Benji Barba

[Surrogate]

I thought Barba moved to Brisbane to cure his depression, now he's backflipped and wants to move back to Sydney. These f&ckers are taking us for a ride.

 

[Surely]

That 50/50 is at board level. Split right down the middle if we want to take a chance on him or not.

They may have to take what they can get, there are no priests on the market.

 

[glenmoresharkie]

Beggars can't be choosers.

 

[DJShaksta]

Simple question's to the board.
1. Did you like getting the spoon?
2. How much do you think gate takings will go up if we sign Barba?
3. Referring back to question 1, would you like it again next year?

 

[carcharias]

Sometimes the best waves are the most dangerous.

 

[Card Shark]

Simple question's to the board.
1. Did you like getting the spoon?
2. How much do you think gate takings will go up if we sign Barba?
3. Referring back to question 1, would you like it again next year?

I loved winning the spoon - we've not won something in years & years.

I bet it looks nice in our trophy cabinet alongside the Amco Cup!!

 

[southland]

Shambolic club... Getting Barba here would be a huge boost to the team, club, fan base.... He is a player fans tune in to watch...

The club should be entering 2015 with the plan and structure to be able to support players like Barba. Instead we live in fear and shimmy from one f**k up to the next...

 

[ghoti]

I understand the board's position. The time bomb that was Carney went off and they're hesitant to start the timer on another one. Look back at our last ten years and the main time we built a good squad, it was derailed by player behaviour. 2008 we came equal first and fell one game from the grand final, with a squad that was gelling strongly for 2009. Then Bird, Seymour, et al all f**ked up big time and we were f**king hopeless until 2012. We built well for this season too, but everything fell to shit with the coach being suspended - and it was managed woefully.

They've been claiming that they want to develop a stable club for the future, and it's a possibility now - so do we take the risk on Barba? On all his disgusting crap coming out in the press now that there's a suggestion that his homesick excuse was bullshit? On him falling back in with his mates and going off rails again?

I agree that we're going to really struggle without someone of Barba's quality in the halves, but what's the bigger gamble? Seeing if Brown kicks on or seeing if Barba kicks off?

 

[Surely]

They are footy players half would be time bombs

Didn't one of the burgess boys trash a car in cairns ?

Souths didn't have a no dickhead policy look where that's got them, idiots.

Even the boss throws phones at people

 

[Ads]

I'm not sure Barba is as big of a risk as Carney was anyways.

The Burgess boys are no clean skins! If any of the stuff they have got up to made the press they wouldn't be in the nrl anymore.

 

[DJShaksta]

If we have a genuine chance to get Ben Barba and we let it slip because of a "what if" then the board needs to resign.

 

[carcharias]

Barba is worth the risk.

The dude even at 50 % is better than 90% of what we have.

 

[ghoti]

I don't really think Barba is going to do anything in the future...what I'm more worried about is his past coming out while he's in our colours. There's a guaranteed set of news stories regarding Barba's supposed homesickness probably written in a drafts folder on Bourbon's PC. It's not exactly a fairytale or good news story having Barba back in Sydney...it's a little sketchy.

But man, I want to see him play for us next year. Just dunno if it's worth going through all this shit again. If we have sights on someone like Reynolds or Hunt for 2016, then I reckon it's almost worth spending a year risk-free developing youth for their foil.

 

[THE MESSIAH !!!]

There is a important factor if we sign Barba, what style of play are we going to use, if Flanno wants his 5 hitup routine then money spent on Barba is a total waste.

If we play with depth and ball movement like we were trying to do in 2014 then Barba will be a great signing.

It just worries me that Flanno will go 5 hitups kick which will see Barba limited opportunities and another year where no back scores 10 tries at least

 

[ghoti]

Carney worked in the '5 hitup routine' (which is greatly exaggerated by this forum), and many would have said similar things when he was coming into the fold.

Barba works in ANY routine with confidence. If anything, that flatter, forward-focused style of attack suits Barba once the attack gets a roll on. He's capable of sniffing small gaps and making defenders gravitate towards him. He and Gordon would be very compatible in this environment I think. The only thing Barba needs to work is a good pack and hole runners nearby, he attracts so much attention and has a really deft short passing game in traffic.

Playing with depth.. I can't really recall much long passing by Barba, and he's wasted as a distributor to deep centres really... (and we don't have strike centres who can take advantage of this.)

 

[THE MESSIAH !!!]

The 5 hit up's were under the old rules they have been modified since 2013, you need depth now.

Our backs are actually looking good we have Bird, Leutele, Feki, Gagan these guys can play and have significant impact if they get a chance

 

[Madsharkie]

Just sign him ffs!!!

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

I think feki and gagan and holmes can be something.

with the forwards going forward. whichg they werent last year because we were so banged up.

you watch the games we played ok in...

the forwards went forward and got on top

 

[cb4]

I think feki and gagan and holmes can be something.

with the forwards going forward. whichg they werent last year because we were so banged up.

you watch the games we played ok in...

the forwards went forward and got on top

I agree with you 100%.

On Val Holmes though, he is still a boy, he is very light, needs an offseason on the chicken and rice to make sure he doesnt get rag dolled.
I have no doubts he will start the year in NSW Cup, but he will be the type of player that can force himself into first grade.

Feki, Gagan and Holmes have the potential to be a very exciting backline, in any position they play.
Need to get a couple of classy centre capable of creating space for these wingers.

I will probably get shot down for this, but our forward pack isn;t as crash as it is made out to be.
And that showed when people like Prior and Robinson were called on to play first grade.
Our depth is not what it used to be, and even then it is over rated.
We used to have a lot of quality backrowers but once you get passed our starters, our depth is pretty thin.

 

[maple_69]

1. Gordon
2. Feki
3. Brown
4. Bird
5. Gagan

Maybe 2016 shift Holmes into Flash's spot and if Flash is up to it slot him into the centres.