Rumoured Signings

[Woody90]

Imagine being a beach town and getting out recruited by Canberra.
You'd never hear from me again if i were on that end of this feeder club arrangement. Id be too embarrassed

Just keep Connor Votano warm for us until we figure out if Chevy Stewart is the man. Thanks in advanced.

I’d say out paid not out recruited. Neither the Knights or Dogs wanted to compete with the Raiders offer - that’s all I’ll say. We developed him into a decent player which you blokes couldn’t and now you’ve bought him back at an inflated price.

Would actually be devastated to lose Votano. We’ll produce another Leo though.

 

[nick87]

Oh no. I hit a sore point! Both heads are restless with these lads.

Enjoy your cap space. Leo Thompson is just Leo Thompson... cap space could be anything! Why! It could even be Leo Thompson.. except not for you guys. You're getting your pocket money stolen by Canberra, you're not getting anyone people actually want. Out done by the (second now PNG is in town) least desirable destination in the NRL. Shameful.

But im sure you'll find a middle forward, it'll be ok. He'll be cheaper and because you're all idiot SuperCoach clowns you'll convince yourselves that having a shit player on 500k (Hello Adam Elliott) is better than having a good player at 750k. Shit you idiots couldnt even over pay a young half properly. Pezet would rather sit in the cuck chair than go to Newcastle and die. Stuart might kill Sanders career, but shiiiiiiit, at least he took our money

 

[nick87]

Would actually be devastated to lose Votano. We’ll produce another Leo though.

Look, we have Weekes and Chevy, it might be that we dont need a fullback... you might be ok. We'll see but just keep him safe... just in case we need him

 

[mozza91]

Oh no. I hit a sore point! Both heads are restless with these lads.

Enjoy your cap space. Leo Thompson is just Leo Thompson... cap space could be anything! Why! It could even be Leo Thompson.. except not for you guys. You're getting your pocket money stolen by Canberra, you're not getting anyone people actually want. Out done by the (second now PNG is in town) least desirable destination in the NRL. Shameful.

But im sure you'll find a middle forward, it'll be ok. He'll be cheaper and because you're all idiot SuperCoach clowns you'll convince yourselves that having a shit player on 500k (Hello Adam Elliott) is better than having a good player at 750k. Shit you idiots couldnt even over pay a young half properly. Pezet would rather sit in the cuck chair than go to Newcastle and die. Stuart might kill Sanders career, but shiiiiiiit, at least he took our money

Canberra fans deny that’s there’s a rivalry with us but here it is as clear as day.
We’ll finish ahead of Canberra in 2025 as we always do and then you’ll take Thompson in 2026 and we’ll finish ahead of you again anyway.

 

[Woody90]

Oh no. I hit a sore point! Both heads are restless with these lads.

Enjoy your cap space. Leo Thompson is just Leo Thompson... cap space could be anything! Why! It could even be Leo Thompson.. except not for you guys. You're getting your pocket money stolen by Canberra, you're not getting anyone people actually want. Out done by the (second now PNG is in town) least desirable destination in the NRL. Shameful.

But im sure you'll find a middle forward, it'll be ok. He'll be cheaper and because you're all idiot SuperCoach clowns you'll convince yourselves that having a shit player on 500k (Hello Adam Elliott) is better than having a good player at 750k. Shit you idiots couldnt even over pay a young half properly. Pezet would rather sit in the cuck chair than go to Newcastle and die. Stuart might kill Sanders career, but shiiiiiiit, at least he took our money

Lol imagine thinking it’s a flex that your club raids the same teams players year after year but still can’t finish in front of them. Thanks for the laugh mate. Maybe 2025 - we’ll see.

And don’t worry about us, we’ll find another middle forward. Probably from within. Don’t worry, there will be enough left for Sticky to raid some more because your club can’t produce any of your own

 

[Rod]

Canberra are paying for the media perception of Leo. He's been built up as the next big prop in the game in the JFH mold, but he actually regressed in the second half of last year and looked out of place in the Kiwis. His production is around league average in basically every stat category.

Could he turn that around? Of course, props generally don't hit their stride until later in their 20s. But no question that right now it's an overpay. Newcastle literally just got done dealing with one of these (DSaf) so it would be bad business to walk straight into another one. And it wasn't just them, the Dogs were spooked by that number as well.

 

[Woody90]

Canberra are paying for the media perception of Leo. He's been built up as the next big prop in the game in the JFH mold, but he actually regressed in the second half of last year and looked out of place in the Kiwis. His production is around league average in basically every stat category.

Could he turn that around? Of course, props generally don't hit their stride until later in their 20s. But no question that right now it's an overpay. Newcastle literally just got done dealing with one of these (DSaf) so it would be bad business to walk straight into another one. And it wasn't just them, the Dogs were spooked by that number as well.

This 100%. A few idiots creating a narrative in the media that he’s the most in demand off market player has also completely overinflated his value compared to output.

Leo looks great on paper. Leads the the haka for the kiwis, makes a few hit ups a game where he looks scary (although doesn’t impact the line as much as you’d expect), it gives natural comparisons to AFB or JWH. Objectively though despite a few hit ups where he looks scary running to the line, his impact on the runs is what you’d expect from a slightly above average prop, he misses tackles and makes errors. He can definitely improve still being 24, especially on the errors, but due to the way he moves I think he’s always going to struggle a bit from an attacking input perspective and defensively.

In the past this is 100% the type of player the Knights would throw way too much money at due to what they hope he can become without much to back it up. I like Leo and my preference would have been to keep him at the right price, but tbh I’m much much happier to see the clubs no longer willing to overpay players that don’t deserve it (at least not yet). Does it mean we’re on the right track? Who knows, we’ve been burned way too many times…but this from the club is much more pleasing than if we’d done what we’ve historically done and overpaid and f**ked up our cap for a player like this. Hopefully Peter O’Sullivans impact.

IMO it’s pretty telling that most Knights fans are pretty meh about this when the same supporter base went into a mass hysteria for over a year when Dom Young signed with the Roosters (where he’s ended up being a bit of a dud anyway).

 

[Vee]

Getting out recruited is adorable.

You’ve overpaid the 2 we wanted to keep and bought a heap we weren’t interested in keeping.
Admittedly Tapine worked in the long run but paying massive overs for Thompson isn’t gonna do much for your premiership hopes. You can’t win a comp with only middle forwards.

It's not massive overs imo. 800k for one on the edge of being premium, improving and only 23. Great signing by the Raiders imo.

 

[nick87]

This is great stuff, it's not often i get to experience this as a Raiders fan... the fanbase of the team losing a good player trying to rationalise it that losing one of their best players is actually a good thing!
Hook it to my veins

The reality here is that the knights had 2025 to use to top up salary this coming year, so when it's all said and done Leo could have stayed in Newcastle and gotten more or less the same amount of money over the life of the deal as he's going to get in Canberra. He simply choose Canberra over Newcastle. You fellas will have to come to terms with that and ponder what it says about where your club is at.

 

[Chins get the wins]

Canberra fans deny that’s there’s a rivalry with us but here it is as clear as day.
We’ll finish ahead of Canberra in 2025 as we always do and then you’ll take Thompson in 2026 and we’ll finish ahead of you again anyway.

The most insignificant rivalry in world sport

 

[mozza91]

If he brings his 2023 form it’s a big loss for us. If he brings his 2024 form you’ve bought a lemon.

 

[Cheese sandwich]

Bout the only thing I can remember from Leo is getting whacked by Uele

 

[gerg]

The years don't quite line up but as a Raiders fan I'll just think of this as a swap for Adam Elliott... oh and no returns please.

 

[Rod]

Leo is a Canberra junior so at least in this case you could argue you're getting him back.

This is great stuff, it's not often i get to experience this as a Raiders fan... the fanbase of the team losing a good player trying to rationalise it that losing one of their best players is actually a good thing!
Hook it to my veins

You could say it's similar to the rationalization used by fans who are trying to talk themselves into paying 25% over market value for a player is a good thing as well.

 

[nick87]

Buddy needs to google the term "market value"

 

[Tiger5150]

Getting out recruited is adorable.

You’ve overpaid the 2 we wanted to keep and bought a heap we weren’t interested in keeping.
Admittedly Tapine worked in the long run but paying massive overs for Thompson isn’t gonna do much for your premiership hopes. You can’t win a comp with only middle forwards.

Stuart cops plenty and possibly occasionally with good reason, but for him and Canberra to continue to attract quality and challenge for the 8 most seasons is an incredible achievement TBF.

 

[Rod]

Buddy needs to google the term "market value"

Ha yes possibly not technically the correct term, but the point is clear.

 

[mozza91]

The most insignificant rivalry in world sport

Pfft. Bigger than Barcelona/Real Madrid, Lakers/Celtics and India/Pakistan combined.

 

[Woody90]

It's not massive overs imo. 800k for one on the edge of being premium, improving and only 23. Great signing by the Raiders imo.

The thing is he’s not on the edge of becoming premium. Not even close (and I say this as someone that still rates him, but he’s not premium, and definitely shouldn’t be getting labeled as such).

 

[Woody90]

This is great stuff, it's not often i get to experience this as a Raiders fan... the fanbase of the team losing a good player trying to rationalise it that losing one of their best players is actually a good thing!
Hook it to my veins

Yeah nah. Knights fans become absolutely hysterical usually when players sign elsewhere. The sky is falling, the club will never recover, etc. There’s a reason everyone is so calm in comparison for this one. People seem more upset about missing out on Pezet who’s barely played FG.

At the end of the day both clubs are average as f**k. If Sticky thinks the best way to turn the Raiders around is to mass poach players from another average club on inflated contracts then good luck to him.