Rumoured Targets 3

[aqua_duck]

The truth is that the best ones ARE lazy... because they've only had to try half as hard to dominate the rest of their age groups. God this club pisses me off. This is super common in all walks of life. These kids have to be managed properly and challenged to take the next step, not discarded.

You just won't find that many top tier kids that are also highly motivated and hard workers at that age. They need to be developed into men. The hard workers are the strugglers - the battlers that had to try twice as hard as everyone else to compete. They have very low ceilings, and end up making quality squad fillers/2nd tier contracts.

Or at the knights they get multiple year contracts with player options and the coach’s undying affection

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

Lots of criticism of Levi but there's hardly a Knights player who doesn't cop it and that's often deserved.

Something I did notice when Levi would come on for us and slot into dummy half is that the team seemed more structured behind him.

 

[macavity]

We could do worse than target Tannah Boyd if Ben Hunt is Titans bound

 

[HarVeeGee]

I reckon Toby Sexton is a better prospect than Tanah.

 

[aqua_duck]

I reckon Toby Sexton is a better prospect than Tanah.

From what I’ve seen Sexton is a better organiser/game manager, more of a traditional half whereas Boyd has abit more individual flair but the guy we should really be making a play for is Latu Fainu and his brother Sione who seem to be on the outer at Manly. Would happily offer manly a fantastic young player in Crossland, a one time fringe origin player in Mann and a NSW origin prop in Saifiti

 

[HarVeeGee]

Fainu already off to Wests in a swap for Tommy Talau.

 

[aqua_duck]

Fainu already off to Wests in a swap for Tommy Talau.

Tigers fans at least have some talented youngsters to get behind even if this year is awash. Whatever criticism you can throw at the tigers their recruitment has been 100x better than ours

 

[The Axe of Druss]

I'd rather a lazy player with some talent than plodders who turn up for the club bus on time and trains hard. Seriously, AOB let's get some wins mate.

Neither gets you wins or any real long term success

Good teams have players who are talented and hard workers. There is no short cutting that

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Lots of criticism of Levi but there's hardly a Knights player who doesn't cop it and that's often deserved.

Something I did notice when Levi would come on for us and slot into dummy half is that the team seemed more structured behind him.

This is some serious rose coloured hindsight regarding Levi

Danny could run and make 1000 ducks at the line for a 0.001% success rate. Was a very average hooker outside of that and his career reflects it

 

[aqua_duck]

This is some serious rose coloured hindsight regarding Levi

Danny could run and make 1000 ducks at the line for a 0.001% success rate. Was a very average hooker outside of that and his career reflects it

Very average agreed, I’d say on the lower end of NRL standard dummy halves but still a major upgrade on guys like Crossland, Mann and Randall who I don’t even consider to be NRL standard

 

[aqua_duck]

Neither gets you wins or any real long term success

Good teams have players who are talented and hard workers. There is no short cutting that

Lazy kids aren’t a new thing or an issue unique to us but we seem inherently unable to fix those bad habits, if anything those bad habits seem to get worse with us.

 

[slotmachine]

General theme seems to be:

We have the best pre-season ever.
The team rips in for the first month.
It dawns on them that bringing consistent effort and execution is hard, while drinking 20 cold beers after a loss is easy.
The season descends into a shit show.
Repeat.

 

[macavity]

Neither gets you wins or any real long term success

Good teams have players who are talented and hard workers. There is no short cutting that

Discipline can come with maturity with the right supports.

we seemingly don’t back ourselves to grow human beings.

 

[aqua_duck]

Discipline can come with maturity with the right supports.

we seemingly don’t back ourselves to grow human beings.

To be fair with our track record I wouldn’t back us to instil maturity into anyone

 

[PhilGould]

A few immediate transfers among lower grade players;
- Kobe Rugless off to Manly with Fletcher Myers returning to the Knights. Both were on development deals so presumably will continue to be at their new club.
- Chris Vea'ila released to Cronulla. Rumour on the other Knights forum that Kayal Iro will be heading our way but haven't seen anything to back that up, and he's still named for the Sharks this week.

 

[macavity]

Quite a fall from grace for Vea'ila...

 

[Alex28]

General theme seems to be:

We have the best pre-season ever.
The team rips in for the first month.
It dawns on them that bringing consistent effort and execution is hard, while drinking 20 cold beers after a loss is easy.
The season descends into a shit show.
Repeat.

It’s been like that for 20 years honestly.

 

[Woody90]

General theme seems to be:

We have the best pre-season ever.
The team rips in for the first month.
It dawns on them that bringing consistent effort and execution is hard, while drinking 20 cold beers after a loss is easy.
The season descends into a shit show.
Repeat.

This might be an unpopular opinion but I don’t think bad attitude of laziness has been the problem for the majority of the side this year. There was definitely a massive culture problem last year, but I don’t see that being the biggest issue now.

To me the sad thing is that they look like they’re working hard and trying but they’re still not good enough. They’re playing with no confidence and have had their heads down since they started losing. There have definitely been some lapses in effort which has led to leaking some soft points, but I also see them holding back terrified to make a wrong defensive decision. I also completely see what Hastings means about the side having execution problems because the side is tense. For all reports they’re all quite fond of the coach, and they’d know what’s going to happen if they don’t start winning.

 

[aqua_duck]

Quite a fall from grace for Vea'ila...

Wouldn’t surprise me if he goes to Cronulla and kills it, had obvious talent but fell into the black hole that is our pathways program

 

[PhilGould]

Toohey's News

- “Take it as read” that Kurt Mann, Hymel Hunt, Brodie Jones, Jack Johns & Adam Clune won’t be re-signed for next season. Enari Tuala may be retained.
- Michael Maguire unlikely to be a target due to being viewed as too similar to AOB. Toohey names Paul McGregor, John Morris & Josh Hannay as the 3 leading contenders, with Hannay’s rave reviews as QLD assistant coach and long history with Peter Parr possibly making him the dark horse.
- Rory Kostjasyn still in limbo without a deal for next year. The belief is the club is keeping the spot open in case an incoming coach wants to bring in his own staff.
- Knights had been advertising the head of recruitment role but “failed to attract a candidate with the right credentials”.
- Confirms Chris Vea’ila (Cronulla), Kobe Rugless (Manly) & Mitch Henderson (Canberra) have all been released immediately.
- Parr confirms Adam Pompey is a target and says they’re waiting to hear back from his manager. Warriors want to keep him but looks unlikely with RTS coming back.