Has our form slump harmed recruitment?

[Stuart]

With June 30 fast approaching, do you think our current form slump has reduced our chances of securing a big name recruit like Flannery, Bailey, Mason, Anasta or Cayless or harmed our player recruitment for 2006?

If so which off contract players do you think we might have a realistic chance of recruiting considering our position?

 

[schnitzel]

We won't get any of them. It's not so much our form slump but the fact we have a uninspired coach and a boring style of play. We will probably get some good up and comers by paying overs, guys like Trevor Thurling, Nate Myles, Neville Costigan etc but no one within coo-ee of rep footy.

 

[Raider Ultra]

Yep, don't think it really matters, none of those players would come here anyway.

 

[Tidus_Raider]

We will be losing Hindmarsh, O'Hara, Adamson, T, Smith and Martin. Croker will be even slower then he is now. Add to that we lost Davico and Wiki this year.

We have picked up dead wood in Lomu and Williams.

Seems to me we going backwards. Especially in our forwards.

 

[Timbo]

Yes and no.

We had very little chance of snagging a star, but what little chance we did have is gone.

 

[Brimmer]

Maybe we should be scouting around for another halfback? I want/wish Carney to make it but perhaps he needs a bit of competition to lift his game? I mean, as far as he's concerned, he's the golden haired messiah.

 

[Brimmer]

I know this could be biased...

but what about a boost to the salary caps of teams like Canberra and Melbourne. I mean, not a lot of money.. just a garnish to make our club seem more inviting.

 

[Macko8]

yeah true dat....we wouldnt have the potential to attract big names like the baileys,flannerys,and caylesses....i did hear today jason cayless might be off to england....surely we can purchase a few good forwards with a few leaving....one would think anyway

 

[legend]

The Knights are having a fire sale. Maybe we could find a bargain and a few old lampshades to spruce up the place? The only decent player they have off contract is Luke Quigley and he'll probably end up at a Sydney club.

 

[thickos]

The form slump certainly hasn't helped.

As Tidus alluded to, the bulk of our great forward pack from 2003 has gone. I'm not calling Lomu a 'dead wood' purchase, I think he can be quite effective. However we at the moment (without Smith) are a dull team, rep chances are next to nil, and we're not seen as a team 'on the up'.

Gonna be hard pressed signing a star - we need to focus on the juniors.

 

[Chachi]

The only established "star" we have ever recruited was Meninga and to a lesser extent Belcher, Ferguson and some of the has-been rep players like Fahey and McMahon in the early days.

All of our previous success has been built on junior talent (local and QLD) with a couple of top quality Kiwis thrown in. Unfortunately it's a million to one we'll ever see a crop like Stuart, Daley, Clyde, Lazarus, Mullins, Nagas and Furner come through around the same time again - especially with most of the Kiwi and QLD kids staying with the Warriors, Brisbane, Townsville and the soon-to-be Gold Coast.

As much as I hate to make the analogy - it's been the same case with the Brumbies. As soon as they lose all of their home grown stars like Roff (gone), Harrison (gone), Gregan and Larkham etc they'll struggle just as much as we are now.

One day our managment will have to bite the bullet and spend a ridiculous amount of money to go for an established rep player who may attract other good young players like Mal did. Otherwise we'll have to bide our time and hope one day our local kids and off-cast gambles like Lomu and Tilse replicate what Penrith did a couple of years ago.