Former Panthers in the NRL

[betcats]

Im on the NR app right now and blake has 161 metres.

 

[mxlegend99]

Blake has done nothing to make me think we’d be better off paying him 500k then we would be paying Naden 72k.

Naden is not an NRL quality centre... and will cost more than $72k in 2020. Even at minimum wage its $100k plus the match payments.

He had some great moments. But is very clearly not cut out for centre. I think he could be a fantastic winger though.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

Maybe he isn’t the creative centre Cleary is looking for for the money he was on.

I can’t imagine Cleary looking for a creative anything.

 

[franklin2323]

Naden is not an NRL quality centre... and will cost more than $72k in 2020. Even at minimum wage its $100k plus the match payments.

He had some great moments. But is very clearly not cut out for centre. I think he could be a fantastic winger though.

Who knows after a pre season or 2

 

[franklin2323]

Blake has done nothing to make me think we’d be better off paying him 500k then we would be paying Naden 72k.

Which is how I see it. The 3 we let go (I don't count Maloney cause he was going anyway) we have cheaper options that can do a job. Much better using the cap space elsewhere

 

[franklin2323]

Blake had a good game, he worked hard but he did nothing for us to lament losing him. They scored 58 points and he set up one and scored none against a side that gave up.

161m from 17 runs a try assists and 2 tackle breaks were his numbers. 9 tackles and 2 missed 1 error.

Sivo, my god he is a loss.

4 tries and now 2 try assists. Is a poor year for someone of his talent

 

[mxlegend99]

Which is how I see it. The 3 we let go (I don't count Maloney cause he was going anyway) we have cheaper options that can do a job. Much better using the cap space elsewhere

The mentality that someone else can do nearly as good for less money is why we will never goto the next level.

Naden is not an NRL quakity centre. But he barely played centre through the lower grades so that's not exactly his fault.

He could be an awesome winger. But I dont rate him improving his defence, reading the game and learning to setup his winger as very likely. Plus he's the perfect solution to replacing Mansour IMO. We can find a better natural centre. I think it would be a mistake to leave him as a centre.

 

[mxlegend99]

4 tries and now 2 try assists. Is a poor year for someone of his talent

He was injured for half the season and was clearly suffering from an awful pre-season like the rest of our team before that.

He has improved at Eels despite an injuty that would no doubt have held back him improving his conditioning. See how he does in 2020. If he doesnt improve then he's no big loss. But considering the improvement done in a short period while injured I think he will have a breakout season in 2020

 

[franklin2323]

The mentality that someone else can do nearly as good for less money is why we will never goto the next level.

Naden is not an NRL quakity centre. But he barely played centre through the lower grades so that's not exactly his fault.

He could be an awesome winger. But I dont rate him improving his defence, reading the game and learning to setup his winger as very likely. Plus he's the perfect solution to replacing Mansour IMO. We can find a better natural centre. I think it would be a mistake to leave him as a centre.

Like I said wait til the squad is complete then judge if we made the right call.

A centre, winger and bench forward going has freed up $1.5-$2m. We already have a hooker from that with 3-4 more signings to come. Depending on those signings to if it was the right call ot not

 

[franklin2323]

He was injured for half the season and was clearly suffering from an awful pre-season like the rest of our team before that.

He has improved at Eels despite an injuty that would no doubt have held back him improving his conditioning. See how he does in 2020. If he doesnt improve then he's no big loss. But considering the improvement done in a short period while injured I think he will have a breakout season in 2020

He improved cause Parra play like a NYC team and throw the ball around. Not because he personally has improved just gets better ball.

If Takairangi was in his place there is no difference to them. Likewise if he stayed here we'd be the same

 

[mxlegend99]

Like I said wait til the squad is complete then judge if we made the right call.

A centre, winger and bench forward going has freed up $1.5-$2m. We already have a hooker from that with 3-4 more signings to come. Depending on those signings to if it was the right call ot not

If we sign Dylan Walker as rumoured hes basically straight swapping for Blake. There's no way we save money between paying Blake to play at Eels and signing Walker. Hell I wouldnt be shocked if the total is higher.

At any rate our issues in the backline will not be fixed. We are working to at best match the backline we used to have. Not improving it.

 

[mxlegend99]

He improved cause Parra play like a NYC team and throw the ball around. Not because he personally has improved just gets better ball.

If Takairangi was in his place there is no difference to them. Likewise if he stayed here we'd be the same

Right.... because every player is just interchangeable and makes no difference.

Why would we bother replacing anyone we lost if they make no difference? I suppose if we traded Mansour and Sivo that Josh would have 22 tries and Sivo would only have 1. Afterall its the way they throw the ballaround that makes a difference. Not players skills

 

[franklin2323]

If we sign Dylan Walker as rumoured hes basically straight swapping for Blake. There's no way we save money between paying Blake to play at Eels and signing Walker. Hell I wouldnt be shocked if the total is higher.

At any rate our issues in the backline will not be fixed. We are working to at best match the backline we used to have. Not improving it.

Our issue is not getting the ball to the backs more so then the backs. No point having a ferrrari if you haven't got the keys to start it
Koroisau will help as will the a new edge backrower (should he get the release).
Walker isn't the same style as Blake though he can create more so Naden on the wing outside him will be huge for us.

It isn't a like for like for one individual player but the whole squad improvement

 

[franklin2323]

Right.... because every player is just interchangeable and makes no difference.

Why would we bother replacing anyone we lost if they make no difference? I suppose if we traded Mansour and Sivo that Josh would have 22 tries and Sivo would only have 1. Afterall its the way they throw the ballaround that makes a difference. Not players skills

Blake played his 1st game for them in round 21... What coach is going to change tactics 4 weeks out from the finals? You will notice the difference after a pre season for both side.

As for the Mansour comment. How did Crichton go playing in Mansour's place? Wasn't much difference to the attack cause of the guys inside mainly

 

[OldPanther]

Our issue is not getting the ball to the backs more so then the backs. No point having a ferrrari if you haven't got the keys to start it
Koroisau will help as will the a new edge backrower (should he get the release).
Walker isn't the same style as Blake though he can create more so Naden on the wing outside him will be huge for us.

It isn't a like for like for one individual player but the whole squad improvement

But we aren't stacked in the second row already? It's our strongest position.

 

[martielang]

It isn't a like for like for one individual player but the whole squad improvement

Don't just leave that there.

Oh I see you did the sneaky edit.

 

[betcats]

He was injured for half the season and was clearly suffering from an awful pre-season like the rest of our team before that.

He has improved at Eels despite an injuty that would no doubt have held back him improving his conditioning. See how he does in 2020. If he doesnt improve then he's no big loss. But considering the improvement done in a short period while injured I think he will have a breakout season in 2020

He played 17 games and scored 4 tries and had 2 try assists, hugeeee loss for the panthers.

 

[martielang]

I think people massively overlook Blakes defensive contribution when talking about whether he's a loss or not. He was a rock on that edge, very rarely made a bad read & very rarely missed a tackle that led directly to a try or linebreak etc.

 

[betcats]

He was injured for half the season and was clearly suffering from an awful pre-season like the rest of our team before that.

He has improved at Eels despite an injuty that would no doubt have held back him improving his conditioning. See how he does in 2020. If he doesnt improve then he's no big loss. But considering the improvement done in a short period while injured I think he will have a breakout season in 2020

Naden would likely look like a better player in a top four side also.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Blake has done nothing to make me think we’d be better off paying him 500k then we would be paying Naden 72k.

The problem is Naden isn’t good enough (yet) to be a first grade centre, so we very likely have to sign another one. Our depth at centre is poor.