Rumoured Targets 3

[perverse]

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 understand you want to give him a go, and I'm far from saying he needs to be given the arse just yet (unlike the coach). I'm just beyond being unskeptical with anyone at the club. I'm not willing to sing his praises until he's actually done a good job, I guess. Our supporters get bizarrely cult-like with our support of people who haven't earned it yet. Trust has not been earned, and I'm just not seeing the signs other than putting another broom through the joint.

I'll go one step beyond that too. He seems to be making a lot of very long-term thinking decisions without considering that Kalyn is in his prime right now. The moves we're making look like "start from scratch rebuild" moves. I'm not exactly sure what to make of that, but if we're saying to Kalyn "you'll have a decent team around you when you're 32... thanks for hanging in there for *checks notes* 12 years..." - then we're not really planning to keep him. Maybe this is desirable at this point, I don't know - but it's interesting and worth noting.

 

[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.

Also just finally you’re preaching to the choir with your question about why we have to go through so many rebuilds. I completely agree. It’s so f**king depressing. The fact that we need to do it again though is the fault of the club and previous recruitment people, not the bloke who’s been here for 6 months.

 

[perverse]

Also just finally you’re preaching to the choir with your question about why we have to go through so many rebuilds. I completely agree. It’s so f**king depressing. The fact that we need to do it again though is the fault of the club and previous recruitment people, not the bloke who’s been here for 6 months.

I think we're probably talking past each other a bit then because I didn't really intend to place the blame at his feet for the now - I'm more trying to assess where he's taking us and expressing my skepticism. As I said, he'll be judged on the long term - but at this stage I do have my doubts. I feel like he's signing us up for another one of these 5 year rebuilds with no promise of anything after that again. That's my current impression, but we'll see.

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]

I understand you want to give him a go, and I'm far from saying he needs to be given the arse just yet (unlike the coach). I'm just beyond being unskeptical with anyone at the club. I'm not willing to sing his praises until he's actually done a good job, I guess. Our supporters get bizarrely cult-like with our support of people who haven't earned it yet. Trust has not been earned, and I'm just not seeing the signs other than putting another broom through the joint.

I'll go one step beyond that too. He seems to be making a lot of very long-term thinking decisions without considering that Kalyn is in his prime right now. The moves we're making look like "start from scratch rebuild" moves. I'm not exactly sure what to make of that, but if we're saying to Kalyn "you'll have a decent team around you when you're 32... thanks for hanging in there for *checks notes* 12 years..." - then we're not really planning to keep him. Maybe this is desirable at this point, I don't know - but it's interesting and worth noting.

I’m definitely not singing his praises (I get you were initially replying to the captain of the we hate Adam Elliott club initially who was).

I’ve supported the Knights long enough to know not to become optimistic about anything or anyone as it will probably all end up shit. I just don’t think it’s fair to throw him into the same pessimistic pile as AOB yet though when he’s only been here for 6 months and isn’t at fault for the poor decisions that have led us here. Re him leaving us short for this year: the only player we’ve actually lost this year was DSaf who wasn’t performing anyway. The poor forward planning that has led to this happened well before the end of last season.

As for all the Kalyn being a generational talent and we should be building around him for the here and now over the future or whatever, I’m completely over it to be honest. He isn’t even trying or showing up for the club to warrant being in FG at the moment let alone making all of our recruitment decisions around him. I’ve never been one to have a problem with his salary either because he’s my favourite player when he’s playing committed. Edit: saying that though, I do think he is trying to still put a good side around him now to take pressure off him as to me that was the whole reason for the desperate Dylan Brown move.

 

[HarVeeGee]

The thing which is supposed to make the Dylan Brown move work is Kalyn getting on the ball more though. Which he stopped doing more or less as soon as it started getting hard. Now he’s back to chasing glamour plays only.

So now if we keep Kalyn we need Brown to actually develop into an elite 7 and our guy whose natural gifts all align with playing fullback to carry more decision-making/playmaking load.

Which probably actually means we’re gonna end up with Brown/Gamble halves and Fletcher back in the back 5.

Everything would be a lot simpler with Fletcher at 1…

 

[Knight Tales]

Not many clubs have a player as gifted as Sharpe ready to step into the ‘generational player’s ‘position. And yet here we are NOT attempting to use the biggest bargaining chip in the game to get us a world class 7. We have the 6 already. Just not till next year. The fear of losing Kalyn is truly blinding common sense.
And while there are no guarantees we will get the chance to get said 7, I doubt we are proactively seeking it cos that wouid be seen as giving up, when in reality we would be helping ourselves and Kalyn. Cos KP having this as his legacy does not sit right with me .

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Not many clubs have a player as gifted as Sharpe ready to step into the ‘generational player’s ‘position. And yet here we are NOT attempting to use the biggest bargaining chip in the game to get us a world class 7. We have the 6 already. Just not till next year. The fear of losing Kalyn is truly blinding common sense.
And while there are no guarantees we will get the chance to get said 7, I doubt we are proactively seeking it cos that wouid be seen as giving up, when in reality we would be helping ourselves and Kalyn. Cos KP having this as his legacy does not sit right with me .

Which blue chip 7 are we getting though?

Also a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. We could let KP go to free up a truck tonne of money and then still not be able to get this elite 7 to the club and where does that leave us???

 

[ryan.a87]

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Please let this be true…

 

[mozza91]

Leaves the lowly Roosters to sign with the high flying Knights.

 

[Alex28]

Very much depends on the price…

Schiller to centre, Young to wing, Gags retires.

 

[Knight Tales]

Which blue chip 7 are we getting though?

Also a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. We could let KP go to free up a truck tonne of money and then still not be able to get this elite 7 to the club and where does that leave us???

Exactly what I am saying mate. It would be a swap deal. It is that or nothing. We ride this out and he either leaves or stays for more of the same. But the club is kidding itself if has not already got one leg out the door. He did not miss the presser by some unforeseen event.

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

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.

Quick fixes are a castle built on sand, and long been the Newcastle way.

I congratulate the club for finally having some balls and vision to employ Sully and carry out recruitment for sustainable success.

Policy of youth with high ceiling over average mid to late career plodders. Good days are ahead.

 

[macavity]

425K is average

And we have A LOT of players on close to double that (and one on triple) so we need A LOT on less.

 

[macavity]

On topic, makes me so f-king sad seeing our former juniors THAT WE JUST LET LEAVE FOR NOTHING running around that if we had kept them, we would be a far better and more balanced squad.

Fermor on 400k instead of KPP on 750k, and Pezet instead of Cogger... those two moves alone hugely change the balance of our squad. DSaf would still be here for one.

 

[Burwood]

Very much depends on the price…

Schiller to centre, Young to wing, Gags retires.

Gagai would be one of my top three favourite knights of all time, but his form has fallen off a cliff the last 3-4 weeks. Time to hang up the boots if it doesn’t improve.

 

[perverse]

I'd take Dom back, even with the question marks on who can babysit him in defence. With our lack of go-forward, we're in no position to deny Dom a return to Newcastle (for a reasonable price). His yardage game is elite even with the problems he has. Either gets big metres or a penalty almost every carry.

 

[slotmachine]

Fermor on 400k instead of KPP on 750k, and Pezet instead of Cogger

They both wanted out of Newcastle though, it's not like we sent them packing

 

[mozza91]

Pretty sure we didn’t offer anything to Fermor after he did his ACL. Was just bad timing.

 

[Old dog]

Gagai has 2026 to go so he is with us, Schiller needs to play centre so it’s Cup especially if we get Dom back
i’m leaning towards loosing Ponga, moving Sharpe to F/B and using spare money due to Ponga leaving to getting a quality 7, not super top range, to allow Brown to play 6.
Don’t see Ponga playing 7, if all else fails then Gamble 7, Brown 6, Sharpe 1 or wing