Gutherson
- Simonsson
- Penisini
- Tabuai-Fidow
- Blake
- Brown
- Moses
- Campbell-Gillard
- Hodgson
- Paulo
- Lane
- Faitala-Mariner
- Matterson
- Turpin
- Rodwell
- Momoisea
- Hopgood
Gains:
Tabuai-Fidow
Faitala-Mariner
Turpin
Hopgood
Momoisea
Hodgson
Losses:
Sivo
Brown
Niukore
Papali’i
Kaufusi
Mahoney
Stone
Replies
No offence Sneaky but dumping Sivo and keeping Simonsson is ludicrous.
Sivo gets us out of trouble from the back of the field, is good under the high ball and is a bloody strong finisher.
Simonsson is just trash. His defence is woeful and he offers absolutely nothing in attack. He has had 1 good game for us this season and he would be the first player I would unload to another team.
I definitely would love the inclusion of RFM and the Hammer. RFM would be a good replacement for Papali'i and the Hammer would be that xfactor player we sorely need.
All we would need next is a quality back up hooker to Replace Hodgson once he gets injured. I am predicting we will get no more than 2 or 3 games out of Hodgson for the season.
My backline for next season.
1. The Hammer
2. Sivo
3. Penisini
4. Guth
5. Blake
Guth is a good defender and may well fix our frail right edge.
I agree with that BEM. It's just that Sivo pisses me off, a guy with that skill and talent should be one of the best in the game. He's just lazy. My only issue with your backline is paying 750k a year for Guth to play centres. Another thought of mine is shifting Penisini to the left with Sivo, he'll get a lot more touches and he'll be able to set up Sivo a lot better than Waqa. I think Hammer would be a brilliant buy for us he's got speed and x-factor which I love about him.
Can't argue with any of those points Sneaky
I believe the only let down with Sivo is his lack of speed but he isn't that type of winger.
He is one of the best finishers in the game and averages nearly 200m per game.
If you focus on what his strengths are there aren't many better than him.
750k seems like a lot for Guth to play center but that could be offset by getting the hammer at a good price. If we could get hammer for 500k then 750k for Guth at center isn't that bad. Guth would also be a very busy center with lots of runs out of dummy half.
Look at my team list Coryn.
I have the Hammer at fullback and Guth and Penisini in the centers. I didn't mention the Hammer at center anywhere in my post.
That was one game Coryn.
Not sure if you remember that game but our centers were Guth and Wighton and Guth had a far better game than Wighton did and Wighton is a bloody good center.
Other than fullback there are only 3 real options.
Option one. 5/8 - That would mean moving DB who is by far a better option at 5/8 than Guth.
Option two. Center - I believe he would be a better center Option than Blake.
Option three. Pay part of his contract to play at another club.
Option 3 is a definite no. I would say the same about Option 1.
If we could get Hammer on a reasonable contract, it would negate the cost Guthos contract.
On the cap, a fullback on 500k and center on 720k is the same as a fullback on 720k and a center on 500k.
All this is of course wishful thinking as I doubt we could get the Hammer that cheap.
On the other hand he wants to play fullback which won't happen at the Cowboys with Drinkwater there.
In all honesty if the Hammer leaves the Cowboys it will be to join the Redcliffe Sushi's.
Munster if not for 2023 at least for 2024
I'd love to have Munster just don't think spending 1 million on him would be worth it for us. He'd most likely play 1 in our team and moving Gutho who we're paying 750k isn't worth having in the centres.
Sneaky what I would love is if the Eels "leaked" that they are interested in Munster (and then deny it) much like player agents do with their clients to see if it puts a scare into our off contract halves and gets them to resign for a reasonable price so we have money to go out and get the hammer and the like
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