Rumoured/Confirmed Signings and More Crap XVII

[Jake the snake]

3rd in number of hit ups for Manly this year (behind Starling and Lawrence and averaging nearly 8 per game and )
4th in tackles made (averaging 30 per game)
4th in All Run Metres (averaging 121 per game)

Watmough is definitely past it and we should just stick with Seffa instead.

Oh and by the way, Mannah made an average of 24 tackles per game and 119 metres per game.

I don't think anyone saying he's past it. I think people are concerned about the length of the contract and when the contract actually starts. IMO, 3 year deal starting from next season is ideal. Anything longer is a bit much for his age.

 

[Noise]

Exactly. He makes plenty of metres (often because he makes plenty of runs) but he rarely 'bashes it up' by night, afternoon or any other time of the day. He picks his runs and targets spaces-not-faces with his speed and footwork. His leg drive does the rest.

And this is exactly what we need. A lot of our forwards just love to run at merkins.

 

[emjaycee]

Because in his prime he had speed, footwork, agility that allowed him to dominate even in the origin arena. Nowadays he's barely noticeable when it comes to SOO and he's a shell of his former self even at club level. I wouldn't pay a player 600-900k to bash it up all night when we have other players who can offer the exact same thing for a fraction of the price and he's not exactly getting any younger.

So let me get this right. Here is a 31 year old former great player who is at the back end of his career and has started to pickup injuries, right?

And we are willing to pick him up for around $650 000 dollars for next season and keep him on for at least 4 years. But we probably will not be able to fit him in at that price for next year, the year he turns 32, so will backend this contract for the following years, when this guy turns 33 and beyond.

And a bunch of you guys have no issue with that???

Lets see, would for example under the current admin, Penrith do that? You know the team that purged Luke Lewis for example, who was very much in the same situation as AW is right now, that being over paid and under value due to age and injury concerns??? The team that everyone is being blown away by how good they are and we could only dream of ever emulating. Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?...

The head line may not be true for next year, but unfortunately it may well be close to true for 2016 and only the real dopes will NOT believe it.

Now it looks as though it is done and no amount of whining will change it, so next year we will have at least 2 out of 3 over paid under performing high income turkeys on our books, in Watmough & Hoppa. That's just peachy.

When if we played our cards right, we could have had a real good shot at Trent Merrin. Hmmm....Great going Parra. What an inspiration to us all. Seams as though we really have turned the corner.

F**K me!!!

I don't think anyone saying he's past it. I think people are concerned about the length of the contract and when the contract actually starts. IMO, 3 year deal starting from next season is ideal. Anything longer is a bit much for his age.

See above quotes.
Oh and I agree, year 4 IF it exists is a risk but probably one we had to take to get years 1-3.

 

[Eelementary]

Who says Merrin would have joined us anyway?

Who says we didn't approach him and he knocked us back?

Fact is we are getting Choc, and yes - he's getting old and a long contract is a risk.

But even if he doesn't stay on the paddock much, he's a born winner, and he can teach our young pack a hell of a lot more than Merrin could anyway. Choc has TWO Premiership rings, almost three hundred games of First Grade NRL and countless Kangaroo and Blues caps to his name.

Welcome, Anthony.

 

[Eelementary]

Because in his prime he had speed, footwork, agility that allowed him to dominate even in the origin arena. Nowadays he's barely noticeable when it comes to SOO and he's a shell of his former self even at club level. I wouldn't pay a player 600-900k to bash it up all night when we have other players who can offer the exact same thing for a fraction of the price and he's not exactly getting any younger.

I don't know, mate.

I didn't rate Gower, but he proved me wrong this year.

Having said that, if Gower ends up half the player Watmough has been for years, then David is going well.

 

[Eelementary]

3rd in number of hit ups for Manly this year (behind Starling and Lawrence and averaging nearly 8 per game and )
4th in tackles made (averaging 30 per game)
4th in All Run Metres (averaging 121 per game)

Watmough is definitely past it and we should just stick with Seffa instead.

Oh and by the way, Mannah made an average of 24 tackles per game and 119 metres per game.

Exactly. He makes plenty of metres (often because he makes plenty of runs) but he rarely 'bashes it up' by night, afternoon or any other time of the day. He picks his runs and targets spaces-not-faces with his speed and footwork. His leg drive does the rest.

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

...and he brings the needed bit of mongrel, without being a complete f**khead.

At least 31% of his value to us is in what we hope he will contribute to the rest of our pack.

 

[hindy111]

Mannah will struggle to make our starting team IMO mid next year.I don't rate the powder puff.

Watmough will be decent for the next two years I would say.Than after that ordinary.

 

[emjaycee]

...and he brings the needed bit of mongrel, without being a complete f**khead.

At least 31% of his value to us is in what we hope he will contribute to the rest of our pack.

Sorry, I don't agree.
I think it is more like 37.35% of his value but let's not split hairs. :lol:

 

[emjaycee]

Mannah will struggle to make our starting team IMO mid next year.I don't rate the powder puff.

Watmough will be decent for the next two years I would say.Than after that ordinary.

Who would be your starting pack in this case?

 

[The Engineers Room]

Remember when Penrith signed Civoniceva? I think they are receiving the benefit now of his experience on their younger forwards.

We need someone that is going not going to keep pushing when things go against us and not give up. Maybe that is Watmough. We have a young squad and our forwards are the most inexperienced. I like Mannah but he doesn't have experience in rep and finals games that a player like Watmough does.

Personally I would have gone for someone else but I can see the reason for Watmough.

 

[The Engineers Room]

Our front row is still very soft and lacks the skill of other packs. Would love to see us go for Josh McGuire or someone similar.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

We won't be able to afford any more props for next year. Mannah, Jnr Paulo, Gower, Allgood, Lussick, Mossop, Wicks (maybe), and Terepo.

Mannah is a good starting prop. Gets back early to take good hit-ups, rarely gets put on his back so a quick play the ball is inevitable, and he's very strong in defence. He was our #1 prop this year, he'll be our #1 prop next year and will be close to it again in 2017 along with Junior Paulo.

Although it'd be nice if he had an angry face, he'd obviously play better if he didn't smile all the time.

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Sorry, I don't agree.
I think it is more like 37.35% of his value but let's not split hairs. :lol:

You might be right. But I'm 104% sure that this signing is a better one than (Matt Ryan + D Harrison + Lussick combined).

 

[DOGS AND EELS!!!]

I strongly doubt that is why we are signing him at all

He's not as fast and agile any more. I hardly see him making those clean breaks nowadays and that I would put down to him being past it. He's getting older and as time goes on he'll be used more and more as a third prop.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

There's another one saying he's past it. If he's past it, our forwards will never be. He made Origin this year, none of our forwards did. Watmough is a much better option than what we had this year in Sef Paulo.

 

[DOGS AND EELS!!!]

I don't know, mate.

I didn't rate Gower, but he proved me wrong this year.

Having said that, if Gower ends up half the player Watmough has been for years, then David is going well.

I'd be shocked if he accomplishes half of what Watmough has. In his prime Watmough was amazing, I'd never forget that one night when he ran rampant in Brisbane all over QLD. He was made for the big stage but nowadays I wouldn't have in any of my rep teams. Players like Gallen last a bit longer mostly because his game is based around his strength in the contact situation, where as players like Watmough and Lewis are more to do with skill, speed and agility. Speed and agility peek in your mid 20's and decline after whereas strength declines around 35.

 

[DOGS AND EELS!!!]

There's another one saying he's past it. If he's past it, our forwards will never be. He made Origin this year, none of our forwards did. Watmough is a much better option than what we had this year in Sef Paulo.

No doubt about that. He's still a good player, I believe he has aged but still has a lot to offer but I just don't think we should have signed him for so long.

 

[DOGS AND EELS!!!]

Fair has got nothing to do with it. What determines his price is the salary cap (including expected increases) as well as how much other players are getting. Merrin will get $2.5M over three years, easily. Over four years he would probably expect (and get) close to $3.5M. He is a franchise quality middle forward, and young enough that he will almost certainly continue to improve. That pushes his price up, especially in later years (2017 and later).

Do you really think he'd be getting paid 800-900K per season?

 

[Bigfella]

We've wasted a lot of time when it's basically a Bulldogs supporter and a souths fan bagging the signing.