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Rumours and Stuff

hineyrulz

Post Whore
Messages
148,287
Sounds like the kind of thing a fan would say. Fancy that!
Surprised Cat GIF
 

lingard

Coach
Messages
11,135
Admittedly, the Mahoney debacle came a bit out of left field.

But Niukore's style of play isn't all that hard to replace.

And Papali'i had a great season, and he is young - but he was quite average before joining us, and so at this point in time, the question is whether Isaiah's 2021 form is his new normal, or an outlier?

Time will tell.

The fact of the matter is that Mahoney, and Papali'i, were offered big deals; had we matched them, I think it is reasonable to assume that their respective bidders would have increased their offers to them again, meaning we would have lost them anyway.

And had we matched the offers, and suddenly seen their suitors pull out of the race, we would have kept them, at inflated salaries.

I completely understand people's feelings about losing Mahoney, Papali'i, and Niukore; it's very frustrating, and - without any context - amateurish.

But there is a plan in place - I don't know what it is, but I am confident that the people who are paid to know these things know what they are doing.
I'm glad you're confident. I would like to be. But I'm still to be convinced that the club and the coach really know what they are doing. All I can say at this stage is I hope so. Marata is a great player. Underrated in my opinion. Will be sorely missed, I think.
 
Messages
3,464
Just spoke to a friend of mine who is staff at Parra. Their comments to me were Reed was never staying. Never! It wasn’t about the money at all, he wanted to go.
They also said they are near certain Junior WILL stay.
Lastly and the first I’ve heard of it but we are closely looking at Tariq Sims. Seems odd to me but just reporting it. For 2022.
Those who know me know I have no agenda, just passing on what I heard. This person is in staff.
Thanks for the info Stevie! So I guess the question has to be asked then… did him and BA fall out?
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,160
You're right. There's a balance to be had between "not paying overs" and having some common sense. A club has to pay 'overs' for key players in order to build a side around them. Melbourne do this, and just recycle the lesser players. You can't just make a blanket rule to stick to the market value of every player in the team and refuse to pay a penny more. That is suicidal. Dennis Fitzgerald decided not to pay money for big-name stars in the late eighties/nineties. Just tried to rely on local juniors. We all know how that ended up. Unfortunately looks like that's what Parramatta might be doing now. They have to be flexible, though, or we'll end up with a side full of Neville Nobodies in the near future. I hope they know what they're doing
But we do sign and re-sign players, and we don't have a team of nobodies, so why would you think we only want nuffies on the cheap? We clearly have a process that has acquired and retained quality players in the past. Why would it suddenly stop working? More to the point, why would it mean we never lose good players? The point of a salary cap is when you develop enough players so that your squad has plenty on unders, you will lose some when they come off contract. Maybe you can prolong things with back-ended contracts but eventually you'll end up in salary cap hell like Canterbury's past few years, or Manly after Hasler left. Or the Cowboys since 2017.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,160
This is all fine and good. But a club has to earmark the players that they really want/need to keep. In my humble (and maybe not so knowledgeable) opinion,
Mahoney was one of those players. And, really, I think Parramatta will regret letting go Marata and Papalii. To me it looks more like the club was caught unawares, rather than displaying any judicious managing of the cap.
Maybe the ones we've kept (including the ones yet to sign anywhere) are the ones we really need to keep. Players signing with rival clubs in f**king November don't seem to have the level of loyalty to contribute much to your club culture.
 

Vic Mackey

Referee
Messages
24,496
A guy on the tigers forum who’s been proven to have good info has said Jacob Liddle will likely end up at the Eels
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,160
Tariq sims will want at least the money tigers offered papali'i and he is 32 in february.

I would pass on tariq personally.

Otherwise what was the point of letting a 23 year old in papa go about to hit his prime
Leadership and experience have value too. Did the Panthers win the comp because they got rid of Tamou or would they never have won if he'd never been at the club?
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,160
All successful sides have a nucleus they build the side around. Who do you think ours is? I’d say Moses and Gutherson and that’s it.
Our ten most experienced players, next year:

208 Rein
177 Paulo
172 Moses
155 Campbell-Gillard
139 Gutherson
136 Blake
131 Cartwright
124 Nrown
121 Lane
120 Matterson

The guys who have signed elsewhere for 2023:

88 Papali'i
77 Niukore
73 Mahoney
 

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