Rep Players

[Knight Vision]

BJ has a knee injury apperently.

oK now I understand. He has been one of the form centres

 

[Zoidberg]

I think ATM BJ is too unreliable with penalties and stuff ups to get an origin shot.

 

[Belly007]

Congrats to all players that made rep sides.

Not sure if this has been posted or not, but the NSW U/20 team has been selected...and with our boys on top of the table....I can't help but wonder how we only get two outside backs in the team

PLAYER CLUB Clinton Gutherson Manly Warringah Sea Eagles Jake Mamo * Newcastle Knights Sione Mata’utia * Newcastle Knights Isaah Yeo * Penrith Panthers Alex Johnston South Sydney Rabbitohs Mitchell Moses Wests Tigers Luke Brooks Wests Tigers Matt Lodge Melbourne Storm Kaysa Pritchard Parramatta Eels Jake Trbojevic Manly Warringah Sea Eagles Jakiel Mariner Sydney Roosters Adam Elliott * Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Jack Bird & St George-Illawarra Dragons Pauli Pauli Parramatta Eels Dean Britt * Melbourne Storm Rhys Kennedy * Melbourne Storm Euan Aitken * St George-Illawarra Dragons

 

[Joker's Wild]

Do we have a tonne of Kiwis in the side? That would explain it

 

[Belly007]

Do we have a tonne of Kiwis in the side? That would explain it

Not sure....but then I would ask...whats QLD's excuse??

 

[aqua_duck]

Do we have a tonne of Kiwis in the side? That would explain it

There's 3 kiwis: Tapine, Daniel Levi and Pride Petterson Robati, Chance Peni is from WA. Luke Yates was abit unlucky not to get a nod for NSW and I'm shocked Harry Pondekas didn't nap a bench spot for Qld. Having said that a lot of our team are only in their first year of eligibility, from memory only Mamo, Feeney, Pakau, Tapine and Fitzgibbon are ineligible next year. Sione Mata'utia made the team despite being only 17 which is some feat

 

[perverse]

God, how good is Sione going to be? I've probably only seen him play twice, and he was solid if not a little underwhelming... but geez he's having an accelerated career thus far.

I really ask this question in honest, how good is this guy? By all reports he's the second coming of Tahu.

 

[aqua_duck]

God, how good is Sione going to be? I've probably only seen him play twice, and he was solid if not a little underwhelming... but geez he's having an accelerated career thus far.

I really ask this question in honest, how good is this guy? By all reports he's the second coming of Tahu.

I might be abit biased as I'm friends with his manager and started monitoring his career when he was dominating Harold Mathews (under 16's) when he was 14. I rate him as good a junior prospect as Will Hopoate at the same age, his junior credentials are unrivalled (player of the tournament at under 15's Australian schoolboys level, NSW rep at 16's and 18's, Australian schoolboys captain last year. What's most impressive about these feats is that he's done most of it playing a year up.

 

[perverse]

Yeah, that's what really catches my eye about him... he's not just a decorated junior, we have plenty of those not kick on with every crop we cultivate. He is dominating competitions well above his age bracket. It's very impressive and I can't wait to see when he does push his way through to firsts.

I hope he doesn't end up as a junior that bides his time in the lower grades, stuck behind our backline... and then moves on like Kev did. I hope we're able to fend off rival clubs and their chequebooks, too. The Roosters don't mind throwing big dollars at unproven juniors, and there's a few other clubs in that category too.

 

[Johns Magic]

Hard to swallow that we have three more years of Uate after this. I am not a hater of his but he is eating up a lot of cap and getting in the way of kids coming through now.

McManus two years after this too.

One more year til we see the back of Boyd hopefully. I am a hater of his.

Gagai, Sione, Leilua and Mamo are all must keeps IMO. I would like to see both Gagai and Mamo trialled at fullback. Gagai has the hands to make it work but Mamo has the speed.

 

[Nuffy]

The real issue is that we aren't willing to cut our losses with recruitment mistakes like a lot of other clubs do.

We'll hang onto Uate until the bitter end now and probably give him another contract.

Uate, jimmy mac, Gids and Boyd should be moved onto in an orderly process.

 

[ryana87]

The real issue is that we aren't willing to cut our losses with recruitment mistakes like a lot of other clubs do.

We'll hang onto Uate until the bitter end now and probably give him another contract.

Uate, jimmy mac, Gids and Boyd should be moved onto in an orderly process.

Jimmy mac?!?!?.... Surely you jest

 

[Rod]

It's certainly ironic that we are complaining that we can't sign players and yet some of the players we have managed to hold on to that a lot of other clubs would kill for, we immediately want to flick whenever they're not in their absolute best form.

 

[Johns Magic]

It's certainly ironic that we are complaining that we can't sign players and yet some of the players we have managed to hold on to that a lot of other clubs would kill for, we immediately want to flick whenever they're not in their absolute best form.

Ironic would be complaining about signing players and then watching two out-and-out superstar local juniors walk away because we don't give them a go ahead of overpaid, under performing players.

 

[mozza91]

It's certainly ironic that we are complaining that we can't sign players and yet some of the players we have managed to hold on to that a lot of other clubs would kill for, we immediately want to flick whenever they're not in their absolute best form.

It's a youth thing. Anyone younger is automatically considered better even if they are playing in a much weaker competition.
Gidley is past his best obviously but has been quite good, as has Clydesdale. I'm happy with that rotation.
Boyd didn't even play that badly on Saturday, it's his attitude that most people have a problem with (and rightly so).
McManus & Uate should definitely be the first choice wingers. As good as Mamo is & is going to be he's still pretty green & did struggle to get involved on the weekend.

 

[Johns Magic]

It's a youth thing. Anyone younger is automatically considered better even if they are playing in a much weaker competition.
Gidley is past his best obviously but has been quite good, as has Clydesdale. I'm happy with that rotation.
Boyd didn't even play that badly on Saturday, it's his attitude that most people have a problem with (and rightly so).
McManus & Uate should definitely be the first choice wingers. As good as Mamo is & is going to be he's still pretty green & did struggle to get involved on the weekend.

It's not a youth thing.

When Uate signed his current contract he was a f**king rockstar. Where has that pace and power been the last 12 months? Is it not possible he has lost the explosiveness that made him what he was? Do you think we would've agreed to pay him 500K a year for what he currently offers us? I am not leading the campaign to get rid of him at all but he has become disappointing and losing great juniors because of his contract will be even more disappointing.

Do you really think we get marquee player value out of Gidley? He is either on the sidelines or generally struggling to be even a first-grade standard player. Yet he is on the same money you would reserve for a strike weapon or a top quality forward. I don't think anyone else in the universe thinks we get value out of this contract.

McManus I have no problem with.

 

[Rod]

Uate's poor form has been exaggerated, sure he had a slow start to last year, but by halfway through he was playing a lot better than most on here remember.

That's not to say he was or is earning his paycheck, but getting worked up about losing promising juniors becausr of his pay packet, when most of us agree we have cap space coming out of our ears, is a getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

 

[Johns Magic]

Uate's poor form has been exaggerated, sure he had a slow start to last year, but by halfway through he was playing a lot better than most on here remember.

That's not to say he was or is earning his paycheck, but getting worked up about losing promising juniors becausr of his pay packet, when most of us agree we have cap space coming out of our ears, is a getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

Boyd, Uate, McManus, Leilua, Gagai, Mamo, Sione.

Seven doesn't fit into five.

I'm not arguing that Uate's money will be the reason we lose juniors. But it is of course a factor when considering who you choose to stay and go.

I would love nothing more than to see Uate get back to what he was but I'm thinking his young years were his best. He has slowed down a bit.

 

[mozza91]

I wouldn't say we're getting value for money out of Gids, but if he's the marquee player & a long serving player surely he shouldn't be on huge amount under the cap considering the allowances teams get for those type of players?

 

[perverse]

I wouldn't say we're getting value for money out of Gids, but if he's the marquee player & a long serving player surely he shouldn't be on huge amount under the cap considering the allowances teams get for those type of players?

This is such a flawed argument. Long serving player allowance and marquee allowance are still "under the cap" - they are a part of the salary cap. If we weren't spending those on Gids, we could be spending more of it on Mullen at the very least - if not a few other of our blokes - and it would free up other money under the cap to work with. There is no "free ride" for any player under the salary cap. Gidleys salary is a waste no matter which way you cut it. It's ~$450k that we could be spending on a a quality player.

Seriously, I see this argument come up so often on LU and I wonder how much people really think before they type.

There's a few blokes in the NRL who are a bigger waste of money, T-Rex comes to mind and Campese is right up there... but Gids is in the very upper echelon of players who are wasting their teams salary cap compared to the performances they put in on the field.