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New recruits for 2023

Crush

Coach
Messages
11,240
Not really Crush. Just took exception to your mate taking the piss lol. Can't see them doing much better than us this year. They finished with 2 more wins than us and scraped into the 8 last year. I'm probably getting a bit tetchy like everyone else with the lack of signings, trying to stay positive but it's not easy.
Hmm, the went to Melbourne and knocked Storm out of the finals, made it through to the second week. That’s a fair bit better than what we did.
And I think they’ll do a lot better than us this season.
Sorry mate, good on you for trying to stay positive but I’m just venting my frustration, I get so angry at our management.
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
11,240
In respect of letting players go & recruitment I think some in here are missing a vital point.

If you have players on your books that you wish to move on then you have to let them go at a time that the player market is a little bit bare otherwise you have to pay excessive amounts to entice someone else to take them.

Recruitment means you have to get your roster and cap sorted namely get rid of the lemons, planks and dead wood to take advantage of the pool of proven quality players when they come onto the market and that obviously is not every year. It should also be remembered that sometimes certain playing positions are very light on as to the quality that is available as the system is not always flush with talent all the time.

While that is happening you have to juggle the issue of retention and upgrades of your best / most promising juniors.

Let's not forget that in the meantime you also have to try and retain a couple of "senior" / "older" players to help guide the young blokes in reserve grade and those "senior" players need to be good quality human beings so as to instill some good ethics and values into the youngsters.

At different times of the cycles this will all go pear shape as clubs pay overs to recruit or retain or clubs will possibly let the wrong juniors go or unfortunate injuries and / or suspensions lay waste to your already thin roster.

I see the above all very much applies to us and many other clubs but I can see some light at the end of the tunnel for us as we are getting ourselves into a position to take on some better quality players just as some of our best juniors start finding their feet in 1st grade.

So this next year may be a struggle but in all honesty so many of the players on offer this year are either on the older side or come with a lot of baggage or some serious questions hanging over their ability to perform week in week out and to be a game changer.

Is it that terrible "rebuilding" theory well yes it is but as long as we don't sign some overpriced planks on multi year with player options deals I'll be able to cope with it.
So when Hook came in in 2021 and said it wasn’t a rebuild he was wrong, it actually was a rebuild? Or in 21’ it wasnt a rebuild but now two years later it is a rebuild?
Was it a rebuild all along?
 

Yow

Juniors
Messages
361
Crush 100% agree .. What is just hard to wrap head around is that we all hear that the roster is looked at moving forward with salary cap . Now we have coach , flanno , haran who should be deciding where our roster is lacking , change of direction ( simms) players that just havent got it . So what have our brains trust done ... made decisions to get rid of non performing players BUT FAILED to sign replacements before cutting them loose. Surely we should have signed a simms replacement lets say months ago but nah lets put an add on gumtree that will do the trick. Now we are scrambling for players and as all the good ones have gone lets go back to the reject shop ...... As geoff Toovey sprouts " theres got to be an investigation into this " - how do we have people in power and they all sit on their hands believing that the other guy has things covered ...
Love to be at the Qld supporters do on the weekend and ask Ryan about our signings or lack of
The way we are going we will take a busted up Frizzell off newcastles hands on Simms money
I will post on Sunday or Monday what Ryan has to say fingers crossed
 

Old Timer

Coach
Messages
17,790
So when Hook came in in 2021 and said it wasn’t a rebuild he was wrong, it actually was a rebuild? Or in 21’ it wasnt a rebuild but now two years later it is a rebuild?
Was it a rebuild all along?
When Hook arrived the place was a total train wreck and I'm sure that was the last thing the club would admit to or allow the coach to say.

In fact we all knew it and it was the elephant in the room but not even the media would bury the hatchet squarely into Mc Fookknuckle so why would the club ffs we were lucky that they finally got him out of the place.

2021 was I suppose a year to stabilise and see exactly where everything sat as don't forget Big Gus had had a look over the place just prior to then and given it all a big tick including Mc Fookknuckle so who were the club or the new coach for that matter to question any of that.

Some of Hook's recruitment was a real issue especially Mc Cullough for 3 years and Woodsy good bloke as he is just didn't do anything to help the situation but no doubt when Hook was recruiting the cupboard was pretty bare. Re his selections some of it was appalling some of it I could understand while not necessarily agreeing with it.

So has Hook made mistakes for sure he has, were we in a rebuild phase obviously we were and still are.

Did Hook inherit a pot of gold and some unpolished gem stones no he did not he inherited a demoralised, skill lacking, ill-disciplined, incoherent rabble.

We all thought that the back of Mc Fookkuckle was all that was needed to get us back up and going well unfortunately that was wishful thinking and the ingrained nature of his legacy is only just starting to fade.

The club should have told us the place was f**ked and that Hook was being brought in to sort out as much shit as possible and that it would take several years to do so but the club in the back of its mind knew we the supporters were never going to be happy with the truth so they covered it all up.

Our shitty attitude and intolerance somewhat drives the clubs culture and makes things a somewhat self fulfilling prophecy which we all ultimately bitch about.
 

Dragon David

First Grade
Messages
9,216
When Hook arrived the place was a total train wreck and I'm sure that was the last thing the club would admit to or allow the coach to say.

In fact we all knew it and it was the elephant in the room but not even the media would bury the hatchet squarely into Mc Fookknuckle so why would the club ffs we were lucky that they finally got him out of the place.

2021 was I suppose a year to stabilise and see exactly where everything sat as don't forget Big Gus had had a look over the place just prior to then and given it all a big tick including Mc Fookknuckle so who were the club or the new coach for that matter to question any of that.

Some of Hook's recruitment was a real issue especially Mc Cullough for 3 years and Woodsy good bloke as he is just didn't do anything to help the situation but no doubt when Hook was recruiting the cupboard was pretty bare. Re his selections some of it was appalling some of it I could understand while not necessarily agreeing with it.

So has Hook made mistakes for sure he has, were we in a rebuild phase obviously we were and still are.

Did Hook inherit a pot of gold and some unpolished gem stones no he did not he inherited a demoralised, skill lacking, ill-disciplined, incoherent rabble.

We all thought that the back of Mc Fookkuckle was all that was needed to get us back up and going well unfortunately that was wishful thinking and the ingrained nature of his legacy is only just starting to fade.

The club should have told us the place was f**ked and that Hook was being brought in to sort out as much shit as possible and that it would take several years to do so but the club in the back of its mind knew we the supporters were never going to be happy with the truth so they covered it all up.

Our shitty attitude and intolerance somewhat drives the clubs culture and makes things a somewhat self fulfilling prophecy which we all ultimately bitch about.
Well put OT. That is how I see it and you were able to put it into words.
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
11,240
When Hook arrived the place was a total train wreck and I'm sure that was the last thing the club would admit to or allow the coach to say.

In fact we all knew it and it was the elephant in the room but not even the media would bury the hatchet squarely into Mc Fookknuckle so why would the club ffs we were lucky that they finally got him out of the place.

2021 was I suppose a year to stabilise and see exactly where everything sat as don't forget Big Gus had had a look over the place just prior to then and given it all a big tick including Mc Fookknuckle so who were the club or the new coach for that matter to question any of that.

Some of Hook's recruitment was a real issue especially Mc Cullough for 3 years and Woodsy good bloke as he is just didn't do anything to help the situation but no doubt when Hook was recruiting the cupboard was pretty bare. Re his selections some of it was appalling some of it I could understand while not necessarily agreeing with it.

So has Hook made mistakes for sure he has, were we in a rebuild phase obviously we were and still are.

Did Hook inherit a pot of gold and some unpolished gem stones no he did not he inherited a demoralised, skill lacking, ill-disciplined, incoherent rabble.

We all thought that the back of Mc Fookkuckle was all that was needed to get us back up and going well unfortunately that was wishful thinking and the ingrained nature of his legacy is only just starting to fade.

The club should have told us the place was f**ked and that Hook was being brought in to sort out as much shit as possible and that it would take several years to do so but the club in the back of its mind knew we the supporters were never going to be happy with the truth so they covered it all up.

Our shitty attitude and intolerance somewhat drives the clubs culture and makes things a somewhat self fulfilling prophecy which we all ultimately bitch about.
Just going back over old teams (sick day today) and it looks to me like we've gone from have a promising forward pack with horrible backs to promising backs with a flimsy forward pack.
At the end of Mary's run in 2020 on our books we had the following forwards.
Paul Vaughan
Tariq Sims
Korbin Sims
JBD
Tyson Frizell
Jacob Host
Blake Lawrie
Cam McInnes
With depth of Ford, Fuimaono, Merrin, Blacker, Ellis

But the backs were dogshit with guys like Aitken, Dufty, Norman, Williame, Pereria.
Damn I had forgotten how bad hat backline was.

Now we at least have a couple of more exciting backs, namely Suli (best signing of late) Amone, Ramsey, maybe Fegai.

But our forward pack is thin, real thin. an injury to Su'a and JDB and its a whole lot of pain for our 'depth' or lack of.
 

Old Timer

Coach
Messages
17,790
We are a club w
No plan
No vision
No street smarts

look at what benji and sheens are doing w the tigers in the matter of weeks together
Klemmer
Bateman
I forget the other 2 they signed..
Tigers lol

They swapped Hastings and kept Brooks ffs.

Without the trade which I believe Newcastle got the better of Klemmer isn’t at the Tigers

Knights 1 Tigers 0
 

Old Timer

Coach
Messages
17,790
Just going back over old teams (sick day today) and it looks to me like we've gone from have a promising forward pack with horrible backs to promising backs with a flimsy forward pack.
At the end of Mary's run in 2020 on our books we had the following forwards.
Paul Vaughan
Tariq Sims
Korbin Sims
JBD
Tyson Frizell
Jacob Host
Blake Lawrie
Cam McInnes
With depth of Ford, Fuimaono, Merrin, Blacker, Ellis

But the backs were dogshit with guys like Aitken, Dufty, Norman, Williame, Pereria.
Damn I had forgotten how bad hat backline was.

Now we at least have a couple of more exciting backs, namely Suli (best signing of late) Amone, Ramsey, maybe Fegai.

But our forward pack is thin, real thin. an injury to Su'a and JDB and its a whole lot of pain for our 'depth' or lack of.
Too sick for. Chardonnay?
 

Phantom V

Juniors
Messages
613
We are a club w
No plan
No vision
No street smarts

look at what benji and sheens are doing w the tigers in the matter of weeks together
Klemmer
Bateman
I forget the other 2 they signed..
I seriously think we missed a great opportunity re Bateman. Despite what went down at the Raiders, he’s the sort of player that inspires the rest of the team with his competitiveness and he gets in the face of the opposition. Looking at our pack for next year I don’t see anyone like that at all.
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
11,240
Too sick for. Chardonnay?
Been off the chardy of late, loving the craft beer, maybe a glass of Pinot Noir or a light red blend.
Not your thing OT no doubt, you’d be a lager and Shiraz man I reckon? Maybe Resches? And something from South Australia for your red.
What’s your Friday night tipple mate?
 
Messages
597
I seriously think we missed a great opportunity re Bateman. Despite what went down at the Raiders, he’s the sort of player that inspires the rest of the team with his competitiveness and he gets in the face of the opposition. Looking at our pack for next year I don’t see anyone like that at all.
According to his Super League fans, his inspiration and competitiveness has been missing ever since he went back to England. And the getting in faces has been laughable. Bird is more than capable of doing that.
 

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