Rumoured and Confirmed Signings Part2

[TheFrog]

Unless I'm mistaken, Austin was rated below Tom Humble at the end of 2013. Now Austin is in the running for Origin selection and Humble is playing park footy in Queensland.

Our livestock brains trust have done pretty well over recent years but this was not one of their better efforts.

 

[MaxPower]

Austin won't be the last to leave and go on to bigger and better things. Just the way it goes.

 

[mxlegend99]

Austin won't be the last to leave and go on to bigger and better things. Just the way it goes.

It shouldn't have went the way it did. A guy dominating lower grades while the guys in the same position above him play like shit and he never gets a decent chance to prove himself in first grade.

This was an epic fail from the start. The club stuck with shit players ahead of him and signed a bloke who had reached his peaks as a footballer years ago ahead of him. Wallace was an upgrade on Walsh and Burns, but a step backwards on a young Blake Austin.

Considering the difficulty we have in developing halves, letting a genuinely decent one go because you can't see his talent is unforgivable. None of our young halves have been given a fair go.

 

[Pomoz]

Let's not reinvent history. Austin never showed the form we saw yesterday when he played for Penrith. His defence was terrible and he didn't really set the world on fire in between bouts of injury. Let's not forget that the Tigers also released Austin. The club will always make mistakes about recruitment at times. If it was easy, every club would retain their juniors and there would be no second chances required for players because their clubs would turn them into first graders. It's all part of the circle of life in footy.

Let's see what happens to Austin and Graham over their careers before we start making out we lost superstars.

 

[chrisD]

Austin was the same player yesterday he has been for the last 3 seasons.

 

[franklin2323]

Austin was the same player yesterday he has been for the last 3 seasons.

Exactly. We just never gave him a chance to show it in 1st grade. He was never paired with Walsh for example. Austins great running and Walsh's only kicking would of gone well together

 

[franklin2323]

Let's not reinvent history. Austin never showed the form we saw yesterday when he played for Penrith. His defence was terrible and he didn't really set the world on fire in between bouts of injury. Let's not forget that the Tigers also released Austin. The club will always make mistakes about recruitment at times. If it was easy, every club would retain their juniors and there would be no second chances required for players because their clubs would turn them into first graders. It's all part of the circle of life in footy.

Let's see what happens to Austin and Graham over their careers before we start making out we lost superstars.

Austin wanted to go. Tigers had Moses and couldn't give him a run. Compare that to our lack of halves at the time and him getting 14 games or something in 3 seasons over various positions. The 2 aren't comparable

 

[betcats]

Its going to sting watching Austin go round for a while but im still glad he is doing well for himself. I was one who wasn't upset to see him leave us and didn't think he showed much during his FG time here. He was hampered by some inopportune injuries and didn't look like a half to me.

Anyway with our focus on the juniors again this will happen more often. You cant keep everyone and some will be let go who come back to haunt us, mistakes will be made.

EDIT: And thirteen games in 3 years in not exactly true. He debuted late in 2011 and played the last 2 games, started off the bench in 2012 and played 13 games then started the season in the halves in 2013 but got hurt early and was not seen again. I have bee wrong about him but i maintain he didn't do very well when he played in the halves for us.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

Benefit of hindsight. It was 50/50 when he left. You can't get them right every time.

No one forced us to sign an obviously limited Wallace for three years though. Nothing hindsight about that.

 

[Fibroman]

We have a terrible problem in the way we blood our young blokes at Penrith.

Look at what we've done with Cartwright. Barely wet behind the ears in first grade and we throw him into 5/8th? WTF.

We buggered up with Wade Graham. Should have given him another year in reserve grade and told him to put on 5kgs and slot him in the back row the next year.

 

[Pomoz]

I don't think we have a problem with how we blood young blokes at all. The system is pretty clear: Promote from u20's to NSW cup, play a few games and then back to u20's. Promote NSW to first grade, play a few games and then back to NSW cup. Rinse and repeat with the stay at the higher level a bit longer each time. The player gets a taste of how hard it is to compete at the higher level and then just as they are getting physically tired, they get a spell back at the lower grade. It's a great way to do it.

I agree we have not managed this well in the past with Austin, Moylan and Graham good examples of this. Do it too fast and you break their bodies (subject to individual physical characteristics - Cartwright, Yeo and RGC are huge and can cope a bit better than a lightweight, like a 19 year old Moylan), too slow and you limit their development. Moylan is an example of this.

But there is no point in focussing on the past failures. We have a different management team now and they seem to be doing things the right way. There will always be disagreement over what players are good enough, that won't ever change. We can't keep them all.

As for playing Cartwright, he has played in halves in the juniors a number of times, there was no reason not to try him. Half the team was in Nepean getting treatment. It was great for him to get experience ball playing at the senior level. Could we have played better with say Peachey or Will Smith there? Possibly, we will never know, but we didn't lose the game because of him.

 

[Pomoz]

And thirteen games in 3 years in not exactly true. He debuted late in 2011 and played the last 2 games, started off the bench in 2012 and played 13 games then started the season in the halves in 2013 but got hurt early and was not seen again. I have bee wrong about him but i maintain he didn't do very well when he played in the halves for us.

I don't think your recollection is wrong at all. He was very average. Nobody was going around saying he was the next big thing but they certainly whinged about his poor tackling. Mind you, he was being coached by ME and to be fair, very few players have improved under his tutelage.

Some players take longer to mature and it happens in every sport. There are countless examples of players rejected by soccer teams in the EPL when they are teenagers who then go on to have amazing careers somewhere else. Brad Fittler was brilliant at 16, stepped up to the higher level and just owned it.But what about Harry Sjeika? Tipped to be a superstar, we wailed when we let him go and now what? Do we wait and see if he is going to get better and come good when he is 24/25?

Unfortunately the salary cap makes player speculation almost impossible and means clubs have to be even more ruthless with who they keep.

 

[chrisD]

There's no whitewashing it, Austin dominated lower grades and was never given a proper run in first grade, if he had he'd be doing for us what he is doing for Canberra. Management f**ked up, luckily well timed injuries stopped them from f**king up with Moylan too.

Too far developed by the prior administration, stamped to be moved on.

 

[franklin2323]

EDIT: And thirteen games in 3 years in not exactly true. He debuted late in 2011 and played the last 2 games, started off the bench in 2012 and played 13 games then started the season in the halves in 2013 but got hurt early and was not seen again. I have bee wrong about him but i maintain he didn't do very well when he played in the halves for us.

Sorry I was wrong he played 16 games for us.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Austin

Centre, Bench, Halfback, 5/8th. Yet dominated at 6 in NSW Cup. Strange you promote someone and not give them a decent run in their position

 

[betcats]

"Things didnt quite work out there with a couple of injuries" Austin talking about his time here on the radio right now.

 

[chrisD]

He needed to be given a spot and stuck with, like Moses, Brooks, Milford, and our players like Blake, DWZ and Cartwright, his performances in lower grades and natural talent warranted that sort of chance. Instead we dicked him around as a fill in at various spots, didn't seem to know what size and where we wanted him, and ran with Walsh and Burns even when he was fit, especially annoying considering it was clear they were always going to (rightfully) move those two on. What would we have lost running Austin in the halves then?

 

[panthersam]

What do we gain by still talking about him two years and two clubs later?

 

[billypilgrimnz]

What do we gain by still talking about him two years and two clubs later?

What do we gain about talking about anything on a league messageboard? You think Cleary is monitoring us for ideas about selections and tactics, as long as we stick to the current squad?

 

[panthersam]

What do we gain about talking about anything on a league messageboard? You think Cleary is monitoring us for ideas about selections and tactics, as long as we stick to the current squad?

Of course not, I just see it pointless. Nobody was saying anything about Blake Austin when we were one game away from the grand final last season.

 

[Kilkenny]

I think we all agree it is a shame Blake Austin was not given more of an opportunity in his best position before he was allowed to leave. I am pleased he is making every post a winner with the Raiders.

This thread is about rumoured and confirmed signings so let's get this thread back on track.