Revealed: The full extent of the Knights salary cap woes

[perverse]

You only have to look at the way Canberra has turned itself around to know that it's possible. 3 years ago players were jumping ship from that club and they couldn't sign anyone (not to mention players kept back flipping on contracts) and were near the bottom of the table. Now they're a team stacked with quality players and they're sitting in the top 4.

The Sharks are another example of this, they picked up a couple of wooden spoons a few years ago and had no money and there were rumours that they weren't using all of their cap (sound familiar?) and people were even talking about relocating them, but they're now a top 2 team that is chock full of good players and they didn't have any problems signing quality players last year.

There's 2 examples of other teams who were both absolute basket cases who have been through a couple of really rough patches in recent years and it didn't look like they would come out of it but now look where they are.

This gives me hope that in the long run we'll come out of this a much stronger club. With all due respect to you if you don't believe this will happen and that the situation is truly hopeless then there's not much point in continuing to support this team, either support another team or watch another sport.

The thing is, this is out second or third attempt at a rebuild post-Johns with nothing to show for it except a single prelim appearance, which was an outlier. It's not that we're all moping around because we haven't won a premiership lately... We literally only have a few small periods of even being competitive post-Johns. The rest is just a mindless, numbing drone through rebuilds and off field dramas and whatever the f**k else we've had to deal with.

A lot more of us were in your boat during the Smithy years, but I don't know how you can find optimism when our club has shown that we can expect the lofty heights of competing for 8-12 position even if the rebuild succeeds. That is our track record without the best player possibly ever to lace a boot. Hell, even the last few years with him in the roster weren't real flash.

I feel like we should be at least getting a sense of the tide turning by now with Brown. The only player that has improved since he got here is Sione... and Sione may well have kept improving anyway, he's got a lot going for him. I really hope this is all a case of needing to completely destroy what was so we can create what will be... but I'm not confident about it, and I don't think it's at all a given that because other clubs have done it, we will too. Actually, that's really illogical, fantasy thinking.

 

[slotmachine]

The Sharks are in Sydney and the Raiders are rich. Two competitive advantages we sadly lack.

Even the 2013 run was a bit of a miracle. We actually should have missed the finals except the Panthers shat the bed for 80 minutes in Round 6.

 

[Nuffy]

The club keeps citing Cronulla and Penrith as clubs that went through rough trots and rebuilt themselves, I dont think the facts bear that out.

Cronulla got their spoon in 2014 after the supplements scandal and coach getting sacked, but they ran 5th in 2013 and then bounced back to 6th in 2015.

Do you really think we will bounce to 6th next year of before the end of the decade?

Penrtih also finished 2nd in 2010, and 4th in 2014 so they've had some success without closing the deal and even in their off years, they never won a spoon and you will recall their recent bad year they were decimated by injuries.

We are spinning like hell that we are following a well proven recent past and I dont believe the facts bear this out.

 

[Caped Crusader]

Something had to be done. We couldnt go on the way we were and imo, the sale of the club will go a long way to pointing us in the right direction along with Brown sorting out or cap. Selling to Tinkler was the right call but it was just the wrong purchaser given his steep decline $$ wise which had zero to do with us.

Cronulla during 2008-2011 didnt get any higher than 13th. Thats a shitty run in anyones book

Winning the spoon wont deter many players, the history of the comp shows that when you look at previous spoon winners and who they were able to attract.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

The problem with the Smith years is that the club lost its nerve under public scrutiny and didn't re-sign him to a longer deal which lead to Smith leaving before the job was complete.

Stone then stepped in and did an alright job as a stop gap, then Bennett came in and put all his chips on the table to try and win a comp and then jumped ship when his short term strategy failed. Then Stone gets his second crack at it and just wasn't up to it.

So we have no choice but to start from scratch which is essentially what Brown is trying to do. I agree that we've been through several rebuilds over the last decade and it may seem the same way again but in the past the club always tried to mask it with short term results, we'd come 9th-12th and they'd say that we're improving and that we're close to being a good team a lot of people probably believed it.

This time around there's no where to hide. This year is rock bottom for us, apart from being kicked out of the NRL there is no where we can go now but up.

Let's look at the future here, we've got Sione and Barnett who look like good long term prospects in the second row, we've got Ross who's got another 3 or 4 good years left in him, Denniss has done well given he's been so out of his depth, Daniel Saifiti look the goods as well. Levi is looking promising even whilst injured, Lamb looked solid given his limited time on the field and Mamo has shown decent improvement this year, then there's King who punched above his weight and should be full time next year, also I feel that Pauli has been pretty good all things considered.

You may not agree with me but I think we can build our club around those players listed above, maybe not all of them will kick on but we've got the basis of a good young team in there. We just need to sort out our permanent #1, 6 & 7 for the long term and get a couple of hard nosed front rowers with some experience to give us some go forward.

I'm probably more optimistic than most but I don't see what choice I have, I'll never stop supporting this team so I might as well be hopeful otherwise I would be better off not watching NRL at all as I don't think I can ever get myself this invested in another team.

 

[Caped Crusader]

I think Cogger has shown he is a future solid FGer too.

 

[Glendale]

I am of the opinion that Brown is creating a good club culture here. I think first and foremost that's what we needed the most out of Brown before the season started. Unlike the toxic atmosphere we've had dating all the way back to Hagan years, it appears this team works hard behind closed doors, the entitlement to a position is gone and they most of the time do try really hard out on the field. There have been times where I've been disappointed in their efforts, like second half yesterday, but it's mainly due to the fact they are severely outclassed.

I am a believer in this strategy we have. It's what we had to do and we are going about things in the right way so far. I don't care how long it takes, although I'd rather see it happen sooner rather then later, but I have got faith that if things work out that we will have a team that I am proud to support again sometime in the future.

The real worry is if it will actually work out or not... And as of right now, I am very very skeptical. If we can get our recruitment right over the next two or three years then I definitely think it will work. But thats a big 'if'. I honestly can't see us signing anyone at this point, and with no signings for next year and an even more inexperienced roster (losing Snowden, Smith, Rochow, T Sims, possibly Mullen) then we could be even worse. I don't think throwing all the young kids out there together with absolutely no older experienced professionals out there will work. I can't see the kids ever becoming solid firstgraders if they can't get help from solid first graders during their development. If we do manage to grab one or two experienced forwards next year who are real leaders and can show them the way, then I have faith that we'll come good. I just can't see it happening unfortunately, we'll get Rory and that'll be it.

I hope I'm wrong though.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

Focus earlier this year was on 2018. There's now a shift towards more steps being taken for 2017.
Surely we must have some cap space with those we are losing.
I reckon we need a bit of a cull in reserves. Those players that have had a reasonable dig at 1sts and have shown they won't cut it should be let go. We need reserves knocking on the door of playing 1sts.
We showed last year that a couple of old heads near retirement can give the reserves a boost. Ndaira and Newton were a big help.
I reckon we are getting a bit carried away with this cap thing. It doesn't make sense that we won't have a reasonable amount given the circumstances and who is leaving. Release of Stockwell and Uate will help. Snowden might be an issue if he intends another year or so in the game.
I'd put a bit more focus on building from the bottom up.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

The finger has been pointed at Bennett and his quick fix quest for a premiership.

When he departed the club at the end of 2014, the cap was already under severe pressure.

It annoys me how everyone is so protective of Hagans legacy....

He was the brains behind this clusterf*ck, yet the author bends over backward to find a scapegoat to pin it on.

Bennett did nothing for us, but he is not to blame for the Cap mess we have now

 

[slotmachine]

Tyrone f**king Roberts was on 400k a year under Bennett.

 

[macavity]

You seriously think Bennett, the ultimate control freak, had no control over cap matters?

Bennett, Hagan, Stone - the triumvirate of clusterf*ck.

 

[Glendale]

Tyrone f**king Roberts was on 400k a year under Bennett.

Tyrone was back-ended, Clydesdale was back-ended, Stockwell's back-ended, think Randell and Korbin might be as well... Anyone I missed?

I think we've seen that back-ended deals are not the way to go.

 

[slotmachine]

What is worse is that Hagan has a long and proud history of making scrubs millionaires.

He did it the first time at the knights, then he did it at the eels.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

I would trade a 600k Hodkinson for a 400k Roberts any day of the week.

 

[Knight76]

We did get the raw end of the stick with the Hodkinson deal. Here we are with little cap money to spend and we use it (wisely) to buy an established half, that has plenty of first grade and big game experience, rep honors etc. He turns out utter shite and is contributing to our cap dilema really by taking a spot we could have put to better use.

So, instead of securing a solid half to build a team around, we have another plodder in a crucial position. Can you imagine how differently things could be if we had a half that could actually play the role, create chances? Hodkinson with his frame should be attacking the line a lot more Andrew Johns style, get close to the line dummy step and go. He'd probably score a try the first time he did it just from the defense being in total shock that he didn't just shovel it along to the next person.

 

[slotmachine]

Hodko plays like a guy who can't walk up a flight of stairs pain free and has had multiple stem cell therapies on his knees.

If only that information was available to the brains trust of Hages, Stoney and Mids.

 

[Glendale]

Oh yeah that annoys me so much about our halves as well. How many times this season has Hodko taken the line on? Nothing else is working so have a go yourself mate, just try it. Remember when Tyrone Roberts used to run at the line? Scored some awesome tries and was really effective in 2013, helped us perfect the sweep play because we had the opposition in two minds about wether Tyrone was running it or not so Boyd was free to put away Jimmy and Leilua. They kind of inevitably figured out that it was all Roberts basically had and he just stopped doing it, he didn't run the ball at all for two seasons and god he was dire. Mullo is a complete mystery of a footballer really... How on earth has the guy not realised he's got such insane ability? Could have been one of the greats if he backed himself a little more, such a mental midget. He too has an under utilised running game.

Maloney is around the same age and price as Hodkinson and was available last season to sign... Another brilliant decision.

 

[Glendale]

Maloney loves a challenge, loves to prove himself, loves to change clubs and if he's still going strong in 2 seasons time I say we get him. He's a certified winner. Everywhere he goes he wins.

 

[macavity]

Maloney loves a challenge, loves to prove himself, loves to change clubs and if he's still going strong in 2 seasons time I say we get him. He's a certified winner. Everywhere he goes he wins.

We should have went after him rather than Hodko. I know why they didn't and it confuses and infuriates me.

 

[Caped Crusader]

Why didn't they go after Maloney?