perverse
Referee
- Messages
- 26,683
aside from probably one prop and a halfback i don't know how anyone could criticize the team smith has put together in newcastle... but thats just me.
the prima donnas amongst us act like we can spend 400k on every player in the squad, and that simply isn't reality. i think danny wicks (only in retrospect) and the handling of luke doogs are the only 2 very big question marks over our recruitment.
walsh was a 50/50 at best for mine. we've already discussed this at length in numerous threads.
ben cross, an unfortunate situation. had he played more games thus far i think he would be hailed as a genius signing, however things regrettably didn't turn out that way.
i also think that wes came to newcastle a better player than he will leave as.
ben rogers came to newcastle with a big question mark... and hasn't really lost us a game outright. he's put on some class at times though and stepped up with absolute aplomb to win us a game off his own bat. i think it was an astute piece of recruitment at a bargain price.
i would also give a shout out to the part time recruitment of shannon mcdonnell. he went pretty woeful on the wing a few weeks back, but during the origin period he was worth his weight in gold as gidleys understudy and did everything that was asked of him.
i applaud smith for recruiting and developing the likes of matt hilder, zeb taia, junior sau, cooper vuna, chris houston, isaac de gois and richie fa'aoso. i also appreciate that he brought the likes of paterson, uate, taufua, mcmanus and natusch through to first grade from within our own system.
most would identify me as a smith supporter on this board... but that's a very black and white description. i'm very critical of a lot of smiths reign.. particularly the way our under 20's have gone under his system... however unlike some on here i don't think he's the devil and do recognise the fantastic work he did with certain areas of our club and team.
those of you who look at it as a black and white situation should pull your heads out of your arses. the net effect of smith at our club is a competitive first grade team, only 2 and 3 seasons respectively from the departure of the 2 of the biggest legends in our clubs history. yes, we have problems... and now rick stone has a chance to rectify them (if he even recognises them, the jury is still out and there are big question marks on our future at present).
the prima donnas amongst us act like we can spend 400k on every player in the squad, and that simply isn't reality. i think danny wicks (only in retrospect) and the handling of luke doogs are the only 2 very big question marks over our recruitment.
walsh was a 50/50 at best for mine. we've already discussed this at length in numerous threads.
ben cross, an unfortunate situation. had he played more games thus far i think he would be hailed as a genius signing, however things regrettably didn't turn out that way.
i also think that wes came to newcastle a better player than he will leave as.
ben rogers came to newcastle with a big question mark... and hasn't really lost us a game outright. he's put on some class at times though and stepped up with absolute aplomb to win us a game off his own bat. i think it was an astute piece of recruitment at a bargain price.
i would also give a shout out to the part time recruitment of shannon mcdonnell. he went pretty woeful on the wing a few weeks back, but during the origin period he was worth his weight in gold as gidleys understudy and did everything that was asked of him.
i applaud smith for recruiting and developing the likes of matt hilder, zeb taia, junior sau, cooper vuna, chris houston, isaac de gois and richie fa'aoso. i also appreciate that he brought the likes of paterson, uate, taufua, mcmanus and natusch through to first grade from within our own system.
most would identify me as a smith supporter on this board... but that's a very black and white description. i'm very critical of a lot of smiths reign.. particularly the way our under 20's have gone under his system... however unlike some on here i don't think he's the devil and do recognise the fantastic work he did with certain areas of our club and team.
those of you who look at it as a black and white situation should pull your heads out of your arses. the net effect of smith at our club is a competitive first grade team, only 2 and 3 seasons respectively from the departure of the 2 of the biggest legends in our clubs history. yes, we have problems... and now rick stone has a chance to rectify them (if he even recognises them, the jury is still out and there are big question marks on our future at present).
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