Rumoured and Confirmed Signings with added crap - XXVI

[Obscene Assassin]

IMO we only needed 1 of Scott or Watmough... and both have been signed for a year too long. Choc should've been 3 years absolute tops and Scott for 2016 and 2017 only (pretty sure he signed for 3 years didn't he?).

I understand the philosophy behind signing blokes of this calibre - to bring a harder edge and winning attitude to some of our younger blokes but I think the presence of one of them alone should have done the job. We certainly better hope that the change of scenery is what Scott needed to turn his form around, he plodded for most of 2015 when in a Knights jersey...

We had one of either Watmough or Scott this season and whilst it helped we didn't achieve what we could have, whether it be through injuries, lack of experience or something else there was something missing. By now bringing Scott down we have not only strengthened our already strong back-row stocks but we have also made our middle depth stronger as we can move one of Pauli or Moeroa into the middle if need be.

If we didn't sign each of these players for a year too long we potentially don't get them.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

WAlker would always demand overs-Lafai would be a better option.

Also who says Scott is on more then 400k? I reckon suggestions Gordon is on 300k is overs as well. At Gordons age we are one of the few clubs who wanted him so doubt his price would be huge.
And with Scott we where not short of second rowers so why would we pay overs in an area that we had quite good coverage?

Foran i can understand.We need a dominant half and hopefully we now have one.

If we're one of only a few clubs after Gordon (I reckon we were the only club after his signature) why would we be paying overs? If there were heaps of clubs after him I'd say that we paid overs but even by your own admission there weren't many clubs after his signature so how could that statement be true?

We weren't short for second-rowers but we were short of experience. Combining all of the games our second-rowers have played going into this year it's just over half of what Scott has played. Scott has played 200 games, combined Moeroa, Pauli, Ma'u, and Edwards have played 115 so whilst the younger players have a potentially higher ceiling of talent what we showed in 2015 was that we needed experience to close out games.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

WAlker would always demand overs-Lafai would be a better option.

Also who says Scott is on more then 400k? I reckon suggestions Gordon is on 300k is overs as well. At Gordons age we are one of the few clubs who wanted him so doubt his price would be huge.
And with Scott we where not short of second rowers so why would we pay overs in an area that we had quite good coverage?

Foran i can understand.We need a dominant half and hopefully we now have one.

I remember an article from last year about Gordon when he was trying to make a mid season move, said he was so desperate to come he was going to take a second tier contract ( but article could also be crap).

Yeah I agree there is no way Gordon is on $300k. Considering his age and he probably didn't have a lot of offers as you mention it wouldnt surprise if he was on no more then $100-150k.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Combining all of the games our second-rowers have played going into this year it's just over half of what Scott has played. Scott has played 200 games, combined Moeroa, Pauli, Ma'u, and Edwards have played 115 so whilst the younger players have a potentially higher ceiling of talent what we showed in 2015 was that we needed experience to close out games.

Arthur made this point in one of his recent interviews, said that 8 or 9 of our top 17 players hadn't even played 50 games each.

 

[Gronk]

Travis Musa ‏@travis_musa · 6m6 minutes ago
@NRL_Bulldogs has Hopoate been announced yet?I have a photo of Hoppa training with the boys outside Belmore Stadium near the bowling club!

 

[oldmancraigy]

my info is that Walker wants too much and is no longer an option at the moment, I also hear he's done and dusted at Manly, we're sitting back to see what pans out in the next month or 2 as players become available all the time...good move in my opinion.

Gutho is apparently killing it at training and is a big chance for right centre at this early in the piece.

Good to hear re Gutho. If it were up to me, i would have inked him in at the position the second he signed. I have a high opinion of him obviously.... but very happy with him and Taka as our centres.

 

[oldmancraigy]

And how do you know that they aren't on $400k or less towards the cap? Given that we gave Watmough an extra year he would have come for less per year, I'm sure he would much rather $400k over 4 years here which equates to $1.6 million rather than $500k over 3 years which only equates to $1.5 million. We get him for $100k less but in the end he gets $100k more, simple. Everyone knows why Scott came down to Sydney, I have no doubts that we haven't paid much for a current Origin quality second-rower.

I thouht at the time of the Scott signing that there were suggestions we got him for unders. Didn't he want to play for us to be near Westmead?
I would be surprised if he is on over $400k.

Your thouht line on wats could be right. The reason people grumble about his salary is because he was allegedly on $950k for Manly, they released him being bound to a non negotiable $350k portion, so the assumption is we picked up all of the remaining $600k. We may have, or we may have picked up 520k+ of it, and had him on 450k the rest on the way. Who knows?

 

[hineyrulz]

Gee Manly have done well if they somehow manage to squeeze walker in as well. If he is asking for silly money will his baggage we would be doing the right thing and looking for someone else who could do the job and save some money ie Lafai.


And cheers on the info on Gutherson Stags, agree with Ram he could turn out to be the best signing of the lot value wise.

 

[hindy111]

Sorry i meant we wouldnt be paying overs for Gordon - The 300k figure would be IMO overs. I dare say he is on know more then 250k and potentially under 200k making him a great value signing.

 

[hindy111]

Any word on Moss -King or Kaysa stagger? These are three young guys who i guess are in important seasons career wise. Kaysa needs to stay fit whilst the other two need to prove that they are first grade players and have breakout seasons.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

Sorry i meant we wouldnt be paying overs for Gordon - The 300k figure would be IMO overs. I dare say he is on know more then 250k and potentially under 200k making him a great value signing.

I doubt that Gordon would be on anything over $150k. No club wanted him so we could lowball him very easily. He either gets $150k for another year, potentially 2, with us or he gets nothing.

 

[Twizzle]

I thouht at the time of the Scott signing that there were suggestions we got him for unders. Didn't he want to play for us to be near Westmead?
I would be surprised if he is on over $400k.

Your thouht line on wats could be right. The reason people grumble about his salary is because he was allegedly on $950k for Manly, they released him being bound to a non negotiable $350k portion, so the assumption is we picked up all of the remaining $600k. We may have, or we may have picked up 520k+ of it, and had him on 450k the rest on the way. Who knows?

There was an article on this that we were about 3rd in line with regard to offers, something like $250K if I recall correctly but he chose us because of our proximity to Westmead hospital.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

We had one of either Watmough or Scott this season and whilst it helped we didn't achieve what we could have, whether it be through injuries, lack of experience or something else there was something missing. By now bringing Scott down we have not only strengthened our already strong back-row stocks but we have also made our middle depth stronger as we can move one of Pauli or Moeroa into the middle if need be.

If we didn't sign each of these players for a year too long we potentially don't get them.

Or we pay too much.

 

[Gronk]

There was an article on this that we were about 3rd in line with regard to offers, something like $250K if I recall correctly but he chose us because of our proximity to Westmead hospital.

Yep Beau's kid has one leg shorter than the other. He will need long term care/operations as he's only 2/3 yo toddler now.

 

[Stagger eel]

Any word on Moss -King or Kaysa stagger? These are three young guys who i guess are in important seasons career wise. Kaysa needs to stay fit whilst the other two need to prove that they are first grade players and have breakout seasons.

Moss has won some friends at our club..they dont nickname him Ferarri for no reason...

like Gutho.. Moss just needs to stay on the field and we'll see the best out of them..

i know it's starting to sound cliche but Kaysa is also killing it at training and is ahead of the pack, the head coach loves him too.

not quite sure about king.. but no mug his age has played 35 fg games like he has..

 

[Avenger]

Moss has won some friends at our club..they dont nickname him Ferarri for no reason...

like Gutho.. Moss just needs to stay on the field and we'll see the best out of them..

i know it's starting to sound cliche but Kaysa is also killing it at training and is ahead of the pack, the head coach loves him too.

not quite sure about king.. but no mug his age has played 35 fg games like he has..

Kaysa when fully fit is a better value hooker than Peats.

 

[Incorrect]

Moss has won some friends at our club..they dont nickname him Ferarri for no reason...

like Gutho.. Moss just needs to stay on the field and we'll see the best out of them..

i know it's starting to sound cliche but Kaysa is also killing it at training and is ahead of the pack, the head coach loves him too.

not quite sure about king.. but no mug his age has played 35 fg games like he has..

Kaysa was dynamic in that game against Melbourne when he eventually went down with the injury that cut short his season- was easily the best game he's played in the top grade. That was the same game Peats thought he'd done his ACL again... I remember when Andy Raymond on the sideline reported Peats thought he'd done his ACL I was pretty gutted but then the way Kaysa played that night I thought if Pritchard can keep this up we won't lose much, if anything, if he get the 9 long term...

Hoping his injury problems are behind him now and he can finally fulfil that potential in the top grade

 

[Forty20]

Honestly I think Kaysa has the potential in both talent and determination to surpass Peats as the best hooking option at our club but he needs a dash of luck to help string some games together.

Gutherson looked very sharp at training so no surprises that he is impressing while Moss was well wrapped at Penrith so hopefully he can finally take the next step with us.

 

[Someone]

so with all this comments about fringe players doing well, are there any of these guys (moss, pritchard, gutherson etc) that will be pushing for a top 17 spot?

we actually have quite a competitive squad for the first time in a long time.

 

[Gronk]

so with all this comments about fringe players doing well, are there any of these guys (moss, pritchard, gutherson etc) that will be pushing for a top 17 spot?

we actually have quite a competitive squad for the first time in a long time.

Agree. It would be a brave man to try a guess our 17 for Round 6 2016.