Rumoured Targets 3

[The Axe of Druss]

Lots of comments about how we’ll regret losing him. “Regret” implies we should have done something differently. The only thing we could do differently in this situation would be to match the other big offer/pay overs to get him to stay.

Well we dont know what our offer currently sits at and how close it is to the "big money offer" from the Tigers

That aside there are other ways. Built an environment he doesn't want to leave for starters.

 

[Woody90]

Well we dont know what our offer currently sits at and how close it is to the "big money offer" from the Tigers

That aside there are other ways. Built an environment he doesn't want to leave for starters.

I mean yeah, but according to Toohey it’s a big difference. I’d assume he’s going to have to take a pay cut either way, he’s going to take the least significant one.

 

[HarVeeGee]

POS has built his reputation as a great scout first and foremost. The reason to keep KPP on that sort of money, $600K+, is because you see massive amounts of untapped potential. If he saw that, he'd pay.

If Kai is leaving it's because POS doesn't rate him as a prospect the way Zammit did and wouldn't have signed him to begin with. Simple as that.

I heard that the Knights gave him what they had as their valuation and he was shocked by it, so I think you'll find it was a fair bit less than $600K.

 

[perverse]

Who are these people saying KPP should be re-signed that we're shadow boxing against?

He should definitely be replaced if we're letting him go, though. We've known when his contract expires from the moment we put it in front of him, so surely that's enough time to prepare.

 

[slotmachine]

He should definitely be replaced

With who? Starting forwards don't grow on the NRL forward tree unfortunately.

 

[slotmachine]

Based on Toohey's article today

Signed 2026
1 Bradman Best
2 Brodie Jones
3 Cody Hopwood
4 Dylan Brown
5 Dylan Lucas
6 Elijah Salesa-Leaumoana
7 Fletcher Sharpe
8 Francis Manuleleua
9 Greg Marzhew
10 Jack Cogger
11 Jacob Saifiti
12 James Schiller
13 Jermaine McEwen
14 Kalyn Ponga
15 Kyle McCarthy
16 Mathew Croker
17 Matt Arthur
18 Phoenix Crossland
19 Taj Annan
20 Thomas Cant
21 Tyson Gamble
22 Wil Sullivan
23 Wilson De Courcey

Supplemental List
1 Connor Votano

Off Contract
Adam Elliott
Dane Gagai
Jack Hetherington
Kai Pearce-Paul
Mason Teague
Paul Bryan
Riley Jones
Tyrone Thompson
Tyson Frizell

Leaving
Jackson Hastings
Jayden Brailey
Jye Linnane
Leo Thompson

 

[Yosh]

People who think KP should be let go (or it's a good thing) are crazy. He is literally the most talented player of this generation. He has just met the wrong club and wrong head coach.

The club is upgrading itself every year. Hopefully the coach is fired sooner rather than later. KP still had 6-7 great years left in him. He is the last person at the club I'd fire.

Get a coach who knows how to get the best out of KP and put a team around him. We don't look that far off that. Maybe a big experienced middle and a second rower. Hopefully one or both of them are real vocal leader types. Get Dom Young back. Blood Hopwood. Start playing Arthur so we get some play making from the ruck.

If KP goes somewhere else and carves it up right away and wins a Premiership (and we end up paying some of his contract), that might be the last straw for me. Don't know if I can support this club any longer.

 

[perverse]

With who? Starting forwards don't grow on the NRL forward tree unfortunately.

Fortunately it's not really my job, but we've got the best recruitment guy in the universe with a cutesie nickname to figure it out I guess. 700k+ gets you a good chunk of player though. Well it does for most clubs anyway.

Why is it acceptable to everyone for us to just shrug and shed our roster without viable replacements? Are we all just going to swallow another 5 year rebuild to nothing?

Obviously we have like what, 5-10 roster spots free for next year at this point? Who are we putting in them? If the answer is upgrading a bunch of kids at the club then we are f**ked for years, or perhaps even just until the next rebuild because there's no leadership here whatsoever and we'll just be throwing another crop of kids under the bus until they can rebuild their careers elsewhere.

 

[slotmachine]

700k+ gets you a good chunk of player though.

I don't think they have 700k to spend on a KPP replacement

 

[The Axe of Druss]

With who? Starting forwards don't grow on the NRL forward tree unfortunately.

I put up a list of off contract players for 2026 the other day. RFM was top of the list for backrowers I'd go after

 

[HarVeeGee]

There's money, they just don't want to blow that amount on one middling back rower. Probably a smart call and one I'd like to see the club make more often!

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Based on Toohey's article today

Signed 2026
1 Bradman Best
2 Brodie Jones
3 Cody Hopwood
4 Dylan Brown
5 Dylan Lucas
6 Elijah Salesa-Leaumoana
7 Fletcher Sharpe
8 Francis Manuleleua
9 Greg Marzhew
10 Jack Cogger
11 Jacob Saifiti
12 James Schiller
13 Jermaine McEwen
14 Kalyn Ponga
15 Kyle McCarthy
16 Mathew Croker
17 Matt Arthur
18 Phoenix Crossland
19 Taj Annan
20 Thomas Cant
21 Tyson Gamble
22 Wil Sullivan
23 Wilson De Courcey

Supplemental List
1 Connor Votano

Off Contract
Adam Elliott
Dane Gagai
Jack Hetherington
Kai Pearce-Paul
Mason Teague
Paul Bryan
Riley Jones
Tyrone Thompson
Tyson Frizell

Leaving
Jackson Hastings
Jayden Brailey
Jye Linnane
Leo Thompson

At the risk of depressing myself further lets throw up our team for 2026 based on whos leaving, whos not resigned and whos coming in:

1. Ponga
2. Marzhew
3. McCarthy
4. Best
5. Schiller
6. Brown
7. Sharpe
8. JSaf
9. Crossland
10. Jones
11. Lucas
12. McEwen
13. Croker

14. Arthur
15. Hopwood
16. Cant
17. Gamble

Now both Gags and Friz have mutual options for 2026 but jeeezus thats awful stuff

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Fortunately it's not really my job, but we've got the best recruitment guy in the universe with a cutesie nickname to figure it out I guess. 700k+ gets you a good chunk of player though. Well it does for most clubs anyway.

Why is it acceptable to everyone for us to just shrug and shed our roster without viable replacements? Are we all just going to swallow another 5 year rebuild to nothing?

Obviously we have like what, 5-10 roster spots free for next year at this point? Who are we putting in them? If the answer is upgrading a bunch of kids at the club then we are f**ked for years, or perhaps even just until the next rebuild because there's no leadership here whatsoever and we'll just be throwing another crop of kids under the bus until they can rebuild their careers elsewhere.

I don’t think anyone here is suggesting we let players go without equal or better replacements but sometimes players move on, or retire or get offers they can’t refuse etc so we have to be realistic about that. Now that we pretty much know KPP is going then the club can shift its focus to getting a replacement. Bear in mind if the club’s preference was to keep KPP then I assume they were actively holding discussions with him rather than actively looking for a replacement. You’ve got to bear in mind that if the club is actively looking for a replacement for a player who they’re supposedly trying to re-sign then what message does that send to that player.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

I don’t think anyone here is suggesting we let players go without equal or better replacements but sometimes players move on, or retire or get offers they can’t refuse etc so we have to be realistic about that. Now that we pretty much know KPP is going then the club can shift its focus to getting a replacement. Bear in mind if the club’s preference was to keep KPP then I assume they were actively holding discussions with him rather than actively looking for a replacement. You’ve got to bear in mind that if the club is actively looking for a replacement for a player who they’re supposedly trying to re-sign then what message does that send to that player.

That we're not a totally incompetent club?

 

[perverse]

I don't think they have 700k to spend on a KPP replacement

I'd love to see a squad pay break down because I think this is nonsense at this point. There's money there, we have shed and are continuing to shed a lot of big contracts.

 

[HarVeeGee]

People who think KP should be let go (or it's a good thing) are crazy. He is literally the most talented player of this generation. He has just met the wrong club and wrong head coach.

I'm not sure he is tbh (I'd give it to Latrell or, depending on the type of talent you're talking, Payne Haas). And Penrith have just won four premierships in a row with how many of the "most talented" players of this generation on the books? Not a lot of them.

As much as we bemoan the lack of depth in the NRL, there is a lot of really good talent, always. Compare the Titans and the Raiders. Do the Raiders have a more talented forward than Tino or David Fifita? I would say no. Do they have a more talented spine player than Jayden Campbell or Keano Kini? I guess that depends on your opinion of Ethan Strange, but I would say no.

Every team has talented players on it, the difference is in how that talent is maximised. We have an extremely talented natural fullback & the marquee player is a guy who has to play fullback because he can't defend in the line and has presented weird "fit" questions that multiple coaches have had difficulty resolving (and this is not purely a recruitment/coaching fail... the Tigers have had massive issues on both fronts for years, but there's no dispute over what position guys like Tedesco and Bula should play), gets injured a lot, and let's be honest has squeezed the club for every last dollar he can get out of it.

It's a legitimate discussion. A team has 17 players in it, not 1.

 

[HarVeeGee]

Based on Toohey's article today

Signed 2026
1 Bradman Best
2 Brodie Jones
3 Cody Hopwood
4 Dylan Brown
5 Dylan Lucas
6 Elijah Salesa-Leaumoana
7 Fletcher Sharpe
8 Francis Manuleleua
9 Greg Marzhew
10 Jack Cogger
11 Jacob Saifiti
12 James Schiller
13 Jermaine McEwen
14 Kalyn Ponga
15 Kyle McCarthy
16 Mathew Croker
17 Matt Arthur
18 Phoenix Crossland
19 Taj Annan
20 Thomas Cant
21 Tyson Gamble
22 Wil Sullivan
23 Wilson De Courcey

Supplemental List
1 Connor Votano

Off Contract
Adam Elliott
Dane Gagai
Jack Hetherington
Kai Pearce-Paul
Mason Teague
Paul Bryan
Riley Jones
Tyrone Thompson
Tyson Frizell

Leaving
Jackson Hastings
Jayden Brailey
Jye Linnane
Leo Thompson

He said that Dane is almost certainly staying. Elliott, Frizell and Hetho the question marks.

 

[perverse]

I don’t think anyone here is suggesting we let players go without equal or better replacements but sometimes players move on, or retire or get offers they can’t refuse etc so we have to be realistic about that. Now that we pretty much know KPP is going then the club can shift its focus to getting a replacement. Bear in mind if the club’s preference was to keep KPP then I assume they were actively holding discussions with him rather than actively looking for a replacement. You’ve got to bear in mind that if the club is actively looking for a replacement for a player who they’re supposedly trying to re-sign then what message does that send to that player.

I don't understand this argument - that the club can only hold one negotiation at a time, but this is the second time it's come up. You negotiate with other players. You have other options ready. You absolutely do not hold one negotiation with one bloke and just sit on your hands and wait for his answer at his leisure.

And to answer your last question, it sends a strong message to the player that he's not bigger than the club, that this is a business and that he can take it or leave it before we fill his position. This is professional footy, not a big cuddle puddle. He knows what we think he's worth, it's written on the contract we offered him.

 

[slotmachine]

Now both Gags and Friz have mutual options for 2026 but jeeezus thats awful stuff

With 7 spots to fill they really need at least 6 legit NRL players to fill out the squad.

I'd love to see a squad pay break down because I think this is nonsense at this point. There's money there, we have shed and are continuing to shed a lot of big contracts.

Well KP and Brown are $2.8m next year for a start. Jsaf and Best on 700k. I think the upgrades that Lucas/Crossland/Sharpe got would raise an eyebrow. Apparently Wil Sullivan and Taj Annan are on 300k next year. So time will tell. Every season I get told how much cap space we have and inevitably no one of any note gets signed.

I honestly think they are targeting 6 players in that $400k-$500k range that can step in and play NRL.

Pahulu from the Titans is one (if he doesn't take the bigger deal on offer at the Storm). Dom potentially another. Gags re-signs. A KPP replacement. Maybe extend Friz and Elliott if no other middles float to the surface.

Compare the Titans and the Raiders.

The fact the Raiders are doing well just confirms how weak the comp is this year. The quality of play has been very ordinary.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Pahulu from the Titans is one (if he doesn't take the bigger deal on offer at the Storm).

From what I've heard, we have the bigger $ deal and Melbourne are banking on rep to get him for less as their cap for 2026 is very tight