Nothin' like a good ol' agenda

[Frederick]

I've been perusing the comments for Phil Rothfields most recent blog about the 10 biggest NRL lemons of 2009 (surprisingly, not one Knight was named), and came across this little beauty.

One respondant posted the following:

Ten lemons...hmmmm.
Well the best of the last couple of years was Brisbane recruiting Joel Clinton and in the process letting Petero leave.
As for this year, what about these?
* Brisbane letting Michael Ennis go when he was nearly their best player last year and can kick goals.
* Cronulla letting go of Isaac De Gois
* Parramatta signing Kevin Kingston
* Manly signing Tony Williams (what has he done so far)
* Canberra letting William Zillman go (he onlt needs to stay sound to be a star)
* Luke Priddis to St george when they have Dean Young
As for the best buys sp far
* Israel Folau to Brisbane
* Weyman to St George
* Joel Moon to Warriors
* Colin Best to Souths
Any agreement/disagreement?

B Daddy (Reply)
Thu 16 Apr 09 (12:30pm)

To which Rothfield replied:

I wanted to keep my lemons to 2009 but there have been some great stuff-ups over the years. If you even started picking a team from players Brian Smith has lost over the years you’d have a premiership winning side. He got rid of Clint Newton who went on to win a comp at Melbourne. Next year he got rid of Josh Perry, who went on to win a comp at Manly. Let’s just say talent identification is not one of Brian’s stronger points.
Phil Rothfield

Thu 16 Apr 09 (01:38pm)​

It's been a while since we heard anything from our friends at News...good to know they're still alive and kicking

 

[reginald.p]

Perry > Cross
Snowden > Taufua

Royal > Fa'aoso
White > Wicks

Newton > Houston Ciraldo Taia

Quinn Matt Gidley > Vuna Lulia Sau Naiqama

 

[aqua_duck]

Perry > Cross
Snowden > Taufua

Royal > Fa'aoso
White > Wicks

Newton > Houston Ciraldo Taia

Quinn Matt Gidley > Vuna Lulia Sau Naiqama

Faas>Royal
Cross>newcastle perry
new look wicks>White
newton>no one
Matt gidley=32 years of age, Sau=21 years of age
McManus, Uate>Quinn

 

[aqua_duck]

He got rid of Clint Newton who went on to win a comp at Melbourne

yep because it was all him

 

[reginald.p]

Faas>Royal
Cross>newcastle perry
new look wicks>White
newton>no one
Matt gidley=32 years of age, Sau=21 years of age
McManus, Uate>Quinn

lol please, if you compare how they have all played over the last 18 months.

Faas drops the ball 2 times a match massive liability. Royal was solid but at least didn't single handedly lose us any matches.

Perry has it all over Cross, no question.

Wicks averages 4 hit ups a game and was the worst consistently selected first grade player of 2008, massive liability.

Matt Gidley is and has always been far better then Sau, no question.

Mcmanus and Uate better then Quinn? lol Mcmanus is a poor mans Quinn and Uate couldn't even make first grade last year. Not that Smith should take credit for Uate since Uate was already here when Smith arrived.

 

[BG]

lol please, if you compare how they have all played over the last 18 months.

Faas drops the ball 2 times a match massive liability. Royal was solid but at least didn't single handedly lose us any matches.

Perry has it all over Cross, no question.

Wicks averages 4 hit ups a game and was the worst consistently selected first grade player of 2008, massive liability.

Matt Gidley is and has always been far better then Sau, no question.

Mcmanus and Uate better then Quinn? lol Mcmanus is a poor mans Quinn and Uate couldn't even make first grade last year. Not that Smith should take credit for Uate since Uate was already here when Smith arrived.

You're missing the point that Smith invested in value, youth and fringe players with the potential to improve. The only older, more experienced player you're comparing on the Newcastle side is Cross and he was terribly unlucky with injuries in 2008. His form towards the end of the season was as good as Perry's imho.

Thus far in 2009 (average per game according to NRL.com stats):

Cross : 84 metres, 25 tackles
Perry: 71 metres, 18 tackles

Faas: 99 metres, 20 tackles, 1.2 errors
Royal: 63 metres, 20 tackles, 1 error

And how you can seriously draw a comparison between Matt Gidley and Sau beggars belief. One is a 32-year-old former international, the other is an exceptionally promising 21-year-old whom Smith originally brought to the club for less than Perry used to spend on donuts after training. A fairer comparison might be Sau and Carmont. I eagerly await your endorsement of George as the superior talent.

As for Quinn: good player, no champion. Again, how can you compare him to Uate? Aku has played a handful of NRL games and is one of the most exciting young talents in the game. He's still very green and it's hard to know if he will fulfill his potential, but on raw talent he could end up making Quinn look pedestrian. McManus like Quinn is no superstar, but he has been very solid in his first grade career to date and looks to be getting even better.

 

[BG]

And Reg, care to make a case for Tanner, Lowrie, Abraham, Reynoldson over Houston, Taia, Hilder, De Gois?

 

[reginald.p]

As far as i'm concerned Brian Smith has given us a mediocre so so team that has next to no chance of winning the premiership this year. Partly because there is around 650k being spent on three players (Wicks Walsh and L Mcdougall) who aren't even good enough to get a game of first grade, imagine if we spent that money on Campese and Ellis or a Scot Prince type player.

Sau is decent, so what? is he really our best signing. I don't know about you guys but i would have rather we kept Matt Gidley these last three years instead of signing Sau and hoping one day Sau will turn out to be half as good as gidley was and still is.

By the end of his time with us Carmont was a decent first grader with not much flair, Smith came in and let him go much to the delight of everyone here, only to then sign Keith lulia who is just a worse version of Carmont. Way to go Brian

Tanner and Lowrie wern't very good, so what? they never took up much cap space, is replacing Tanner with Ciraldo really going to affect our season much?

I guess what you are saying is the players we currently have are better then the guys Smith let go because they have morepotential they haven't actually been playing better but they sure have potential!

Wicks is a disaster, he is on 260k is and is the worst consistently selected Newcastle player i have seen since Paul Marquet but gee he sure has potential. He hasn't actually been playing better then White and he is even older then White is but he has potential right? if i close my eyes and imagine one day Wicks will start making more then 4 hit ups a game then that means Wicks is better right?.

and i didn't compare Quinn and Uate in my first post, Uate is a future superstar no doubt about that but why should smith be credited for that? Uate was already here and had massive wraps on him when Smith arrived blind freddy could see that he was something special.

 

[BG]

As far as i'm concerned Brian Smith has given us a mediocre so so team that has next to no chance of winning the premiership this year.

Everyone wants success and wants it as quickly as possible, but you really are making a tough call expecting the club to instantly become one of the premiership favourites after the retirement of Johns and the conclusion of Buderus's NRL career. Many objective observers are more surprised that the Knights aren't looking like red hot spoon contenders. Clubs traditionally struggle when they say goodbye to era-defining players of that magnitude.

 

[BG]

Tanner and Lowrie wern't very good, so what? they never took up much cap space, is replacing Tanner with Ciraldo really going to affect our season much?

Are Taia, Faas, Hilder on a lot more dosh than the likes of Tanner and Lowrie? Is Houston on more than Reynoldson? Imho those guys are making a big difference to our season.

 

[macavity]

yosh > reginald

 

[Joker's Wild]

Perry > Cross
Snowden > Taufua

Royal > Fa'aoso
White > Wicks

Newton > Houston Ciraldo Taia

Quinn Matt Gidley > Vuna Lulia Sau Naiqama

:lol: Reg P, that was a combative post of almost Karmawave proportions

Good luck getting anyone to agree with you

 

[reginald.p]

We are the new Canberra Raiders. I can see it now.

After assembling a team of mediocre no name rejects and youngsters that most rugby league judges predicted at the start of the year to finish in the bottom 4 and not have a hope of winning the title. Brian smith has stunned the ruby league world and won the Dally M coach of the year by leading his no name team of rejects and youngsters to SEVENTH PLACE.

 

[Karmawave]

We are the new Canberra Raiders. I can see it now.

100% agree. The similarities of our structure and team and management and falling crowds to the Canberra Raiders is uncanny.

yosh > reginald

Ouch. :lol:


I just learnt the multi quote option for the first time. Look out world.

 

[Pika]

100% agree. The similarities of our structure and team and management and falling crowds to the Canberra Raiders is uncanny.





Ouch. :lol:


I just learnt the multi quote option for the first time. Look out world.

Teach me!

 

[Karmawave]

Teach me!

Right next to the QUOTE button, is another button with the "+ sign.

You just click that on the posts you wanna quote from to highlight it red or orange or whatever it is, and then click QUOTE on any thread, and all the highlighted threads you chose should all come up! :lol:

 

[voltron]

oh wow!
thats so handy!!!
ive always wondered......

 

[Pika]

Yeah, same.

Karma is obviously some sort of IT egghead.

 

[Karmawave]

Yeah, same.

Karma is obviously some sort of IT egghead.

Well it did take me 2 years. :lol:

 

[Serc]

Haha good stuff Freddo...good to see they are still trying the same stuff at the tele, even though they don't have the ammo to write some more 2007 type articles this year

I don't have much to say about the player discussion above me, but I certainly would've tried to keep Matt Gidley. Would've been the perfect solution for our backline during 07-09 (can you imagine Uate playing outside him? wow) Who knows though, he might have wanted to move onto the greener pastures of the UK like Danny B did...and I'm not going to criticise him for making that choice

Also, the multiquote button is a handy feature! Especially when you need to include a few Karma opinions or separate one of his essays into bits you can handle