Dolphins....attracting talent

[Wizardman]

Why have the Dolphins failed to attract top talent? Top coach, financially secure base, an unclogged salary cap.....yep no players of elite note have been signed by them? Why is this the case?

 

[T-Boon]

they havent established the backdoor relationships with dodgie agents yet.

 

[2012....Sharks Year]

They’re all waiting for Fergo to commit then it’ll be like bees to a honeypot up there.

 

[Ozzi_78]

Waiting to see who the coach will be.

 

[TGG]

Come 2023 they’ll be fine. They won’t challenge for a premiership in their first year, but so far only one club has won in their first year.

How many players had the Titans signed 14 months out from kick off?

 

[League guru]

Come 2023 they’ll be fine. They won’t challenge for a premiership in their first year, but so far only one club has won in their first year.

How many players had the Titans signed 14 months out from kick off?

Yep, I agree. There are plenty of players off contract at the end of 2022. No point in paying overs initially.

 

[snickers007]

How many players had the Titans signed 14 months out from kick off?

Preston Campbell and Luke Bailey both signed in June 2005. 20 months prior to kickoff.

Pretty big signings to kick things off. Campbell a recent premiership winner and former Dally M medalist. Bailey being a current NSW and Aus rep.


Kaifusi is a good signing on paper too, multi premiership winner, origin and test player. But he's not your forward leader that Bailey was. And he also has to buck the trend of Storm players leaving and turning to shit.

Having said all that, I don't think there has been a great amount of talent on the market for them to choose from.

 

[Colk]

I think they are in for a bit of hurt tbh and it was always likely to happen.

It reflects the problems and limitations of a salary cap system in isolation. In order to attract players, besides money orca course, off contract players would need an idea of how competitive a team is, or could be. If you don’t have any history, or any semblance of a squad, what kind of security can you offer a player. To be fair, in this situation, most people would be disinclined to join. So essentially, they are going to have pay massive overs for somebody, in the hope that attracts other decent players to join because without that, I fear what side they are going to put out.

In the same situation, if you had something more than just a salary cap, you could put some sort of incentive in place to essentially correct the disadvantage an expansion side initially faces.

 

[Perth Red]

Having said all that, I don't think there has been a great amount of talent on the market for them to choose from.

There's been the talent available, just not much of it has moved from their current club, and those that have have gone elsewhere. Not sure why the Dolphins have struggled to attract players to move, maybe in this Covid era players don't want to move interstate, maybe Dolphins weren't willing to offer overs in order to entice someone away from their home, maybe they aren't that appealing to players for some reason, or maybe they are holding off spending big in the cap for 2024 signings and going to accept year 1 will be a bit sht?

Marquee Players that were available
Gutherson (stayed)
B Smith (Storm-Roosters)
Kikau (Panthers-Dogs)
Korisau (Panthers-Wests)
Paulo (stayed)
Papali'i (Eels- Wests)
Walker (stayed)
Manu (stayed)
Hodgson (stayed)
Hughes (stayed)
Welch (stayed)

 

[TGG]

Gutherson Marquee?

 

[Perth Red]

Gutherson Marquee?

2020 Dally M FB of the year. Yep Id say he's up there.

Out of 11 available marquee players only 4 moved clubs and only 1 moved interstate. Looks like Dolphins came it at the wrong time with Covid reducing people appetites to move away from family.

Pickings are now looking very slim for a big name with even Jesse Bromwich hitting 33 by time Dolphins KO. Maybe they will try and bring Williams, Bateman and a couple of other Englishmen over?

NRL Players Off Contract 2022 | NRL Contracts

A complete list of NRL players who are off contract at the end of the 2022 rugby league season.

www.zerotackle.com

 

[TGG]

Why isn’t he on marquee money then?

only around $770,000 a season according to reports.

 

[Perth Red]

Why isn’t he on marquee money then?

only around $770,000 a season according to reports.

J Hughes is only on $700k allegedly but Id say he'd be a marquee signing for any club. If you're in the top 5 FB's you'd be a marquee signing imo. TBF sounds like Eels got a good deal which makes it even stranger that Dolphins didnt come over the top. Problem they have though is they can end up paying big overs to get someone like him to move. You'd think it would take at least an extra $100k-$150k a year to uproot the family and move interstate, and then you would be asking if he is worth $900k plus.

He is a good example of why new clubs should have some salary cap concessions to be able to build a competitive squad for years 1-3 imo.

I'd let a new club have an extra $250k on the cap for 3 years, plus an extra $350k extra for any players signed outside the NRL systems for 5 years. Give the poor buggers a chance!

 

[TGG]

J Hughes is only on $700k allegedly but Id say he'd be a marquee signing for any club. If you're in the top 5 FB's you'd be a marquee signing imo. TBF sounds like Eels got a good deal which makes it even stranger that Dolphins didnt come over the top. Problem they have though is they can end up paying big overs to get someone like him to move. You'd think it would take at least an extra $100k-$150k a year to uproot the family and move interstate, and then you would be asking if he is worth $900k plus.

Fair enough.

Gutherson isn’t in my top 5 fullbacks though.