Broncos are getting a lot of stick for their recruitment, but to be honest I've seen the reasoning in most of the decisions. One thing to note is that you can't keep them all, and determining who will be the best players in 1, 2, 5 years time is a gamble at best. Like I said above, sending the U20's players to Q-Cup instead is a smart move.
So who have we lost to other clubs that have really hurt? Here's my take on the ones I can think of:
* Dave Taylor: The Broncos didn't want to lose him but it may have been a good thing in the end. The problems that the Broncos identified with him are still yet to be rectified.
* Ben Te'o: I look at it this way. Parker, Thaiday & Glenn are better overall players. Te'o may be good in patches, especially impact-wise, but Gillett is at least on par in that respect, has better ball-playing ability, and is younger. Has a lot more potential and will only get better.
* Tariq Sims: His poor start this year aside, watching Tariq run around for the Cowboys when fit has been depressing. But gain, where would he have fit in? There was no way a player of his potential would have sat around in Q-Cup without being snapped up by another club, and, as with Te'o above, would have been down in the pecking order. The only possible way to keep him would have been to punt Te'o earlier, but he was still under contract. Or develop Tariq further as a prop. Also, if you go back to the time when he left, he was on-par with a bloke named Andrew Clayton. Both were U20's stars. Tariq could have ended up just the same. Clayton went to the Sharks but has never played a FG game. I don't even know where he is now.
* Beale: Was touted for a long time as a future Broncos star. Was in the system for years and being groomed, however he, like others, wasn't willing to bide his time. He has 10+ years left in the game, but couldn't wait a couple of years for Hodges to retire? Took the quick money and his development has gone backwards.
* Norman: Same as Beale, chasing the quick money. I don't think the Prince situation did as much harm as people are suggesting. He's not ready to play in the halves in FG and ideally would have been playing in Q-Cup with Hunt. And would have left anyway. It was lose-lose for us, we couldn't stifle our side with his limited vision, just so he doesn't go elsewhere.
* K Hunt & Folau: These were the two that hurt the most. But how on earth can you compete with million $ + contracts? We really should be going hard for Folau for next year, but rumour is the rubber salary-cap of the Bulldogs has him sewn up.
As for decisions that I don't agree with, they're more with selection than recruitment. As the RLeague mob will know, I've been pushing to have Norman & Hunt on the Q-Cup for a while now. As a unit, they should be sent to a club to work on their game, sharpen their skills, and develop a combination. Tell them that if they perform as their potential shows, they have life-long positions at the Broncos. But instead they were played out of position (Hunt), or before they were ready, and chances are we'll lose both. FFS, Baptiste should have been the bench half all last year.
We have heaps of mid-range players but no superstars. Note that the above don't include any cap-increase clauses, so potentially could be worth ~15% more. Interesting to see that Dugan, if he did come and the salary of ~$600k was correct, would have been our highest paid player.
