Garrick, AFB and Cook are standout examples of players who under good coaching have risen to quality first grade players.
Yes 'we can't keep them all' but those in charge seem to be blinded in there decision making and go with Mary's opinon which is usually flawed. We need a strong and clear policy that supports the idea of 'replace like with like'.
Right now a few of our best and brightest are fielding offers when really there should have been absolutely no reason why they were not tied up mid last season. Frizell, Leilua and Lomax should have been extended, Aitken and Lafai should never have been extended long term.
There is no backrower in the competition that I would swap for Frizell. He could be even more devastating if coached to stay wide in attack and draw the opposition forwards wide in defence while at the same time, smash the opposition halves sometimes leading to a break in the line, fatigue of the defenders and even injury to the opposition halves.
Leilua is a work in progress but in my opinion could rise to be a great lock or prop forward. With speed, size, good hands and a good off-load he could be devastating.
Lomax and Saab our our bright juniors who right now only need first grade experience to rise to the top. Our problem is that we have too many inexperienced outside backs Dufty, Pearson, Ravalawa and Pereira. Any one of these could rise to first grade level however, we really need to inject some quality and experience into our back five. The big hold up is our centre combination of Aitken and Lafai. If we replaced these to say with players who have speed and good defence, e.g. Ramien and Ford, we may have a chance to be competitive in 2020. If Aitken and Lafai were off the books, we would have a great chance of recruiting a couple of good first grade centres.