Salmon is way to slow to play regular centre and he wont be sparking anything in attack. Very similar to tmay. Slow and not a power player either.
If he gets time at centre theres issues.
Tago and critta for me. Yep tagos raw but they all are at some point. He looked great every chance he got this year in nrl and killed it at centre in nsw cup in limited time there.
Hes fast, strong, elusive reads the game well and is very skillful. Hes shown hes a solid defender to. Id look at him just being a atraight swap for burto. Critta can stay right with tiny or staines on the wing.
As for back ups. Tuala is decent for minimum if hes willing to come for that. I said we should sign him back in august. Tex hoy is also unsigned. He can kick and ball play and has good speed. Obviously primarily a fb or 5/8 but wouldnt mind seeing him put on 3 or 4 kgs. Get to 94/95kgs and hed be great filling the connor watson type roll. Could be a real dynamic player late in the halfs of the bench. Hed also be good cover around origin time.
He has something kenny and tyrone dont and thats speed. Hes also a better ball player and kicker. If we got him on minimums it would be worth letting tmay go. Hed free up a bit of money for resigning the obvious ones. There was some talk the club was looking at letting either staines or lenui go to free up coin to. For the life of me i hope its not lenui. He has huge potential. He will kick on in the next 12 to 24 months.
At the moment id go with:
1. Edwards
2. Tiny
3. Critta
4. Tago
5. Too
6. Luai
7. Nath
8. Leota
9. Api
10. jfh
11. Kiks
12. Marto
13. Yeo
14. Tmay
15. Lenui
16. Sorensen
17. Hopgood
That leaves in the backs
Turuva
Jenkins
Staines
Jennings
Falls
Salmon
Forwards
Kenny
Eiso
Smith
Leaves four spots.
But if we have to free up a bit more coin to resign edwards, kiks, api, id look at letting tmay and staines go. Hopefully thatd be enough extra coin to spread between the three. Thsn replace them with a minimums player or development contract like maverick geyer.
Tuala
Hoy
And probs 2 cheap edge 2nd rowers
Than if we do let maybe a tmay or staines go look at upgrading maverick and another kid on development contracts to the full time squad.
It wont be ideal that we wont have much depth or experience in the rest of the roster but most nrl clubs are going to be in the same boat as us in the fact theres been no junior footy for 2 years so development everywhere will be down and clubs will be taking calculated risks on kids.
I think guys like, hopgood, lindsay smith, tago, who didnt get much time this year all wouldve got plenty at other clubs. It was clear they were all nipping at the heels of the fg squad all year but we had a good run with injuries for the most part and they werent required to much.
For next year im not concerened about guys like tago coming in raw.. hes been around the squad for a gf win. Hes seen what it takes and what it means. Cleary, yeo,fish,edwards etc are all real leaders and will make sure hes fine. If he was to be realied on to play centre in a shit team all year it would be a different story but we have great defensive structures and he will have great players around him. In attack just let him do his thing.
Everyones worried/upset about burto leaving. For me, im so excited to see tago get a crack. He just has something special about him. Really reminds me of koni staggs. Strong, fast, hard to tackle.
The biggest concern for me next year is we need to be better in the utility value off the bench.
I said all year tmay doesnt offer much unless theres injuries. Hes a great back up or good at filling spots. But if theres no injuries hes very very ineffective when he comes on and just has no clear role.. at least when kenny was 14 and he came on he is an actual hooker and it gave api a break.
But imo, we need to find a 14 with speed. Id wish wed signed watson as hes a great player. But tex hoy could be alright in the 14. Play a bit of dummy half, roving lock running role at the back end of halfs. Hes speed around the ruck would be dangerous. Hes 184cm and 91kgs so if he put on 3 or 4kgs hed definitkey be big enough to fill that role. Has a handy little kicking game and played 5/8 a lot too so can ball play if the oppurtunity presents itself.
