Been away on holidays and just returned and read the news. Doubt we'll be signing Hayne as he thinks his worth is more than his value to the club. This doesn't worry me as he is a hot and cold player who won't play if he chips a finger nail. Also doubt we only have $200k left in cap. I believe we allocated a certain amount for Hayne, say $400-500k, and have another $200k left over as we'd have another spot to fill in our squad.
Looking at the squad there are a few deficiencies which will limit our impact we'll have on the comp. Our spine in particular is short a few players:
- Who'll be our fullback? Still think French could be a good player there in the Dufty mould if we have the right tactics. Forget his poor form this year, he was sulking because he didn't get his preferred spot, which is not a good look. He showed how quick he can be when he run down Tedesco in the last game. Gutho is the next obvious choice but I believe his best spot is centre.
- Will our halves gell this year? Its BAs job to get these halves firing and working together. They are both talented and are our strength so its critical this is sorted out! Unfortunately our options are limited with replacement players. Salmon didn't show any great form to suggest he can step up and is Brown even in the squad? Regardless I doubt we can rely on a junior to pull us out of a mess if problems arise.
- Who'll be our dummy half? This is our most pressing problem imo. KPs delivery from Fake is a problem and injury just one game away. Mahoney is still too inexperienced imo to do the job required. Maybe Segarayo will be willing to play for us now that no clubs are showing any interest.
There are a few other problems that'll impact our performance also.
- Who'll be our centres? If Mennings is still poor I'd have Gutho and Ferguson with Gennings as one winger and possibly Sivo the other. Btw Menning performance for Tonga was just as poor as for us, I really think he is gone and we should do everything to offload him.
- We are still short a big prop to help Paulo. Our next big hope is Stefino but is an 18yo up to the challenge? I'd like to think so but I don't really want to be relying on a young player in probably the toughest position on the field to perform like a seasoned veteran. And as a youngster you'll know his form will drop off at the back end of the season.
All in all I just can't seeing us make the 8 with the squad we have. Here's hoping I end up with egg on my face!
