Joel Thompson Announcement

[Mr Angry]

One Saint I like and he goes to Manly.

FMD.

 

[Drag Queen]

100% tom
Thats why millward said that we must have our top 30 finalized but 30th of April.
Stay tuned.

Some good points OT.
I think the game time can be covered by better use of the bench.

Can you teach an old dog new tricks though? McGregor's use of the bench last season left quite a few players getting splinters in their arses, whilst grinding our forwards into the ground.

 

[Drag Queen]

I don't think it is salary cap issues. We now apparently have 900K left to spend on our salary cap.

I'm not an accountant, but looking at who we have let go, I would think we should have money in the bank. Even taking into account our acquisition of Hunt and Widdop's upgrade, we've retained a lot of young players who wouldn't be on much $$ atm. Pure conjecture though. What I would like to know is how much we're spending on management roles, or the old boy's club so to speak.

 

[RPG437]

We have let go a solid and proven first grade stalwart at the peak of his powers and a great clubman to lock up an unproven high risk option in Leilua. He has never looked fit. If he has the mental skills of his older brother then wow..... great decision. Sometimes feels like 1 step forward 2 steps back

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

I think that Packer and his manager wanted to wait and test the market.

Also I don't think Packer warranted being offered 550K a season before the beginning of last season, but he did start to perform well and would have been worth 550K on his early season form. I too, think that we need another big hard running prop.

As far as props are concerned I would love to see Lawrie given much more game time.
He showed glimpses during his cameos in FG that this kid had real potential.
I also thought Hind was FG standard - bent the line and tough but he lost patience waiting around for his chance.

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

That's not a very imposing bench, little impact there. Opposition packs will out-muscle us when Vaughan and Graham are off the field. I'd stick with Sims on the bench or even JDB for a bit of impact.
We should have tried harder to hold on to Packer, we'd have been top 4 you'd think.
Hopefully a young'n can step up, Leilua or one of the other young props. Neither Sele nor Host fill me with confidence while LAM is very reliable but hardly a dominating type player ( love his defensive work though ).

Lawrie is ready IMO but needs game time to get used to FG.

 

[Drag Queen]

We have let go a solid and proven first grade stalwart at the peak of his powers and a great clubman to lock up an unproven high risk option in Leilua. He has never looked fit. If he has the mental skills of his older brother then wow..... great decision. Sometimes feels like 1 step forward

We have let go a solid and proven first grade stalwart at the peak of his powers and a great clubman to lock up an unproven high risk option in Leilua. He has never looked fit. If he has the mental skills of his older brother then wow..... great decision. Sometimes feels like 1 step forward 2 steps back

I hear you, and am the first to question Luc's committment, fitness etc. I'll leave mental skills out of this. Quite a few in the inner circle have said he has improved markedly on his fitness and attitude. Same people are also looking at Jacob Host who has been toiling away quite nicely, I say we give them a chance.

 

[possm]

I think that Packer and his manager wanted to wait and test the market.

Also I don't think Packer warranted being offered 550K a season before the beginning of last season, but he did start to perform well and would have been worth 550K on his early season form. I too, think that we need another big hard running prop.

It wasn't magic that made him perform well. Mary could see how well he performed in the offseason trainging/trials.

 

[possm]

Can you teach an old dog new tricks though? McGregor's use of the bench last season left quite a few players getting splinters in their arses, whilst grinding our forwards into the ground.

And was a major reason for the forwards burning out after 7 rounds.

 

[hazzbeen]

For me I ask this , who would I have , loose Thomo to gain to gain Graham or keep him and not gain Graham ? After all the chess pieces are put in place as much as I liked Thomo I'd rather Graham ......

 

[possm]

For me I ask this , who would I have , loose Thomo to gain to gain Graham or keep him and not gain Graham ? After all the chess pieces are put in place as much as I liked Thomo I'd rather Graham ......

Graham replaced Packer; nothing to do with Thompson. One is a backrower the other a prop. But as we have very good depth in the back row, buing an additional top line prop to give us a good first grade prop rotation would be a great idea.

 

[Dragon Revival]

Watch Hind play NRL at his new club. He should have been our fourth prop.
Unless Kerr stands up we will have backrowers playing prop.

 

[mobels]

Watch Hind play NRL at his new club. He should have been our fourth prop.
Unless Kerr stands up we will have backrowers playing prop.

Bit hard to play for an NRL club when your not even signed for one.

We have Lawrie, Latimore, Allgood and Kerr as back up props.

 

[hewi]

We have let go a solid and proven first grade stalwart at the peak of his powers and a great clubman to lock up an unproven high risk option in Leilua. He has never looked fit. If he has the mental skills of his older brother then wow..... great decision. Sometimes feels like 1 step forward 2 steps back

I also hear you, however in some ways you are gambling. Thomson wanted a long term contract, I doubt he would have got that next year from us. We have very good back row coverage . I was a great fan of his however the fact is he wast a game breaker with the X factor. Luciano has that ability, will he deliver? Only time will tell, I hope so and think so.

 

[watatank]

Watch Hind play NRL at his new club. He should have been our fourth prop.
Unless Kerr stands up we will have backrowers playing prop.

What NRL club does he play for?

 

[getsmarty]

I don't think it is salary cap issues. We now apparently have 900K left to spend on our salary cap.

Manly originally offered 4 years...NRL had to clear this signing in terms of their cap

 

[Old Timer]

Graham, Vaughan, Ah Mau. Then the youngsters in Sele and Lawrie and we have Allgood and Latimore as back ups. Kerr is still around too is he not?

Sims and Friz can play in the middle as well if required.

Prop is just as well covered as back row IMO.

So an outside back makes much more sense, given it’s Nighty’s last year.

The issue is that Sele is not a prop but a back rower.
Latimore (1 season signing) & Allgood (been away in ESL forever) are supposed to be "depth only" and should never see 1st grade unless we have 3 or 4 injuries or lose 2 or 3 to SOO.
Kerr is still around but guess what the heralded signing at then of 2016 saw not 1 minute of 1st grade in 2017 so he is a complete rookie.
Laurie saw very limited game time in 2017 so IMHO the front row stocks are paper thin unless we move either Sims or JDB into that position.
Prop stocks Vaughan, Graham, LAM & Lawrie
In the wings Kerr (not 1 minute of NRL)
Latimore & Allgood (depth)
Considering Graham is already 33 the FR options worries me immensely.
If Kerr & Laurie don't get some serious game time early in the season we are courting disaster.

 

[hazzbeen]

Graham replaced Packer; nothing to do with Thompson. One is a backrower the other a prop. But as we have very good depth in the back row, buing an additional top line prop to give us a good first grade prop rotation would be a great idea.

Possm understand that , but what I am saying is after everything in the wash up we can't keep both I'm happy we got Graham ..

 

[redandwhite4evr]

Possm understand that , but what I am saying is after everything in the wash up we can't keep both I'm happy we got Graham ..

 

[giboz71]

The issue is that Sele is not a prop but a back rower.
Latimore (1 season signing) & Allgood (been away in ESL forever) are supposed to be "depth only" and should never see 1st grade unless we have 3 or 4 injuries or lose 2 or 3 to SOO.
Kerr is still around but guess what the heralded signing at then of 2016 saw not 1 minute of 1st grade in 2017 so he is a complete rookie.
Laurie saw very limited game time in 2017 so IMHO the front row stocks are paper thin unless we move either Sims or JDB into that position.
Prop stocks Vaughan, Graham, LAM & Lawrie
In the wings Kerr (not 1 minute of NRL)
Latimore & Allgood (depth)
Considering Graham is already 33 the FR options worries me immensely.
If Kerr & Laurie don't get some serious game time early in the season we are courting disaster.

Hear what you are saying, but if Nighty, Nene, Aitken and Lafai end up being our regular outside backs starters, prop depth is moot as we won’t be anywhere near finals football.