Poor Retention and Recuitment

[Pierced Soul]

over the past few years the retention and recruitment of players has been atrocious. from once being regarded as the 'team that never lost a player it wanted to keep' to now struggling to hold players, whoever is in charge of this area needs a kick up the arse.

over three consecutive years we lost Webcke, Petero and Hannant. two of these were Australian reps and Benny had just ebcome an origin rep under us. in return we bought joel clinton and nick kenny came up through the ranks.

in the past few years we lost TC (retriement), Thorn (yawnion?), Stagg, Eastwood, Ennis, Berrigan, Boyd, Kemp and I'm sure a whole bunch more and replaced them with Wallace, Folau, Te'o, Setu, Winterstein, Sims and Gorrell.

SOme of the players we've bought have been good, some of the ones we lost were dwindling. We're now looking at losing Hunt.

So whats gone wrong? you cant blame the loss of Bennett cos players were leaving whilst he was here...

i look at a player like Eastwood and think he should never ever have been in a position where he plays against the broncos. i look at players like ennis and hannant who at their time with the broncos developed into great players and were let go. Is it an arrogance of the past where players used to take a pay cut to stay that the administration still thinks that way and isnt willing to pay for quality players?

CLinton has been terrible, Setu has proved a waste of he cap, Sims has struggled (admittedly his 09 is better than last year). the backs we've boguth have done well but the forwards struggle - why? te'o has shown glimpses of potential

there are juniors coming through with a lot of potential but there's a big gap between where they are now and how long it'll take them to be where they need to be.

maybe it's just me being melodramatic after 4 straight losses (the slumps started early this year!!) but we could be in for a couple of very lean years (i hope i'm proven very wrong)

 

[Broncos fan!]

Clinton has been fantastic this year! Terrible last year though.
The loss of K for next year though will be massive.

 

[Dazzat]

Good point PS and it's becoming increasingly obvious that things have changed over the last few years.

You can probably point to the emergence of the Titans and the Cowboys as a major contributor of the Broncos losing a lion's share of the up-and-comers.

This has also affected us acquiring the "returning home" Queenslanders, like we did with the likes of Peter Jackson, Dale Shearer and Trevor Gilmeister in the past. William Zillman, for example, wanted to return 'home' from Canberra but went to the Titans. Matt Rogers and Luke O'Dwyer could be included in that lot.

Cyril O'Connell's reduced role at the club and subsequent passing is also a major contributor to new blood coming into the system from country areas.

So that's RECRUITMENT and explains that, but player RETENTION is the concern. No club could lose the talent the Broncos have in the past three years, starting with Civ, and hope to have continued success.

A LOT HAS BEEN SAID ABOUT HOW GREAT THE BRONCOS SYSTEM IS, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN A THING IF PLAYERS LEAVE, TAKING WITH THEM THE IMPROVEMENT THEY HAVE ENJOYED!

Something is NOT working at the moment.

 

[hellteam]

I remember reading an article about how a beaming Ben Hannant got the big money contract at the Bulldogs last year.

The gist of the article was pretty much how was grateful that the Broncos signed him up, showed faith in him, developed him into an Origin player etc.... and because of this he was offered big money to leave to another club.

This article pissed me off. We have done this with other players too such as Ennis. What's the point in developing them if as soon as they become a good player they just leave to get more money??

In the past we could rely on players wanting to stay in Brisbane but it seems like we can't anymore. I think this is more then just a Broncos problem. Players seem to be more 'greedy' these days and willing to go for more money.

Basically, the NRL needs to step in and create some kind salary cap exemption (or something like) for teams that develop players becasue it is just getting ridiculous...

 

[Dazzat]

In the past we could rely on players wanting to stay in Brisbane but it seems like we can't anymore. I think this is more then just a Broncos problem. Players seem to be more 'greedy' these days and willing to go for more money.

Basically, the NRL needs to step in and create some kind salary cap exemption (or something like) for teams that develop players becasue it is just getting ridiculous...

You're right ... and I believe that it is financially responsible for the NRL to look at this.

This 'revolving door' trend that is developing will wear thing with fans and affect attendances. Why go to games when your favourite players are no longer your favourite players?

I believe lack of player loyalty will soon transfer to fan loyality.

 

[Pierced Soul]

i'd be curious as to the amount paid for ennis and hannant by the dogs, no doubt it was more but was it significantly more? i rememeber reading that one of them wanted 175K which in the big scheme of thinsg for that calibur of player isnt a lot, and maybe the broncos thought they'd stay for much less. I also remember reading that the day after hannant spoke to the broncos about doing a backflip ala luke lewis

in terms of 'developing' players gotta remember both hannant and ennis came from other clubs beforehand. I'm more concerned about a player like eastwood leaving. Taylor's leaving for a shot at first grade and we replaced petero with clinton and sims....

personally i think the long service allowance needs to occur for ALL players who ahve spent more than x amount of years at a club regardless of whether it's toyota cup, qld/jim beam and first grade. i also think after several years e.g 3 years of first grade, players developed through the system get a percentage off their payments in regards to the cap.

 

[Dazzat]

The Toyota Cup puts every club on equal footing ... period of "service to a club" can be measured from Toyota Cup debut, as opposed to feeder club or some other vague recruitment system where players are signed with a club, but play in another competition.

I know its been argued before, but this system you suggest PS may also stop older players like Sailor going to union, and may definitely help with the player exodus to England/France.

 

[ME SO HORNBY!]

Relax guys... 1 lean year out of 20 aint going to kill yous. Take a step in my shoes. Was born in 1988 and my dragons havnt won a premiership in my lifetime. The Broncos in that time have won 6 hahaha. Id be happy to take one LOL. Hope you guys get out of your drought soon.

 

[Cockadoodledoo]

Hannant is on $350K per year.. Almost offset the $400k SBW was on.. With the $450k freed up by Mason they signed Kimmorley, Josh Morris, Ennis, Gordon, Stagg, Hodgson and Eastwood.

 

[spartan]

A cracking thread that deserves more attention.
Not a lot of point in having the best back line in the nrl when you have the worst set of forwards is there.
I'm a bit confused that a club like the broncos can be so misguided when it comes to player recruitment and retention.Spending all your salary cap on a few eggs in the basket has backfired somewhat wouldn't you say.

 

[badav]

Absolutely the retention and recruitement has been very poor in the last 2 years. Almost all the players we let go are doing very well elsewhere

Eastwood
Ennis
Stagg
Hannant
Kemp (maybe not doing so well)

and all our buys are sucking

Clinton
Sims (QLD cup?)
Gorrell (ugh... wtf?)
Marsh (QLD cup?)

add to that Setu & Teo havent stepped up at all.

 

[badav]

Not a lot of point in having the best back line in the nrl when you have the worst set of forwards is there.

Id be rapt if we had the best backline in there. The problem is it crap with Steve Michaels in there and Antonio Winterstein (who has great potential) with less than 20 games experience under his belt.

 

[spartan]

don't forget that webcke retired and civoniceva let as well,soon to be followed by dave taylor

 

[renouf]

Hannant is on $350K per year.. Almost offset the $400k SBW was on.. With the $450k freed up by Mason they signed Kimmorley, Josh Morris, Ennis, Gordon, Stagg, Hodgson and Eastwood.

That doesn't add up, Kimmorely would have to be on 300k alone, Ennis is 250-300 aswell.

 

[renouf]

I'm still pissed off about Greg Eastwood.. Bruno being the nice man he is just basically said yeah you can go.. no worries, we won't worry about next season, and then he ends up at the f**king bulldogs? Yeah nice work Bruno, ya dickhead.

 

[Bayside Bronco]

The silence from Cullen on this season's atrocious form is not acceptable. He is basically hanging Henjak out to dry when his own decisions on retention and recruitment have contributed significantly to the current desperate state we are in.

Time for some home truths and a change of attitude and direction across the board.

 

[Pierced Soul]

just like to add it was nice that 3 players who left last year won dally m's at their new club....

i dont care if we win the comp this eyar the retention and recruitment has been abysmal

 

[hellteam]

Yeah I guess it has been, but if we win the comp Bruno and co have done it right. Although I don't see how we can this year we had a far better team last year. I guess it is now or never though because next year's team will be weaker than this year's again.

Bulldogs 4 new recruits in team of the year, has that ever happened before? I doubt it.

 

[Pistol]

begs the question, if results arent going our way next year, we cant exactly ask Tunza to strap on his boots again. Our recruitment for next season has been shocking

 

[Broncos fan!]

The way I see it is the Broncos are preparing the club for the long term rather than the short term.
Young forwards for next year: Hala(19), lingwoodock(18), Lui(19), McGuire(19), Glenn(21) plus our new signings Gillett(21), Britt(20), Clayton(19) also to a lesser extent Dodds(20) and Spence(21) if they are still on our books next year. Also Te'o(22) and Setu(21) are still quite young. Also McCullough(19) is our future at hooker and Baptise(18) is a talent as well but I can't see him getting a shot while McCullough is at Hooker.

Asides from them the only other backups that we have that are older are Wapau, Williams and a few other blokes in the QLD cup who all have basically no first grade experience anyway.

Also I have heard rumors that we are looking at Timmy Natusch from the Knights who is also a young prop.

We also have quite a bit of young talent in the backline for the future.
Winterstein(21) and Yow Yeh(19) seem to have made the wings their own of late and hopefully they can keep impressing and stick around as they will be future stars.
Hoffman(21), Beale(19), Copley(18), Gagai(18) and BHunt(19) are all backups/fringe first graders but are being groomed to replace the likes of Lockyer, cutie etc. Also add Izzy(20) and Wallace(22) who are the future of the club. Hopefully Kemp can be added to this list soon.


Obviously the Broncos have a plan to produce our own stars through U20s and Qld Cup rather than throwing big $$ at players who are already big name stars (Folau asides). Obviously not all of these players are going to be big hits in the NRL and play like they have been in the lower grades but we will have to be patient and let them develop. Some we may have to bring along slowly like Taylor for example and some might be a hit straight away.

Basically in a nutshell what I am trying to say is we shouldn't get all worried and upset that we didn't sign someone like Matt Scott or Justin Poore for example. Sure it would be a good signing in the short term but look at all the prospects that we have for the years to come which will benefit us more in the long term. We may have to go through some tough times over the next few years (considering we don't sign a big name prop and make me look stupid) but hopefully in the future we will reap the benefits.

If we can manage to stay fairly injury and suspension free next year then I think we will go fairly well. Although if we get a few injuries in the front row we may just be seeing some of these young guns debut before expected.