Your starting lineup for 2011

[dan121]

1.Gidley
2.Mcmanus
3.Doogs
4.Sau
5.Uate
6.Mullen
7.Henry
8.Kaufusi
9.De Gois
10.Tuimavave
11.Taia
12.Costigan
13.Hilder

14.Edwards
15.Paterson
16.Fass
17.Houston

 

[Rolla]

A bench halfback just seems like an odd ploy to me. The only jerseys he should be wearing are 7 or 18 imo.

If we had two reliable 80 minute halves then i would agree totally. Rogers however is useless and unreliable.

In my opinion whatever route is necessary to see Henry own the #7 fastest is the route that should be taken. I would start him personally and give him a chance as people have mentioned. He doesn't need to kill it straight away, all he needs to do is be as good or better than the alternatives (meaning he needs to show some sort of something).

Lets face it, the bar was set high by joey but since then we have been tortured with guys like Scotty and dodge. I think knights fan will be stoked with even a glimmer of hope.

 

[timka4]

Agreed, I would have him starting at 7, on the field for 80 min at least for the first half of the season (unless he plays absolutely dreadful).

 

[Spot On]

Manly will be starting Cherry-Evans wont they? Sorry to state the obvious but if Henry does start our pack need to be fully effing firing to help him out.

 

[Rolla]

Manly will be starting Cherry-Evans wont they? Sorry to state the obvious but if Henry does start our pack need to be fully effing firing to help him out.

Certainly.

I have faith that the coaching staff are the best people to determine whether or not he is ready. I will back their decision.

All i know is that Rogers is useless. We might not know what we will get from Henry but we sure don't know what we will get from Rogers either. I just don't see a decent alternative to Henry in our roster, so when he is ready he should play.

 

[RABK]

Forget 2011, what about 2012???

Gidley
Uate
Idris
Likiliki
McManus
Mullen
Henry
Snowden
Ennis
TLL
Taia
Patterson
Costigan

???


Can't agree with chasing Ennis, De Gois is nearly his equal for half the price.

 

[perverse]

and De Gois wouldn't start a fight and then hide behind one of his props, i'd wager, too. not many self respecting blokes would.

 

[RABK]

Snowden, TLL, Patterson, Costigan would be the biggest pack of enforcers in the NRL. De gois and Taia add the class. No need for Ennis and his grubbiness.

 

[RABK]

Forgot about Bird - although i've heard from a good source he loathes the club and will never return. Money talks to dickheads like him but.

I'm sharing your opinion about feeling unsettled with all the headlines of us chasing big name players as if we've suddenly found a lazy 2 million under our cap.

 

[perverse]

indeed, it's exciting to ponder... but at the same time you look at the team built with the players being mentioned and you sort of raise an eyebrow. of course we do have Costigan at a bargain, Henry wouldn't be on much, ditto Likiliki. McManus would be well paid, but not rich. we also know we have Aku for another 3 (i think 3?) seasons cheaply... although i hope we keep a plan in place to retain him.

let's just see what happens, i suppose. we have a lot of players off contract this year, anything can happen.

also, if Kyle O'Donnell continues to progress then he will certainly be in frame for 2012. he's not as far along as i thought he was - judging by the first 2 trials, but he has the attributes.

 

[RABK]

Luke was a slow bloomer - he was a exceptional junior like kyle but took a couple of FG seasons to assert that same authority over NRL plavers. If kyle takes two seasons to start playing like his brother we'll be cheering.

 

[slotmachine]

the players being mentioned and you sort of raise an eyebrow.

There is a lot of talk about salary cap pressure for next season coming from the club.. I'm obviously not privy to their finances but the following players are off contract at the end of this season

Isaac De Gois
Junior Sau
Matt Hilder
Marvin Karawana
Keith Lulia
Cameron Ciraldo
Shannon McDonnell
Peter Mata'utia
Kurt Gidley
Wes Naiqama
Constantine Mika
Steve Southern
Adam MacDougall

Maddog is retiring

If Tinkler gets in with his focus on locals you could say goodbye to

Junior Sau
Marvin Karawana
Keith Lulia
Cameron Ciraldo
Shannon McDonnell
Constantine Mika
Steve Southern

Re-sign
Peter Mata'utia
Kurt Gidley

???
Isaac De Gois
Matt Hilder
Wes Naiqama

we also know we have Aku for another 3 (i think 3?) seasons cheaply... although i hope we keep a plan in place to retain him.

He is signed until 2013. The new TV deal will be in by then and the cap will raise significantly. Retention won't be an issue.

 

[slotmachine]

Hilder signed on for two more years.

 

[Spot On]

There is a lot of talk about salary cap pressure for next season coming from the club.. I'm obviously not privy to their finances but the following players are off contract at the end of this season

Isaac De Gois
Junior Sau
Matt Hilder
Marvin Karawana
Keith Lulia
Cameron Ciraldo
Shannon McDonnell
Peter Mata'utia
Kurt Gidley
Wes Naiqama
Constantine Mika
Steve Southern
Adam MacDougall

Maddog is retiring

If Tinkler gets in with his focus on locals you could say goodbye to

Junior Sau
Marvin Karawana
Keith Lulia
Cameron Ciraldo
Shannon McDonnell
Constantine Mika
Steve Southern

Re-sign
Peter Mata'utia
Kurt Gidley

???
Isaac De Gois
Matt Hilder
Wes Naiqama



He is signed until 2013. The new TV deal will be in by then and the cap will raise significantly. Retention won't be an issue.

A lot of players we could let go there to secure the prop and centre we need. I am assuming under the clubs new structure (if Tinkler bid is successful) the Knights will be able to focus on developing juniors who are able to step into the top grade and perform a job ala the Broncos juniors. Spend most of your cap to secure the best first grade roster you can get and then develop, keep and groom your boom local juniors with an eye to filling the gaps in the NRL roster from year to year. It's got to be a production line though, you can't keep all of the good ones all the time. It's imperative to keep the local junior system that feeds the 20's well funded, managed and coached.

 

[slotmachine]

Spend most of your cap to secure the best first grade roster you can get and then develop, keep and groom your boom local juniors with an eye to filling the gaps in the NRL roster from year to year.

Exactly. From the Warriors trial you'd be looking at guys like

K. Naiqama
Williams
Mata'utia
Roberts
Adams
Edwards
Cook
Redman
Tetevano

to be your depth.

 

[Spot On]

Yeah Slot, seems we went away from that for a while. People will lay blame at Smith but the system had failed badly way before he got there. People can blame who they want but the facts are that if Tinkler gets control and is true to his word he could set up a rugby league nursery or production line that could see this club rival the Broncs when it comes to competitiveness from year to year. I can not see why this can't happen especially when you consider the area Newcastle can draw on for its league talent. If Tinkler can feed funds into this area and employ the best personnel to implement a new structure at the local and junior level, support it with excellent coaches and development people then the Knights will reap the rewards for years.

 

[jonno_knights]

Hilder signed on for two more years.

And apparently Gidley has agreed in principle on a long term contract. Expecting a proper announcement sometime this week.

Interesting that this info has been leaked in the same week as the Snowden Saga.

 

[roopy]

Yeah Slot, seems we went away from that for a while. People will lay blame at Smith but the system had failed badly way before he got there.

bullsh*t - the 2004 Ball/ 2006 Flegg side was our best ever crop of juniors. Players like Snowden, Mullen, McManus, Pato, Uate, Walsh, Dureau, Jonathon Wright, Steve Gordon, Terrence Seu Seu have all gone on to play firstgrade, and the first 5 could well be SOO players.
I can't think of another year we have got 5 firstgraders - let alone 5 SOO players.
Average is one or two a year.

Smith tried to buy in an entire team of imports at under 20s level, and all he got was kids other teams didn't want.

 

[Adsy]

There is a lot of talk about salary cap pressure for next season coming from the club.. I'm obviously not privy to their finances but the following players are off contract at the end of this season

Isaac De Gois
Junior Sau
Matt Hilder
Marvin Karawana
Keith Lulia
Cameron Ciraldo
Shannon McDonnell
Peter Mata'utia
Kurt Gidley
Wes Naiqama
Constantine Mika
Steve Southern
Adam MacDougall

If those are all the players off contract at the end of the season I'd like us to re-sign:

DeGois
Sau
Hilder
Mata'utia
Gidley

I just culled 8 players from our top grade squad so if possible I'd like to see them replaced by a few of these dream signings like Snowden, Idris, Leyroy-Larhs and Bird that are being tossed around. Then for depth maybe some more young locals like Cook, Williams, Aiolamai and Adams.

If Tinkler is in charge of the signings for next year that isnt too far off being a realistic option in our clubs player movement.

 

[perverse]

you just culled 8 players from our top squad of 33 players, leaving us with 25. in fact the ones you kept are the only ones i could say would definitely be in the top 25 paid players at the club. the rest of them would be on dead set fringe cash and would be lucky to affect the cap in any way, shape or form. that's assuming we can keep the 5 you mentioned without a payrise, which i also wouldn't bank on.