No Team Has Been Worse At Retention Than The Cowboys: Newcastle football manager Peter Parr is talked about in some circles as a football savant but he led the Cowboys through a period of diabolical recruitment and retention over the last decade, a tradition that has continued since he left, as he goes about doing the same at Newcastle by handing Dylan Brown one of the worst contracts the game has ever known.
Back to the Cowboys though. A look over the decision-making at the club over their list since their Grand Final in 2015 must make for tortuous reading for Cowboys fans.
- Brandon Smith was the NYC Hooker of the Year in 2016 at the Cowboys but signed with the Storm in order to keep Jake Granville
- Jahrome Hughes plays one game at the Cowboys in 2016 but leaves for the Storm. He wins a premiership and a Dally M Medal.
- Kalyn Ponga debuts in 2016 but leaves after 2017, playing just nine games. He wins a Dally M Medal at Newcastle.
- After a single game for NSW, the Cowboys sign plodding prop Jordan McLean to a big-money contract in 2018. He never plays for the Blues again.
- Braden Hamlin-Uele plays one game for the Cowboys before departing for Cronulla, where he has played 113 games and counting.
- After a decade at the Broncos, controversial prop Josh McGuire signed a four-year deal with the Cowboys worth $3.2m in 2019. He left early in his third season with the Cowboys going 10-28 in the 38 games he played.
- Valentine Holmes is signed for huge money on a six-year deal (worth around $5m) after returning from the NFL. The experiment at fullback failed and his career finished with just two finals campaigns, both playing centre. He was released a year early.
- Chad Townsend was signed to a three-year, $800,000 per season deal in 2022.
- Peta Hiku was signed to a two-year deal at the age of 30 and was incredibly poor during his two seasons at the club.
- Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Tom Gilbert and Connelly Lemuelu are all allowed to depart for incoming club the Dolphins. Tabuai-Fidow leaves because he cannot get regular time in first grade. Gilbert leave for a better deal. Lemuelu leaves for opportunity. The Hammer goes on to represent Australia while Gilbert now captains the Dolphins.
- Young talent Kulikefu Finefuiaki signs with the Dolphins due to lack of opportunity.
Players leave clubs for money and opportunity all the time but no club has misidentified their own talent over the last decade than the Cowboys. Two future Dally M Medal winners were let go after playing just eight games. Players like The Hammer, Brandon Smith and Finefuiaki left because Scott Drinkwater, Jake Granville and Jeremiah Nanai were clogging up spots. Then there is the complete waste of money that has gone into recruits. The Cowboys are a disaster from top to bottom and the only way to fix it is a full teardown and rebuild.
