Rumoured Targets 3

[Mr_Knightside]

Honestly I find it bizarre that there are people in this forum who would be against Brown as a recruitment target. We spend most of our time on here whining about how bad our team is and how we lack quality especially in key positions, then one of the best 5/8 options in the comp becomes available and the club shows interest and people aren’t on board with the idea…

I get that 6 years is risky (and it is) but clubs like ours don’t get anywhere near a premiership without taking risks, unless we somehow manage to produce another golden generation of local juniors topped off with a couple of all time greats like we did in the 90s.

The last major risk we took was signing KP for $700K per year based on one first grade game at the time, and I’d argue that on the whole it has paid off so far. We haven’t won a comp yet obviously but that’s mainly because we made some bad decisions in other areas like paying DSaf silly money to plod around for a few years.

Honestly I’d much rather we pay Dylan Brown $1.2m per year for 6 years and it be a failure, knowing that the club has aspirations of getting some of the best NRL talent in a Knights jersey, rather than run around with bog standard halves for another half a decade and know that the club was ok with that.

 

[Woody90]

Yeah I don’t see a problem with targeting him.

Whilst it’s very unlikely it also makes it known to player managers we’ve got cash to spend on a half. I get the feeling there will be a few halves wanting out of their current clubs to get better contracts soon.

 

[Apey]

Christ if we sign Brown for SIX years for 1M+ per year, we are cooked. He is not worth that kind of commitment. He has no game-management skills.

 

[Allstar Knights]

Call me crazy but the idea of a spine including Ponga, Sharpe and Brown does excite me. It’s still a big 'if' that Sharpe works out but if he’s a revelation in the halves, it makes the Brown signing even better imo.

What we'd lack in organization we could make up for in attacking ability and sheer X Factor (Brown does have a decent boot at least which we can utilise). Having Brown on the left would be a massive threat. If he had a combination with Shaun Lane as one of the more lethal edge combos, imagine what it could be like with Lucas while having Ponga or Best or running it himself as options. We could have an extremely lethal backline. Ponga out the back with Brown and Sharpe on both sides being running threats. Brown could have the 7 on his back but it wouldn’t be a traditional role necessarily.

 

[TheCrowe]

Christ if we sign Brown for SIX years for 1M+ per year, we are cooked. He is not worth that kind of commitment. He has no game-management skills.

He is a 5/8 only. Has no idea how to run a team. Id give Sharpe a run first at 5/8. Connor Votano is also coming through.
12 months is a long time in the NRL. Save the money for a half.

 

[Rod]

I was surprised that Brown is only 24. I had imagined 26/27.

6 years is a risk no matter who the player though. You'd think we'd be a bit gunshy on a deal of such length given how we've been stung in the recent past. And that's been guys on only 3-4 year deals.

 

[Knight Tales]

6 years is ridiculous for Brown. We don't even know how he's going to be after his ACL injury...

That's the type of contract I'd be offering to a Nathan Cleary not a Dylan Brown ffs

You are correct. But that is the problem. There is only one of Cleary to go around. Nothing about this is ideal business, but we make play for a big fish in the halves or there is a big chance Kalyn will be gone at some point.

 

[Yosh]

I'm fine with the paypacket but 6 years is a long long time. If it works out it could mean stability for years to come. Gives time for Sharpe to establish himself as a half. If we have Crossland at 9, we might have the worst spine in terms of game management in the league.

Ponga, Lucas, Best and Brown down that left side could be scintillating!

 

[Apey]

These days, you don't need to be the best halfback in the game to earn $1M+ but I'm not convinced Brown is worth that much even as a 5/8. I suppose it's supply and demand. No way we'd be stupid enough to do a 6 year deal, though... right? You could hack the price if it didn't potentially cripple you for over half a decade.

 

[perverse]

I said before that it's a bit pricey for Brown - but my main concern remains that it's not exactly what we need. I don't have an issue with his talent as much as his fit for us. I'd be willing to drop that cash if he was an out and out 7. I'm glad we're trying to be bold in the market, though. We can do a lot worse than having 2 classy players in the spine.

6 years is... woof. Honestly, I think that's a bad deal for both parties. I guess there's a lot less risk for a player when they can just agitate until they get a release - whereas we've already shown (so many times) that we can easily get stuck with duds on big money.

Still. With all of the above said and done, I still think we'd have to celebrate if we were to land him as a signing. We don't get big names often, and it's a point of difference that can spark us in a new direction on the field. Would I be more thrilled to land a Sam Walker? Sure, yes, absolutely. I don't know if we're a club that can allow "perfect" to be the enemy of "good" though. Much prefer to spend 1.2m a year on Brown than 800-900k a year on a DSaf, too. That extra 300k is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that equation. It's a much better use of funds to spend big on a spine player with real talent.

 

[Yosh]

Isn't he like the best defensive half in the game?

 

[perverse]

Just what's needed. Another over priced, inconsistent space cadet who believes his own hype.
Partially torn ACL is the cherry on top.

Only just read this. Partially torn ACL is a major, major downside. That thing is going to go. I'm confused why he's not getting it repaired ahead of time, I would have thought that would result in better outcomes than just letting it go when it goes?

 

[Knight Tales]

If he has clauses in his deal I suggest we invert them so the options are club options. The pay off of him getting a salary bump here. If he agrees to that it is a no brainer. I’d negotiate the same deal but with a club option after two to release him if it is not working. He still gets over 2 million regardless .if he agrees - sign him. The caveat for him being if he is extended it reverts back to a player option after four years. Meaning essentially he gets to choose once he earns the right to, Similar to his current deal.
If not then we move on.

 

[Woody90]

I said before that it's a bit pricey for Brown - but my main concern remains that it's not exactly what we need.

Brown offers a running threat that would actually force the opposition to make a decision rather than just targeting and smothering poor KP all the time, and for that alone he’s what we need IMO.

Of course my preference would also be a halfback, but there’s maybe 5 in the comp who would actually improve us significantly and we’re absolutely no chance of signing any of them. I hear people offer up names like Foggerty or Sexton as alternatives…neither would significantly move the needle more than Hastings/Cogger/Gamble, and also signing Brown wouldn’t actually stop us making an offer to either of them. I get people’s reasoning that we have players that could become good running halves like Sharpe/Pryce/Votano…but none of them are proven (in the halves anyway in Sharpe’s case). It’s a no brainer to consider an established 5/8 that’s only 24 and played 141 games.

Yes the ACL is worrying, but who are we kidding? This is the Knights and whoever we signed in the halves would end up doing one anyway. If worst case scenario he goes down for a year, we’re really not in any worse situation where we’d probably be looking at Gamble/Sharpe etc as a backup.

No he’s not exactly what we need. But we’re not going to get exactly what we need. I’d prefer us at least try to use our cap on someone that could at least help KP out rather than not use it and end up having to sign another few plodders to use our cap.