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Rumoured Targets 3

Caped Crusader

Caped Crusader

Juniors
Messages
1,721
2 years in NYC will not get a kid NRL ready, not unless they are a prodigious talent anyway.

Im a firm believer in bringing kids through NSWCup to get them playing against men. If they shine there then they can take the step up. Ive seen too many Holden Cup "stars" fall short when elevated directly to NRL

Johns Magic said:
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.
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Fair points re: Tomkins. I watched a lot of his games and certainly didnt see those stats matching up but Ill take your word for it. I do remember him getting dominated on kick returns fairly often, slipping over a lot and missing a fair few tackles. The general consensus around RL circles was he didnt reach expectations set for him, especially set by his massive price tag, whether that expectation was fair or not is certainly debatable

Burgess was Wigans leading try scorer in 2014 and made the England side in 2015. He was without a doubt a star in the ESL before coming to the Roosters

Hardaker was 2015 Man of Steel, their Dally M. Hes also an English International

Admittedly its tough to remember many good backs from the ESL in recent times, you may well be right about not many good ones actually coming out. One has to wonder why the good ones are staying over there though too
 
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Johns Magic

Johns Magic

Referee
Messages
21,654
Caped Crusader said:
2 years in NYC will not get a kid NRL ready, not unless they are a prodigious talent anyway.

Im a firm believer in bringing kids through NSWCup to get them playing against men. If they shine there then they can take the step up. Ive seen too many Holden Cup "stars" fall short when elevated directly to NRL



Fair points re: Tomkins. I watched a lot of his games and certainly didnt see those stats matching up but Ill take your word for it. I do remember him getting dominated on kick returns fairly often, slipping over a lot and missing a fair few tackles. The general consensus around RL circles was he didnt reach expectations set for him, especially set by his massive price tag, whether that expectation was fair or not is certainly debatable

Burgess was Wigans leading try scorer in 2014 and made the England side in 2015. He was without a doubt a star in the ESL before coming to the Roosters

Hardaker was 2015 Man of Steel, their Dally M. Hes also an English International

Admittedly its tough to remember many good backs from the ESL in recent times, you may well be right about not many good ones actually coming out. One has to wonder why the good ones are staying over there though too
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Tomkins had some flaws but he was also very good in plenty of ways. I see him as a similar player to the current mould of Barba and I suspect he would have been great in a decent team. I don't think the Warriors were a good fit for him.

I think there was a fair bit of tall poppy syndrome from LU fans when it came to Tomkins. He was better than people say.

Joe Burgess scored 7 tries in 13 NRL games. Not exactly terrible. By the end of the year when he had finally been given a proper run he was looking pretty good in a Rabbitohs team that was doing well. Souths really wanted to keep him.

I didn't watch enough of Hardaker, certainly he sounded underwhelming though but he didn't really get a proper crack.

Scott Moore was a Super League team of the year hooker, and was a dud here. Josh Hodgson has done much better.

I'm not saying I think the best centre in the ESL would be the best centre in the NRL but I suspect there are a decent amount who would be competent first-graders. Look at the centres we used this year...
 
Caped Crusader

Caped Crusader

Juniors
Messages
1,721
I see your point regarding the class of backs that have come out to the NRL and it certainly hasn't been their best guys lately. Back in the day I wanted Keith Senior to come out and play here, that guy was a beast of a centre

I just wonder why Tomkins has been pretty much the only one to come out that was on decent pay. Guys like Ryan Hall, Josh Charnley, Cullum Watkins ect either seem happy to knock back offers to stay over there or NRL clubs simply aren't interested. Hell even halves like Matt Smith would surely attract attention given the real lack of quality halves in the NRL.

Haha yeah I guess the MOS award loses its lustre when George Carmont wins it
 
B

betcats

Referee
Messages
23,956
Hardaker was not fit when he came out here. He was depressed and off the rails abusing prescription meds and his form in England was way down, his team let him come out here for the year despite being contracted for next season because they wanted him to get away from his situation. He was underwhelming initially but he had to get in shape and put on 15 kilos and adjust to the level of competition. By the finals he had started to show flashes of his ability and if it wasn't for the high transfer fee attached to him I think he would of had a pretty good NRL career.
 
S

slotmachine

First Grade
Messages
7,418
Brown doesn't seem to like a few guys I reckon go alright like randall, paea and mullen. Even stockwell looked OK but has been given the shaft. Might be an attitude thing.
 
Noname36

Noname36

First Grade
Messages
7,067
I think it's a money thing. With Randall in particular. Most clubs have a bloke like him in NSW Cup. Not good enough to play FG week in week out but decent enough to come in and fill a gap when there's a lot of injuries. Problem is no other club would pay their Randall 400k. That's a fair bit of money for a guy that's realistically not good enough to be in the top grade week in week out.
 
perverse

perverse

Referee
Messages
26,697
Noname36 said:
I think it's a money thing. With Randall in particular. Most clubs have a bloke like him in NSW Cup. Not good enough to play FG week in week out but decent enough to come in and fill a gap when there's a lot of injuries. Problem is no other club would pay their Randall 400k. That's a fair bit of money for a guy that's realistically not good enough to be in the top grade week in week out.
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Yes this. I'm not his biggest fan, but to me he's in amongst the top tiers of depth players that you want at your club... or the bottom of the barrel of first graders. Paying him more than double the minimum wage is criminal.
 
Noname36

Noname36

First Grade
Messages
7,067
perverse said:
Yes this. I'm not his biggest fan, but to me he's in amongst the top tiers of depth players that you want at your club... or the bottom of the barrel of first graders. Paying him more than double the minimum wage is criminal.
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Yep. Nice one yet again Hages.
 
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