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Rumoured and Confirmed signings - Part 4

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martielang

Bench
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3,374
I think I'm on both sides tbh. He's not worth $1m alone on playing ability, he may never be, but I think his signing is more than just playing. It's about his image, having him associated to the club. Bit of stability in a crucial position, whether or not he's up to it.
 
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The real question is just how good do people want him to be before he has earned his salary and/or satisfied whatever is expected of him? How quickly does he need to reach that level in 2020?

10 different people could have 10 different expectations of that. Also if he shows a huge improvement in these areas but isnt quiet the best half in the game would we be happy?

People rated Ash Taylor ahead of him. More try assists. Better vision. Natural instincts etc. But the guy some mental issues not being able to cope with the pressure. I just hope the pressure doesnt get to Nathan and cause him to break too. Hes pretty good at absorbing pressure. But hes still young and everyone has a breaking point.

I don’t think he needs to be the best next year, but he does need to show a fair bit of improvement at the attacking end of the field. And I don’t mean him scoring tries, he’s already good at that. He needs to make the guys around him better, get them into holes, put on pin point kicks for the wingers.

My personal view is that isn’t really his natural game, so I don’t see it happening. And as I’ve mentioned before it’s not just my view, he’s talked about it himself. He said he’s never been one to put on many try assists in the lower grades.

I definitely agree he’s got a first class attitude and that will help him manage the expectations, I’d be surprised if he fell in a heap like Ash Taylor.

I genuinely don’t think halfback is his natural position, it feels forced. Although he still does a solid job at it, I think he’d be better a bit wider at 5/8 in a traditional backline. He could be a superstar in the right position.
 
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I don't agree with a lot of what you say, but I do enjoy the differing opinions.

Also, how did you get into analysis as a career? Sounds very interesting

Just a business degree and I knew someone in the field. I mostly do retail business analysis, and I’d worked in retail a fair bit when I was younger managing bottleshops. So that helped.
 

betcats

Referee
Messages
23,441
I don’t think he needs to be the best next year, but he does need to show a fair bit of improvement at the attacking end of the field. And I don’t mean him scoring tries, he’s already good at that. He needs to make the guys around him better, get them into holes, put on pin point kicks for the wingers.

My personal view is that isn’t really his natural game, so I don’t see it happening. And as I’ve mentioned before it’s not just my view, he’s talked about it himself. He said he’s never been one to put on many try assists in the lower grades.

I genuinely don’t think halfback is his natural position, it feels forced. Although he still does a solid job at it, I think he’d be better a bit wider at 5/8 in a traditional backline. He could be a superstar in the right position.

If he got 9 try assists in 21 games in a woeful year for the team(especially in attack) there is a fair chance that improves when the team does better. How far away do you think he really is? Gifted attacking halves like Munster, Brooks, Walker all were at 15 or 16. That is not a big difference at all.
 
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If he got 9 try assists in 21 games in a woeful year for the team(especially in attack) there is a fair chance that improves when the team does better. How far away do you think he really is? Gifted attacking halves like Munster, Brooks, Walker all were at 15 or 16. That is not a big difference at all.

If he could push it up to 15+ territory that’d be a good improvement for the first year as the leading half. It shouldn’t just be try assists but linebreak too.

Munster plays a more traditional 5/8 role, touches the ball a lot less than Cleary. Plus Smith had a lot of try assists out of dummy half for the Storm.
 

betcats

Referee
Messages
23,441
If he could push it up to 15+ territory that’d be a good improvement for the first year as the leading half. It shouldn’t just be try assists but linebreak too.

Munster plays a more traditional 5/8 role, touches the ball a lot less than Cleary. Plus Smith had a lot of try assists out of dummy half for the Storm.

Agree, 15 is a reasonable expectation for him for next season. The thing is I can see him making that jump without improving his ball playing and creativity at all.
 

Coastal

Juniors
Messages
150
I agree there are a number of halves on overvalued deals, doesn’t mean we have to join that mob. Not only did we overpay for Nathan there’s a good chance his signing meant we had to have Ivan as our coach. That’s too higher price.

There’s a number of halves on much more appropriate deals too.

Moses
Reynolds
Brooks
Keary
Townsend
Your first paragraph is exactly my thoughts. I may have been overzealous in the delivery though.
 
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Agree, 15 is a reasonable expectation for him for next season. The thing is I can see him making that jump without improving his ball playing and creativity at all.

I reckon his style would need to change a bit to achieve it. It’s a 75% improvement on this year.

for instance you said you thought a lot of what he was doing in the final 20 was just catching & passing to Maloney. Instead of doing that he’s going to need to make quite a lot of the decisions himself.
 

betcats

Referee
Messages
23,441
I reckon his style would need to change a bit to achieve it. It’s a 75% improvement on this year.

for instance you said you thought a lot of what he was doing in the final 20 was just catching & passing to Maloney. Instead of doing that he’s going to need to make quite a lot of the decisions himself.

Or he might play 23 games for us next year and we might actually turn up to play the first ten rounds. His personal form was pretty poor during that time. We lost games to the titans, bulldogs and probably other teams below us. He could easily pick up an extra few try assists this way. We bombed a shit ton of tries this season also. Edwards dropped one of Nathans grubbers over the line against Newcastle.

5 or 6 try assists over the course of 20 plus games isn't a lot IMO.
 
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Pomoz

Bench
Messages
2,856
Holey Moley you lot go around in circles.

Long time reader(8yrs) same rubbish different day.

I've slowly figured our over Twitter and here who you lot are and the dribble you see is bloody hilarious.

Do you like the Panthers or want to point out their faults. Every team, yes, including the Roosters have theirs.

Love Cleary (jnr or snr) or hate them i dont think any of them are out to hurt us fans.

From what I've seen over the years Nathan has put in 100000% effort. He did not choose his wage, the market did and he accepted.

The bloke is in his younger part of his 20s and from what history tells us a half doesn't blossom until 25+.

You nay sayers can say "Oh BUt HeS PLaYEd oVEr 50 GamES" (ive seen it on twitter) Put a 15 yr old kid in there and see How he plays after 50 games.

Cleary will play to his potential potential. Do I think He's worth 1m this year? No. Would take 1m to play the game I love.. you guessed it.

Stop rubbishing the team you cheer for ever so passionately. Stop being that guy. Yes you're a member you have your say blah blah blah.

On a sloppy note, one team one dream xx
I think it's best not to log in to an internet forum if you don't like people criticising things and having negative views. Forums are for discussion and debate. Match days are for cheering and singing the praises of the team.

You could contribute by countering the negative statements with carefully considered responses using analysis, facts or even just emotional statements like "It's my opinion, so there". You have at least partly done that in your post. But, telling other people to stop expressing their (negative) views, in a place specifically designed for people to express their views is a tad despotic. Are you Kim Jong Un? If so, please don't nuke me, its just an opinion.....
 

Aliceinwonderland

First Grade
Messages
7,584
I believe we were let down this year at Hooker. Api I believe in 2020 will be a God send. Hoping that Moses, Lui et al all cut up in the nines.

I also believe that Maloney at times overcalled Cleary which meant they didn't complement each other too well.

I think Burton has a left foot kicking games which would be a wonderful point of difference. I was very impressed at Cleary against Cronulla when Burton played 5/8th. I still believe that Lui could cut up tired defences at 14 too.

Along with Barrett comming back as attack coach. Hopefully this all works well.
 
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21,867
I believe we were let down this year at Hooker. Api I believe in 2020 will be a God send. Hoping that Moses, Lui et al all cut up in the nines.

I also believe that Maloney at times overcalled Cleary which meant they didn't complement each other too well.

I think Burton has a left foot kicking games which would be a wonderful point of difference. I was very impressed at Cleary against Cronulla when Burton played 5/8th. I still believe that Lui could cut up tired defences at 14 too.

Along with Barrett comming back as attack coach. Hopefully this all works well.


Luai is also a left footer.

I’d be surprised if he isn’t the 5/8 come round 1. After the start to the year we had this year I expect Ivan will make the safer bet.

fearless prediction: Luai will lead the team in try assists, I think he can push for 20.
 

Aliceinwonderland

First Grade
Messages
7,584
Luai is also a left footer.

I’d be surprised if he isn’t the 5/8 come round 1. After the start to the year we had this year I expect Ivan will make the safer bet.

fearless prediction: Luai will lead the team in try assists, I think he can push for 20.




Thanks for that. Yep your probably right. Cleary and Lui played together comming up through the grades too.
 
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