Like you said, Canberra is full of juniors, keen to get a fresh start. But they also can’t attract top talent (unless they’re from the UK). Same issue as us. They have to rely on juniors rather than trying to buy a premiership like other clubs are able to do.
Which is exactly what I think we have been trying to do. Rely on and build our juniors which we have been poor at in the past.
A few years ago there was a lot of talk about building better pathways and focusing on the junior teams. Given the performances of our junior teams (KOE and below) over the past 12/18 months, I think we're starting to see the fruits of that focus. And we're starting to seriously transition some of those juniors into the NRL team - and successfully. In the past we never managed that transition well - hence the long list of players that have fallen by the wayside.
Back to the thread title, my theory for the retention of the Kyle revolves around junior development and a lack of having a good quality half in the team.
When Flano first came on board, he worked hard to retain Hunt. Now I think this was to have an established half in the side while the junior halves were being prepared to be brought through. We don't want 2 rookie halves in the team at the same time - it's a recipe for disaster. We've seen that with other teams and even with our own team (Junior and Bud). However, Hunt sooked and we let him go - I suspect to limit the team disruption. First plan down the drain.
Around this time we enquired about Deardon but missed out. Outside of that, we've been limited with opportunity for other quality halves. Illias came on board with some experience and a hope that we could get the best out of him. I suspect it was a cheap singing. That didn't work out. The only other option for an experienced half was Kyle. Signed for 2 years to buy time for us to look for an alternative and to play a stable role in the halves while we manufacture and trial the juniors.
The reason I say manufacture is due to Kyle playing in the 6 and LKT playing in the 7. We're trying to manufacture a 7 from the players we have as I don't think either LKT or Glover are true 7s. Illias is the closest we have to a 7 but his decision making at critical times during the game has left a lot to be desired (and I suspect he has confidence issues). Kyle is currently playing the anchor role while they work on the juniors coming through.
I don't think Flano sees Kyle as being a mainstay in the team (and I don't think he particularly thinks he's the half we want at this time) - I just think he's made a decision to retain him to buy time to keep looking for another half and to ensure we've got an experienced first grader in the halves with the juniors.
