Big Names on the market

[matt]

now come on stelios you are being a silly billy now.:lol:

hang on a minute if you apply that to football terms you may have just hit the nail on the head.

 

[Bay56]

bay,

at least things are now in place (it seems) to rid the club of players who are just not up to the standard our coach Neil Henry wants.

This is the first step isnt it?

The next is to view how much $$ we have left, so we can re-sign those who are an important part of the clubs future.

After that, the next step is to peruse the market and see who fits into the culture and identity of the club (a new identity maybe?) and if we can make a competitive offer for that player.

In the meantime, the coach and players need to work things out on the field and off it. Start winning games, start attracting good positive attention (thru winning and community service; this is where your f*ck the ACT attitude is wrong IMO.) and creating a good team spirit so players will want to be here.

Its not so easy just to go to Jarrod Hayne or whoever and say "here kid. Have $600k and make us win"

Yes it is Dubby ... the guy would make a huge difference to our attack out wide.

As for the rest as i said before dubster .. when it happens I'll be the first in line to congratulate management ... untill then I'll apply the slow water torture :lol:

 

[VictorTheViking]

I want to know what bay's butcher is saying right now....lol

 

[Bay56]

I want to know what bay's butcher is saying right now....lol

sirloin for $18.95 per kilo

f**k the stock market went up today ... I made a cool $1200 in a days trading

 

[fourxman]

4Xman,

Bowen is still negotiating with NQ as far as I know, and NQ are looking for a 3rd party sponser to help keep him. Bowen is a local lad who is a god in the eyes of the local community; especially the aboriginals and Torries. He will stay at NQ, but his situation is unique.

As for a solid squad, their backline is very depleted after losing Bowman, Sweeney, Smith and Minto. They are still looking for backs.

Dragons. Well we all know how many GFs they have won with their stock. Gaz is being coffed up by the NRL as well.

Broncos are a club that have lost alot of personnel. PEtero, Berrigan, Thorn, Tate just to name a few. And who have they signed? A bunch of 2nd tier players or guys like Joel Clinton and Ashton Sims who arent that hot anyway.

Melbourne have guys like Inglis, and Folau on peanuts. Good luck keeping their squad together for the future; it wont happen they too will lose players (already have with King and Newton).

Your argument is shallow mate.

Try again.

Cowboys aren't lacking anywhere as much as we are. They just signed Travis Burns and still have Ash Graham who had a stellar season and a former QLD Winger in Ty Williams on the wing to go with JT & Bowen. Bowen will get signed that's all that matters at the end of the day.

Dragons didn't win the premiership due to the inept coaching of Nathan Brown. They had the cattle. They also had plenty of Origin & Test players in their side. They had them all there for a number of years. Eventually the salary cap came in to play there but it took several seasons as they had Gaz, Cooper, Barrett, Timmins, Ryles, Bailey, Hornby and i am sure i forgot other reps they had.

And your argument about Broncos is not very solid. They are facing the post premiership problem that Melbourne are facing now. They also were an ageing side. I know their next year side looks crap. But they have had a strong side for a number of years and also have won 6 premierships in the last 2 decades.

Melbourne also will probably be in 3 straight grand finals. I would rather my squad be pulled apart after appearing in three straight grand finals then be not even close to making one at all.

At the moment Neville Costigan is our only Origin representative. How is that suppose to create a winning formula. Up until Costigan we were struggling to have a orgin/test rep.

Clearly you are happy with the recruitment strategy we have been using at the moment which has been oh so successful. I can't remember who said it in this forum but you got to spend money to make money.

 

[Bay56]

Well said 4X ..

the fact is we seem always to be suffering the salary cap squeeze ... quite f**king surprising wouldnt you think when compared to the personnal residing at other clubs ... but not very surprising when nuffies like Howell are taking home $200K

 

[Stelios Giannakopoulos]

Well said 4X ..

the fact is we seem always to be suffering the salary cap squeeze ... quite f**king surprising wouldnt you think when compared to the personnal residing at other clubs ... but not very surprising when nuffies like Howell are taking home $200K

Do you really know Howell is on that much or are you just making assumptions? Anyway your wish of Howell gone will be granded at the end of 2008 (at the latest)

As for the cowboys, they are one bung knee away from a possible spoon. We all saw how they coped with Thurston.
We had a lot of disruptions with our team week in week out, yet were still in the finals hunt with a few weeks remaining shows the character that our side is building. One could argue that if just 50% of those shocking calls went our way we would have made the 8...

 

[Bay56]

Do you really know Howell is on that much or are you just making assumptions? Anyway your wish of Howell gone will be granded at the end of 2008 (at the latest)

As for the cowboys, they are one bung knee away from a possible spoon. We all saw how they coped with Thurston.
We had a lot of disruptions with our team week in week out, yet were still in the finals hunt with a few weeks remaining shows the character that our side is building. One could argue that if just 50% of those shocking calls went our way we would have made the 8...

Stelios I'm hearing the violins dude ... every team has a hard luck story and yea maybe we had a few more to drink over than others.

But nonetheless if we finish in the finals (realistically 6th, 7th or 8th) how much further do you think we would have gone.

The cowboys may be one bung knee away form a possible spoon but quite frankly mate we've signed a fair few players in the recent past with injury problems so we are hardly in a position to be criticising other clubs on that score. I would also like to add that my understanding is that we were within a struck match of signing Thursto but declined his asking price.

 

[Stelios Giannakopoulos]

I remember when we almost signed Thurston, and also remember that a large majority of people were happy we didn't sign him.....

I'm not criticising a club about injuries, all Im saying is that if Thurston went down they wouldn't win many games. When we lost our chief playe maker in Carney we still managed some wins and some convincing ones too Penrith Away, Parra @ Home.

End of the day we finished 14th, and management are not happy with this at all despite everything that went against us. I know they don't see this as an excuse and demand success for the future.

 

[matt]

Stelios I'm hearing the violins dude ... every team has a hard luck story and yea maybe we had a few more to drink over than others.

But nonetheless if we finish in the finals (realistically 6th, 7th or 8th) how much further do you think we would have gone.

The cowboys may be one bung knee away form a possible spoon but quite frankly mate we've signed a fair few players in the recent past with injury problems so we are hardly in a position to be criticising other clubs on that score. I would also like to add that my understanding is that we were within a struck match of signing Thursto but declined his asking price.

bay , please stop bringing this up mate im about to throw my f**king computer through the window.

what a great decision from the governing body.:lol:

 

[Stelios Giannakopoulos]

Would Thurston have become the same player under outr master coach Matt Elliott??

 

[Mal Meninga]

Well said 4X ..

the fact is we seem always to be suffering the salary cap squeeze ... quite f**king surprising wouldnt you think when compared to the personnal residing at other clubs ... but not very surprising when nuffies like Howell are taking home $200K

Don't forget that Frawley was our highest paid player at the time of his release! Howell is on plenty of cash mate.. Priority signing... Henry thought of him as a key component of the backline.. :lol:

We were over the cap last year and were fined significantly with little/no fight from management. For a club to be running in the red, and furthurmore be fined an extra couple hundred thousand is not a good business practice. But hey management are doing a great job ;-)

RE: JT. We wanted to bring sexy back but the great heads at the top felt that putting on an old classic would help bring back the glory days. Todd's best season to date was 2006 under master coach Matt Elliot who won alot more than he lost, so yes JT would be just as good. Not sure about 2007 though, Henry probably would've dropped him for not being able to tackle.

 

[matt]

Would Thurston have become the same player under outr master coach Matt Elliott??

yes yes and yes imo muppet murray and elliot i rate about the same.

thurston is coach, captain and executioner in my books the coach is purely along for the ride.

so who was that man at the cowboys that used forsight in predicting thurston would become a handy asset to his club after we didnt think that thurston was a good fit for this club, imo that man is who i want recruiting players to my club.

and dont give me the bs about management are always going to back the coach , decision are made from the top. they put the coaches there and they remove them its that simple.

anyways its all under the bridge now, so im moving on to singling out players.

 

[dubby]

Don't forget that Frawley was our highest paid player at the time of his release! Howell is on plenty of cash mate.. Priority signing... Henry thought of him as a key component of the backline.. :lol:

We were over the cap last year and were fined significantly with little/no fight from management. For a club to be running in the red, and furthurmore be fined an extra couple hundred thousand is not a good business practice. But hey management are doing a great job ;-)

RE: JT. We wanted to bring sexy back but the great heads at the top felt that putting on an old classic would help bring back the glory days. Todd's best season to date was 2006 under master coach Matt Elliot who won alot more than he lost, so yes JT would be just as good. Not sure about 2007 though, Henry probably would've dropped him for not being able to tackle.

.


Care to back up that statement re: Howell?

Your second paragraph is a half baked assumption based on your own deductions and that large axe in your left hand. We were over the cap because we paid out Shif/Mogg to name a few and released some players which all attributed to a breach. It was not merely a case of "oops! We spent too much". We are not running a few hundred k into debt as you would imagine. Most clubs run at a loss anyway on some level. Figure out why.

How would anyone know JT was going to be this good? FGS the Dogs let him go to keep Sherwin! :crazy: We are not alone in that regard, and I think any club who didnt pursue him is kicking themself.

Elliot won FAR MORE than he lost hey? Oh my God. You are completely insane.

 

[Mal Meninga]

Insane? Elliot made a possible 4/5 finals did he not? After seeing the rabble that was 2007 i'd take top 8 over that any day of the week regardless of how 'boring' or 'inept' our play was. I did not rate M.E one bit after 2003 but he deserves far more credit than he recieved(With abit of perspective).

I know that the majority run at a loss - Which is why i'm pointing out that being fined a few hundred thousand is not ideal.

They kept Sherwin because guess what? They won the competition! We were within a pubic hair of signing for JT but what's done is done. I was happy with Smith's play. Well said Matt, let's find some real recruiters.

Here's someone who's happy to plead insanity:

Henry was impressed with Howell's return performance in Premier League, in which he scored a try and won the players' player award.

The coach rated Howell an integral part of the Raiders backline and hoped the injury would not prevent him playing for the rest of the season.

"He's played a fair bit of first grade and brings some good height out on the wing," Henry said.

... Named him at fullback the week after.

 

[Stelios Giannakopoulos]

Howell was told months ago then he wasn't in the plans for the future and was free to shop himself around... Playing him in the last few game (when the season was lost) was just a way to get him a bit of exposure.. Do you expect Henry to call him a "nuffy" when asked in the media...

Also what about the astute, thinking outside the square signing that you all crave for in Scott Logan... When he signed everyone had many doubts (including me) over how he would go. But he turned out to be our best forward, and one of the form props in the NRL.. Funny you don't see any credit for this.

But I agree, management should be going after the top everything, so the fact that Don Furner isn't currently on a plane to London to talk with Roman Abramovich about explanding his empire to the NRL shows how inept they are :sarcasm:

 

[matt]

Howell was told months ago then he wasn't in the plans for the future and was free to shop himself around... Playing him in the last few game (when the season was lost) was just a way to get him a bit of exposure.. Do you expect Henry to call him a "nuffy" when asked in the media...

Also what about the astute, thinking outside the square signing that you all crave for in Scott Logan... When he signed everyone had many doubts (including me) over how he would go. But he turned out to be our best forward, and one of the form props in the NRL.. Funny you don't see any credit for this.

But I agree, management should be going after the top everything, so the fact that Don Furner isn't currently on a plane to London to talk with Roman Abramovich about explanding his empire to the NRL shows how inept they are :sarcasm:

i for one never doubted his ability, carried the ailing bunnies on his back prior to esl.

ill give a little clap for that one. hed look all the more better if he didnt have to carry half of our pack as well , ffs a man oh his age. then bash and pillage through opposition packs only to have it to no avail, as the halves have no f**king idea of what to do with it, how demoralising that must feel. i just changed my mind its a big clap for logans recruitment,but a big thumbs down for many others.

PS. is that you schifty ( r u baby sitting me again)

 

[Tokyo_Raider]

sirloin for $18.95 per kilo

f**k the stock market went up today ... I made a cool $1200 in a days trading

You'd need to with all the budgetary sense you show.

$650k for ONE player? In an non-playmaking role at that.

Hell, why not get FOUR players at that price, use up the whole cap, and just really hope that they can play on their own...?

The numbers just don't work out.

 

[matt]

i think bay is generalising the player chosen to pay .

 

[Stelios Giannakopoulos]

PS. is that you schifty ( r u baby sitting me again)

It is me, but I wouldn't call it babysitting :lol:.
I'm here for some balance, and to see what my good mate Bay is up to...