Rumours and Stuff

[Djay]

Honestly any hooker is an improvement on 80 minutes of Pritchard....Stagger seemed to think we'll be signing one, but not Peats. Interesting to see who, but honestly even a Rein or Lichaa, who I absolutely do not rate, would be an improvement at least in terms of line-speed and defence.

I'd have Gutherson at the back. Work on Bevan in the gym, get him bulking up to around 86-88kg, and use his speed on the wing for now. At 87kg he'll be fine at the back, that's two kg lighter than Slater (for eg). But he needs some size.

I think Mannah is fine as a starter, you need a defensive prop out there most times and certainly at the beginning of the game. But realistically I think our pack is good enough with Evans. It could be better, but at the same time there's no one worth losing our heads over to sign anyway. Evans could be exactly what we need, so could Meehan if we sign him. What we really need to do is find or poach some blokes and have some patience.

Has Nelson Asofa-Solomona re-signed? I said last year he'd be a great get....

Lichaa has potential I think i would like us to bring him over and it wouldn't be for ridiculous money either. His an upgrade and when he started to run with the footy yesterday in the first half he looked decent.

Absolutely Gutherson for me is the fullback we have to have there his a bog body, good kick return, great support player and great runner of the footy and is dangerous when he chimes into the attack cause he can pass, French doesn't. Something has to be done about his size and weight no doubt, I would be putting him on the wing and dropping Hoffman tbh.

That's why we are in such a pickle, who is there to sign? No one jumps out and grabs you, all the ones that did are signed elsewhere, I reckon McClean would have been awesome from Melbourne, but now there is not much at all. Evans will improve us no doubt but he alone will not get us where we wanna get too.

He looks the goods no doubt and would be upgrade also, he hasn't re-signed with the Storm yet.

Lillyman, Tagataese, Paasi, Gavet are all off contract, but there as good as it gets in the off contract department, hence why I just can't see anyone improving us all that much

 

[hindy111]

Arguably not truly elite, especially on the last two seasons form. More like Woods class than Klemmer or Bromwich or Scott. Which is, of course, not to say that he's not a very good player.

Even then, it's a very lean run up to his defection

Tamou I have never rated. Nor do I rate woods.

Klemmer has gone backwards. But

Vaughn - Fafita -Bromwich - are the 3 best props currently.

I called for Ryan James before 2016. Then he had his boom season. We have 6 props who are all first graders. We just need to replace two of them with higher quality ones and chose which two to get rid of.

We have done a better job of poaching away latter stage juniors in recent times. Ray Stone, Greg Leleisiuao, Salesi Faingaa and Reed Mahoney are examples of such work in our current Holden Cup squad. Alas none of them are props though. I guess Faingaa might make the transition at some point but he is a pure EDGE prospect at the moment.

We have a fair roster of good front row prospects coming through the SG Ball and Harold Matthews (both Caucasian and Polynesian) but they are obviously still a ways off.

As far as poaching the next big explosive forward we had an almighty crack at Payne Haas and came really, really close to snaring him but he opted to stay in Brisbane with family (he is a NSW kid but his family are up there currently).

Steve Dreesler (a recruit from last year) was shaping up as a really promising lock/prop in that sort of capacity this year before he did his ACL - his second one on the same knee unfortunately. Fingers crossed he has a great rehab. He has been a terrific clubman in his enforced layoff, getting out to support both his team mates in the Holden Cup and to barrack for the District Representative squads when ever possible.

Where did we poach Mahoney and Faingaa from? And how old is Mahoney.
Despite coming off bench he leads tackles in under 20s.

 

[emjaycee]

Even Price was probably at the very end of his peak years. You have to look pretty hard to find an elite prop who is worth the extra money it would take to pry them away from their club when you factor in squad balance. If Aaron Woods can get upwards of 800k supposedly to get out of a club he isn't happy at, imagine what a Fifita or a Klemmer would take to move....

Maybe Adam Blair when he moved to Brisbane was the last elite prop to move?

 

[Bazal]

Lichaa has potential I think i would like us to bring him over and it wouldn't be for ridiculous money either. His an upgrade and when he started to run with the footy yesterday in the first half he looked decent.

Absolutely Gutherson for me is the fullback we have to have there his a bog body, good kick return, great support player and great runner of the footy and is dangerous when he chimes into the attack cause he can pass, French doesn't. Something has to be done about his size and weight no doubt, I would be putting him on the wing and dropping Hoffman tbh.

That's why we are in such a pickle, who is there to sign? No one jumps out and grabs you, all the ones that did are signed elsewhere, I reckon McClean would have been awesome from Melbourne, but now there is not much at all. Evans will improve us no doubt but he alone will not get us where we wanna get too.

He looks the goods no doubt and would be upgrade also, he hasn't re-signed with the Storm yet.

Lillyman, Tagataese, Paasi, Gavet are all off contract, but there as good as it gets in the off contract department, hence why I just can't see anyone improving us all that much

Paasi would also be a great get. Lillyman is the same style prop as Mannah and Alvaro and in the twilight of his career. Tagataese and Gavet are rubbish IMO.

I think the sad fact is you either develop a top flight big prop, or you have to make do without.

 

[hindy111]

If me and Ram got together i reckon we would put a great squad together.

And we would win, 85% of the time.

If we replaced Hoffman with a powerfull winger and Tepai starts to run like his size along with Scott running like he did last game then your front row can be a little less powerfull.
Like i am saying we have a few small guys in Bevan and Hoffman. Kaysa is one of the smaller hookers. And Moses again is tiny.Being a half that doesnt bother me, but all of a sudden 4 /13 are on the smaller side plus a couple of second rowers who dont run that hard.Scott,Brown,Manu are also on smaller side,
Its about balance. I like our backrow. Nice balance to it. But the front row isnt balanced well at all.
If Frank and Terepo where fit we may be a little differently placed.

 

[emjaycee]

Of course he's less of a f**kwit....the other blokes name is Willis.

What You Talking About?

 

[Obscene Assassin]

What we really need to do is find or poach some blokes and have some patience.

We have some good young props coming through. In the 20's we have Steve Dresler, Sean Keppie and Oregan Kaufusi. Unfortunately for Dres he's out for the season, and Kep and Oregan are starting to get used to the step up from SG Ball. Although I wouldn't count them as monster units. We have some monsters in the SG Ball in Mark Tepu Smith, Stefano Utoikamanu and Valance Harris has the potential to become a monster size. And then all the way down in Harold Matthews we have a fair few in David Hollis, Sam Hughes, and Christian Wihongi.

As you've said we've just got to wait.

 

[Forty20]

Where did we poach Mahoney and Faingaa from? And how old is Mahoney.
Despite coming off bench he leads tackles in under 20s.

Mahoney was a mid-season recruit from the Bulldogs last season. He is turning 19 this year and thus is eligible for the state based Under 20s competition that will replace the current iteration of the NYC next year. He starts from the bench for us in the 20s but he is truthfully the primary hooker in the team. He is injected early into the game and Denzal Tonise shifts to lock and provides relief work at hooker whenever required.

Salesi Faingaa (or the footballer formerly known as Junior Faingaa) was picked up from the Tigers at the start of 2016 but he was red-shirted for his entire SG Ball campaign due to a shoulder injury. Like Mahoney he has another year of eligibility in the 20s. Has a pretty good engine for a big bloke and plenty of skills to his repertoire. Just needs more footy under his belt after missing last year.

 

[hindy111]

Thanks and any idea on the new format next year for under 20s? Will age rise?

 

[Forty20]

A lot of the details are still really shaky but from what I have heard there will be NSW and QLD 20s competitions in the vein of the ISP and ISC. NRL game days will switch to stand alone fixtures while the 20s and ISP/ISC matches will be bundled together.

The cap structure of the new competition is pretty murky at the moment. Fortunately we have pretty much all our key 18 year olds tied up at least until they are 20. Most (but not all) of our key 20s are contracted as well. How the rumoured new Top 30 system along with the 5 development slots is going to be the key to all this. Some of the chatter I have heard has me scratching my head but then again I believe this is all derived in some form from that 'interesting' blue-print Shane Richardson devised (Platinum League was it?) back when he worked at the NRL - so head scratching is to be a given.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I'm pretty sure anyone over 18 who is contracted to an NRL club needs to count under either of the top 30 cap or the five man development cap. I'd say the latter cap is only for players aged 18-20.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Sorry, but it's definitely Meehan.

That guy could be anything.

Benefit of Lodge is that he is closer to being ready. Meehan will take time, but higher ceiling.

Give him the OBrien treatment and he will be fine

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

What exactly is the Meehan story? I can't follow it, as his name comes up in about every 30th post.. Are we considering offering him a deal this year?

 

[Matty Bhoy]

For what it's worth, Meehan is fighting on Lucas Browne's undercard on June 2 for the NSW State title. Kid has a bright future but needs to make smarter choices.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

What exactly is the Meehan story? I can't follow it, as his name comes up in about every 30th post.. Are we considering offering him a deal this year?

A journo reported a few days ago that the eels were looking at a "former" badboy but it was unsure if the NRL would allow it.

Anyhow prior to this there were reports / rumours Will Meehan was training/seen around the club.

So the connection was made the "badboy" is probably Meehan.

 

[IFR33K]

What exactly is the Meehan story? I can't follow it, as his name comes up in about every 30th post.. Are we considering offering him a deal this year?

Yes, but nrl won't allow it despite them allowing the broncos to sign lodge.... grrrrrrrrr

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Yes, but nrl won't allow it despite them allowing the broncos to sign lodge.... grrrrrrrrr

I thought the NRL were paying Brisbane to take Lodge?

 

[IFR33K]

I thought the NRL were paying Brisbane to take Lodge?

f**k!!! A conspiracy you think?

 

[Eelementary]

So now that Peats will be an Origin player (well deserved, too) - would we be willing to pay Origin money for him?

Oh, and lol at the Blues - Jennings gets dropped for Hayne and Dugan. Joke.

 

[Gazzamatta]

Regardless what size forwards we run out, I see our major issue is our defence. We dont hit and stick therefore we dont stop momentum. In this regard Mannah was our worst offender last week. Scott was our best. There needs to be aggression in defence and it needs to continue for 80 minutes. Loosing Brown didnt help.
The new buzz phrase is "post contact meters". We also continue to loose the wrestle and our defensive play at marker is appalling.
Until these areas improve we will continue to be a middle of the road team.
Rant over.