Rumoured and Confirmed Signings Part2

[betcats]

Simmons was playing on the weekend.

Didnt play in the nsw cup final, Eto and Wes were the wingers.

 

[martielang]

I'd honestly be comfortable if we didn't sign anyone. RCG, Anderson, Latu and Spence are more then adequate front row secondary options. All have a heap of upside as well.

Excited to see how Chris Smith kicks on as well, quality player.

 

[soc123_au]

Wasn't Richo largely responsible for the incentive contracts that destroyed our last premiership?
Anyway Moss would be a loss. I hope Simmons hangs around another year for depth. If Wallace is done I think Moylan needs to move now.

Supposedly. We started to unravel when he left though. On and off the field.

 

[franklin2323]

I'd honestly be comfortable if we didn't sign anyone. RCG, Anderson, Latu and Spence are more then adequate front row secondary options. All have a heap of upside as well.

Excited to see how Chris Smith kicks on as well, quality player.

Emerging props are great. It's the established I have an issue with

 

[Pomoz]

Anybody who watched the NSW Cup GF would have been impressed by RCG and Anderson. They absolutely got stuck into a much larger Knights pack. RCG surprised me with his aggression and he looks like he could be a really good player once he fills out a bit. he is big enough to have offloads in his game with the right coaching.

 

[Sime_11]

Latu had a couple of good runs, some potential there as well

 

[franklin2323]

Anybody who watched the NSW Cup GF would have been impressed by RCG and Anderson. They absolutely got stuck into a much larger Knights pack. RCG surprised me with his aggression and he looks like he could be a really good player once he fills out a bit. he is big enough to have offloads in his game with the right coaching.

Yep. It's why I am no fussed with getting another prop

 

[kiwipete]

Yep. It's why I am no fussed with getting another prop

Anderson has been handling the big blokes all year in both NSW Cup and NRL when he got his chances late in the year. RCG is going to be better when he gets his fitness up and Andy Saunders has fit into the Cup side well in the past few weeks. I say we retire Kite early next season to make way for Anderson then phase Plummy out and bring RCG in. By the end of next season our front row rotation should be McHendry, Lats, Anderson and RCG with Saunders following them into grade the next year. Not the worst in the comp.

 

[franklin2323]

Anderson has been handling the big blokes all year in both NSW Cup and NRL when he got his chances late in the year. RCG is going to be better when he gets his fitness up and Andy Saunders has fit into the Cup side well in the past few weeks. I say we retire Kite early next season to make way for Anderson then phase Plummy out and bring RCG in. By the end of next season our front row rotation should be McHendry, Lats, Anderson and RCG with Saunders following them into grade the next year. Not the worst in the comp.

Throw in Chris Smith and Latu and we have promise up front. Wingers seem to be what we need

 

[chrisD]

Compared to our opposition up top (excluding Manly) a front row made up of any of those players is dead average.

 

[maple_69]

We can't have it all. Our talent is stacked in the backrow and outside backs. Our spine is strong. We've stacked our front row for a decade and where has it got us? As long as this mob can perform to the level they did for the last month, they won't be the reason we don't win a premiership. They also have Mansour and Soward to help out with field position and potential for Anderson and RCG to be dominant props next year.

 

[franklin2323]

The coach picking Plodders in the front row still got us to 4th. Imagine BMM/Anderson etc with a Backrow of Cartwright, Peachey and Taylor

 

[chrisD]

I disagree, Souths would tear our front row in two as it stands, the Roosters, Cowboys and Souths are as strong as us everywhere else and have dominant props, Anderson will never be dominant and RCG won't likely be either but isn't ready yet anyway. There's good reason Cleary is looking outside and hopefully Packer isn't the end of it.

 

[martielang]

The Bulldogs were also supposed to tear our front row in two and you could hardly say they did that. Kite being a 'plodder' was quality in his first stint.

I'd be happy with another addition up front, but at the end of the day, the guys we have coming through are more than handy. I can't see a reason why Anderson can't be dominate? He's been more dominant than any other front rower in NSW Cup and is only going to get better with experience. He is still relatively young for a FR.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

We can't have it all. Our talent is stacked in the backrow and outside backs. Our spine is strong.

I don't really rate our wingers as highly as most, and I think Idris is better out of the centres. To be considered stacked in the outside backs, we really need Blake and the Jennings brothers to come on, and for DWZ to show more this. he has. That's a lot of hope.


Beyond Soward, we are weak in the halves, unless Korosiau steps up, or Moylan makes a fist of it. Again, more hope.


Add that to an average front row and I don't think we get much beyond fourth again, and we'll struggle to match it with the big boys.

 

[kiwipete]

I disagree, Souths would tear our front row in two as it stands, the Roosters, Cowboys and Souths are as strong as us everywhere else and have dominant props, Anderson will never be dominant and RCG won't likely be either but isn't ready yet anyway. There's good reason Cleary is looking outside and hopefully Packer isn't the end of it.

So...we played the Roosters in a major final and their dominant props Hargreaves and Moa tore us apart?? Sorry I must have been at the wrong game. I watched Anderson turn Moa back from the tryline a couple of times, Hargreaves got one good shot on him which didn't bother him and he made as many metres per run as any of the other props in our rotation, and at 23 he is only going to get better given the opportunities next year.
RCG has improved every game and is still only 21 yrs old so lets be a bit patient with these guys, generally props are in their prime from 25 onwards so I think we'll be ok.

 

[chrisD]

So...we played the Roosters in a major final and their dominant props Hargreaves and Moa tore us apart?? Sorry I must have been at the wrong game. I watched Anderson turn Moa back from the tryline a couple of times, Hargreaves got one good shot on him which didn't bother him and he made as many metres per run as any of the other props in our rotation, and at 23 he is only going to get better given the opportunities next year.
RCG has improved every game and is still only 21 yrs old so lets be a bit patient with these guys, generally props are in their prime from 25 onwards so I think we'll be ok.

I was at the game where the Roosters stepped up and on the back of their forward charges Pearce strolled through our shattered line. And when Graham barged through the same. When have our props done that? Certainly not in our last two games against that quality of opposition, barely all season really.

I was there when the Roosters and dogs held their line against massive amounts of our possession partly because we had no middle penetration, the Moylan try is the only one that could be attributed to some good work in the middle, Plum's fast play the ball.

How about Klemmer taking three and four defenders to drag down most times compared to our props taking two on a good run? Younger than both Anderson and RCG, that to me is what a future dominant prop looks like. Anderson and RCG may have decent first grade careers, and hopefully offer more than we are currently running with, but if they were going to be stars I doubt they'd be stuck behind the likes of Plum and Latimore at this stage.

There was a clear uptick in our momentum up the middle when Mose came into the fg side and started running so destructively, and a clear decline this season since his departure. It is for mine by far the most obvious area in which we can improve, but see no-one presently on the books capable of filling that role next season. I'm glad Cleary is looking outside, and with the Packer interest and Mason rumours it seems he is thinking the same. Hopefully he has a plan B.

 

[martielang]

No middle penetration? The issue was we didn't use our middle penetration enough and went sideways. When we went up the middle we matched or bettered them every set.

I agree it would be an advantage to have a bigger body up front off the bench, but its hardly as huge an issue as people are making it out to be.

 

[chrisD]

We had plenty of settlers up the middle to try and draw in defence, it just doesn't work because our props are non threatening and their line remains stable, then we start going side to side looking for space unsuccessfully.

 

[franklin2323]

We had plenty of settlers up the middle to try and draw in defence, it just doesn't work because our props are non threatening and their line remains stable, then we start going side to side looking for space unsuccessfully.

yep. This is it. Though our backrow had not much either to be fair. Certainly why we struggled to score points at all stages throughout the season.