Rumoured Targets 3

[slotmachine]

He was the best centre the game last year. He's worth double whatever sione is on.

Doesn't effect the knights though cause he ain't coming here.

 

[The Showstopper]

Yeah. He is not coming here cos we refuse to join the media driven circus. Bennett won't pay 500 k for him. Not unless a big third party comes in.

 

[Spot On]

Yeah. He is not coming here cos we refuse to join the media driven circus. Bennett won't pay 500 k for him. Not unless a big third party comes in.

Andrew Gee doesn't work for the Broncs anymore.

 

[Spot On]

If clubs are stupid enough to pay him 500k then I pray we aren't one of them

It looks as though the days of setting average footballers up for life have stopped with Brown.

 

[The Showstopper]

I wish I had a crystal ball to see the side Browny puts together for 2018 when his real money comes in cap wise. Add to that we will most likely be owned by WESTS or at least made financially viable by them again. I feel our patience and pain will be rewarded in the long term. I really think our defence under Brown will be better than we have ever seen before.

While it is always open to debate there have been whispers out of camp that Brown has got them training at an intensity they have never known before and will not accept short cuts of any kind. The weights sessions are also a big factor. Boys are feeling fitter and stronger.

 

[TooheysNew]

I would kill to know where your whispers come from.

 

[slotmachine]

more talk this morning that the salary cap cupboard is bare, and brown targeting young english players he has coached previously

any names come to mind?

 

[PhilGould]

Alex Walmsley, hopefully.

 

[perverse]

lol, one minute we've got room under the cap to wriggle a bit, the next minute we don't.

Common sense says we do just looking at our ins and outs. We've only got like 15 odd legitimate first graders in the squad, I don't think it's all gone - no matter how much it suits your little narrative, slot. We don't have Sam Burgess money, we're paying our backs that cash, but I'd wager there's a bit there.

At the end of the day, I've been wanting us to raid the ESL for talent for years and years. Unfortunately plenty o other clubs have now beat us to the punch, but it's still a good idea in light of our situation at the moment.

 

[slotmachine]

if i had to take a guess i'd say we have 600k, and brown wants to get 2-3 first graders with that

lafai was apparently on 400k at the dogs, which explains why we couldn't afford him.

just saying I don't see us signing a name player. i'd be happy with three stockwells, guys who were basically no names but had some first grade experience.

 

[perverse]

We just desperately need some adequate roster filler. I'd love another good centre or fullback, but i'll settle for having more than 17 blokes who we can confidently say are first grade players.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

I'd be happy if brownie could bring some esl players over. Would be nice to get another Brian carney or something here. He was good.

 

[slotmachine]

We just desperately need some adequate roster filler. I'd love another good centre or fullback, but i'll settle for having more than 17 blokes who we can confidently say are first grade players.

agree 100%. we're really stretching to even fill the first grade side really. when you sit down and look at round 1 with sione and tariq out its pretty grim.

carney is one of my fav knights ever. champion

 

[perverse]

We're going to be leaning a lot on untested depth and juniors this year. That won't necessarily be a bad thing, but we still need a few more reliable guys in the squad. It'll be an interesting year to watch, not so much for the results... but we should see a lot of debutants this year. Hopefully they don't all turn out to be disappointing.

Stockwell is almost a new recruit again this year, and he was coming along nicely. Hopefully Paea can provide something. I've heard Korbin has been training to play a wider role... but I really can't see the sense in it unless someone from the back row is moving up front. Rochow could, but I honestly think that Rochow has the best footwork and line running of any of our forwards. I used to be a fan of shifting him to the middle at some point... but to be honest, I actually like him out wide now. Korbin wasn't doing anything wrong that I could see in the middle, either.

 

[perverse]

Trying to build a round 1 team is hard.

1. Mamo
2. Ross
3. ?
4. Gagai
5. Aku
6. Mullen
7. Hodkinson
8. Snowden
9. Randell
10. Stockwell or Paea
11. K. Sims
12. Rochow
13. Smith

14. Levi
15. Mataora
16. Tapine
17. Paea or Stockwell

Dunno who plays centre. Would like to get Feeney in the mix somewhere. I don't think Feeney is a halfback, but he could be a good something else. We need to hope just about all our youth maximizes their potential.

 

[Wato]

I am a big Feeney fan, I would like to see him play fullback in round one and move Ross to centre and Mamo to the wing. Mamo is a great talent but I am not convinced he is going to develop into an NRL level fullback long term I think he will be a winger who can fill in at fullback. Feeney also provides us with another ball playing and kicking option plus his size will make him tougher to dominate in kick returns than Mamo which lets us get our sets off to a positive start.

 

[harrywilliams]

As for round one there's a few options for centre. Ross, Chanel, Pat, Tapine, Tofilau, Robson, Bradie Smith.

Feeney has been training at fullback and says if Mamo beats him to it for round one then he'll play in the NSW Cup halves.

I hope we don't see Mataora in first grade unless we really have to. It's looking that way though, Brown SURELY has a forward or two in his sights

I'd go with this for round one

1. Jaelen Feeney
2. Jake Mamo
3. Dane Gagai
4. Joe Tapine
5. Akuila Uate
6. Jarrod Mullen
7. Trent Hodkinson
8. Kade Snowden
9. Danny Levi
10. Jack Stockwell
11. Korbin Sims
12. Robbie Rochow
13. Jeremy Smith

14. David Bhana
15. Jacob Saifiti
16. Mickey Paea
17. Sam Mataora

It's a big, mobile, young team. Brown is all for using young players, I would like to see the Saifiti brothers in the side sooner than later.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

I doubt we will have any more buys before season start.
Brown mentioned we would only do so if we get a good deal.
Later in the year - maybe based on performance and injury.
If Feeney is groomed for fullback fine with me. I can see Ross taking the wing though.
Otherwise, we can play a bit with fullback.

What I'd like to see is a fair dinkum bench utility.

 

[Swarzey]

Thought Mataora had a decent finish to the season in first grade. Some really nice carries coming off the bench. Wouldn't be opposed to seeing him in 17 although his jumper could go to plenty of others. I guess it creates a fair bit of competition with the likes of Fitzgibbon, Saifiti twins, King, Yates etc all showing plenty of promise and reason to be looked at next year.

Jacob Saifiti will finish the year in top grade IMO.

 

[Zoidberg]

Side note- that Inglis heading to the Broncos rumour popped it's head up again. If that were to happen I will walk away from this game.