Confirmed: OrFord only wants a 1 year deal

[Eelectrica]

If he accepted a base salary of $300k (for example) with incentives adding up to $500k, it would be spread over two years. Base salary would count against the 2005 cap, incetives against the 2006 cap.Chances are the cap will be raised for the 2006 season anyway so I don't see that as being a problem.

Any team signing Orford on a one year deal would have too be thinking Grand Final or bust. With Orford in the team it could possibly return some of our under performing players back into form. So we fit that category (IMHO).

One year of an Orford and Dykes combination would give T. Smith and Witt an extra year to mature and be better prepared to be our long term halves combo.

With Fittler retiring and Ricketson possibly leaving, the Roosters would probably be able to do it and given the choice between the Roosters or Parra signing Orford, I'd pick Parra.

I can't see any NRL club giving Orford $500k for one season without incentives being there to top it up.

 

[WA Eel]

i also reckon offering riddell 270K is a mistake because
1. morris is better than him
2. he had attitude and weight problems at the start of the year

Does anyone else on this forum think that Morris is over-rated? I'd rate him as being in the top 50% of dummy halves going around at the moment, but not much more than that.

 

[fridge]

i wouldn't rate morris or riddell in the top 5 for hookers (priddis, crocker, buderus, smith, ...)

i like morris more than riddell because, although he can be prone to penalties, he does a load of work in defence and he's a bit quicker around the ruck. i dont like how he hogs the ball a bit and is a bit slow in serving the ball up.

riddell to me can be brilliant in patches, and i lost all respect for him when he sooked to the papers about leaving league because his coach wanted him to lose 4 kg.

 

[The Colonel]

i wouldn't rate morris or riddell in the top 5 for hookers (priddis, crocker, buderus, smith, ...)

I wouldn't rate Crocker in the top 5 either.

Buderus
Wing
Smith
Priddis
Woolford

As for penalties, name a hooker that doesn't give them away? Priddis and Woolford would be in the top two for penalties given.

Rated on service out of acting half Morris can be as good as any of the top five with time. Impact - Riddell uses his size to great advantage. You could easily accomodate the two (Morris and Riddell) on the park at the same time as Riddell can slot into the second row at a pinch.

 

[fridge]

i guess you're right about hookers being prone to penalties. i wouldn't rate woolford in the top 5, although he is captain of the raiders though, he gives away stacks of penalties and makes mistakes at key moments.

hopefully morris can improve his service, i reckon he has heaps of talent and lots of room to improve. i just think he tries to do too much sometimes and hogs a bit as a result.

would smith use both at the same time though ? i assumed he'd probably just play a double hooker system like he did with marsh/drew. morris is on like 250K, so if we got riddell we'd be paying 520K for one position.

i dont see why we'd need another secondrower, we have the best 2ndrowers in the game, cayless + hindmarsh. and afasamaga looks a beast in a year or two, with hopkins being able to play there too.

 

[Parraren]

I think the thing that we are missing in our side is a player that can blow a game wide open and/or create something out of nothing. This is what Mark Riddell brings to the table. Hindy used to do it for us but now he is just doing too much defensive work to have that sort of explosive impact in attack. No disrespect to Johnny Morris but he isn't this kind of player (yet). I think with Riddell in the side, the players around him will also improve and lift. Anyone who watches the Dragons play knows this. When Riddell is on the park the whole team lifts, they go up a notch.

Ask any Dragon's supporter, they are desperate for him to stay at the club.

 

[Redback71]

apparantly his staying with the storm fo 1 more year

 

[TheEel]

apparantly his staying with the storm fo 1 more year

oh well atleast smith will have another 500g to throw at someother playerS....

 

[The Colonel]

i dont see why we'd need another secondrower, we have the best 2ndrowers in the game, cayless + hindmarsh. and afasamaga looks a beast in a year or two, with hopkins being able to play there too.

Riddell is at his best in short 15 minute bursts. The point I was trying to make was you could use Morris at hooker for the entire 80 minutes while allowing Cayless and Afamasaga to take breaks throiugh rotation of Riddell. Riddell can still go into acting half and be utilised as a hooker but pack into a scrum in the second row.

 

[Pazza]

Parra should have Riddell at hooker and Morris at lock so they can interchange at dummy half during the game. Both guys have something to offer from Dummy half and both have something to offer away from dummyhalf.

 

[Redback71]

and where would u put wagon centre perhaps

 

[Pazza]

I dont think that is a bad option Redback, he defence would me much better than Burt's and Langi's. I cant understand why Parra doesnt put Wagon at centre now. They have enough backrowers to cover for Wagon and the side has such poor defence on the fringes.

 

[WA Eel]

Because at centre, he'd most likely only make 20 - 25 tackles. That means there's between 15 - 25 tackles that someone else will have to make. I remember Manly playing Menzies at centre a few times and he was certainly wasted out there.