Let's get everyone talking!!

[roopy]

I expect this will be controversial.

Would Johns retiring after the GF be the best thing for the club.

We could buy three excellent firstgraders for the money Johns will get for next season.
He could make more money playing a year or two in England.

If Smith had a blank canvas to work with (ie buy in the players he wants) he would stand a better chance to develop a winning side quicker.

As I see it - we win the grandfinal - Joey goes to England - Smith picks up any bargain players going around - and next year Mullen leads us to another GF victory.

 

[macavity]

bargain players like?

I want to keep him as long as we can. no question.

 

[Rod]

No. We want him for next year. I'm sure Smith will have the Mullen/Johns starting combo next year, which gives Mullen another year to learn off Johns. Besides, who would we sign? There's no one left.

 

[The Camden Leisure Pirate]

No. We want him for next year. I'm sure Smith will have the Mullen/Johns starting combo next year, which gives Mullen another year to learn off Johns. Besides, who would we sign? There's no one left.

Agree 100%

Let's not get too carried away about Mullen, he has only had a
Hand full of quality 1st grade games.
Leading around the side for an entire season is
Something completely different.

 

[axie]

Which three players on the open market are worth buying?

 

[The Camden Leisure Pirate]

The Market is always open how champ.

There is a rumour that Anasta wants out of the Chooks.

Don't know how it would work money wise, but would be a very handy lock for us.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Rubbish.

Anasta's got the heart of a tick.

Hey may have a bit of talent, but doesnt have the guts for the forwards or the playmaking for the halves.

 

[cram]

I think at this stage fo the buying season we would be better off with Johns next season.

Given that the anti tampering deadline is gone what we do need is for Johns to tell us ASAP next season whether it will be his last. That way we will have plenty of time and money to buy off contract players.

 

[B-dos]

I agree with cram. I doubt we would be able to sign anyone of note if johns decided to hang up his boots at the end of this year.

We can plan for him retiring at the end of next year. Let Mullen learn from Johns and gradually take more control of the team during the year, and meanwhile be on the look out for a top quality signing or two with plenty of cash available to throw at them.

 

[thegame_78]

Don't get all hyped about about Mullen (yet). Do we all remember when Kurt hit the winning field goal and played a blinder aganist Brisbane that year?? We all went heres our new halfback Johns can retire now, look how useless Kurt is at 5/8 or halfback. Im sure this won't happen to Mullen but i would like to see him play a full year of first grade at 5/8 before im convinved.

 

[K-Man]

A few months ago I would've said yes, when there were plenty of excellent players available on the open market. As great as he is, I have actually been looking forward to the post Johns era in some ways, because I believe we can become a stronger team across the field and finally stop hearing all the "one man team" crap.

However at this stage we still need Joey to be competitive next year (with Mullen taking more and more control as the season goes on), then spend money on some very good players for 2008 (at least 1 top class outside back, 1 solid playmaker, 1 solid prop and 1 high impact bench forward).

 

[Johns Magic]

No. It's too late to begin rebuilding for next season.

 

[Alex28]

Why would we want him to leave now? There is $500K in salary cap that we can't spend because there is very very little talent left on the market for next year.

We need him to decide as early as possible next year what he is going to do so we can plan for 2008 - but we certainly need him next year.

As for comparing Mullen to Kidley - Kidley isn't a shoelace to Mullens talent at half. Why would anyone get excited about Kidley's drop goal against the Bronco's? It was the worst field goal ever!

 

[keeney]

Kidley never set anything special up either, or put in a decent kick in his life. Mullen has almost kicked a couple of 40/20's each week, only the brilliance of Bowen and Wesser has stopped him. Not to mention finding open space more than Johns does, or his obvious vision.

 

[Ben]

It is too early in Mullen's career to tell him that he will be the one leading the entire team next year. You have to remember that he still believes that he has strong competition for the first grade spot at five-eighth against Kidley. I think he still needs a whole off-season and regular season to grow a bit, bulk up a bit before he is ready.

So for now, i would be hoping that Johns plays on for next year.

 

[bluesbreaker]

Don't get all hyped about about Mullen (yet). Do we all remember when Kurt hit the winning field goal and played a blinder aganist Brisbane that year?? We all went heres our new halfback Johns can retire now, look how useless Kurt is at 5/8 or halfback. Im sure this won't happen to Mullen but i would like to see him play a full year of first grade at 5/8 before im convinved.

No we didn't, not all of us thank you. I've said from the outset that Kidley is too one dimensional to be our halfback, and I know there were several others who were toeing the same line. It just took a while for the opposition to work out his play, when that happened, look how well he played for the rest of 04... Pretty frickin' shabbily.

 

[thegame_78]

There were diffenetley a few people on the forum who throught we had found the man to take Joeys spot after the Brisbane game. I think Kurt may fade away once Joey goes and Smith can buy a decent 5/8 or playmaker.

 

[Alex28]

What did he do well in that game besides hit a wobbly field goal which had no right to actually go over?

There was a push to get Kidley into the halves because the bloke before him was an absolute hack. Kidley has proven himself to be a decent player but not a half. We have a young half with a proven record at half in junior football (both club and representative) over a number of years - not a bloke who has slotted into the halves because he sees an opportunity to regularly play first grade.

There is a big difference between the push to get Kidley into the halves and the push to get Mullen into the halves.

As for the question at hand - if Johns was to decide now that he wanted to retire at the end of the season, it would be a bigger betrayal to the club than if he was to move onto Union. We have planned 2007 around him - for him to go now would totally leave us in the lurch.

 

[CJKnight]

Kidley is a valuable player to have in the side no doubt. But I just cannot see him matching it in the halves combination. He has great defence and running games. I personally think Center or Bench would be his best spots.

If Johns DOES retire next year, we should be thinking of spending at least half his salary on a basic Half/5/8 to support Mullen in the halves while he is still growing into 1st grade. It would be silly to put all that pressure on him at once.

We chased John Morris but that didn't work out so we signed Kidley to a $200,000 a season, simple. Personally I would throw some money at Monaghan and play him as a support over the next couple of seasons for Mullen. But is me.

 

[Boxer]

Why talk of buying a half to play alongside Mullen after Joey retires?
What's wrong with preparing people we already have. Luke Walsh is the obvious choice. He has played alongside Mullen for quite awhile now, and anyone who has watched them in our junior teams would know how well they play together. There is also Scott Dureux to throw into the mix.
Next season these players need more exposure in 1st grade to prepare for life without,Joey. With Brian Smith in charge maybe that will happen.