Rumoured Targets 3

[Woody90]

I think they've been mentioned as interested and if he ends up sitting on Moses hip he'll go great.

I dunno. Most of their play isn’t FG standard at the moment even with Moses there (which shows how badly we’re going that they beat us by 20+ points). Can’t see him thriving anywhere where the rest of the forward pack is being beaten up.

 

[SamSepi0l]

Completely disagree which is ok. I think they're in a rebuild, yes, but with way more pieces in play than say... us. If they get a clean run with injuries they'll go well.

 

[Woody90]

Completely disagree which is ok. I think they're in a rebuild, yes, but with way more pieces in play than say... us. If they get a clean run with injuries they'll go well.

Yeah that’s fine. I’m not bullish on them at all tbh. Their last game that wasn’t against us they were terrible. They’ll go better than us next year but I think everyone will unless we get some more forwards and new coach.

 

[HarVeeGee]

Tbh I think KPP’s just one of those players who looks amazing in the more open game in the super league against weaker defence but naturally more limited against NRL defensive lines.

I definitely think he’s done well to adapt to the NRL defensively but if Toohey’s right that he’s gotten a “big” offer to go elsewhere I think we’re doing the right thing not competing. It’s just as likely he’s reached his potential in the NRL as it is he hasn’t IMO. We took a punt way overpaying him on potential. It wasn’t a complete bust as he’s a solid NRL player most weeks, but we can’t be handing him another 750k contract. At the moment I’d be offering him around 500k which I suspect is close to what we have, understandably a 250k drop though would make him want to leave.

Yeah this is the sort of take which may look foolish down the line, but the offloading is a little overrated because he hasn’t shown the power/leg drive to push through the line, leave defenders on the ground, etc. We always complain about how no one is there for one of his offloads but heaps of the time when he gets an arm free there are a couple of defenders around the ball trying to get an intercept.

As conservative as AOB is, I don’t think the players are playing with a “never offload” instruction. We see Friz offloads, Lucas, Best, Marzhew, even Croker. Aside from Friz who throws a few “back into the line and chuck it out the back” clangers, the other guys are offloading once they’ve pushed through the line, which I think is what AOB is looking for.

If he was one of these back rowers pushing through the line on every other tackle the lack of sniffing around him would be more egregious. As it stands I’m not convinced we’ve been passing on great attacking opportunities from him.

 

[Apey]

KPP leaving is short term pain for long term pain. He's already on way too much. He might turn out to be a star somewhere else but that's our problem for overpaying him. The solution definitely isn't to overpay him again and hope for the best.

addendum: i'm leaving short term pain for long term pain in, I like it

 

[Mr_Knightside]

The idea that we’re “letting KPP leave” isn’t really correct. We only have control over what we offer him, not what he is offered by other clubs. If we’ve made him an offer for around $500K for 2-3 years then I applaud the club for doing what’s reasonable, and if the Tigers are offering him somewhere in the $700K-$800K range then we’d be crazy to match that.

 

[perverse]

The sad thing is the lack of planning. What's the clubs backup plan for KPP not working out?

As a club, with recruitment and everything else honestly, we always seem to have a plan A without any fallbacks. The moment something goes wrong, f**k it let's rebuild the place again. You can't see any evidence of them having multiple branching paths of recruitment plans or plans on the field either. It's just "either this thing we're doing works perfectly or we're f**ked".

The club should have known 12-18 months ago that KPP was a roll of the dice. What was the plan if the dice came up snake eyes? Just be shit? It's the same shit for DSaf and a million other things. We just let him walk without any consideration of replacing him in first grade other than leaning on kids who are years off being ready.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

KPP leaving is short term pain for long term pain. He's already on way too much. He might turn out to be a star somewhere else but that's our problem for overpaying him. The solution definitely isn't to overpay him again and hope for the best.

Thats the Knights motto!!

 

[slotmachine]

short term pain for long term pain

The Newcastle Knights experience in 7 words.

What's the clubs backup plan for KPP not working out?

From the outside it appears that the plan for good forwards leaving is to replace them with worse players or kids who aren't ready for first grade.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

The sad thing is the lack of planning. What's the clubs backup plan for KPP not working out?

As a club, with recruitment and everything else honestly, we always seem to have a plan A without any fallbacks. The moment something goes wrong, f**k it let's rebuild the place again. You can't see any evidence of them having multiple branching paths of recruitment plans or plans on the field either. It's just "either this thing we're doing works perfectly or we're f**ked".

The club should have known 12-18 months ago that KPP was a roll of the dice. What was the plan if the dice came up snake eyes? Just be shit? It's the same shit for DSaf and a million other things. We just let him walk without any consideration of replacing him in first grade other than leaning on kids who are years off being ready.

TBF with DSaf leaving it took POS getting his hands on the roster for him to realise we needed to shed a player or two and DSaf was the guy who fit the criteria of:
1. On lots of money comparative to the position he plays
2. Not delivering on that pay check
3. Would be easy enough to move on to another club

Also what were they supposed to do in that situation? Just keep him on the roster being a massive drain on the cap for another couple of years and making it impossible to get anyone to fill other gaps?

We really don’t know what goes on behind closed doors and what conversations are being had. KPP was obviously plan A and until recently they may have felt confident that he would stay. They probably have targets in mind for who to replace him with too but the club rarely speaks publicly about that stuff anyway.

Whilst the club has clearly shot itself in the foot due to an apparent lack of planning, one thing to recognise is how quickly things can change in Rugby League and plans need to be flexible and able to change when the need arises.

I’m willing to see what our squad looks like to start next year before writing it all off as a disaster. Barry Toohey has already reported that we’re looking for a front rower, back rower and an outside back.

 

[perverse]

TBF with DSaf leaving it took POS getting his hands on the roster for him to realise we needed to shed a player or two and DSaf was the guy who fit the criteria of:
1. On lots of money comparative to the position he plays
2. Not delivering on that pay check
3. Would be easy enough to move on to another club

Also what were they supposed to do in that situation? Just keep him on the roster being a massive drain on the cap for another couple of years and making it impossible to get anyone to fill other gaps?

We really don’t know what goes on behind closed doors and what conversations are being had. KPP was obviously plan A and until recently they may have felt confident that he would stay. They probably have targets in mind for who to replace him with too but the club rarely speaks publicly about that stuff anyway.

Whilst the club has clearly shot itself in the foot due to an apparent lack of planning, one thing to recognise is how quickly things can change in Rugby League and plans need to be flexible and able to change when the need arises.

I’m willing to see what our squad looks like to start next year before writing it all off as a disaster. Barry Toohey has already reported that we’re looking for a front rower, back rower and an outside back.

I wanted DSaf gone for years before he left so there's no argument there from me, but I wouldn't have pooped him out the door with literally no replacement lined up or even a plan to replace him. it feels like we only have half a squad of forwards. Someone will say "yeah but the future is bright" - but here's the news flash. If we don't have a solid core of forward for these kids to learn off they'll end up buggering off somewhere else where they don't have to shoulder so much responsibility in their early 20s.

We're f**king all this up and we need some major signatures (not necessarily expensive, but critical) for 2026 or we really are in the deep shit again.

It feels like the club looked at Tyrone Thompson, Cody Hopwood etc developing much faster than they were realistically ever going to. And without leadership too.

 

[slotmachine]

They really need to hit on Pahulu from the Titans, but he's another kid.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

I wanted DSaf gone for years before he left so there's no argument there from me, but I wouldn't have pooped him out the door with literally no replacement lined up or even a plan to replace him. it feels like we only have half a squad of forwards. Someone will say "yeah but the future is bright" - but here's the news flash. If we don't have a solid core of forward for these kids to learn off they'll end up buggering off somewhere else where they don't have to shoulder so much responsibility in their early 20s.

We're f**king all this up and we need some major signatures (not necessarily expensive, but critical) for 2026 or we really are in the deep shit again.

It feels like the club looked at Tyrone Thompson, Cody Hopwood etc developing much faster than they were realistically ever going to. And without leadership too.

Maybe… but it might have been difficult to get rid of DSaf later on when other teams have already committed to other players. POS obviously felt like we need to free up cash now so let’s get him moved on. I seem to remember it taking a number of months even when it was clear he was being moved on, with the deal with the Dragons falling through, so it’s hard to say there would have been an ideal time for it one way or another.

 

[HarVeeGee]

They really need to hit on Pahulu from the Titans, but he's another kid.

Yeah and hitting on kids is fraught with danger. You can wind up in jail.

 

[Woody90]

I wanted DSaf gone for years before he left so there's no argument there from me, but I wouldn't have pooped him out the door with literally no replacement lined up or even a plan to replace him. it feels like we only have half a squad of forwards. Someone will say "yeah but the future is bright" - but here's the news flash. If we don't have a solid core of forward for these kids to learn off they'll end up buggering off somewhere else where they don't have to shoulder so much responsibility in their early 20s.

We're f**king all this up and we need some major signatures (not necessarily expensive, but critical) for 2026 or we really are in the deep shit again.

It feels like the club looked at Tyrone Thompson, Cody Hopwood etc developing much faster than they were realistically ever going to. And without leadership too.

We needed him gone to even be in a position to be able to get a replacement. We were so tight that we didn’t even have 300k to upgrade Leo which was promised to him.

 

[perverse]

Maybe… but it might have been difficult to get rid of DSaf later on when other teams have already committed to other players. POS obviously felt like we need to free up cash now so let’s get him moved on. I seem to remember it taking a number of months even when it was clear he was being moved on, with the deal with the Dragons falling through, so it’s hard to say there would have been an ideal time for it one way or another.

And in those months... we completely failed to find even a large, heavy sack of meat that could survive a 30 minute stint in first grade without being totally gassed or repeatedly buckled in half.

I get the need to free up cap space, but if the club thought a Rugby convert with the engine of a busted 2 stroke lawnmower was going to fill the gap then I am highly, highly critical of that. And it appears to be the case because that's all we brought in for the year.

I just don't get why other clubs seem to be able to manage basic competancy and we accept failure and give our guys a pat on the back for... well f**k all really. It just wasn't wise to eject DSaf without a replacement. I mean I think that's obvious because it's contributing to yet another completely wasted year and the frustrating thing is that half of us called it as soon as DSaf left. Why can we, a bunch of dumbarses on a forum, see a problem more than 12 months out from it happening, and the club just walks right into the problem?

 

[perverse]

We needed him gone to even be in a position to be able to get a replacement. We were so tight that we didn’t even have 300k to upgrade Leo which was promised to him.

Right, so you line up both deals and execute them at the same time yeah? This happens literally all the time with multi-way deals where players play musical chairs. Much like the deal that's been touted for KPP -> Tigers, Brown -> Us, Galvin -> Parra (not that i think that's in any way likely, but these deals can and do happen). These are absolutely negotiations you can have. We could have had a bloke lined up and ready to sign a deal if the money became available.

Look at the Roosters right now. EVERYONE knows they have DCE lined up as long as they can free the money. We did the deal arse backwards.

Amazingly we freed up the cash to keep Leo and pissed the bed with that negotiation too. So it was a double own goal. f**king embarrassing.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Ok so throwing it out there but is the club in another rebuild but they’re just not saying it? Obviously the optics around the word rebuild are pretty bad but the fact that we’re either tapping players on the shoulder or letting them walk if they have a better offer from elsewhere tells me that the roster is being overhauled. But I think management has realised that saying “rebuild” would really anger the majority of the fan base considering what we’ve been through over the last decade.

Maybe it’s not on the same scale as what we saw under Nathan Brown, and also we did just sign Dylan Brown so it’s not as if we’re scared to spend big money on who we deem to be the right player. But yeah just calling it as I see it, kinda feels like another rebuild right now…

 

[slotmachine]

Ok so throwing it out there but is the club in another rebuild but they’re just not saying it?

They're making moves that don't scream "win now" to me.

Even Brown's stupid deal has him locked in for long enough that he's theoretically hitting his peak when the young forwards are ready.

 

[SamSepi0l]

They really need to hit on Pahulu from the Titans, but he's another kid.

Did we get him?? He's the goods.