Rumoured Signings and General Dribble XIII

[Poupou Escobar]

The Roosters went from wooden spooners to grand finalists in a season. In recent years the following grand finalists missed the top eight the previous year:

Eels ('09)
Roosters ('10)
Warriors ('11)
Bulldogs ('12)
Roosters ('13)

The talent gap between the sides isn't that great, and the difference between missing the eight and making a grand final comes down to what happens off the field and a bit of luck.

 

[Noise]

We went from wooden spooners to wooden spooners in a season. Impressive

 

[Poupou Escobar]

That's because we didn't fix what was wrong - injuries and morale.

Notice the top teams never seem to have massive injury lists? Happy players are keen to get back on the field.

 

[Noise]

That's because we didn't fix what was wrong - injuries and morale.

Notice the top teams never seem to have massive injury lists? Happy players are keen to get back on the field.

We also didn't fix the issue of a decent hooker, edge back rower and leadership.

Manly had a shithouse run with injuries/suspension at the start of the season.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

We also didn't fix the issue of a decent hooker, edge back rower and leadership.

Agreed. But our starting hooker and edge back rowers have all played in grand finals. They can't be that bad.

Manly had a shithouse run with injuries/suspension at the start of the season.

That's because Manly don't have all their eggs in one basket the way we do.

They have a core that is full of borderline rep players. As a unit they are so strong, they feed off each other, and they can cover for the temporary loss of one or two of them.

None of them star at rep level the way Hayne does, and none of them would be on as much money either.

Here are Manly's top 17, and the number of games they played this year (in 26 rounds):

17 Stewart
23 Williams
24 Lyon
23 Matai
22 Taufua
23 Foran
23 Cherry-Evans
23 Kite
24 Ballin
4 King
21 Watmough
23 Horo
18 Stewart

22 Buhrer
15 Symonds
23 Lawrence
15 Fa'aoso

Here's our top 17:

15 Hayne
20 Sio
4 Tonga
13 Loko
19 Morgan
18 Kelly
15 Sandow
24 Mannah
24 Keating
20 Allgood
8 Smith
23 Maitua
22 Lussick

18 Roberts
24 Paulo
23 Moimoi
17 Terepo

Manly got 343 games out of their top 17 players whereas we got 307 out of ours - nearly two full seasons less than Manly. That's a huge loss considering we already have more weaknesses than Manly across our top 17.

However we have better depth through the rest of our squad. Here is Manly's squad outside their top 17:

Chee-Kam
Chisholm
Cunningham
Farrar
Gagan
Galuvao
Gower
Gutherson
Hasson
Hiku
Lawton
Lemalu
Rose
Sao
Sene-Lefao
Skinner
Tonga
Trbojevic

And here's ours:

Blair
Edwards
Harrison
Lasalo
Mau
Ma'afu
Mullaney
O'Hanlon
Paulo
Penese
Pewhairangi
Pritchard
Radradra
Ryan
Smith
Tanginoa
Toutai
Ualesi
Wiliame

We know our depth is better because we finished ahead of manly in the NSW Cup and NYC, despite having more injuries in our top 17.

 

[I bleed blue & gold]

Foran's Wikipedia page already lists him being at Parra for 2014 lol.

 

[Noise]

Nothing new here but:

http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/sport/nrl/news/2013/9/rugby-league-weeks-the-mole-on-parramattas-salary-cap-crisis/

The audio goes into a bit more detail than the text

 

[Gary Gutful]

Mate, I think you're mistaking the recipe for the cake.

And you are mistaking the cake for chocolate when it is actually faeces.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

No, I'm just saying it is a poorly made chocolate cake.

That's the problem with too many cooks.

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

No, I'm just saying it is a poorly made chocolate cake.

That's the problem with too many cooks.

But we're not making broth, we're making chocolate cake (I think....all though that's possibly a little racialist).

If we tried to make a more diverse foodstuff, perhaps a sponge cake covered in hundreds and thousands, we'd go better. Although the cake would taste like shit.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Nothing new here but:

http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/sp...ks-the-mole-on-parramattas-salary-cap-crisis/

The audio goes into a bit more detail than the text

Death riding speculators, just like everyone in the media.

They even said it themselves - "Without that club (Parra) you merkins (the media) wouldn't have half your stories."

Then he says we have signed players on name rather than performance, and names Sandow, Ben Smith and Harrison. Sandow was killing it in 2011 when we signed him, and even then he wasn't a big name. And Smith and Harrison have never been big name players.

Triple M is full of shit just like the rest of the media. They say we leak like a sieve which is how they know about our salary cap situation. Then they admit they haven't a clue why we haven't signed any of these coaches they speculate about.

 

[El Diablo]

Moley has a poor strike rate

 

[hineyrulz]

Moley has a poor strike rate

His strike rate is worse than Wazn's.

 

[natheel]

Listened to that audio dead set you could hear the snickering in the back ground when mole was talking. They love that eels are struggling. And Matty trying to reopen the Hayne to dogs thing. Hayne said he won't go end of story. I reckon if this is true then we just cop the fine. Can't be over it that much. I'm sure its all blowing out of proportion

 

[Djay]

It's all a load of shit, how can a team with easily the most horrible roster over the past few years be over the cap? Seriously I know we spend overs but come on.

It's just stupid leaks from within, trying to give others a bad name and of course people like Moley are gonna jump at it. It's there bread and butter.

 

[lingard]

The Roosters went from wooden spooners to grand finalists in a season. In recent years the following grand finalists missed the top eight the previous year:

Eels ('09)
Roosters ('10)
Warriors ('11)
Bulldogs ('12)
Roosters ('13)

The talent gap between the sides isn't that great, and the difference between missing the eight and making a grand final comes down to what happens off the field and a bit of luck.

The one thing those teams (except, perhaps, Parramatta) have in common is a pretty shit hot roster. I'm starting to believe that the single most important ingredient is a good roster. I'm also starting to think that the salary cap doesn't work.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I reckon if this is true then we just cop the fine. Can't be over it that much. I'm sure its all blowing out of proportion

Even if it is we're better off playing for zero points for a season and then getting under the cap by picking and choosing which off contract players we keep.

In hindsight we should have done it the past two years.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

The one thing those teams (except, perhaps, Parramatta) have in common is a pretty shit hot roster. I'm starting to believe that the single most important ingredient is a good roster. I'm also starting to think that the salary cap doesn't work.

If their rosters were that good they wouldn't have missed the finals the year before. If you claim that the roster improved significantly from one year to the next then that can also happen for us.

With the additions of Norman, Peats, Hopoate and Mossop, as well as a full season out of Hayne, Tonga, Loko and Sandow, we are an entirely different side.

 

[lingard]

If their rosters were that good they wouldn't have missed the finals the year before. If you claim that the roster improved significantly from one year to the next then that can also happen for us.

With the additions of Norman, Peats, Hopoate and Mossop, as well as a full season out of Hayne, Tonga, Loko and Sandow, we are an entirely different side.

I thoroughly agree. I've been saying for months that we are a potential top four side next year.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Well this year the Chooks finished 12 places higher than last year. However the next best improver was a tie between the Knights and Panthers; both five places higher than last year.

The biggest fall was perennial yo-yo team Canberra (they haven't made the finals two years in a row since 2004 and they haven't missed the finals two years in a row since 1986), who finished seven places lower this year. They were followed by the Dogs, Dragons and Tigers who each finished five places lower.

The average change in ladder positions from 2012 to 2013 was 3.75 places. Only Manly (4th) and Parramatta (16th) finished in the same position both years.