Official: Merrin signs with Penrith

[coast_dragons]

Hmm who do you think your talking to the Dragons and recruiting in the same sentence is a lol.

 

[GongPanther]

Hmm who do you think your talking to the Dragons and recruiting in the same sentence is a lol.

I used to remember the Dragons as a place where players wanted to come to play.

Every year in the finals in all grades,the most popular club going around when I used to go to the games.

That was then when payments weren't as disclosed as they are now.

Times have changed the whole landscape to a point were all teams have an equal opportunity to land a grand final win.

Recruitment and development takes time.And Saints fans will have to be patient.

And remember.it's not like St George is the only club that bleeds out talent that they wanted to keep.

 

[dragonreddy]

Rubbish mate... Gus and co have their own sneaky ways of bending the rules. Merrin is NOWHERE near a 750k player. Not even in that stratosphere. Totally over hyped. Good player yes... Should we be crying? No. We can hit the market effectively now. Plus with dan hunt surely gone next year and probably farrel we can attain 3 players of top quality.

Relax. Not such a bad thing. Merrin hasnt done a huge amount at dragons.

Sorry couldn't agree any less ,if he is nowhere near A$750 K player how is it he just got it.

Hit the market ,what and pay a heap more to get anyone here ,it's gone well so far we've been linked to every forward that has come available and got who?

Merrin has played 10 origins and he's 25 ,downplaying his loss is ridiculous,Hunt's contract runs until the end of next season at $400k he isn't going anywhere but keep making the story up to suit.

 

[love my saints]

Beau scotts played a fair bit of origin... so has ryan hoffman, so has tony williams, doesnt make them $750k per year players.
Luke lewis is picked in origin ahead of merrin any day of the week, the panthers happily let him go, same with jennings.
Im not saying merrin isnt a good player, and im sure twenty10 isnt saying that either, but to base his value at $750k because his played origin is silly. Yes he is a good player, no doubting that, but at $750k you want a Sam Burgess or a SBW type player.
Merrin is worth, at a maximum, $550k per year. Packer is a NZ rep and we got him for $350k, over 3 years, yes we got lucky, but we've got him, we can spend $400k on another forward and get 2 forwards for Merrin. Its not all doom and gloom cause Merrin left.
Soward left we replaced him, and at a cheaper cost to us then what penrith reportedly paid for him.
B.Moz, its too early to tell yet, but he scored 14 tries last year, i can see nabuli scoring that if not more. Time will tell.
Merrin is a loss, but not a "un replaceable" loss, Packer alone will fix the loss of Merrin imo.

 

[Jubileeboy]

Klemmer at $350 for 3 years was where we should have been sniffing around.
If Merrin's getting $750, he's just won lotto but I still don't believe it unless it includes rep bonuses, incentives and TPA's.

 

[possm]

Making the decision of not paying overs for Merrin is only OK if the Dragons replace him with someone of similar talent and worth to the team.

Over the past few years we let some good forwards go only to replace them with players that were of less talent and less worth to the team. Now with Mulholland involved in the recruitment and retention process, I believe there will be a greater focus on adding value and quality to our squad.

I really hope that the Dragons pickup a top line prop to replace Merrin. We don't need a Docker or any other backrower, we just need a top line prop to complement our current pack. In 2016 I would like to see a prop rotation of:

Packer
O'Brien
Rose
.......... A new top line prop.

Backrow rotation of:
Frizell
Thompson
Creagh - lock
De Belin
Garvey - secondrow / hooker

I believe the above pack would hold their own with most and could well prove to be a winning combination under a good coaching staff.

So you can see that if our forwards play to their best this year, there is not a lot of chane needed to transform our team to one that sits in the top four of the competition. Really, I think we will have the right squad so it will bup to the coaching staff to develop the right game plan each week and ensure the players are in the right frame of mind to play at their best.

 

[Puff2010]

A good post and I agree.

 

[Kuro]

Agreed with most, time to move on. What's done is done.

Wish Merrin the best, he really scored himself a deal.

 

[Craig93]

Beau scotts played a fair bit of origin... so has ryan hoffman, so has tony williams, doesnt make them $750k per year players.
Luke lewis is picked in origin ahead of merrin any day of the week, the panthers happily let him go, same with jennings.
Im not saying merrin isnt a good player, and im sure twenty10 isnt saying that either, but to base his value at $750k because his played origin is silly. Yes he is a good player, no doubting that, but at $750k you want a Sam Burgess or a SBW type player.
Merrin is worth, at a maximum, $550k per year. Packer is a NZ rep and we got him for $350k, over 3 years, yes we got lucky, but we've got him, we can spend $400k on another forward and get 2 forwards for Merrin. Its not all doom and gloom cause Merrin left.
Soward left we replaced him, and at a cheaper cost to us then what penrith reportedly paid for him.
B.Moz, its too early to tell yet, but he scored 14 tries last year, i can see nabuli scoring that if not more. Time will tell.
Merrin is a loss, but not a "un replaceable" loss, Packer alone will fix the loss of Merrin imo.

Did we get packer?

 

[st.phil]

Did we get packer?

yep - got him a house in the gong too

 

[southslavia]

Don't know what everyone's on about, Merrin will do great in Penrith.

It's about realizing potential, as opposed to a team relying on you when you're not ready. coaches like Cleary and Bennett get players to play well for them, or fit well in their system. Merrin will do very well under the Panther's system, under Cleary and Gus. Is he $750k a year player? On his own perhaps not but better believe they will be saying he is when he wins a premiership with the Panthers. Not only that, Merrin is yet another quality player to worry about from that side, which already has strong individual weapons but also gels well as a TEAM.

am sad to see him go, but Merrin at the Dragons is a weaker Merrin than the one at the Panthers. For now, it's how it is. I hope we can be in a position in the next 2 years where our system makes players better, and not the other way around. Good luck to him, I won't be looking forward to going up against the Panthers

 

[The Nick]

At $750k Merrin better turn up ready to play his best football. Fans will remember that Jennings and Lewis were deemed to be paid overs and they certainly weren't getting paid $750k.

If Penrith suffer a lull during the 2016 season and beyond, Trent Merrin will bare the brunt of it.

 

[jenninga]

Did we get packer?

Just waiting for the stomp of approval from the NRL.:sarcasm:

 

[TheLithgowDragon]

Now Merrin and Soward can pick up where they left off - watching each other's backs(side)

 

[saints4me]

Just waiting for the stomp of approval from the NRL.:sarcasm:

Another classic!!

:lol: :lol:

 

[choppa071]

Are you sure that is what they are saying. I think the main topic that he is not worth the money that Penrith are paying for him & I agree with their feelings.
Good luck to him but I am sure we can come up with a better buy for bucks.

^^^^^ making sense Karuah

 

[rasaint]

Look Trents gone and I would be paying over $450 k for him. There must be quite a chunk of TPA? Yes a good player granted.

I notice talk of Cleary system blah blah. That young fullback for the Panthers carried them IMO last year. Cleary is like any coach including Wayne Bennent. You have good years and lean years. He has got the Warriors and Panthers to top finals footy and then very average to poor seasons over the past decade.

You must have the cattle in the roster. I do not think Mary has a finals playing roster yet. Anyway I will support and stay optimistic, hope we can make the 8 and win some good games.

 

[bottle]

Are you sure that is what they are saying. I think the main topic that he is not worth the money that Penrith are paying for him & I agree with their feelings.
Good luck to him but I am sure we can come up with a better buy for bucks.

Many of you probably aren't aware that this bloke is a fan of some 55 years standing, and was the first Red V member.
Unfortunately you will no longer be granted the privilege of reading the posts of one of the most impassioned of fans. Not his choice. It's a f**king disgrace.

 

[BennyV]

Many of you probably aren't aware that this bloke is a fan of some 55 years standing, and was the first Red V member.
Unfortunately you will no longer be granted the privilege of reading the posts of one of the most impassioned of fans. Not his choice. It's a f**king disgrace.

Not sure what to think of this...

 

[bottle]

Not sure what to think of this...

Not sure what you mean, but when a bloke gets a'holed for being a passionate supporter it's a bad thing.