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Rumoured & Confirmed Signings - Part 5

maple_69

Bench
Messages
4,423
To’o is number one for me. I doubt we keep both he and Crichton and he’s who I would choose. More fundamental to our play style and seems to be a very good bloke.

Martin next due to depth at edge. Leniu is a freak and it’d be a similar situation to Burton where opposition fans laugh at us choosing another player over him, but then we’d laugh when Fearnely or Smith or Geyer runs out off the bench for our 5th consecutive grand final and kills it.

Im tipping (and would prefer) we lose two of them. Can’t tie up $500K+ each in 4 edge/middles/outside backs, not when you have blue chip prospects waiting to replace 3 out of 4 of them on a quarter of the dosh.
 

Blade23

Juniors
Messages
1,636
G’day Blade, who will be assisting Cleary now that Ciraldo and Webster are gone? Cheers

Already been announced, Peter Wallace and Ben Gardener from the Tigers


A bit on Gardiner,
Well liked and respected. He has had numerous successes in the lower grades. An astute thinker who knows how to coach and is very good with attacking plays. Speaks well.
A good appointment. Webster mark 2.0 in some respects.
 

Blade23

Juniors
Messages
1,636
Interesting. Obviously I hope we keep them all but I’d rank them:

1. Martin: primarily ranking him here based on our edge depth. After losing Capewell and Kikau in successive seasons, losing another edge would be a massive blow. Hopefully Hosking and Garner play well next season but I don’t see an obvious answer to who would replace him in 2024.

2. To’o: probably should be lower from a pure needs perspective as Turuva could take his spot in 2024 and do well. I just love the guy though so I’m ranking him here, he’s easily my favourite current Panther. He showed throughout the finals that he is still elite and we’d absolutely miss his carries.

3. Leniu: ranked here due to front row depth. Eisenhuth or Blacker could do well in his spot but Leniu has the ability to become truly elite if he can increase his minutes and output. Would also be the cheapest of the 4 to retain.

4. Crichton: ranked here based on the cost to retain him. He’s already on big money and will probably want an upgrade on that. At his best he’s elite but he can be fairly hot and cold at times. He’s still young though, seems to lift for finals and is a handy back up goal kicker. We also don’t have great depth at centre and I’m not 100% convinced about Jenkins.

1 & 2 I am confident of keeping.
3 not so sure, yet.
4 will be a manager circus. It will all come down to when he wants to play FB. Either this contract or the next.
 

Exsilium

First Grade
Messages
9,517
Aside from money, why don’t good centres want to stay in the centres? It’s a key position and fullback is an entirely different set of skills.

I find it interesting that the centre position gets so little credit. It’s a key position in defence and in attack, your centres can create a lot of space and points.
 

Pomoz

Bench
Messages
2,856
I know Leniu want's to start and he deserves to. If the club has to make a call between Leota and Leniu then I would go Leniu. He is younger and has a higher ceiling.

All this discussion does is highlight why development is King. You can't be competitive if you don't keep producing new players because you will lose players under the cap. We now have lost seven starting players from our three grand final teams. Mansour, Tamou, Burton, Capewell, Momoroski, Kikau and Korasau. We have lost two bench players too. Tetavano and Naden.

You can see further problems coming to. How do we offer Turuva a career? Get rid of To'o or May?
The salary cap is so brutal. We have built this team and now we have to get rid of loved sons like Leota or Leniu to stay compliant. It sucks.
 
Messages
460
We now have lost seven starting players from our three grand final teams. Mansour, Tamou, Burton, Capewell, Momoroski, Kikau and Korasau. We have lost two bench players too. Tetavano and Naden.

This probably highlights our good list management more than anything. Of those 9 players only Burton, Koroisau and Kikau are significant losses and Capewell is the only other one that would make our strongest 17. The rest were deadwood that we did well to cut loose. If you go back a bit further you can add Cartwright, Peachey, Blake, DWZ, Latu and countless other spuds.

In the same period the only real retention misstep has been Staines.
 

age.s

First Grade
Messages
6,923
You can see further problems coming to. How do we offer Turuva a career? Get rid of To'o or May?
The salary cap is so brutal. We have built this team and now we have to get rid of loved sons like Leota or Leniu to stay compliant. It sucks.
In a way it sucks, but at the same time it keeps the squad hungry and motivated. A guy like Leota is a good example. Going great now, but he's been historically streaky, with lazy plays and mistakes in amongst his good energy. How much of the bad has disappeared from his game because he has young bucks like Leniu nipping at his heels? On the flip side, the knowledge that an opportunity may be coming gives the younger guys the drive to develop. Work hard, improve and the cap will do its thing and give you a shot in the best squad in the country.

Theres obviously a balance of retention and development to be had, but it does look like were getting it spot on atm. Hopefully the club has the formula well figured out and and keeps it going well into the future.
 

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