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The off contract thread 2023

Gronk

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
73,554
Gutherson off the market leaves only these 20-odd merkins:

Alvaro (26)
Davey (28)
French (23)
Gower (34)
Hoffman (31)
Kaufusi (20) (although his contract length was never announced)
Mennings (31)
Leleisiuao (22) (although his contract length was never announced)
Ma'u (31)
Mannah (31)
McIlwrick (28)
Moeroa (24)
Moses (25)
Niukore (23)
Pritchard (25)
Stone (22) (although his contract length was never announced)
Takairangi (30)

On top of that, all these junior merkins are possibly off contract as well, though it's less likely for the 19 year olds:

Dunster (20)
Faingaa (21)
Parry (20)
Schneider (19)
Futoikamanu (20)
Sutoikamanu (19)

Alvaro
Oregon
Moses
Marata

And the kids would be prioritised.

Tim for one more year.

Stone has been solid but unsure about his upside.

Yes to Tepai if he offers good value.

Hope we can recruit some solid first graders looking new club opportunities like Lane and NBrown.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,176
Leaving aside the milfs for a second, according to NRL.com these merkins are off contract:

Alvaro (26) - but with a player option
Davey (28)
French (23)
Gower (34)
Hoffman (31)
Mennings (31)
Leleisiuao (22)
Ma'u (31)
Mannah (31)
McIlwrick (28)
Moeroa (24)
Moses (25)
Pritchard (25)
Stone (22)
Takairangi (30)

On top of that, all these junior merkins are possibly off contract as well, though it's less likely for the 19 year olds:

Dunster (20)
Faingaa (21)
Parry (20)
Schneider (19)
Utoikamanu (19)
 

Bazal

Post Whore
Messages
99,450
So I wonder who the armchair experts would keep/lose out of that lot?

Obviously Moses is a must.

Alvaro I guess likely to take the option, so he should IMO. Good value footballer.

I'd put an offer in front of French. Cheap, mind you, maybe for two years. I still think he has a lot of upside if he can find his confidence again.

Mannah I'd offer another season. Ma'u two, both cheap-ish. I'd like to keep them, both have been very good the last two years (so far) and give us experience.

Mennings might be worth an offer purely because there are no better centres on the market.

Moeroa for the right money, but he's a worry with his concussions and he seems to be sliding. Stone is worth a cheap deal, tough merkin who could easily be a solid first grader.

Utoikamanu into the top 30 for mine next year. The other youngsters, who knows. If Faingaa is off contract I'd probably let him walk or have him at Wenty. The others are worth persisting with in some capacity.
 

Soto

Bench
Messages
2,719
So I wonder who the armchair experts would keep/lose out of that lot?

Obviously Moses is a must.

Alvaro I guess likely to take the option, so he should IMO. Good value footballer.

I'd put an offer in front of French. Cheap, mind you, maybe for two years. I still think he has a lot of upside if he can find his confidence again.

Mannah I'd offer another season. Ma'u two, both cheap-ish. I'd like to keep them, both have been very good the last two years (so far) and give us experience.

Mennings might be worth an offer purely because there are no better centres on the market.

Moeroa for the right money, but he's a worry with his concussions and he seems to be sliding. Stone is worth a cheap deal, tough merkin who could easily be a solid first grader.

Utoikamanu into the top 30 for mine next year. The other youngsters, who knows. If Faingaa is off contract I'd probably let him walk or have him at Wenty. The others are worth persisting with in some capacity.
Out
Gower is retiring
Bye bye hoffman, mcilwrick, taka. I don't believe Kaysa will be back.
In
I don't see a problem with offering anyone else past 30, 1 yr deals. If they continue to play well they can keep scoring 1 yr deals.
For the others on the list 2 or 3 yr deals depending on price and strength in said positions.
Therefore we definitely need to source a good quality prop, a hooker, a centre, utility back and utility forward.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,176
For the right price I'd definitely keep these:

Alvaro (we might not have a choice anyway)
Mennings
Ma'u
Mannah
Moeroa
Moses

Parry and Utoikamanu are probably ready for the top 30 as well. That would make 23 merkins in the NRL squad. That would give us pretty much this year's top 17 minus Takairangi. We could buy a top 17 centre and fill the rest of the squad with young speccies.
 

Joshuatheeel

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
19,581
If we let French / Hoffman both go we have no back up full back - they also cover wing/centre (and have experience). Smith is also a halves / hooker cover so he may not be an option for fullback. Additionally we have Taka in the backs to.

Parry could probably be one replacement for them, but he is probably more a centre/winger and is inexperienced. Don’t want to much inexperience in the squad.

So we still need at least one more replacement (assuming Salmon moves to centre and Mennings stays) preferably someone experienced and capable of playing fullback.

It’s not that easy just letting players go, you have to find an appropriate replacement.

So keeping Hoffman (he is a better winger / centre then French) at a fair price wouldn’t be a bad option. I know we wouId probably be paying a bit to much for him to play a lot of NSW cup, but he is fairly reliable in the NRL and can’t really see any better options.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,176
If we let French / Hoffman both go we have no back up full back - they also cover wing/centre (and have experience). Smith is also a halves / hooker cover so he may not be an option for fullback. Additionally we have Taka in the backs to.

Parry could probably be one replacement for them, but he is probably more a centre/winger and is inexperienced. Don’t want to much inexperience in the squad.

So we still need at least one more replacement (assuming Salmon moves to centre and Mennings stays) preferably someone experienced and capable of playing fullback.

It’s not that easy just letting players go, you have to find an appropriate replacement.

So keeping Hoffman (he is a better winger / centre then French) at a fair price wouldn’t be a bad option. I know we wouId probably be paying a bit to much for him to play a lot of NSW cup, but he is fairly reliable in the NRL and can’t really see any better options.
If we recruit a centre (I'd go for Enari Tuala) then we'd have Smith, Gennings, Parry and Salmon as backups at 1-7.
 

Chipmunk

Coach
Messages
16,148
Out
Gower is retiring
Bye bye hoffman, mcilwrick, taka. I don't believe Kaysa will be back.
In
I don't see a problem with offering anyone else past 30, 1 yr deals. If they continue to play well they can keep scoring 1 yr deals.
For the others on the list 2 or 3 yr deals depending on price and strength in said positions.
Therefore we definitely need to source a good quality prop, a hooker, a centre, utility back and utility forward.

Who will play hooker if Mahoney gets injured if you don't have either MciIwrick or Kaysa?

I'd suggest Mcilwrick is on close to the minimum.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,176
Another merkin bites the dust:

Alvaro (26) - but with a player option
Davey (28)
French (23)
Gower (34)
Hoffman (31)
Mennings (31)
Leleisiuao (22)
Ma'u (31)
Mannah (31)
McIlwrick (28)
Moeroa (24)
Pritchard (25)
Stone (22)
Takairangi (30)

On top of that, all these junior merkins are possibly off contract as well, though it's less likely for the 19 year olds:

Dunster (20)
Faingaa (21)
Parry (20)
Schneider (19)
Utoikamanu (19)
 

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