Rumoured Targets 3

[Woody90]

Did we end up signing Mooney?

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Did we end up signing Mooney?

Apparently yes. Just hasn’t been announced yet. Possibly because Raiders are in the finals up to their necks and don’t want to do any contract stuff until after the season…

 

[Knight Tales]

Why would Dom switch sides to accommodate Sharpe? Has he ever played on the left?

Personally I think it is a bad idea. But certain pages for the club on Socials seem to have a knack of being right about signings and the like. It is a strange take given we have no coach yet.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

missing Taj Annan… must be someone else to drop out

I thought McCarthy was moving on

 

[HarVeeGee]

So move Sharpe again? Great for his development. We still don't have a hooker.

If Sandon plays in the halves, we have three hookers! We have a guy who'll play there for New Zealand in the World Cup in our team lmao. We have more cover at 9 than any other position in the spine. Some of you are on crack I swear to god.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

If Sandon plays in the halves, we have three hookers! We have a guy who'll play there for New Zealand in the World Cup in our team lmao. We have more cover at 9 than any other position in the spine. Some of you are on crack I swear to god.

Crossland will play 14 at best for NZ. JMK is the kiwis best hooker and i even dare say Smith will be picked ahead of him too

Matt Arthur has a fair way to go before hes considered a starting NRL hooker imo. After this off season who knows but as of now he remains an work in progress

Graham is on a development deal and no guarantee of playing much 1st grade either right now

Am i missing anyone?

 

[perverse]

Crossland will play 14 at best for NZ. JMK is the kiwis best hooker and i even dare say Smith will be picked ahead of him too

Matt Arthur has a fair way to go before hes considered a starting NRL hooker imo. After this off season who knows but as of now he remains an work in progress

Graham is on a development deal and no guarantee of playing much 1st grade either right now

Am i missing anyone?

Same attitude of people saying how much better our forward pack is going to be because we've recruited a bunch of cup-tier forwards.

At this stage it's all just pie in the sky dreaming. Visualising a future based on hopes and wishes rather than the current state of affairs. Personally I think our squad looks f**king grim and needs a lot of coaching and players to improve individually this off season.

We might have a better team next year, but it's mainly going to come through having the stars that weren't available this year back on the park. The rest is completely unproven.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Same attitude of people saying how much better our forward pack is going to be because we've recruited a bunch of cup-tier forwards.

At this stage it's all just pie in the sky dreaming. Visualising a future based on hopes and wishes rather than the current state of affairs. Personally I think our squad looks f**king grim and needs a lot of coaching and players to improve individually this off season.

We might have a better team next year, but it's mainly going to come through having the stars that weren't available this year back on the park. The rest is completely unproven.

While I don't necessarily disagree with what you're saying, especially around needing to keep our best guys fit for the year, we did recruit those "cup-tier forwards" from the team coming 1st who are considered to have the strongest pack and pack depth in the comp. I think the optimism around those 2 guys improving our current pack is justified

 

[HarVeeGee]

Crossland will play 14 at best for NZ. JMK is the kiwis best hooker and i even dare say Smith will be picked ahead of him too

Matt Arthur has a fair way to go before hes considered a starting NRL hooker imo. After this off season who knows but as of now he remains an work in progress

Graham is on a development deal and no guarantee of playing much 1st grade either right now

Am i missing anyone?

Right, and JMK is not a consistent 80 minute hooker. Which means someone else will need to play there as well. With how Phoenix went for them last year it'll be more surprising if he misses their 17 than makes it. Cheese is the pick if what they want from their 9 is someone who finally gets into dummy half by tackle 5 in yardage sets if he's really hustling his very hardest.

The post I was responding to literally said "we don't have a hooker". It just makes no sense to say that. We have a proven 80 minute NRL hooker who has performed well there in International rugby league. Fact. We have two developing back ups with first grade experience and a lot of reserve grade games under their belt. They are both more experienced and more ready to do some kind of job in first grade than players like Votano and Hunt are at fullback, or Hunter is in the halves. And then yes on top of that Sandon *can* play there. He's played a hell of a lot more in the halves though.

I didn't say Arthur or Graham will be superstars next year, but in terms of back up options, while there are a few clubs in a better position, there are a fair few in a worse spot. It's not that weird for your back up hookers to be fringe first graders. One proven starter, two fringe first graders, a player or two who can cover there if necessary, is kind of par for the course for your hooker depth.

I just don't know how anyone can look at the past few seasons of our footy and conclude Crossland at 9 is any sort of issue compared to what's been happening in the halves.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Right, and JMK is not a consistent 80 minute hooker. Which means someone else will need to play there as well. With how Phoenix went for them last year it'll be more surprising if he misses their 17 than makes it. Cheese is the pick if what they want from their 9 is someone who finally gets into dummy half by tackle 5 in yardage sets if he's really hustling his very hardest.

The post I was responding to literally said "we don't have a hooker". It just makes no sense to say that. We have a proven 80 minute NRL hooker who has performed well there in International rugby league. Fact. We have two developing back ups with first grade experience and a lot of reserve grade games under their belt. They are both more experienced and more ready to do some kind of job in first grade than players like Votano and Hunt are at fullback, or Hunter is in the halves. And then yes on top of that Sandon *can* play there. He's played a hell of a lot more in the halves though.

I didn't say Arthur or Graham will be superstars next year, but in terms of back up options, while there are a few clubs in a better position, there are a fair few in a worse spot. It's not that weird for your back up hookers to be fringe first graders. One proven starter, two fringe first graders, a player or two who can cover there if necessary, is kind of par for the course for your hooker depth.

I just don't know how anyone can look at the past few seasons of our footy and conclude Crossland at 9 is any sort of issue compared to what's been happening in the halves.

JMK is averaging over 70min per game this year. He might need someone to spell him for 10-15min which I think Smith is well suited to. Smith is also a better option at 13 than Crossland so while i think Phoenix will make the squad, I myself wont be surprised if he misses out of the 17

FWIW I dont necessarily mind the idea of Crossland playing hooker but he also needs to sharpen up his service quite a bit. He has energy and enthusiasm and reminds me quite a bit of Kidleys time there but he really lacks the game management and smarts that good hookers have. All things being equal Id prefer him at 13 with a better hooker starting

 

[Old dog]

My understanding is that players not signed in top 30 are signed on a development contract.
The emphasis should be that, development, bring them along in Cup or Flegg, hone there skills, develop with them realising a full contract in top 30 and overall improving our squad. We should be able to fill our top 17 from within our top 30 without throwing a under prepared young player into 1sts

 

[Old dog]

Sorry if my previous comments aren’t on theme but typed it up a few days ago and just noticed I hadn’t posted it

 

[mozza91]

Few members of the black parade in here. Cant really blame them after the dumpster fire of a season we’ve had.

Gonna wait to see what we actually look like in 2026 before applying the black nail polish and cutting myself though.

Depth is obviously a big concern but Mooney is equal to Leo and probably an upgrade on the 2024/2025 version of him. I rate Saulo better than any of our current bench options too. Reckon they are being sold abit short. Sandon Smith offers a lot more than Cogger/Hastings/Gamble too. We’ll need some luck with kids developing also but I’ve got some optimism looking ahead.

 

[Apey]

If our new coach can sort out our embarrassing attack we'll already look a better team regardless of squad changes. Don't underestimate how much our insipid play with ball in hand contributed to many losses. Even with our stars in we looked awful, absolutely clueless in the 20 is being generous.

As much as Brown will help it was obviously a coaching issue. We can argue over who to blame but I just hope it's resolved next year.

 

[HarVeeGee]

JMK is averaging over 70min per game this year. He might need someone to spell him for 10-15min which I think Smith is well suited to. Smith is also a better option at 13 than Crossland so while i think Phoenix will make the squad, I myself wont be surprised if he misses out of the 17

FWIW I dont necessarily mind the idea of Crossland playing hooker but he also needs to sharpen up his service quite a bit. He has energy and enthusiasm and reminds me quite a bit of Kidleys time there but he really lacks the game management and smarts that good hookers have. All things being equal Id prefer him at 13 with a better hooker starting

Fair enough, I just reckon at the end of the day halves will get used to his service if it's consistent over 80. Same thing with Mitch Kenny, he's far from polished, but the ball goes where it needs to - and he puts a hurt on, defensively. No week links in that defensive line through the middle third.

 

[PhilGould]

I was always lower on Leo than the general consensus seemed to be but saying Mooney is already equal or better (even on this years form) feels overly optimistic. I could cop the argument he has a higher upside just because he’s a lot more dynamic but he hasn’t even proven he can be a consistent NRL forward yet let alone anything above that.

 

[mozza91]

I was always lower on Leo than the general consensus seemed to be but saying Mooney is already equal or better (even on this years form) feels overly optimistic. I could cop the argument he has a higher upside just because he’s a lot more dynamic but he hasn’t even proven he can be a consistent NRL forward yet let alone anything above that.

The comment was more an indictment on Leo than anything else. His 2024/25 form as a starting front rower isn’t a very high bar. The errors and ill discipline won’t be missed.

 

[Yosh]

J

If Sandon plays in the halves, we have three hookers! We have a guy who'll play there for New Zealand in the World Cup in our team lmao. We have more cover at 9 than any other position in the spine. Some of you are on crack I swear to god.

Just because Crossland wears the no. 9 and goes into the ruck doesn't make him a hooker. He just doesn't have the skill set for it. He is a good middle defender but has no hooking skills.

If we are going to play without a proper organizing 7, we need a dominant hooker I reckon. Maybe Sandon will be our organizer 7 (haven't seen enough of him but he looks like another 5/8th to me), then maybe Crossland can play okay minutes at hooker.

 

[League guru]

J

Just because Crossland wears the no. 9 and goes into the ruck doesn't make him a hooker. He just doesn't have the skill set for it. He is a good middle defender but has no hooking skills.

If we are going to play without a proper organizing 7, we need a dominant hooker I reckon. Maybe Sandon will be our organizer 7 (haven't seen enough of him but he looks like another 5/8th to me), then maybe Crossland can play okay minutes at hooker.

"He has no hooking skills". What are hooking skills, I haven't seen a contested scrum in the last 25 years.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

"He has no hooking skills". What are hooking skills, I haven't seen a contested scrum in the last 25 years.

I assume he means ruck manipulation and recognition of when to run/pass and keeping the markers accountable etc.