If we have about 2million left in the cap I can't see why Q.Cooper can't be an option again with us offering about 500K from our cap and then him getting sponsorship he would be able to earn 700-800K a year. I understand history and everything associated here but if we were able to do a deal and then keep it under wraps until after the world cup it would be a massive scoop for both us and the NRL.
with 1.5mil remaining you could purchase two outside backs and two backrowers atleast plus maybe a few yougens.
Now i have never bought this idea that Cooper would take time to adapt to the NRL, he is a flyhalf and would do the same role. Cooper would find more space for him to run through the ruck but less space on the edges (because league plays a less compact defensive line compared to rugby) but in the end it would be very much the same.
If you had Cooper you would not need a dominative 5-8, someone like Humble could play a simple supportive role and act more like a link player.
Our main problems are
1) lack of any attacking prowess apart from Hayne
2) edge defence, I contribute most of this to a new defensive structure by Kearney and inexperienced flankers (both backrowers and centres).
#2 is a more simple fix, it will take time and training plus maybe the addition of a few more experienced edge players (eg Dwyer and Chambers)
#1 is a major problem because even the players on the open market, most are not overly creative. Even the ones that are creative are fairly untested (A.Kelly) and arnt genuine halfbacks anyway.
May be a pipe dream, but if I was in charge I would at least look into this and see if it was possible.
