Benji to sign for another 5 ..

[DanOz]

in the first half of his games, he was the worst defender i'd ever seen. It took 20 games before the dickhead coach noticed, before he placed Fulton next to him in defence.

That lead to Lui's defence improving & his confidence. He played his best footy when the pressure was on in big games.

He was given 20 games to cement his spot. Something no halfback since Prince had & no one since Lui has had either.

Lui wasn't great, but once he got comfortable & confident it created stability that a game plan could be based around.

Miller could prove to be similar. Problem is he's been dicked around so much now that its unlikely to happen, so now he's a stopgap solution til Brooks is ready.

We must not f**k Brooks around & he must be given time, at least a season, to get comfortable & confident.

I agree with most of what you say, just cant agree with Lui's defense improving overly or him being a pressure player. Opinions will always vary.

It seems Miller is on the outer, and Brooks is in the coaches future plans. We need a coach that will give a combination a solid go, so if and when Brooks is ready for grade I hope he gets a season there at a minimum. Stability in the halves is crucial and lacking badly at this club.

 

[DanOz]

Say what you want about Lui off the park, but if you think Walsh is a better player than him you clearly have no f**king idea.

If he was as bad as you say no team would have touched him with domestic violence charges hanging over his head. Yet the Cowboys signed him instantly.

As for missing when the pressure was on, this has to be a joke. He was close to our best player in the semi finals series in both 2010 and 2011. Without a doubt our best player against the Dragons in 2010 prelim final.

I remember him having one good game in the finals, it suprised the hell out of me, probably the one you said. I personally couldnt care less though what you think of my opinions, I dont often agree with you but respect your right to think what you like.

 

[madunit]

I agree with most of what you say, just cant agree with Lui's defense improving overly or him being a pressure player. Opinions will always vary.

It seems Miller is on the outer, and Brooks is in the coaches future plans. We need a coach that will give a combination a solid go, so if and when Brooks is ready for grade I hope he gets a season there at a minimum. Stability in the halves is crucial and lacking badly at this club.

It definitely improved he used to stand and wait, didn't slide, didn't move in formation & tried to grab a player side on by the shoulders which saw him being brushed aside with ease every time.

He later learnt defensive structure & started to get more front on which made him harder to get past. He was still a weak tackler, but he was at least able to slow a player long enough til help came around.

In the finals he took over when Benji died in the arse & saved our bacon a few times.

I don't think he was all that good. He was just like any other young half we've had, tentative, rarely kicked during early games, a link man in attack.

 

[hybrid_tiger]

I remember him having one good game in the finals, it suprised the hell out of me, probably the one you said. I personally couldnt care less though what you think of my opinions, I dont often agree with you but respect your right to think what you like.

You're entitled to any opinion you like but when you say he went missing when the pressure was on: completely false. If anything, his best games were always big ones.

 

[macnaz]

IT wasnt always the tackles that he missed but the lazy effort to chase someone to even attemp a tackle. I often seen forwards turn and run past him to make a cover tackle.

As for Benji signing. Great news, a least thats one part of our halves pairing sorted. We cant even settle on a number 7 so id hate having to try find a replacement for 6 as well.

 

[aqua_duck]

Personally not a Benji fan. He kills it against shit teams but against good teams and when the going gets tough (in the past 18 months anyway) he becomes a liability and doesn't put in in defence.
Besides he kind of strikes me as a high maintenance kind of bloke

 

[Radical Rat]

We should make a big play for Sam Williams. He's what we need and a perfect foil for Benji.

Now that Campo is back in the starting line-up the Raiders have shown their hand. Mcrone stays and Williams back to state cup. Apparently the Dragons are circling him, we need to strike first.

 

[super_coach]

Good teams make hard calls, I fear Benji in two years time will be like Anasta, a player who has gone on a season or two to long.

I might be wrong a good run with the injury god and we able to keep a strong 17 on the field for most of the year,throw in a couple of good signings and the maturing of a few youngsters and Benji might be able to turn things around a little, but I just dont see it that way

 

[Magpies Forever]

We are nuts. I've no objection to re-signing him but on such generous terms is financially irresponsible. Humphreys was quoted as wt were honouring a 2010 handshake deal with benji. Tell me did the handshake deal include performance criteria? How the hell can this largesse be justified?

 

[Matchball]

Thank god we have some juniors coming through that we can exploit early in their career on little pay because we won't have any cap space for an orange peeler at this rate.

We will probably have no money to retain woods and we will lose him.

 

[TYGA]

Marshall must be resigned. Do you see Origin/Australian Players lining up to sign with us? He needs to improve however, we only have star players Marshall, Farah through development of juniors. He also pays for himself marketing etc and would only release with appropriate backup. Concern would be Brooks, Moses coming good in 2 years.

 

[super_coach]

Benji came straight from school into FG,now if Brooks and Moses are as good as we are being told,where are they going to play if Benji is resigned to 2035.At present he is signed to 2015 ,why not just see where he is at half way through next year,if another club comes along and offers him the world than that's life.

What we need now is top notch durable and reliable footballers,not a magicians that bag of tricks is getting smaller every year

 

[madunit]

I have no issue with Benji's re-signing

If anything the large salary is essentially repayment for what he did on minimum wage in his first 2-3 years.

Especially if Potter gets his hands on a decent pack, we'll quickly see Benji playing good footy very quickly and everyone here won't care as much about this deal.

The only issue is what to do with Sironen, Brooks and Moses. I personally think if we get 2 beefy hard running back rowers, Sironen would make a great Lock, similar to Wade Graham type of player.

Brooks to halfback.

Moses could essentially join Brooks in the halves, Benji moves to centre and Ayshford into the second row possibly. Give Aysh a lot of training on tackling technique and he'd make a good second rower.

He'd be a darn sight better than Blair and Anasta in the back row, thats for f**king sure.

1 - Tedesco
2 - Koroibete
3 - Marshall
4 - Lawrence
5 - Nofoaluma
6 - Moses
7 - Brooks
8 - Woods
9 - Farah
10 - Buchanan
11 - Ayshford
12 - a top line second rower
13 - Sironen

14 - Murdoch-Masila
15 - a prop
16 - a prop
17 - Fulton

would be roughly how the team could look in 2 years time (no Anasta, Moltzen, Blair, Pettybourne)

 

[Matchball]

What happens when it comes time to resign Woods?
I think he is the biggest priority but I get that sinking feeling we could lose him if we keep paying overs.
Blair for example.

We are being mismanaged, that's for sure.

 

[Radical Rat]

What happens when it comes time to resign Woods?
I think he is the biggest priority but I get that sinking feeling we could lose him if we keep paying overs.
Blair for example.

We are being mismanaged, that's for sure.

We can't lose Woods. He's on par with Robbie in terms of importance to the club.

IMO the only players that we absolutely can't afford to lose are Robbie, Woods and Benji. 3 players is a pretty sad state of affairs in a whole squad.

Obviously there are some youngsters we need to hang onto. But they are the only 3 top line players for me.

 

[Matchball]

When is his contract up? I'm sure there will be huge offers to lure him away from us and that's what's worrying.
Priority is an understatement.

 

[deemac77]

As much as what Marshalls form is down and hasn't been great for a while it is imperitive that we re-sign him.
People want to play with Marshall and he has the availability to bring some decent players to the club (Adam Blair is not a good example)

Hopefully he come back fresh after his injury break and smashes it for us.

 

[gronkathon]

Forwards don't want to seem interested in playing with him.

I cant imagine any player enjoys the constant sideways running, ignoring runners and handing it off at the last second for someone else to get poleaxed

 

[madunit]

Doing the maths

If Blair is worth 500k a year, then Woods is worth in the vicinity of 1.5 million a year, give or take $100

 

[madunit]

Forwards don't want to seem interested in playing with him.

I cant imagine any player enjoys the constant sideways running, ignoring runners and handing it off at the last second for someone else to get poleaxed

If the forwards went forward and didn't allow opposition packs to roll over us with ease, Benji would run straighter.

All halves go sideways when there's no go forward. Cause and Effect.