Rumoured Targets 3

[Spot On]

Gagai is off-contract next year, will be interesting to see if he is kept.

One of Hodkinson and Mullen(both signed til 2018) may be allowed to leave early as well I reckon.

Hopefully we have some money to play with.

Stating the obvious, but Gagai would need a monster year to get anything like he is on now under Brown. Monster year.

Agree with one of the current halves being pushed out before their contract ends.

 

[Johns Magic]

Realistically, this is about as good a side as we can trot out next year. Maybe it's good enough to force dragons into last if injuries are kind. Maybe.

Ross/Gagai
Chanel
Gagai/Ross
Wardle
Elliott
Mullen
Hodko
D Saifiti
Kostjaysn
Korbin
Sione
Ferris Buhrer
Bird

Levi
Mataora
Barnett
J Saifiti

I wouldn't know Wardle from a bar of soap but even if he is a great centre, let's hope in 2018 we target some backs.

I don't see Gagai being re-signed, and I don't see any of our back 5 as being first-grade quality bar probably Ross who sounds like he will be after a pay-day anyway.

Our three-quarter defence was disgraceful last year.

Hopefully Dennis comes on but he was iffy.

I don't necessarily mean rep backs either, just genuine first-graders.

 

[Noname36]

Making a play for a couple of kids from the Sharks is smart recruitment because it's at least somewhat realistic. Firstly obviously because of the Mooney connection, but secondly they know from experience how quickly you can get from the bottom to the top so they might not automatically reject us because we're at the bottom at the moment. If we approached talent from a side that has been consistently up the top I feel we'd probably get automatically rejected simply because we're the Knights.

Snag a quality outside back or two (Holmes would be my preference), throw them in with a couple of underrated signings like Buhrer and Kosjacyn and maybe Bird who would help our attack and with some of the young talent already at the club getting another year and another pre-season under their belts and all of a sudden we don't look too terrible.

I know it's going to take us a long time to even be competitive but I have a fair bit of faith in what Brown and Mooney are doing at the moment.

 

[Johns Magic]

Yeah it's a big reason I want Bird. The better we go next year, the easier it will be to sign players for 2018. He has never been one to phone it in like a Darius.

I have hope that his aggression will let others(namely Korbin) feed off it.

I suppose the concern from others is that he ends up like Mason as an influence, but he is a better player than Mason and it's a risk I'm willing to take to get some swagger back at this club. He doesn't seem to have been a bad influence on players at the Titans particularly like Mason was reported to be at Cows and Roosters before us.

I think the main one we want a big season out of next year is Lamb, because it's tough to recruit quality halves.

 

[Glendale]

Yeah it's a big reason I want Bird. The better we go next year, the easier it will be to sign players for 2018. He has never been one to phone it in like a Darius.

I have hope that his aggression will let others(namely Korbin) feed off it.

I suppose the concern from others is that he ends up like Mason as an influence, but he is a better player than Mason and it's a risk I'm willing to take to get some swagger back at this club. He doesn't seem to have been a bad influence on players at the Titans particularly like Mason was reported to be at Cows and Roosters before us.

I think the main one we want a big season out of next year is Lamb, because it's tough to recruit quality halves.

I'm more worried about if Bird will actually be motivated. He knows that if he comes here, it's not going to be to win a comp but to play a role in a rebuild phase and he'll be retired by the time this club is up there competing again.

He's already been through an extensive rebuild phase at the Titans and now it looks like they're gonna kick him out just when they finally get good... Lets remember that he hasn't won a premiership yet and in his 12 season NRL career has played in the finals in only 3 of those years. Now if he comes to us, there goes his chance of a premiership. No doubt it would be deflating.

Would be totally not surprising to see him become another classic Knights buy of a player who only comes here for a holiday. No one would doubt that he can play footy and his aggression and competitiveness is what we need in an on field leader... I just don't reckon he'd be motivated.

A few people have been making the comment that Bird doesn't seem to want to come here... Well, why would he? What's in it for him? At this stage of his career I don't even think money would be a major factor.

 

[Johns Magic]

I see nothing but competitor in Bird. I also think his personality would click with Brown.

Hopefully we get to see if this debate even matters ;-)

 

[Sydney Knight]

It looks like Joe Wardle"s brother made his debut for Huddersfield this year at 17. I wonder if he is on the radar?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Wardle

 

[Johns Magic]

Sounds a promising player

http://www.examiner.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/news/jacob-wardle-joins-brother-joe-10298462

 

[perverse]

I would approach signing up backs from the ESL with a lot of trepidation, tbh. What the success rate for English backs over the past 10 or 20 years? Approaching 0%, surely? Bigger names than Jacob Wardle have tried and failed in that time. Joe Burgess was an absolute gun over there. Hardaker. Tomkins. These are all superstar names over there. Buyer beware, for mine.

Even Widdop kinda sucks now, and he's been here since he was 16.

If you're going to get him over, make it ASAP so you can mould him a bit.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Yeah it seems like all of the English players who have been successful in the NRL have been forwards. The Burgess brothers, Morley, Ellis, Hodgson & Whitehead are all recent examples of this.

But I seriously can't remember any English halves or outside backs who did well here after starting their careers in ESL. If Brown is looking to the ESL for NRL quality players then he should be looking at forwards.

I'm not convinced about Joe Wardle at all based on what others have said. I know he's a Scottish international but that doesn't say much and I don't think he's going to be much more than a fringe first grader in our squad.

 

[Johns Magic]

I think Tomkins was ok, the Warriors are a merkin of a club IMO and make everyone look shite.

Brian Carney was great for us.

Overall the transition is easier for forwards but I wouldn't rule out a back.

Guess we see how Wardle goes in 2017 if we get him

 

[Mr_Knightside]

I think Tomkins was ok, the Warriors are a merkin of a club IMO and make everyone look shite.

Brian Carney was great for us.

Overall the transition is easier for forwards but I wouldn't rule out a back.

Guess we see how Wardle goes in 2017 if we get him

If Tomkins came over on $250K you could give him a pass mark but he came over on almost $1m per season didn't he? Definitely didn't deliver on his pay cheque.

Carney was good but his defensive positioning was almost as bad as Aku, he would slide in off his wing all the time and let heaps of tries in from memory.

 

[Johns Magic]

If Tomkins came over on $250K you could give him a pass mark but he came over on almost $1m per season didn't he? Definitely didn't deliver on his pay cheque.

Carney was good but his defensive positioning was almost as bad as Aku, he would slide in off his wing all the time and let heaps of tries in from memory.

Has RTS looked any better at the Warriors? From hero to zero. He would be on as much or more than Tomkins was.

Yeah Carney did come off his wing way too much.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Has RTS looked any better at the Warriors? From hero to zero. He would be on as much or more than Tomkins was.

Yeah Carney did come off his wing way too much.

I thought RTS was looking pretty good until he got injured, maybe his first few games were a bit quiet but he went well after that.

I guess the point I was making about Tomkins is that there are heaps of backs that look god-like in the ESL and when they get to the NRL they become almost non-existent. By all reports prior to coming here Tomkins was annihilating that comp and was being called the "English Billy Slater" but he got to the NRL and lasted 1.5 seasons without really living up to that reputation. Maybe if he was playing in a different system like Melbourne or Cowboys he would have been more successful but I can only go off what I saw from him while he was at the Warriors and it wasn't worth what they paid him.

 

[Caped Crusader]

Has RTS looked any better at the Warriors? From hero to zero. He would be on as much or more than Tomkins was.

Yeah Carney did come off his wing way too much.

Bit tough judgement when RTS has been injured for nearly all of 2016

Tomkins was average at best. He simply didn't have the space he was given in the ESL and couldn't make an impact on kick returns. I think he may have faired better at 5/8 but the added defence may have been too much

All in all I agree with pervy, English backs just don't seem to go well out here based on history

 

[Burwood]

There was an article early in the year explaining why English forwards are so successful in the NRL compared to the backs. Something to do with English forwards being ball players and encouraged to be creative, compared to outside backs who get to the NRL and are forced to sit out on the wing and play a highly structured game.

 

[Johns Magic]

Bit tough judgement when RTS has been injured for nearly all of 2016

Tomkins was average at best. He simply didn't have the space he was given in the ESL and couldn't make an impact on kick returns. I think he may have faired better at 5/8 but the added defence may have been too much

All in all I agree with pervy, English backs just don't seem to go well out here based on history

I don't agree with much you've said here but rather than argue those I'll just point out I'm not talking up English backs. I suspect though that an incredibly highly rated junior in a position we are really struggling in may be one to keep an eye on when we have his brother here. He may just be a competent NRL player.

 

[Caped Crusader]

Well based on the history of ESL backs in the NRL, which is terrible, the kid would have to be pretty special to be worth much of a punt.

 

[Glendale]

Wardle better be good. Given Browns experience in the Super League and the fact he got Hodgson to Canberra he better bloody do it for us! If he's a plodder then there should rightfully be questions asked.

It would be good if we could bring his younger brother in aswell. Give him two years in 20's and he'll be sweet if good enough. Although playing in a comp like the ESL at only 17 is no mean fete and I could see the merit in leaving him over there to get some big time experience and buy him in a few years if Joe's still around.

So Huddesfield need to find a replacement centre in order for us to get Wardle for 2017... Trade for Patmat?? Please?

 

[Johns Magic]

Well based on the history of ESL backs in the NRL, which is terrible, the kid would have to be pretty special to be worth much of a punt.

Tell you what, if we recruit an ESL fullback who scores 13 tries, makes 13 try-assists, 18 line-break assists, and 4th in the comp for tackle busts, I'll be ok with that. That was Tomkins in his first year at the Warriors.

If we manage to recruit another Dally M winger of the year in his debut NRL season like Brian Carney, I'll be fine with that too.

This is not something I feel particularly passionate about, but how many failed backs are there from ESL really who were actually good in the first place? Joe Burgess is debatable, Jordan Tansey was not a starter in ESL. I don't think that ex Parra half/fullback was anyone special. Greg Eden was a joke in ESL.

No doubt as a blanket rule NRL backs are better, but I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to English backs.