around the clubs

[keeney]

CRONULLA

Five-eighth/lock Greg Bird has interested Newcastle and Canberra. Centre Paul Franze may also return to the Knights. Chris Beattie has been linked to the Warriors.

NEWCASTLE

Timana Tahu is expected to receive a formal offer from Manly tomorrow. Michael Ennis yesterday met the Dragons and will hold talks with Brisbane after rejecting offers from Souths and Wests Tigers. Dane Tilse and Daniel Tolar have re-signed and Clint Newton and Matt Kennedy are close to doing so.

im pretty sure theyre wrong about clint, he resigned 2 weeks ago for 3 years didnt he? Ennis seems to be pretty hot property, Franze im interested in, but will bird be worth pursuing?

 

[Voice of Reason]

Posted in "Interesting" thread....
We could buy Bird and Franze and it would not make a scrap of difference UNLESS WE BUY A QUALITY FRONTROWER. IMO that position should be the priority. Following that should be a quality SECOND ROWER(although I think that Knights management think they have that covered with Clint Newton- I still have my doubts). After that look at backs including Bird and/or Franze. There are so many pieces to juggle. If this player goes (eg Tahu and/or Ennis) we can afford that player and that player, if not we can only afford that player, and filling this position becomes a higher priority etc. I wouldn,t pretend that it is easy but the way I would go about it is to simply prioritise position and players needs then go from my first choice down. Positive outcomes would determine subsequent moves. All that I know is that if we dont get that frontrower and second rower, we will have a tough year, irrespective of who stays, in season 2005.

 

[astrogirl]

This is the first I've heard in the media about the Knights being interested in Bird and Franze.

I have to agree with VoR that our first priority now should be a frontrower - a consistent hard working one at that. When either Woolnough, Parsons or Perry has been unavailable this season our bench has been a bit below par IMO.

 

[antonius]

I'm with VOR, it's forwards we need, as for Franze, and Bird, I really would prefer we spent the money on retaining Ennis, Franze has done nothing since leaving the Knights, and cannot crack it in the Sharks side, Bird might be a better option, although he hasn't painted himself in glory recently for all the wrong reasons.

 

[~knights~]

Ennis wants a 1st grade spot.

So he'll go,unless he can play lock/??

 

[thuganomics]

You gott a love the Silly Season!

 

[MC DUI]

Piss off Bird and Franze, those two have shown nothing all season long!
Why the hell would we throw away all our freed up cash from BK, Robbie O and Parsons on these hacks. Sign another front/second rower now and don't go near Bird or Franze with a 10 foot clown pole Knights :evil: :evil:

 

[thuganomics]

Well Bird has shown that he can knee people in the head, might come in useful

 

[Misanthrope]

Ennis is basically a forgone conclusion. We're going to lose him for the same reason we lost Morris. He doesn't want to be a glorified sub when he could be starting at Cronulla or Saints. He's insane if he goes to Brisbane though, considering their love affair with Barry Berrigan and his form before his injury.

I agree that we need a front rower, maybe we should be making an offer for Stuart Fielden as well? NZ have the right idea, he makes Morley look like a pussy-cat, and he can play the full eighty minutes.

Second row... I think we have the position fairly well covered. Simpson and Abes first choice, and we were unlucky to lose the two to injury. Newton is a pretty good prospect, and the likes of Price, Brown, and Lowrie are all showing signs they'll be solid first graders.

Franze would be a good buy, but I'm not so sure on Bird. Do we really need another PL five eighth?

 

[Jaime_Koeppe_Is_Hot]

could we afford 2 buy neone this year if Tahu and Ennis go? like we have already lost BK, Parso and Robbie so u would think maybe we would buy a few players say 2-3 solid players, not stand outs but do their job. On Bird and Franze, I honestly believe these guys will benefit coming home, I mean they were talking bout players who r coming off contract last nite on NRL on fox and Laurie Daley said one player that I would quickly snap up would be Paul Franze!! He had a bumper 2002 and played ok in 2003 until he got hurt, now if he stays fit, running into gaps from Joey well we have a top centre! Bird can be creative but i do believe we should get a Paul Stringer or Glenn Morrison. So my 3 Buys would be Franze, Stringer and Morrison but i think Glenn would be 2 expensive, so Bird, franze and Stringer

 

[incredible_holc]

franze has been shocking all year even in pl.
bird though apart from that incident has been going alright.

 

[antonius]

I don't think we have any money left, remember the thread I put up some time ago that went through all the players, we were short by $500,000 then and that was alowing the loss of Parso and Robbie. That's why they won't upgrade Tahus' contract, they have spent the cap, there's none left. if Tahu goes that'll free up upwards of $150,000, we could use that to tempt Ennis. As for Franze, and Bird? as said I'd rather they went for a prop.

 

[Nuffy]

I can't believe we have no money left, we have lost BK (300), Parsons (150) and Robbie (100). = 550

Upgrade Kidley (90) and Wooly(45), added 25K to Joeys contract, Where has all the money gone? = 150.

Balance 400K

Again I say, where is the money?

 

[macavity]

Good question Nuffy.

Very good question.


And one must wonder what means more to Joey, the $$ or having a team around him capable of winning premierships......

Just think, if he was on 100k less, the type of player we could retain/purchase...?

We probably wouldn't have lost BK.

 

[Nuffy]

I'm not worried about Joey, after him theres still 2.75M to spend or 114k per player avg.

Can anyone tell me why Tahu as a current Aust / NSW player is only earning slightly above that average.

We are kidding and I'd suggest there are some players in that team like Perry that are paid way over their worth.

I'd be raising Tahus salary and cutting Perry's for a start.

 

[Andy]

I have 2 words for the Knights management...

BUY FRANZE.

He's such a talent that's going unused at the Sharks.

All he needs is to get the confidence back in his game and he''l play for NSW and Australia.

But there is merit in VoR's comments. Another fwd like Butts for example, one who gets the job done without all the hype and flair etc, would be a great accquisition.

 

[antonius]

If you add up Kennedy $300K, O'Davis $100K, Parso $150K That's $550K so we break even as of now.

 

[Nuffy]

Antonius

I recall this calc but some of the valuations seem over the odds.

Abes is not worth 200 he may in the future but I would have thought 150-180. Simmo I thought was 210-220. Plus as I understood the Johns deal, the club pays 400K under the cap and he gets another 100k which is outside the cap. But thats not really the key issue.

Tahu is worth 170-200 as a test / NSW player.

So what would I do to fix it. Stagger the payments to better suit the club. If hes worth 200 over 3 yrs = 600.
05- 150 06- 200 07- 250 = 600.

Next year both Perry and Hughes contracts are up for renewal and both need a reduction of 25k and theres your 50K for 06 and in 07 joey retires and you've got 500k free.

The moneys there if they wanted it.

Therefore either the Knights don't want him or the papers wrong, take your pick.

 

[lolesi]

I have 2 words for the Knights management...

BUY FRANZE.

He's such a talent that's going unused at the Sharks.

All he needs is to get the confidence back in his game and he''l play for NSW and Australia.

But there is merit in VoR's comments. Another fwd like Butts for example, one who gets the job done without all the hype and flair etc, would be a great accquisition.

He has had a fair few chances to get the confidence back this year, and everytime he has displayed nothing, his form in PL has been pretty crap to, this is a shame, he showed alot of potential.

 

[antonius]

Fair enough Nuffy.