Rumoured and Confirmed signings - Part 4

[Luke Bowden]

The drunk club captain asleep at the pokies was Jake Friend. Everyone here was quick to jump at it being Moylan and use it as a reason for him being gone.

Lets hope that's the Roosters excuse to get rid of him. He would be more handy for 3 years than Maloney would.

Surely they won't punt Friend.

 

[OldPanther]

I’m not so sure, unless they get rid of Maloney is his 3rd year.

Maloney is going to be on pretty similar money.

That's pretty much what I figured they'd do.

 

[franklin2323]

There’s always reasons, but some of them were wrong.

I mean Waterhouse was passed it, Elliott should’ve recognised that.

Do you remember the players on Elliott's Wishlist? I remember Jamie Lyon and Wing off it. Those 2 alone would of changed our team for the better.

The front office was a mess. Except for JT we get anyone we want now so no excuses. This roster fails hook and Griffin must go

 

[herbert henry1908]

That's pretty much what I figured they'd do.

Yeah I’m sure Gus will try, particularly if his form dips.

Maloney I’m sure could get a lucrative deal in super league, just a matter of if he wanted to move there.

 

[Pomoz]

Put it this way then.

He’s made more mistakes in the past 2 years than he did in his first 4. He’s slipping, he’s stale.

Gidley at least survived a few years, Payne was gone a few months later.

Yes, Gidley stayed a few years. Long enough to gather multiple wooden spoons, lose the most successful coach in NRL history and see the club taken over by the NRL. Payne left within a few months without achieving any of the Gidley milestones. In my view, Gus made a mistake in hiring Payne, but luckily he left quickly for some reason.......

 

[herbert henry1908]

Yes, Gidley stayed a few years. Long enough to gather multiple wooden spoons, lose the most successful coach in NRL history and see the club taken over by the NRL. Payne left within a few months without achieving any of the Gidley milestones. In my view, Gus made a mistake in hiring Payne, but luckily he left quickly for some reason.......

Payne isn’t Gus’ only recent bad decision.

Giving Whare a 5 year deal
Signing Peta Hiku
Not conducting a full search for a coach to replace Cleary
Appointing Moylan as captain

Less clear, but others I feel are mistakes;

James Tamou signing - particularly a 4 year deal
Griffin appointment, or at least the failure to bring in an attacking assistant coach.
Handling of the Moylan saga
Letting TMM walk


All stuff within the last 2 years, I don’t think there was anywhere near as many contentious decisions in his first 3-4 years.

Btw, Gidley may have been a muppet but he was much more a symptom than a cause. Losing Bennett wasn’t his fault. And the rebuild that caused the wooden spoons wasn’t his fault either, was necessary after the previous mismanagement by Tinkler and by extension Bennett. Uncle Wayne bowed to Tinkler’s win now demands and totally stuffed up their roster buying all older guys.

 

[Royce is King]

I cant work out the hate.... Griffin has taken over a team that played in a spoon off at the end of 2015. He has then taken the team to the finals 2yrs in a row.... winning finals games both yrs. He has promoted Nathan Cleary before his time.... even his dad is on record saying he thought Nathan would debut in 2018... and now he is the kid we want to build our club around.

Matt Moylan cops some tough love and spits the dummy.....so we replace him a current international, the same bloke who has won 2 comps.. but for some this is not good enough. No some people here think that if a player does not tow the line, but has a bit of ability you just sweep that under the carpet..... even more so if it happens to be the 9th Immortal in M. Moylan.

So the club extends the coachs contract.... any coach who has done what griffin has done would expect the same... but the same 4 or 5 people on here come out with the same boring shit week after week about the coach. Some of the griffin hate makes me laugh..... I think that a few of you really think you should be NRL coaches... e.g ' GRIFFIN HAS NO GAMEPLAN' ... yeh so a coach that has coached at 2 nrl clubs.... let alone all the lower grade jobs on the way to the top jobs.... so he coachs teams to finals without game plans?.... FFS thats dumb.

I also want to state I dont think the bloke is Jack Gibson either... I 100% agree our attack has to get way better next yr .. but Moloney staight away helps that... but griffin has to have more than just Maloney..... I think thats the most obvious thing about the team. The coach has 3 yrs to win a comp.... if he doesnt he will not and should not get another contract...... thats fair enough.

Honestly to the haters..... might be time to get your sharks membership, get your jerseys, and go watch the 9th immortal running around shark park....might put a smile on your dials.

 

[OldPanther]

Do you remember the players on Elliott's Wishlist? I remember Jamie Lyon and Wing off it. Those 2 alone would of changed our team for the better.

The front office was a mess. Except for JT we get anyone we want now so no excuses. This roster fails hook and Griffin must go

I completely agree. The club was a mess all round back then.

 

[OldPanther]

I cant work out the hate.... Griffin has taken over a team that played in a spoon off at the end of 2015. He has then taken the team to the finals 2yrs in a row.... winning finals games both yrs. He has promoted Nathan Cleary before his time.... even his dad is on record saying he thought Nathan would debut in 2018... and now he is the kid we want to build our club around.

Matt Moylan cops some tough love and spits the dummy.....so we replace him a current international, the same bloke who has won 2 comps.. but for some this is not good enough. No some people here think that if a player does not tow the line, but has a bit of ability you just sweep that under the carpet..... even more so if it happens to be the 9th Immortal in M. Moylan.

So the club extends the coachs contract.... any coach who has done what griffin has done would expect the same... but the same 4 or 5 people on here come out with the same boring shit week after week about the coach. Some of the griffin hate makes me laugh..... I think that a few of you really think you should be NRL coaches... e.g ' GRIFFIN HAS NO GAMEPLAN' ... yeh so a coach that has coached at 2 nrl clubs.... let alone all the lower grade jobs on the way to the top jobs.... so he coachs teams to finals without game plans?.... FFS thats dumb.

I also want to state I dont think the bloke is Jack Gibson either... I 100% agree our attack has to get way better next yr .. but Moloney staight away helps that... but griffin has to have more than just Maloney..... I think thats the most obvious thing about the team. The coach has 3 yrs to win a comp.... if he doesnt he will not and should not get another contract...... thats fair enough.

Honestly to the haters..... might be time to get your sharks membership, get your jerseys, and go watch the 9th immortal running around shark park....might put a smile on your dials.

At the very least they should have waited till next year to decide on the contract extension. Using 2015 as a measuring stick doesn't really count with the horrendous injury crises. Lastly he desperately needs help with the attack. Not a fan of his at all but we can do well if he gets help.

 

[mxlegend99]

I cant work out the hate.... Griffin has taken over a team that played in a spoon off at the end of 2015. He has then taken the team to the finals 2yrs in a row.... winning finals games both yrs. He has promoted Nathan Cleary before his time.... even his dad is on record saying he thought Nathan would debut in 2018... and now he is the kid we want to build our club around.

Matt Moylan cops some tough love and spits the dummy.....so we replace him a current international, the same bloke who has won 2 comps.. but for some this is not good enough. No some people here think that if a player does not tow the line, but has a bit of ability you just sweep that under the carpet..... even more so if it happens to be the 9th Immortal in M. Moylan.

So the club extends the coachs contract.... any coach who has done what griffin has done would expect the same... but the same 4 or 5 people on here come out with the same boring shit week after week about the coach. Some of the griffin hate makes me laugh..... I think that a few of you really think you should be NRL coaches... e.g ' GRIFFIN HAS NO GAMEPLAN' ... yeh so a coach that has coached at 2 nrl clubs.... let alone all the lower grade jobs on the way to the top jobs.... so he coachs teams to finals without game plans?.... FFS thats dumb.

I also want to state I dont think the bloke is Jack Gibson either... I 100% agree our attack has to get way better next yr .. but Moloney staight away helps that... but griffin has to have more than just Maloney..... I think thats the most obvious thing about the team. The coach has 3 yrs to win a comp.... if he doesnt he will not and should not get another contract...... thats fair enough.

Honestly to the haters..... might be time to get your sharks membership, get your jerseys, and go watch the 9th immortal running around shark park....might put a smile on your dials.

How does Maloney fix our attack? Yhe issue is no structure in attack. Maloney can be crafty at times, bhe isnt anywhere near the ganes best (Or Moylan) for creating tries and linebreaks.

At best you can hope his kicking game helps control games like Soward used to. But he's not going to magically ignite our attack in the opposition 20. If there's no structure there and no one running lines it wont change shit.

Carty and Kikau firing can potentially fix more than Maloney. A well timed offload from one of them doesnt require structure. Just someone lingering in support.

 

[Panfas]

The problem with our attack over the last 2-3 years has been the ' too many cooks' issue, and we are not patient with the ball. Cleary, well he is 19 and has still to learn how to manage the team in the final 20. Moylan sure as f**k is was not a patient player in attack.

Maloney IMO will be a calming influence on the team, and will be able to guide young cleary through the sets.

Maloney has a handy short kicking game too

 

[Pomoz]

Payne isn’t Gus’ only recent bad decision.

Giving Whare a 5 year deal
Signing Peta Hiku
Not conducting a full search for a coach to replace Cleary
Appointing Moylan as captain

Less clear, but others I feel are mistakes;

James Tamou signing - particularly a 4 year deal
Griffin appointment, or at least the failure to bring in an attacking assistant coach.
Handling of the Moylan saga
Letting TMM walk


All stuff within the last 2 years, I don’t think there was anywhere near as many contentious decisions in his first 3-4 years.

Btw, Gidley may have been a muppet but he was much more a symptom than a cause. Losing Bennett wasn’t his fault. And the rebuild that caused the wooden spoons wasn’t his fault either, was necessary after the previous mismanagement by Tinkler and by extension Bennett. Uncle Wayne bowed to Tinkler’s win now demands and totally stuffed up their roster buying all older guys.

I have no problem with most of those decisions. The trouble is, a lot of your criticism is based on how much we think those players are signed for. But we don't actually know. How much was Whare signed for? Tamou?

Gus has also shown that he can get people moved on if a signing doesn't work out how we want or the value isn't there. Hiku for example.

You don't like his handling of the Moylan saga, why? I think he has handled it professionally and not criticised Moylan's behaviour publicly. You may not like the outcome, Moylan leaving, but if Moylan want's to go as others have pointed out, he should go. If its because he doesn't like the coach, sacking the coach is a recipe for chaos. If enough players complain about the coach then fair enough, but Moylan is not bigger than the team.

I agree, Griffin should bring in an attacking coach but he did bring in Brandy to help with the halves and it did improve it to some extent. I agree, he should definitely get somebody for next year. Is that Gus or Hook's issue?

You are spot on about doing a proper search for Cleary's replacement. Even if the outcome is the same, the lack of process smacks of 'jobs for my mates' and is not a good look.

Which brings me to Gidley. An ex-player hired with no experience as an executive and put in as CEO. No proper search conducted. He then hires Stone as coach even though the most successful coach in NRL history wouldn't recommend him for the job. Gus made the same mistake but luckily it rectified itself quickly. I'm not sure how Gidley escapes criticism for what happened next. If you are saying the CEO isn't to blame, then you can't really criticise Gus either. Personally, I think the CEO's make a huge difference and should be held accountable. I include our "special consultant" Gus in that accountability as well.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

For someone who hates other posters repeating themselves, Royce sure does repeat himself a lot.

 

[herbert henry1908]

I have no problem with most of those decisions. The trouble is, a lot of your criticism is based on how much we think those players are signed for. But we don't actually know. How much was Whare signed for? Tamou?

I never once mentioned contract dollars, only lengths.

Gus has also shown that he can get people moved on if a signing doesn't work out how we want or the value isn't there. Hiku for example.

Yep. And I believe a high turnover of players is bad. Bad for team morale and bad for team cohesion

ou don't like his handling of the Moylan saga, why? I think he has handled it professionally and not criticised Moylan's behaviour publicly. You may not like the outcome, Moylan leaving, but if Moylan want's to go as others have pointed out, he should go. If its because he doesn't like the coach, sacking the coach is a recipe for chaos. If enough players complain about the coach then fair enough, but Moylan is not bigger than the team.

Several ways,

When the story first broke we had the club CEO saying something completely different to Gus.

Gus is also compromised by his role at ch9. He was forced on air, in front of a huge audience to deny the problems, and he clearly hadn’t coordinated a response with his ceo.

I also think it would’ve been possible to play a more diplomatic role, without the flat out denials that he’d be going anywhere.

I agree, Griffin should bring in an attacking coach but he did bring in Brandy to help with the halves and it did improve it to some extent. I agree, he should definitely get somebody for next year. Is that Gus or Hook's issue?

Buck stops with Gus.

In fact Gus was running a mini coaching clinic with the spine in the lead up to the finals, so he knows something is wrong.

You are spot on about doing a proper search for Cleary's replacement. Even if the outcome is the same, the lack of process smacks of 'jobs for my mates' and is not a good look.

There’s been reports of this jobs for the boys mentality extending to some land deals too.

Which brings me to Gidley. An ex-player hired with no experience as an executive and put in as CEO. No proper search conducted. He then hires Stone as coach even though the most successful coach in NRL history wouldn't recommend him for the job. Gus made the same mistake but luckily it rectified itself quickly. I'm not sure how Gidley escapes criticism for what happened next. If you are saying the CEO isn't to blame, then you can't really criticise Gus either. Personally, I think the CEO's make a huge difference and should be held accountable. I include our "special consultant" Gus in that accountability as well.

Gidley shouldn’t escape criticism, I’m just saying I think he was more a puppet than anything. Newcastle’s problems went much deeper than him.

 

[martielang]

People go on about the Payne appointment. It was a terrible appointment, agreed, but he was back out the door before he had unpacked his stuff. How has that had any lasting negative effect on our club?

As for the Tamou & Whare (especially), way to early to call those errors.

Most of the mistakes you talk of are completely subjective, not sure you can claim them as fact because most people won't agree with you.

 

[franklin2323]

People go on about the Payne appointment. It was a terrible appointment, agreed, but he was back out the door before he had unpacked his stuff. How has that had any lasting negative effect on our club?

As for the Tamou & Whare (especially), way to early to call those errors.

Most of the mistakes you talk of are completely subjective, not sure you can claim them as fact because most people won't agree with you.

Whare was good for NZ (although was ordinary opposition) Was good in week 1 of the finals too. So 2 out of his last 3 games have been good. Maybe he will kick on and we will see the best of him. He is only 26 afterall

 

[franklin2323]

I completely agree. The club was a mess all round back then.

No matter what your peeve is. No one can argue we are a mess just whether we are heading where we should be

 

[MrBlack]

Whare must be seen in perspective.

We don't know what he is costing us. You would have to think not too much.

Having a seasoned international like him around the club for the next 5 years is a good thing. I see him being more of a mentor in the next few years.

I can see what we are trying to do. We are a club that develops young talent. These guys need some senior players around them as part of that development.

We have guys like Merrin, Tamau, Whare and now Maloney.

With Tamau, you don't know what influence he is having off the field. RCG has gone to a whole new level this year, maybe Tamau has something to do with that. Same thing happened when we signed Petro. Tim Grant and Sam McKendry become rep players soon after his arrival.

 

[herbert henry1908]

People go on about the Payne appointment. It was a terrible appointment, agreed, but he was back out the door before he had unpacked his stuff. How has that had any lasting negative effect on our club?

As for the Tamou & Whare (especially), way to early to call those errors.

Most of the mistakes you talk of are completely subjective, not sure you can claim them as fact because most people won't agree with you.

The Payne appointment, like the lack of a proper search for a coach when Cleary departed, is indicative of a bigger problem.

No one has argued that Payne caused damage to the club. It’s the lack of due diligence. You can add in the land deal with Lou Zivanovic to that too.



And again, the error in the Tamou & Whare deals in their lengths, not the contracts themselves. Particularly for Whare, he wasn’t in demand, he’d just come back from two major injuries. How many centres are given 5 year deals?! seriously.



“Because most people won’t agree with you”

Talk about subjective.

 

[mxlegend99]

Whare must be seen in perspective.

We don't know what he is costing us. You would have to think not too much.

Having a seasoned international like him around the club for the next 5 years is a good thing. I see him being more of a mentor in the next few years.

I can see what we are trying to do. We are a club that develops young talent. These guys need some senior players around them as part of that development.

We have guys like Merrin, Tamau, Whare and now Maloney.

With Tamau, you don't know what influence he is having off the field. RCG has gone to a whole new level this year, maybe Tamau has something to do with that. Same thing happened when we signed Petro. Tim Grant and Sam McKendry become rep players soon after his arrival.

Doubtful. RCG is the only front rower to improve on last season and he's so young that it's more likely experience and confidence.

He has shown that potential long before Tamou arrived. In the 9s last year or the year before he looked terrific.

At the end of the day Mez and Tamou are supposed to be our forward leaders. Meanwhile RCG and Yeo are the ones busting their ass every week.

If Browne played Tamous minutes you would get the same results. He had maybe 4 games of his 26 where he looked good. And his first game in the 9s. Otherwise he was a step down from what Matagi/Akauolo were offering the year before. Our front row took a step backward aside from RCG.