Rumours and Stuff

[hineyrulz]

That comment will come back to haunt you. No chance of us missing the 8 drama queen.

Who saw us winning the spoon in 2018???

 

[hineyrulz]

My mum has better stats than Ponga.

*Tats

 

[hineyrulz]

You’re right. Keeping experienced premiership winners Gutho, RCG and Nrown will keep those premierships rolling.

*Week 2

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I think we will be good in 2022. No idea about 2023. Need to see the side.
I wouldn’t be too concerned yet. We do not want to put to much money into our spine and be useless everywhere else.

I would let Jnr walk after 2022. Start the rebuild. Does anyone remember back in the late nineties when Parra lost a heap of experienced guys and then all these young kids come from nowhere. I think we pushed the Broncos in the finals after finishing 7th or 8th.

Penrith lost far better players when they let DWZ,WAQA,RCG,Maloney,Tamou all go in recent times.

Spot on.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

They're delusional if they think players are going to stay for considerably less than they can get elsewhere.

Why would they think that? More to the point, why would you push a narrative that the people running the club are delusional? These are bean counters. They will have weaknesses but 'delusional' would be last on the list. Ray Price is someone that might be reasonably described as delusional. I'm sure these bean counters understand how labour markets work.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

For me it’s a culture issue as well. If our club culture was strong enough - no player would ever leave us for the dogs, panthers or tigers.

The history and local rivalry should be so etched into their heads that they hate the mere hearing of their name, let alone consider wearing their jersey.

So why did Kikau and Burton leave Penrith for the Dogs?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

When Penrith lose good players they make a grand final and eventually win one.

So if it works for them why couldn't it work for us?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

You mean when the media reports Papali’i was paid 600k it’s true but when it reports Mahoney was paid 650k it was made up to craft a narrative?

Nobody knows how much either player will be paid. But if we had to make an assessment would you say those clubs have to pay overs to sign players? And if our players are getting offered overs should we match it?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Why would you believe that the Tigers paid the overs figure of 600k then? Should we only believe something if it suits our pre conceived ideas?

Well I'm a highly intelligent person, and not very passionate, so my preconceived ideas are sound and reasonable. I don't think the same could be said about you.

$600k from the Tigers seems realistic. I think it's the upper limit of what he's worth. But I do believe they're a weaker club than Parramatta, and they would have to pay overs to sign our players.

As for Mahoney, I think $700k is the most a club would pay and I think only a club like the Bulldogs (or Tigers) would pay it. A strong club like Souths or the Chooks would never pay that much for him. I think the most they would go would be maybe $550k. How much would we pay? I hope we wouldn't bend over and offer more than $600k. If we're serious as a club, we need to manage our cap well, not desperately pander to players because of fan pressure.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

If you don’t believe the figures then you’re just blindly believing the Dogs blew our offer out of the water without any evidence to hold that position other than what you want to be true.

It's not blind at all. Here's the evidence that the Bulldogs overpay and we don't:

1. We are not re-signing players quickly
2. The Bulldogs have already made one huge 'announcement'
3. The Eels have been strong for a few years indicating good management
4. The Bulldogs have performed poorly in recent years indicating poor management
5. Parramatta have been accused in the media of lowballing players and for having no 'footy IQ' in the place
6. The Dogs have Phil Gould running things, who has a history of paying huge contracts that later need to be subsidised when the players leave

Don't pretend I'm the one blindly believing without evidence when you're the one lapping up f**king Daily Telegraph narratives you dumb dunce.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Has a team ever had 3 of its top 17 players sign with rivals over 12 months prior all at once? It could potentially be 4 with Paulo. They already have a foot out the door and some of them haven’t even begun pre season.

And for a couple of them it could be their last chance to win a premiership. How will they react? And if they don't react well do we want them at the club?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Why do you think we’re a better chance of winning the competition next season as opposed to this season?

Mostly the extra experience and growth of our young squad. So many of them should be better players next year just based on their age. Very few are old enough that you'd expect them to be worse. Plus it's that extra year of stability and cohesion.

Is it because we lost by 2 points to the eventual premiers this season?

Partly

Would things be different if we’d lost by 50?

What a dumb question. What if we had won the comp this year? Well then I guess next year we might be less hungry and also shouldn't expect as much luck (something essential for winning a premiership). Dumb f**king hypotheticals.

If our team that lost by 2 was well coached then we wouldn’t have finished sixth and been in a position to get knocked out in week 2.

There were at least four better teams than ours this year. Everything proves it. The ladder, the points differentials, the finals finish. Hopefully next year we are a better team. I expect we will be. But we won't know until the ladder takes its final shape close to the finals.

Well you'll know, because you have preconceived that we're a great team with a shit coach, despite any evidence at all.

Last season we were a top 4 side yet I’d argue this years team had a higher ceiling. So how can you say this years side shouldn’t have finished top 4 and been better than a week 2 finals side?

Your question doesn't even make any sense.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

If we could get Sivo off our books I'd offer Cotric 400k. He is worth that and an upgrade in Sivo.

Cotric is worth $500k-$600k

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Penrith just won a competition, we’ve won a spoon and f**k all else the last 5 years.

And they won a comp with all these players leaving. That's the point.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Would certainly soften the blow but players are supposed to sign with other clubs after winning a comp not before!

Every strong team is likely to have players on unders, whether they win the comp or not. Those players will need an upgrade when they come off contract. That won't change just because their team didn't win the premiership.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Burton would have gone anyway because he’s stuck behind Luai and Capewell had his value increased because he was picked for origin last year and Penrith made a grand final.

Their value increased because they played well ffs. Origin and premierships are just affirmation of that. In the case of the premiership it just means they were in a good team. Plenty of ordinary players win premierships. It doesn't increase their value any more than if they had lost the grand final or gotten knocked out in week two. Clubs don't assess player values based on one game.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Nathan Cleary had the exact same injury. Do you think his value will have gone down?

You have to wonder why he's playing for Penrith and not one of the big clubs.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Cam Smith one year forced 20. Ironically did not force one in his first 9yrs. Maybe they had a better option? Or did he not know how to kick then.

Maybe that stat wasn't tracked during those years.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I honestly don't even know who the CEO is.
Brad Arthur is the leader of the club. He is the one who should be showing some leadership. Since being made aware that the coaches don't do any recruiting I have to ask: WTF do they do?

Coaching

 

[Poupou Escobar]

surely the only thing he was tossing and turning over was "Why do Parra feel I am only worth $500k?

"Surely"? You know the amounts both clubs offered do you?