Rumoured Targets 3

[The Axe of Druss]

Anyone know if he is any good?

He's a Qld u19s rep so I'd say he's got decent potential

 

[aqua_duck]

Ah ok that’s fair enough then. I was under the impression it was mainly the role of the recruitment manager to advise on who to keep, who to move on, sign, and the sort of contract as POS was talking about that being his role. I suspect each club would be a bit different in terms of how much sway they have.

I think it depends on the hierarchy. Obviously the longer tenured and more established the coach is would go along way into determining how much input they have. Look at a coach like Bennett, there’s no way any recruitment manager would be able to override his decision, likewise Bellamy, Ricky Stuart, Robinson, Cleary, etc.
The Ponga and Taumalolo decisions upon reflection might seem like misguided decisions but you have to remember the position the cowboys were in at the time, they had won the comp in 2015, prelim final in 2016 and grand final in 2017 with a very established nucleus of players, also Taumalolo was given a 10 year contract off the back of winning the Dally M and being undisputedly the best forward in the game, the 10 year deal was a long term sacrifice to retain him within what the thought was a premiership window

 

[Woody90]

I think it depends on the hierarchy. Obviously the longer tenured and more established the coach is would go along way into determining how much input they have. Look at a coach like Bennett, there’s no way any recruitment manager would be able to override his decision, likewise Bellamy, Ricky Stuart, Robinson, Cleary, etc.
The Ponga and Taumalolo decisions upon reflection might seem like misguided decisions but you have to remember the position the cowboys were in at the time, they had won the comp in 2015, prelim final in 2016 and grand final in 2017 with a very established nucleus of players, also Taumalolo was given a 10 year contract off the back of winning the Dally M and being undisputedly the best forward in the game, the 10 year deal was a long term sacrifice to retain him within what the thought was a premiership window

On the Ponga stuff, I guess he also said on the Matty and Cooper Johns podcast that he wasn’t very happy at the time he was at the Cowboys and looking to even switch codes so for all we know it was a decision by him and the powers that be might have actually been fighting really hard to keep him.

 

[macavity]

new secret bidder has matched our offer for Brown

He is a Rooster by Round 1.

 

[perverse]

new secret bidder has matched our offer for Brown

He is a Rooster by Round 1.

I just can't imagine the Roosters being desperate enough to match the crazy terms we're throwing about. Secret bidder? What's that all about? What does a club have to gain by keeping themselves anonymous - but their presence known in the media? And why would the media not just blast it from the rooftops anyway? Why do the media give a shit whether this "mystery clubs" offer is on the table or otherwise? Usually the medias incentive is to break a story, not to hide it.

Honestly, it sounds like his manager pissing about trying to get an extra mil or 2 on our offer to me. f**king weird all around tbh. Our offer is already absurd, just f**king take it or leave it mate.

 

[Woody90]

new secret bidder has matched our offer for Brown

He is a Rooster by Round 1.

This was the team I was thinking too. Can definitely see them panicking looking at their halves options.

Tbh I’m kind of happy there’s another club that thinks he’s worth as much as us. But yeah, we’re no chance if it’s the Roosters. If it’s the Dragons I give us a chance.

Or there’s no other secret bidder and it’s just his manager trying to get more money from either us or the Eels. Both just as likely.

 

[macavity]

I just can't imagine the Roosters being desperate enough to match the crazy terms we're throwing about. Secret bidder? What's that all about? What does a club have to gain by keeping themselves anonymous - but their presence known in the media? And why would the media not just blast it from the rooftops anyway? Why do the media give a shit whether this "mystery clubs" offer is on the table or otherwise? Usually the medias incentive is to break a story, not to hide it.

Honestly, it sounds like his manager pissing about trying to get an extra mil or 2 on our offer to me. f**king weird all around tbh. Our offer is already absurd, just f**king take it or leave it mate.

With them it won't all be on the cap.

It will be 800k and a block of flats.

 

[Woody90]

I just can't imagine the Roosters being desperate enough to match the crazy terms we're throwing about.

Their recruitment has been a bit weird lately though. Gus was talking about it on his podcast last week - they’re making a few panic targets in response to who they’ve lost.

But yeah my feeling is that this could also just be the manager trying to get more money out of either us or the Eels.

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

I'd be surprised if there weren't a few clubs interested in Brown. Remember there's expansion on the horizon and players of his quality will get even more scarce.

Secret bidder? What's that all about? What does a club have to gain by keeping themselves anonymous -

not piss off your present halves, not add fuel to the endless " missing recruitment targets" "no one wants to go there" articles if you don't get the signature.

Gardner does the club and attempted negotiations no favors by fueling the media and talking about negotiations/possible offers. It beggars belief.

 

[Knight Tales]

Where is Parr and why is Gardner talking for him? The whole point of Parr was to stop Gardner talking around team issues, especially recruitment. Outside chance? What a moronic thing to say.
A good chief would say we are confident we have him. That there are no guarantees and if he wanted to stay at Parramatta there would have been no ratchet clauses to start with. Psychology and confidence are part of the game. You can only be wrong. But this guy talks footy Like he is putting a bid for a house.

 

[Burwood]

Dragons will sign Kyle Flanagan on a 10 year deal before Brown.

 

[Woody90]

I'm concerned about the 1.6M on two hookers comment..

Buzz was talking about this on Triple M NRL Daily…sounds like he was referring to that amount being tied up on Brailey, Crossland + Matt Arthur.

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

Buzz was talking about this on Triple M NRL Daily…sounds like he was referring to that amount being tied up on Brailey, Crossland + Matt Arthur.

Crossy on 450K and Arthur on 350K I can understand, but if Brailey is on anywhere near 800K that's a criminal allocation of cap.

I'd hardly expect him to trash Brailey on the way out the door. The bloke is unfortunately made of glass, and he's on waaay too much coin.

 

[Apey]

new secret bidder has matched our offer for Brown

He is a Rooster by Round 1.

Hope so, if the 10 year stuff is true. Though, having just read the quotes, it's just a 'we won't rule it out' from Gardner.

10 year deals are absolutely moronic.

 

[Burwood]

What are some long term deals in the NRL? DCE’s worked out pretty well for Manly. JT’s for the cowboys not so much. Too early to tell with Tino. Any other ones?

 

[HarVeeGee]

DCE’s deal absolutely messed up their ability to put a good team around him. It’s so funny KP gets slammed for doing that but in terms of % of the salary cap, DCE was making about 20% of the Manly cap on his own. Kalyn more like 11%. In real “how much do you have to spend on other players now” terms, it was actually a horrific deal initially, and it’s only been on the back end that it’s actually caught up to market value.

That contract is why so many of their iconic guys of that era hate him. They took pay cuts to keep a contending team together, and then he shows up halfway through that golden period, nabs himself a premiership in his rookie season running downhill through the whole finals behind a stacked pack, nabs himself the Clive Churchill, and then says “alright I’ve completed club footy now, turf this guy and this guy and this guy so you can afford to pay me” (with a backflip on the Titans pissing off Queenslanders in the middle of that). Guys like Watmough and a couple of the others. They curse his name.

I don’t think it’s too early on the Tino one. He’s not a million dollar middle. It’s a bad deal.

I’m honestly not sure any of those deals have worked out great tbh… but it might for us

 

[ryan.a87]

Jason taumololo is on a 10 year, 1 mil a year contract

problem with his deal, is when they signed him, he was by far the best forward in the game, and the deal was a great idea……but then nrl changed the rules and forwards like him weren’t as effective

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Whilst I don’t love 10 year deals they seem to be a thing that’s starting to pop up in the NRL in the modern era. Ultimately we need to get players in who are going to significantly move the needle and the club has obviously identified Brown as a guy they believe can do that.

If we do sign Brown to a long deal then this at least gives us 2 players that we can build the club around for the next 8-10 years and you would think we’d have other players (especially local juniors) who stay or sign for less to play with Brown and KP in (hopefully) a successful system.

The alternative is that we keep plugging away with the current average standard of players in our key positions and hope it somehow leads us to a premiership. Let’s face it, a bunch of guys had career best years in 2023 and we still didn’t get past week 2 of the finals. We need to get someone in who will significantly improve us in a key position.

anyway those are my thoughts.

 

[ryan.a87]

I can’t think of any other half you would want to sign for a 10 year deal anyway

even if Hughes, Cleary and Hynes all became available, they are probably too old for that length of deal (Cleary is borderline)

only other halves I can think of is Walker and Katoa, but feel Brown has shown more promise than them