Rumoured Targets 3

[Yosh]

Any chance we resign Watson and Barnett? They were awesome tonight. Barnett is sorely missed man. We should have sent Dan Saifiti packing and given his money to Barnett!!

 

[aqua_duck]

Any chance we resign Watson and Barnett? They were awesome tonight. Barnett is sorely missed man. We should have sent Dan Saifiti packing and given his money to Barnett!!

Barnett is the perfect origin bench forward, can play middle and edge, tonight he played left edge, middle then right edge, great line speed, aggressive but has done a great job in getting the rubbish out of his game. He made 30 tackles tonight and didn’t miss any.

 

[Knight Tales]

Any chance we resign Watson and Barnett? They were awesome tonight. Barnett is sorely missed man. We should have sent Dan Saifiti packing and given his money to Barnett!!

Barnett always had Origin written all over him. As Aqua pointed out. his hardness would always translate to stupidity. Now he has contained it. They tried to bait him last night at times. He would not bite. Incredible performance.

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

Barnett is the perfect origin bench forward, can play middle and edge, tonight he played left edge, middle then right edge, great line speed, aggressive but has done a great job in getting the rubbish out of his game. He made 30 tackles tonight and didn’t miss any.

3 (?) x DB medal winner = champion player. without question one of the Knights biggest losses is in recent times.

Madge spoke often of having the right characters in the group. Barny is a winner, something in short supply in the roster.

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

“That’s why the champion halves were so important in rugby league. You don’t win comps without Origin-class halfbacks,” Gould

 

[Woody90]

Would love Barnett back. I think he just needed time to mature tbh.

I loved Watson while he was here but with our injury luck combined with his injury luck I suspect we’d end up with a Brailey situation on our hands so that would be a no from me.

 

[Woody90]

“That’s why the champion halves were so important in rugby league. You don’t win comps without Origin-class halfbacks,” Gould

Cool - which origin class halfback should we sign?

 

[Burwood]

Cool - which origin class halfback should we sign?

It's a confusing quote from Gould. Until last night, Luai was a 3x premiership winning half, but very loudly criticised as not being an "origin player".

 

[Woody90]

It's a confusing quote from Gould. Until last night, Luai was a 3x premiership winning half, but very loudly criticised as not being an "origin player".

Very confusing quote. Same with Cleary.

DCE was also the worst half on field and his side is in the top 8 where Moses’ side is coming last.

 

[slotmachine]

Moses’ side is coming last.

Mainly because he's been injured all year.

 

[Woody90]

Mainly because he's been injured all year.

To be honest I think they’ve been using that as a bit of a cop out. Their defence has been terrible and Moses wouldn’t have fixed that.

I mean we beat them with Moses playing carrying a 5/8 on debut and a 4 game rookie at fullback and we’re terrible.

I’d definitely take Moses over Hastings but Gould’s comment is a bit strange when there hasn’t been much of a correlation between the best halves in Origin and premiership winning halves lately which is the comment I was agreeing with.

 

[perverse]

To be honest I think they’ve been using that as a bit of a cop out. Their defence has been terrible and Moses wouldn’t have fixed that.

I mean we beat them with Moses playing carrying a 5/8 on debut and a 4 game rookie at fullback and we’re terrible.

I’d definitely take Moses over Hastings but Gould’s comment is a bit strange when there hasn’t been much of a correlation between the best halves in Origin and premiership winning halves lately which is the comment I was agreeing with.

I think the essence of what Gus is saying is pretty true though. There's not too many poor premiership winning halfbacks, and most oftentimes it's the top tier of halves getting the bickies. Chad Townsend in 2016 sticks out in my head as a bit of an anomaly, but he was playing well at the time and had a pretty good partner in Jim Maloney there.

Like, if you run the ruler over the premiership teams of the past couple of decades, you're not going to find many "Jackson Hastings" in the list. You can cherry pick the odd exception here and there, but the general rule rings pretty true to me. In the rare exception that a dud halfback does make it, they usually have a dominant high-class 5/8th next to them steering the ship.

 

[Woody90]

I think the essence of what Gus is saying is pretty true though. There's not too many poor premiership winning halfbacks, and most oftentimes it's the top tier of halves getting the bickies. Chad Townsend in 2016 sticks out in my head as a bit of an anomaly, but he was playing well at the time and had a pretty good partner in Jim Maloney there.

Like, if you run the ruler over the premiership teams of the past couple of decades, you're not going to find many "Jackson Hastings" in the list. You can cherry pick the odd exception here and there, but the general rule rings pretty true to me. In the rare exception that a dud halfback does make it, they usually have a dominant high-class 5/8th next to them steering the ship.

Yeah I agree in general. Quality is quality. It’s just lately in particular it’s not been consistent.

My main point was sure, you obviously need an excellent halfback to win a comp, but who do people want us to chase exactly? There simply aren’t any. More than half the comp are in the same predicament and it’s going to get worse as most of the good ones are in their 30s now.

My hope is given O’Sullivan’s history of finding junior talent, he’ll be able to identify us a half with a good chance of kicking on. Definitely not ideal as means even longer period before we can be competitive, but signing an established half capable of winning a comp is just not going to happen.

 

[Yosh]

I wouldn't say you need an excellent half to win a grandfinal. If the 4 spine players you need 2 outstanding players and 2 better than average players. Or some sort of make up that is similar.

At the moment we have
1. Ponga (exceptional)
6. Gamble/Pryce (mid to lower end)
7. Hastings (broken)
9. Brailey (broken) / Crossland (average)

That spine ain't winning a grandfinal.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

I wouldn't say you need an excellent half to win a grandfinal. If the 4 spine players you need 2 outstanding players and 2 better than average players. Or some sort of make up that is similar.

At the moment we have
1. Ponga (exceptional)
6. Gamble/Pryce (mid to lower end)
7. Hastings (broken)
9. Brailey (broken) / Crossland (average)

That spine ain't winning a grandfinal.

Or getting us to one.

 

[Knight Tales]

Halfbacks are hard to find. Even the top SL halves are tied down to long term deals. So if you want them you will be paying a hefty transfer fee. And likely their clubs will not even entertain it. Welsby is rumoured to have a 500 k pound buy out fee. So you add a million dollars to the huge deal you’d be handing him. And St Helens are not releasing him anyway.

 

[PhilGould]

Toohey's News

- Hetherington has no intention of leaving early, has told his agent not to even explore other options

- Toohey says they're trying to free up space to sign a "big, athletic outside back" but doesn't name a name

- Tom Cant signs a 2-year deal to join the top 30

- Cody Hopwood re-signs until 2028, only other Knight signed for that long is Sosaia Latu but he doesn't join the top squad until towards the end of that deal, whereas Hopwood is in it already

 

[slotmachine]

- Tom Cant signs a 2-year deal to join the top 30

This confuses me.
He is obviously not an outside back, but was getting manhandled by Garrick of all people.
His defence in NSW Cup is also poor.
Seems a long way off being ready for firsts unless he gets a lot bigger and stronger, and more importantly KPP/Lucas look to be long term 80 minute edge forwards.

Probably a good bloke.

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

I think the essence of what Gus is saying is pretty true though. There's not too many poor premiership winning halfbacks, and most oftentimes it's the top tier of halves getting the bickies. Chad Townsend in 2016 sticks out in my head as a bit of an anomaly, but he was playing well at the time and had a pretty good partner in Jim Maloney there.

Like, if you run the ruler over the premiership teams of the past couple of decades, you're not going to find many "Jackson Hastings" in the list. You can cherry pick the odd exception here and there, but the general rule rings pretty true to me. In the rare exception that a dud halfback does make it, they usually have a dominant high-class 5/8th next to them steering the ship.

Ben Hornby would give Chad Townsend a run for most average have in recent memory to win a Premiership - he did have Soward, possibly the best boot in the game at the time

Cool - which origin class halfback should we sign?

they're developed, and the club get's an F- in that department

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

I wouldn't say you need an excellent half to win a grandfinal. If the 4 spine players you need 2 outstanding players and 2 better than average players. Or some sort of make up that is similar.

At the moment we have
1. Ponga (exceptional)
6. Gamble/Pryce (mid to lower end)
7. Hastings (broken)
9. Brailey (broken) / Crossland (average)

That spine ain't winning a grandfinal.

Crossland is young and could develop into a class player/good enough.