Rumoured Targets 3

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

Almost everyone who’s a regular starting player in the NRL and isn’t an outside back makes over $400K…

425K is average

 

[Rod]

FFS can we not do the Elliott discussion for the millionth time.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

ah no, that is precisely what it's about. Indeed that's all it's about.


that's more about the roster than the style of football. We quite literally have possibly the worst spine comp + a pack that has zero fear factor.

It's a miracle we made the finals IMO. The team over achieved and was lucky a few cards fell their way


the start of this season not withstanding

Lucas - one of the most promising young backrowers in the game
Leo - Kiwi International
Safs - SOO reps ( lucky to be selected but none-the-less )
Crossland - Kiwi International
Best - SOO rep + Aust squad selection
Dom Young - England International + comp highest try scorer + club record holder
Sharpe - one of the most promising young players in the game
Ponga - Dally M

The above took place under AOB, and mostly with a reserve grade spine to steer the team

* look where Dom Young is this week under the "super coach"

How can you call our spine mostly reserve grade when you've named 2 of them here as improved players and SOO or international reps?

Pick a lane bro

 

[perverse]

How can you call our spine mostly reserve grade when you've named 2 of them here as improved players and SOO or international reps?

Pick a lane bro

Yeah I had a whole ass reply to it and I just can't be bothered anymore. Yep, AOB has turned Crossland into a NZ superstar mate. Have at it. lol. We are shroedingers football team - both fearsome and well coached but also terrible and down on quality troops. Just don't look in the box.

My larger point remains, regardless of the nitty gritty. We can play better than this, and we should be. It's that simple. This happens every year and I'm just sick of it. We shouldn't be leaving it to another hot run of form from Kalyn to pull it out of the fire. That ain't coaching.

 

[Woody90]

FFS can we not do the Elliott discussion for the millionth time.

So I shouldn’t bring up his fantasy points again LOL?

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

How can you call our spine mostly reserve grade when you've named 2 of them here as improved players and SOO or international reps?

Pick a lane bro

Cogger and Gamble arent first graders

Sharpe has potential but too green at the moment

The above is HALF the spine ....50%

Crossland is a more recent development certainly not the same player over the whole of AOB tenure, and he is still a 14 for mine, but may develop into a top 8 dummy half. Love the bloke.

Spine is mostly reserve grade - yep

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Cogger and Gamble arent first graders

Sharpe has potential but too green at the moment

The above is HALF the spine ....50%

Crossland is a more recent development certainly not the same player over the whole of AOB tenure, and he is still a 14 for mine, but may develop into a top 8 dummy half. Love the bloke.

Spine is mostly reserve grade - yep

That's some quality backpedaling there my guy. Not so much quality in the maths though

Bravo

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

That's some quality backpedaling there my guy. Not so much quality in the maths though

Bravo

no back peddling. The spine is a reserve grade spine.

Only 1 player would make it in any top 4 team - Ponga

No other spine player would make it in any top 8 team.

Some could argue Crossy could be a dummy half in a top 8 team - but I dont think so.

3/4 our spine players would be playing reserve grade in team seriously challenging for the title

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

My larger point remains, regardless of the nitty gritty. We can play better than this, and we should be. It's that simple. This happens every year and I'm just sick of it.

love the passion mate, unfortunately we're in for more pain until Sully get's the roster right

 

[macavity]

love the passion mate, unfortunately we're in for more pain until Sully get's the roster right

bit hard when no one wants to come here. We need to luck into a golden generation, and that’s like winning lotto if you can’t recruit.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

no back peddling. The spine is a reserve grade spine.

Only 1 player would make it in any top 4 team - Ponga

No other spine player would make it in any top 8 team.

Some could argue Crossy could be a dummy half in a top 8 team - but I dont think so.

3/4 our spine players would be playing reserve grade in team seriously challenging for the title

Yet you used 3/4 of the spine as proof that AOB is somehow doing a good job

Maybe change gears while peddling backwards

 

[perverse]

love the passion mate, unfortunately we're in for more pain until Sully get's the roster right

AOB won't win a premiership as a head coach. You can piss around with the detail all you like.

And I have huge doubts on "Sully" too. He's done a piss poor job to this point and has a lot to prove in the next 12 months to reverse it. Parr in that group too. Everyone has an expiration date.

 

[Apey]

Sullivan's long-standing interest in Dylan Brown will certainly see Sullivan's credentials put to the test the next few years. He has said himself he's long been after his signature. I hope he's a genius because I have my doubts.

 

[slotmachine]

If your aren't waking up in cold sweat at the thought of our 2026 pack I don't know what to say, as it stands before any injuries it's

Jsaf
Crossland
Friz
Lucas
McEwen
Cant

Arthur
Jones
Hopgood
Sullivan

 

[Old dog]

Makes considering Elliott and Hetherington for a season ext, Elliott to 13, Cant bench with Hetho, Hopwood and Sullivan to Cup to continue development

 

[Woody90]

It’s way too early to be making any type of call on POS.

Peter Parr is like a lamp to me. I literally have no positive or negative feelings towards him which might be a bad thing. Will be interesting to see how he goes in Gardiner’s role next year.

 

[perverse]

It’s way too early to be making any type of call on POS.

To make a call maybe, but he's already made decisions that have put us in a lot of short term pain. He'll be judged on the long term gain we get from it - but as it stands he's left us with a squad without any forward pack depth for this year and it's looking increasingly likely next year too. It's not helping us out there.

 

[Woody90]

To make a call maybe, but he's already made decisions that have put us in a lot of short term pain. He'll be judged on the long term gain we get from it - but as it stands he's left us with a squad without any forward pack depth for this year and it's looking increasingly likely next year too. It's not helping us out there.

What’s happening now was always going to happen as a result of trying to off load all of the overpriced forward contracts we lumped ourselves with. Exact same thing had to happen after Bennett left where we had to pad the top 30 with juniors/inexperience the following years to reset the cap. Just annoying that we’ve had to have yet another clean out. We simply couldn’t keep the likes of DSaf on 800k, KPP on 750k, Hetherington on 550k etc. it’s definitely short-term pain, but we were never going to get any better overpaying average forwards like we were.

We’ve done this to ourselves. Can’t blame POS for it when he came in 6 months ago after the damage was already done.

 

[perverse]

What’s happening now was always going to happen as a result of trying to off load all of the overpriced forward contracts we lumped ourselves with. Exact same thing had to happen after Bennett left where we had to pad the top 30 with juniors/inexperience the following years to reset the cap. Just annoying that we’ve had to have yet another clean out. We simply couldn’t keep the likes of DSaf on 800k, KPP on 750k, Hetherington on 550k etc. it’s definitely short-term pain, but we were never going to get any better overpaying average forwards like we were.

We’ve done this to ourselves. Can’t blame POS for it when he came in 6 months ago after the damage was already done.

Well, yes and no for mine. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that we had to replace DSaf this year, and we didn't. We needed another senior body to fill that space. I certainly called it immediately at the time, and I was probably the biggest advocate for pissing DSaf off for years prior. I'm sure others did too - it wasn't a massively insightful observation. I don't see it as a particular masterstroke of recruitment to just sack overpaid players and not replace them - only half the job is done. I suspect they've looked at the roster and thought "hey we've got Cody Hopwood and Tyrone Thompson in the squad next year, surely one of them will fill the gap" and compeltely missed the mark that Tyrone is at least 12 months off maybe being an ok prop and Hopwood is still a baby.

Why is it that we constantly have to go through all this pain year after year in the name of "rebuilds" when other teams seem to manage to fill gaps on their ways to rebuilding all the time? We seem to just accept that we have to endure years of misery and hopelessness before we even get a sniff at something better. Teams get themselves into awkward salary cap positions all the time and manage to work their way out of it without sinking to the extreme depths we regularly occupy. For whatever reason, we as a fanbase accept that a few bad contracts means that we have to go through 3-4 years of bottom feeding. For whatever reason we just accept that we can burn through the entirety of a generational players career without improving at all - and take more steps backwards than forwards along the way. I'm kinda just sick of accepting all of this when I run my eyes across the league and everyone else is getting it done better and faster. Anyone can walk into a club and gut it and claim it's in the name of rebuilding. In fact, many have come in and done exactly that - and look where we are.

I don't disagree with you that it needs to be done - but he needs to do the full job, not half of it. He's doing the easy part right now and I'm not seeing the more difficult part moving forward in any meaningful way. That's the problem.

I just want us to start demanding better. We deserve better and we constantly eat the bullshit excuses we're dished up year after year, decade after decade.

 

[Woody90]

Well, yes and no for mine. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that we had to replace DSaf this year, and we didn't. We needed another senior body to fill that space. I certainly called it immediately at the time, and I was probably the biggest advocate for pissing DSaf off for years prior. I'm sure others did too - it wasn't a massively insightful observation. I don't see it as a particular masterstroke of recruitment to just sack overpaid players and not replace them - only half the job is done. I suspect they've looked at the roster and thought "hey we've got Cody Hopwood and Tyrone Thompson in the squad next year, surely one of them will fill the gap" and compeltely missed the mark that Tyrone is at least 12 months off maybe being an ok prop and Hopwood is still a baby.

Why is it that we constantly have to go through all this pain year after year in the name of "rebuilds" when other teams seem to manage to fill gaps on their ways to rebuilding all the time? We seem to just accept that we have to endure years of misery and hopelessness before we even get a sniff at something better. Teams get themselves into awkward salary cap positions all the time and manage to work their way out of it without sinking to the extreme depths we regularly occupy. For whatever reason, we as a fanbase accept that a few bad contracts means that we have to go through 3-4 years of bottom feeding. For whatever reason we just accept that we can burn through the entirety of a generational players career without improving at all - and take more steps backwards than forwards along the way. I'm kinda just sick of accepting all of this when I run my eyes across the league and everyone else is getting it done better and faster. Anyone can walk into a club and gut it and claim it's in the name of rebuilding. In fact, many have come in and done exactly that - and look where we are.

I don't disagree with you that it needs to be done - but he needs to do the full job, not half of it. He's doing the easy part right now and I'm not seeing the more difficult part moving forward in any meaningful way. That's the problem.

I just want us to start demanding better. We deserve better and we constantly eat the bullshit excuses we're dished up year after year, decade after decade.

I don’t think anyone would have thought we didn’t need to replace DSaf. Our cap was so f**ked though we couldn’t even find any money to simply upgrade Leo initially, let alone sign another experienced forward for this season.

The real reason we’re in such a shit position now with the forwards is because we overpaid so many players, our squad is incredibly unbalanced where if the top 17 go down we don’t have any depth. If we hadn’t overspent so much like we did, we could have bought some more quality depth who we could be using now and all of a sudden this rest of this year and 2026 don’t look as depressing.

Yes definitely only half the job is done, but you can’t sign players without cap space either. I’m not really sure what else he could have done in 6 months? He targeted one of the best junior forward prospects (something we were calling on the club to do) but wasn’t successful. He’s targeted Hazelton who wanted too much money, etc. It’s not really POS’ fault the club is so unattractive due to location, lack of recent success, poor coaching, you name it.

We all want us to sign some first grade established middles asap but realistically where are they? Theres a comp wide shortage. Do you think the Dragon’s first choice was to sign David Klemmer? Probably not.

Whether we’ll be able to sign anyone I don’t know, but who really knows what the bloke’s plans are. For all we know there’s a lot of work being done in the background but nothings coming from it due to how unattractive we are.

I’m not saying he’ll be good for us, but I think it’s way too early to be too negative on the bloke.