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Bird in Newcastle for lunch with Browny

Glendale

Juniors
Messages
879
A lot of people seem to be divided on bird. Some see him as a bit of an over rated plodder, others see him as a gun.

It really is something we need to take a punt on, let him play 5/8 and hope he kicks on.

Anyone who thinks he's not a great player is obviously wrong. He has won Rookie of the Year, A premiership and played Origin all at the age of 21. His ability is not in question, the debatable point is wether he is worth $800k+ as part of the spine. It's a risk that could turn out spectacularly or dismally fail.
 

Still Nutty

Juniors
Messages
870
Anyone who thinks he's not a great player is obviously wrong. He has won Rookie of the Year, A premiership and played Origin all at the age of 21. His ability is not in question, the debatable point is wether he is worth $800k+ as part of the spine. It's a risk that could turn out spectacularly or dismally fail.

No worse than the 'fail' we are paying for now
 

mozza91

Coach
Messages
14,137
I can't imagine anyone would think he's a plodder. He is a little overrated in some ways. He tends to drift in an out of games particularly when he was playing 5/8 although it was understandable being it was his first year.

You can't deny his quality though. To not only play but standout in Origin in your early 20's is pretty amazing. He's strong, elusive, skillful and can play a bunch of positions well. He'd be a great signing for any club but a massive signing for a team like us who've struggled immensely to sign any quality players, let alone a current rep star with great utility value.
 
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Knight76

Juniors
Messages
2,045
Lets hope he can see something building here, ponga coming, exciting young talent, Lamb coming along, young forwards developing, Levi also. Hopefully he can see we are working towards something and wants to be a part of it.

I can't see him staying at Cronulla unless he gets the fullback spot. But wants to play 5/8. Eels can give him that, as can we.

Hopefully Brown fired up the BBQ and said mate, if you sign, you won't have to play with Hodkinson, we promise.
 

Elephant Hunter

Juniors
Messages
185
http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl...h/news-story/3f78cf4c331d55583a4eafa9b84aea5e

“The latest development is 24 hours after Jack helped Cronulla beat the Knights, he then travelled to Newcastle to have lunch with Knights coach Nathan Brown,” Fox Sports’ chief NRL reporter James Hooper told NRL Tonight. “Those talks are continuing.

“I’ve heard this offer is as high as $1 million per season, it’s nudging that much.

“For a 21-year-old that is a very sizeable deal and it’s going to be very hard for Jack Bird to knock back.

“I think crucially, the Knights need to land a couple of other key recruits as well.

“I’d say they’ll get Bird over the line.”
 

perverse

Referee
Messages
26,697
Good. It'd only be near $1 million with 3rd party stuff included, I would think. It's big money, but at least we're tying up our big money recruits on spine players - or players we believe are going to make up our spine.

I rate Bird highly and know we'll find a spot for him somewhere. I think he can make a very good crack of 5/8th, despite what Sharks fans seem to assert. More than anything, we need to pay overs for SOMEONE - and Bird is as good a target as you can get really - young Origin rep with plenty of tomorrows.

Hopefully with with Ponga and hopefully Bird coming, we can snare a few more good signings on top. Need to hurry before all the props are spoken for... but if the cap is going to be as low as they've tentatively announced, there may well be a few more props on fire sale in the not-too-distant future. Either way, we're pretty well placed to take advantage.
 

Jatz

Juniors
Messages
19
I'd love to get him here although I don't think he's a 5/8. But then I also don't know where else we'd play him.

Guess that's part of his problem, jack of all trades, master of none currently.
 

Pedge1971

First Grade
Messages
5,898
Bird is a winner. So few players come into grade at that age and back themselves like this kid did. His confidence will be infectious on our young blokes particularly Lamb.

Please get him.
 

Elephant Hunter

Juniors
Messages
185
Paul Kent claims that Bird is only being recruited by Newcastle now. On Matty Johns he is saying Newcastle still deny any news but Cronulla have said he is gone.

Sounds very much like what happened with Ponga
 

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