Rumoured targets 2

[Joker's Wild]

DCE, JT, Hunt, Cronk, Reynolds and Johnson

These are the only current halfbacks i rate higher than Hokko.

Honestly I cant see how Wallace, Marshall, Williams, Pearce, Sandow, Brooks, Robson or Elgey can all be rated higher. 1 or 2 maybe but shit, Hokko is pretty darn good dispite him having a crap season.

 

[aqua_duck]

DCE, JT, Hunt, Cronk, Reynolds and Johnson

These are the only current halfbacks i rate higher than Hokko.

Honestly I cant see how Wallace, Marshall, Williams, Pearce, Sandow, Brooks, Robson or Elgey can all be rated higher. 1 or 2 maybe but shit, Hokko is pretty darn good dispite him having a crap season.

Have you not been watching Marshall this season? I'm no Marshall fan but he's much better than Hodkinson, as is Mitchell Pearce. So by my count that makes him the 9th best halfback in the NRL.

 

[aqua_duck]

Gallen stated during the week him playing Origin and talking to other players help with the Sharks recruitment, and looking at the players they have recruited over the last few years shows there is value there.

Who do we have? A guy leaving the club and a guy making his debut. They aren't doing much for us in that respect.

We have the opportunity to sign a 25 year old incumbent halfback for NSW. He is there in a time in Origin where they are talking of sticking with players. A player in an influential position is a great opportunity to sell the club from within.

There is more than what he can do on the field - but if we don't have anyone playing Origin selling the club isn't really going to help get other top line players to the club.

Firstly Hodkinson is 27 this year and he's probably the least safest player in the team, let's be totally honest, the ONLY reason he's there is because of incumbency. I mean we had Kurt Gidley captain nSW for a while, we had Beau Scott as a mainstay for Australia, FFS we had Wayne Bennett and still struggled to attract elite players, we're never going to be a team that will attract elite players in their prime, and having Trent Hodkinson here isn't going to change that.

 

[aqua_duck]

We have offered Hodko between 500 and 600 k a season over three . It won't matter. I believe he will sign with the Titans. We have come up a little short is my info.

If that's the case then I support the club 100%. Atleast they're making a statement of intent in targeting higher profile players but also being sensible in drawing the line, I wish we'd used this approach when negotiating Aku's contract and this approach is what keeps the successful clubs successful, they draw the line and don't throw crazy money around just for the sake of it, teams like Parra throw crazy money around and look where that's gotten them. I mean if we were a top 8 team and our only weakness was a halfback I'd say throw the bank at Hodkinson but we're not that fortunate, we probably have 8-9 legitimate first graders and the rest are making up the numbers, we have very little depth besides kids who we're hoping can do something, we just have a lot of areas across the roster that need addressing and from all reports our cap situation is unfavourable, it means we really have to spend wisely, look around abit harder and take a few punts.

 

[slotmachine]

Have you not been watching Marshall this season? I'm no Marshall fan but he's much better than Hodkinson, as is Mitchell Pearce. So by my count that makes him the 9th best halfback in the NRL.

Agree.

 

[Alex28]

Aqua - sorry, typo with his age. My point is still valid.

Slot - might be the 9th best half in the comp. Those other 8 available for next year?

It is what an open market is all about - the best players available at any one time being able to get the best price they can. We are playing well behind the rest of the pack, we have no choice but to pay what the market suggests we have to no matter what we think of the actual player.

 

[Joker's Wild]

I'd rather have the 9th ( debatable) best halfback in the NRL than the 16th. Let's face it, that's what we have with Tyrone

 

[slotmachine]

There are better nsw cup halves running around, so I doubt he's in the top 20.

 

[Alex28]

There are better nsw cup halves running around, so I doubt he's in the top 20.

So why aren't NSW picking those NSW Cup halfbacks for Origin over Hodkinson then?

Nothing will make you happy bar an impossible signing, so just keep whinging...

 

[slotmachine]

Tyrone, not Hodkinson...

 

[aqua_duck]

Aqua - sorry, typo with his age. My point is still valid.

Slot - might be the 9th best half in the comp. Those other 8 available for next year?

It is what an open market is all about - the best players available at any one time being able to get the best price they can. We are playing well behind the rest of the pack, we have no choice but to pay what the market suggests we have to no matter what we think of the actual player.

If we just pay market value for every player we're automatically behind the 8 ball straight away due to our situation with 3rd party deals, for us it's all about that moneyball scenario. Look if ALL we needed was a halfback than by all means I'd go hard for him and get him at whatever costs but we need a lot more than just a halfback, sure Hodkinson is the safe option but maybe this is where our opinions differ, I don't think we can just take that safe option. Also please enlighten me if the might of non broke Tinkler and Bennett couldn't attract us origin calibre players how is Trent Hodkinson going to do that?

 

[Rod]

I bet he goes to the Titans now anyway. they're offering more money and the same amount of years. Not surprising given they have DCE's money to play with.

 

[Alex28]

The thing is we have to start somewhere at some point. We have spent 20 years reliant on developing juniors - back then when we had our golden run and had blokes like Joey and Bedsy in the club who we could have attracted others who want to play with them we didn't need to buy others in (bar the rare purchase like BK). Post Joey we needed to buy others in and we didn't do it. We are firmly behind everybody else and are essentially starting from scratch.

What we need to do is start that catch up now. If we don't catch up, we don't improve on the field, we don't improve off the field, we don't attract sponsors which means we can't spend more on marquee players. It needs to happen - we need to get a few (not just one) top line players, and the entire business improves from there.

We need to model ourselves on Penrith. On a business sense, the way that they have turned themselves around over a relatively short timeframe is amazing. The calibre of the sponsors they are getting, the ease they have signed quality players over the last few years is frustrating when you see the struggle we have. You can't tell me people would rather live/base themselves out of Penrith rather than Newcastle. Everything went right for them - we need to investigate how they did it and model our business on what they did. They have an excellent junior base, but aren't worried about buying in for the positions that need it.

I think that Tinkler/Bennett didn't work for a few reasons. I think that Tinkler's reputation in paying people prior to taking over the Knights was rubbish to start off with and nobody really expected he would remain committed to the club long-term. The business itself never really grew and they essentially spurned sponsors and the ability to develop third party agreements which hurts us now. Tinkler was too worried about buying back the farm than buying the right players which didn't work because we needed a half more which nobody seemed worried about buying in. Bennett couldn't make things work off such a low base.

We need to start again right now. That is going to take buying in a bit of profile to help the entire club grow.

 

[aqua_duck]

The thing is we have to start somewhere at some point. We have spent 20 years reliant on developing juniors - back then when we had our golden run and had blokes like Joey and Bedsy in the club who we could have attracted others who want to play with them we didn't need to buy others in (bar the rare purchase like BK). Post Joey we needed to buy others in and we didn't do it. We are firmly behind everybody else and are essentially starting from scratch.

What we need to do is start that catch up now. If we don't catch up, we don't improve on the field, we don't improve off the field, we don't attract sponsors which means we can't spend more on marquee players. It needs to happen - we need to get a few (not just one) top line players, and the entire business improves from there.

We need to model ourselves on Penrith. On a business sense, the way that they have turned themselves around over a relatively short timeframe is amazing. The calibre of the sponsors they are getting, the ease they have signed quality players over the last few years is frustrating when you see the struggle we have. You can't tell me people would rather live/base themselves out of Penrith rather than Newcastle. Everything went right for them - we need to investigate how they did it and model our business on what they did. They have an excellent junior base, but aren't worried about buying in for the positions that need it.

I think that Tinkler/Bennett didn't work for a few reasons. I think that Tinkler's reputation in paying people prior to taking over the Knights was rubbish to start off with and nobody really expected he would remain committed to the club long-term. The business itself never really grew and they essentially spurned sponsors and the ability to develop third party agreements which hurts us now. Tinkler was too worried about buying back the farm than buying the right players which didn't work because we needed a half more which nobody seemed worried about buying in. Bennett couldn't make things work off such a low base.

We need to start again right now. That is going to take buying in a bit of profile to help the entire club grow.

I agree 100% with the Penrith model but they didn't sign one player, they signed about a dozen and I think that's exactly what we need to do. As I said if we had money to throw around I'd be happy to pay Trent that extra 50-100k or whatever it is, but we don't, from all reports our cap is f**ked, we can't just go to the high end boutique, we need to go to the op shop and look for a few bargains. Penrith struck hold with guys like Mansour, Whare, Peachey, Segeyaro, Elijah Taylor, etc but there were also strike outs like the Naiqama boys, Murdoch Masila, James Roberts, etc but no one minds that because of all the ones that did turn out good

 

[Alex28]

Problem we have is we can't wait for those middle range players to come on to the market - they aren't there now, we can't play moneyball without the players in the market and the cash to buy them. We need to make a move now, and work towards moneyball once we have the players available, the ability to dump the junk that we have and the key juniors come through.

I really hope we get Hodkinson. It is the first step towards (hopefully) a new club.

 

[aqua_duck]

Problem we have is we can't wait for those middle range players to come on to the market - they aren't there now, we can't play moneyball without the players in the market and the cash to buy them. We need to make a move now, and work towards moneyball once we have the players available, the ability to dump the junk that we have and the key juniors come through.

I really hope we get Hodkinson. It is the first step towards (hopefully) a new club.

I disagree that they aren't there now, to me they are. Guys like Alex Glenn, Albert Vete, Cornish, Ligi Sao, Francis Molo, Agnatius Paasi, Ava Seumanufagai, Raymond Faitala Mariner, Dean Britt, Zac Santo, Suiaia Matagi. There's about a dozen guys right there who could fight for a spot in our side.

 

[Whats Doing]

Yes there are players right now in the positions we need that are available. The Dragons are supposed to be cash strapped however they are proactive and building up very nicely.

 

[Jono078]

Aqua - sorry, typo with his age. My point is still valid.

Slot - might be the 9th best half in the comp. Those other 8 available for next year?

It is what an open market is all about - the best players available at any one time being able to get the best price they can. We are playing well behind the rest of the pack, we have no choice but to pay what the market suggests we have to no matter what we think of the actual player.

Correct me if I'm wrong. But to me I feel like this is what you're trying to say;

A Lamborghini, a Ferrari and a Toyota Camry are available. Then the Lamborghini and Ferrari get snapped up. You would still pay a bit overs for the Camry just to get it and then expect to compete with the Ferrari and Lamborghini?

I'm with Aqua on this one. We need to be smart with how we spend our money and how we build the pieces to a successful club long term.

For the record I would think Hodkinson would be a good fit here. But I don't want to go back and forth competing with the Titans for his signature.

 

[slotmachine]

Good analogy, I'll add to it.

If your options are an expired bus ticket or paying 20% too much for a Toyota Camry, the Camry starts looking pretty attractive.

 

[Johns Magic]

Problem we have is we can't wait for those middle range players to come on to the market - they aren't there now, we can't play moneyball without the players in the market and the cash to buy them. We need to make a move now, and work towards moneyball once we have the players available, the ability to dump the junk that we have and the key juniors come through.

I really hope we get Hodkinson. It is the first step towards (hopefully) a new club.

Alex you keep talking about how there's no one else on the market but the fact is that a couple of months ago there were. Look at how Ricky Stuart chased Sezer. That is the type of forward planning I would like to see from the club.

Hodkinson is the red-headed stepchild of the halves that were off-contract this year.