If any which player player misses out on a contract?
With all the on going speculation over who we should resign and upgrade over the last 12 months and new addictions to the squad, With the likes of Gutho, D Brown, Sivo, Blake, RCG, Matterson and co all signed or resigned and upgraded is there enough cap space available to resign who's left? And if not who goes?
Priority resigning in my opinion are
1. Mahoney , would be on close to minimum wage and would need around a 200k to 300k upgrade
2. A very close second, Shaun Lane. For such a large human he has all excellent ball skills. Estimated wage 350k would need a 100k to 150k upgrade
3. Kane Evans, finally hit expectations this season. Showed great aggression and ads size we need in the middle estimated salary 350k would need a upgrade 100k
4. Peni Terepo, Brad Takarangi, Ray stone, Jaemon Salmon, Andrew Darvey, Ethan Parry and co. All should be accessed and resigned if in form on close to minimum wage and a backup Hooker should be a priority signing
With Will Smith, George Jennings and David Gower more than likely not getting renewed
I think all top 3 should be resigned asap but dont think we will have the cap space and one will have to go. With Sam hughs coming through Kane Evans might find there wont be any money left
Lastly from a longer time member and first time poster, congratulations to everyone who contributes to the site and keeps me occupied year round!
Replies
Well Dale, nice first post.
Mahoney ain't goin anywhere.
Neither is Shaun Lane.
Kane Evans I think will stay at probably similar money, given that he is still on overs. The caveat is that his first 10 rounds have to be quality.
Peni Terepo is the interesting one. He was one of our best in 2018, but he seems to have plateaued and dropped down the depth chart. The guy that makes him somewhat redundant IMO is RCG. They are similar in style in that they are both direct, straight runners, excellent leg speed but not a lot of subtelty in their game. RCG's presence however makes Terepo's once almost guaranteed spot on the bench something of a luxury. The flipside of that of course is that BA might want to stagger their game time so that he always has one battering ram on the field at all times. We'll see.
Taka is a BA favourite, he took less to stay, and with the addition of Waqa Blake last season & Ryan Matterson this season, he doesn't have an automatic spot in the 17 as it stands right now. But, I think he will stay until he is ready to finish his career in ESL, assuming he even goes over. He's a clever footy player and every coach wants someone who can provide veteran leadership, geniune heads up footy skills, multi positional, high footy IQ & and is prepared to sacrifice his ego for the good of the club. Furthermore, he seems to geniunely love playing for the Eels. I think he stays.
Ray Stone. The jury is still out on what his best position is TBH. Is he an undersized, but big hearted middle or is he a rugged back up dummy half, or is he an unathletic edge forward ? I'm just not sure. Whenever I see him on the team sheet I feel like we are going into the game with 16.5 players. I think his goal this season is to find his spot and then back himself to be the best he can be. But I still don't see a long term NRL player.
Jaemon Salmon. I don't think he is the freak talent we were all led to believe he was as a junior when we nicked him from the Sharks. I think his future is as a 14, able to play the halves, dummy half, the centres, even a bit of fullback if needed. But I think he is a keeper if he is prepared to play that role. If he wants to be a starter and earn starters money, he'll have to look elsewhere I'm afraid.
Andrew Davey. From all reports the coaching staff were happy with his trajectory last season and he is apparently training the house down in pre season. Back up edge forward is one of our few weak spots, the guys at TCT are predicting he could get a chance this season. His problem is that he is already 28, so he's not a long term option, which oddly could work in the club's favour. I think he'll stay, at least for another year.
Ethan Parry. Had a bumpy initiation into the NRL last year, how he handles that will determine if he stays. I suspect we'll keep him for another year or two.
Will Smith. I've always liked him, but the fact the club signed Brock Lamb & are looking hard at promoting Kyle Schneider suggests that his time is up. He's a goner IMO.
George Jennings. He is merely a depth player. If he is content with that he might stay, but he is clearly behind Haze Dunster and even Parry right now. Gonski.
Dave Gower. He was planning on retirng to an off field role with the club at the end of 2019 anyway, BA convinced him to go around one more year. Fair to say he's almost certainly retiring at the end of this year.
I think you summed it up pretty well Brett, that's pretty much the way i see it.
Completely agree, thanks for your input
I've still got that footage of you at last year's mardi gras, Dale..
Go Dale!
Peni Terepo has been a favourite of mine but he lost favour last year and I think he will find it tough to get a spot in the 17
Taka seems to get a good run from BA but I think Matto steals a lot of his thunder with versatility. I think his spot on the bench will go to Stone as a genuine backup for Mahoney.
I think Gower will be replaced by Davey assuming he lives up to expectations
There needs to be places next year for the young Middles coming through. Just what that means I am not sure. Will Hollis, Hughes and Duggan be ready next year. Not really sure.
Agree that Brett has summed it up well, much of it though will still come down to how some perform, we also have several off contract that go into the 29 and over bracket for 2021, with some younger players showing up well at training they could be looking at spots for the future. Terepo will really need a big year to be extended, I cannot see Gennings nor Smith being resigned. Taka will really need a big season as well, but he would get a good look in over in England.
Out of the 3 backs, in Salmon, Dunster and Parry, one of them will be let go I would believe, which will depend on who has the least versatility. Evans, will also need a big year to get an extension as I would be seeing Kafusi being the primary 4th prop on the bench, Alvaro has until end of 2021 and he could get a run rather than Evans.
Peni is a player of the past. His style doesn't cut it anymore.
Hey Dale, are you the same special Dale who calls John Laws on a Friday?
If so, fair enough. If not, there be some gifs coming your way.
He lost me after his very first sentence.
Grunta, Thanks for the kind welcoming. Unfortunately no, wrong Dale. But im sure you both have alot in common
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