Rumours and Stuff

[El Diablo]

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...9/news-story/0a211770f4f8cfe25c1ba514a9fc6552


Star Rabbitohs prop George Burgess heads list of stars off contract after 2019

DEAN RITCHIE, The Daily Telegraph
41 minutes ago

South Sydney continues to work toward re-signing the only off-contract Burgess brother – George.

George’s deal at Redfern ends after this season and he remains unsigned despite brothers Sam and Tom committing long-term to the Rabbitohs recently.

There had been speculation George would sign with Brisbane or travel back to the English Super League.

But rumours appear wrong.

Souths are working diligently through their salary cap hoping to make George a worthy and respectful offer.

Rabbitohs management have kept George informed throughout the process. Burgess is said to be “comfortable” with the situation.

It is understood George’s manager made a few preliminary inquiries about Super League but the giant Englishman doesn’t want to leave Australia with a young family.

Souths officials are desperate to retain Burgess, who has remained at the club since arriving from England back in 2012. He is only 26-years-old.

Burgess’ future at Souths could depend on whether Souths can settle an ongoing salary cap issue with the NRL over winger Robert Jennings.

George Burgess is one of several big name players still unsigned for next season.

Each player has this coming season only to be re-signed, sacked or lured elsewhere

Some of those players off contract after 2019 include Corey Oates, Tevita Pangai, Jordan Rapana, Joel Thompson, Alex Glenn, Issac Luke, Clint Gutherson, Mitch Moses, Tim Mannah, Bevan French, Mitch Aubusson and Chris Lawrence.

Roosters champion Cooper Conk has just one year remaining but suggestions continue that he may consider another season in 2020.

The Roosters have left that decision entirely to Cronk.

After claiming last year’s wooden spoon, Parramatta is waiting to see how their off-contract stars – Gutherson, Mannah, French and Moses - start this coming season before offering new deals.

Three champion players off contract following this season – Paul Gallen, Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah - may opt for retirement.

OFF CONTRACT AFTER 2019

Cooper Cronk

George Burgess

Mitchell Moses

Corey Oates

Tevita Pangai

Jordan Rapana

Joel Thompson

Dylan Walker

Clint Gutherson

Tim Mannah

Bevan French

Issac Luke

Mitch Aubusson

Chris Lawrence

Alex Glenn

 

[El Diablo]

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/af...ready-to-lead-young-eels-20190207-p50wdz.html

After being shown the door, Moses is ready to lead young Eels

Adrian Proszenko
February 7, 2019 — 5.45pm

Mitchell Moses is now the man at Parramatta.

Last year it was less clear. Was it him or Corey Norman? It had become apparent that the playmakers were less than the sum of their parts during a disastrous season that resulted in the wooden spoon.

Parramatta knew that one of them had to go. Ultimately, Norman opted to join the Dragons, but not before Moses was told he too was free to leave. It means Moses is now tasked with steering around a team which, just a few months ago, was prepared to cut him loose.

“If I wanted to look at it that way, I could have come back to training and moped around and done nothing,” Moses said. “I didn’t want to do that, that’s not me.

“I wanted to come back to training, work hard and prove something to myself, that what happened last year is not the footy that I play. I wasn’t happy at all with my form. I wanted to come back, train hard and really rip in to better myself. I feel if I better myself it will only be the best thing for the team as well.”

This is a huge season for Moses. His 2018 performances were nowhere near those of the previous season, where his form for Parramatta and then Lebanon had him touted as a potential Blues half. Now that he is 24 and has more than 100 NRL games to his credit, it is time for potential to turn into performance. With Norman gone, he is expected to be the senior halves partner helping rookies Dylan Brown and Jaemon Salmon transition to the top grade.

Moses, auditioning for a new contract once his current one expires at season’s end, understands this. Which is why he aborted plans to holiday in Vegas to instead return to preseason training early.

“Obviously I didn’t have the best season last year,” he said. “Everything that happened with the (Eels football) review and all that stuff, it has just clicked with me. I don’t want to prove a point but it’s more for myself - I wasn’t happy with my form last year. Obviously it’s what I need to do for Parramatta and what’s best for myself as well.”

Moses concedes he and Norman just didn’t gel together.

“Me and Norm are pretty close off the field,” he said. “Whatever happened happened. It wasn’t the best season last year and we wish it could have worked out. Obviously (coach Brad Arthur) has put me in the seven (jersey) and Normy is not there, I’ll have to take a bit of control now.

“We’re speaking at training about how it is going to take team performances, it’s not about one or two players winning you games. It’s happened, (Norman) is at the Dragons and I wish him all the best.”

With Salmon expected to be suspended for the opening round, Brown will make his NRL debut against Penrith. The fact the Warriors attempted to poach him as a replacement for Shaun Johnson shows how highly he is rated.

“He’s a good kid,” Moses said. “He’s only 18 so I don’t want to put too much pressure on him. From what he’s been showing us at training he’s very smart, he’s very calm for an 18 year old. I do think he’s ready but whoever Brad goes with at five-eighth will do the job.”

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

You could work it out. How do you reckon it compares to our win record without him at centre, with and without Semi?

Because that’s what you would need to compare to get anything meaningful about Takairangi’s contribution at centre.

Dunno, but I reckon during the time both were at our club, Semi's win rate would hardly be affected by Taka's presence or absence. But Taka's win rate would be greatly affected by Semi. Taka's move to the forwards just happened to coincide with one of the best players in the world leaving. Ignoring last year's results would have made your stats more relevant.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/af...ready-to-lead-young-eels-20190207-p50wdz.html

After being shown the door, Moses is ready to lead young Eels

Adrian Proszenko
February 7, 2019 — 5.45pm

Mitchell Moses is now the man at Parramatta.

Last year it was less clear. Was it him or Corey Norman? It had become apparent that the playmakers were less than the sum of their parts during a disastrous season that resulted in the wooden spoon.

Parramatta knew that one of them had to go. Ultimately, Norman opted to join the Dragons, but not before Moses was told he too was free to leave. It means Moses is now tasked with steering around a team which, just a few months ago, was prepared to cut him loose.

“If I wanted to look at it that way, I could have come back to training and moped around and done nothing,” Moses said. “I didn’t want to do that, that’s not me.

“I wanted to come back to training, work hard and prove something to myself, that what happened last year is not the footy that I play. I wasn’t happy at all with my form. I wanted to come back, train hard and really rip in to better myself. I feel if I better myself it will only be the best thing for the team as well.”

This is a huge season for Moses. His 2018 performances were nowhere near those of the previous season, where his form for Parramatta and then Lebanon had him touted as a potential Blues half. Now that he is 24 and has more than 100 NRL games to his credit, it is time for potential to turn into performance. With Norman gone, he is expected to be the senior halves partner helping rookies Dylan Brown and Jaemon Salmon transition to the top grade.

Moses, auditioning for a new contract once his current one expires at season’s end, understands this. Which is why he aborted plans to holiday in Vegas to instead return to preseason training early.

“Obviously I didn’t have the best season last year,” he said. “Everything that happened with the (Eels football) review and all that stuff, it has just clicked with me. I don’t want to prove a point but it’s more for myself - I wasn’t happy with my form last year. Obviously it’s what I need to do for Parramatta and what’s best for myself as well.”

Moses concedes he and Norman just didn’t gel together.

“Me and Norm are pretty close off the field,” he said. “Whatever happened happened. It wasn’t the best season last year and we wish it could have worked out. Obviously (coach Brad Arthur) has put me in the seven (jersey) and Normy is not there, I’ll have to take a bit of control now.

“We’re speaking at training about how it is going to take team performances, it’s not about one or two players winning you games. It’s happened, (Norman) is at the Dragons and I wish him all the best.”

With Salmon expected to be suspended for the opening round, Brown will make his NRL debut against Penrith. The fact the Warriors attempted to poach him as a replacement for Shaun Johnson shows how highly he is rated.

“He’s a good kid,” Moses said. “He’s only 18 so I don’t want to put too much pressure on him. From what he’s been showing us at training he’s very smart, he’s very calm for an 18 year old. I do think he’s ready but whoever Brad goes with at five-eighth will do the job.”

Salmon on ice!!

 

[strider]

Salmon on ice!!

Oh no ... this might spawn a whole new chain of fish jokes

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Dunno, but I reckon during the time both were at our club, Semi's win rate would hardly be affected by Taka's presence or absence. But Taka's win rate would be greatly affected by Semi. Taka's move to the forwards just happened to coincide with one of the best players in the world leaving. Ignoring last year's results would have made your stats more relevant.

Our win rate with Radradra is lower than our win rate with Takairangi at centre.

And only looking at 2018 would bring in significant recency bias, however you should know that Takairangi played almost half his games at centre last year (and our win rate was better when he didn’t play centre). So ignoring last year’s results actually improves Takairangi’s win rate while playing centre.

 

[strider]

recency bias

Aka, small sample size

 

[Noise]

Not for the f**king result.

How about to test individual performances and build fitness?

Here were a couple of individual performances that were shit. The positive is it should cement Bevan French at Wenty to start the year. Maybe Kane Evans is still getting his fitness up to scratch?

Two of the most senior players on the field struggled mightily today in Bevan French and Kane Evans. It isn’t exactly uncommon knowledge that both French and Evans are caught behind other players in their respective positional groups and they did not help their causes today. French (3 knock-ons, 2 passes into touch) and Evans (3 knock-ons) were criminally guilty of over-playing their hands and gifting the Rabbitohs possession and field position.

https://thecumberlandthrow.com/2019...y-flegg-isp-trials-vs-south-sydney-rabbitohs/

 

[Twizzle]

so Moses was shown the door ?

pretty sure he is still with us

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Here were a couple of individual performances that were shit. The positive is it should cement Bevan French at Wenty to start the year. Maybe Kane Evans is still getting his fitness up to scratch?


https://thecumberlandthrow.com/2019...y-flegg-isp-trials-vs-south-sydney-rabbitohs/

“Kane Evans dropped too too much ball (for an NRL player) trying to push the pass, He did run the ball strongly and tackled everything that came near him and even made a very good covering tackle in the middle on an otherwise runaway Souffs player who wood have thought he was in the clear.”

https://thecumberlandthrow.com/2019...premiership-trials-vs-south-sydney-rabbitohs/

Updated to include comment from forty:

“French and Evans on the other hand were guilty of far too many pushed passes and loose carries. Both flashed their talents today but multiple times they produced errors at the end of scintillating (French) or powerful (Evans) runs and it was decidedly frustrating to witness”

 

[Noise]

“Kane Evans dropped too too much ball (for an NRL player) trying to push the pass, He did run the ball strongly and tackled everything that came near him and even made a very good covering tackle in the middle on an otherwise runaway Souffs player who wood have thought he was in the clear.”

https://thecumberlandthrow.com/2019...y-flegg-isp-trials-vs-south-sydney-rabbitohs/

I don't think your link is correct, unless my device is playing up? I can't see that paragraph??

 

[Joshuatheeel]

I don't think your link is correct, unless my device is playing up? I can't see that paragraph??

In the comments section from rowdy roddy.

 

[Noise]

In the comments section from rowdy roddy.

Ah...comments aren't showing up for me for some reason.

 

[El Diablo]

so Moses was shown the door ?

pretty sure he is still with us

i thought Des f**ked the door

 

[Eelogical]

Ah...comments aren't showing up for me for some reason.

Click on the live blog at the bottom of the What We Learned page.The comments are at the bottom of that.

 

[Gary Gutful]

Oh no ... this might spawn a whole new chain of fish jokes

It’s not of-fish-al until @Poupou Escobar does his second roe joke.

 

[Noise]

Click on the live blog at the bottom of the What We Learned page.The comments are at the bottom of that.

Yea so it is a comment on the live blog page, not the "What we learned" link that was posted. My device is not playing up after all

 

[Eelogical]

Yea so it is a comment on the live blog page, not the "What we learned" link that was posted. My device is not playing up after all

Yup.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Here were a couple of individual performances that were shit. The positive is it should cement Bevan French at Wenty to start the year. Maybe Kane Evans is still getting his fitness up to scratch?


https://thecumberlandthrow.com/2019...y-flegg-isp-trials-vs-south-sydney-rabbitohs/

Is a lot of errors ‘struggling’ or just typical of two senior players tasked with generating some attacking chances (and thus taking some risks)? It’s not like we could trust Schneider, Salmon or the part-timer in jersey 7 to do it.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Yea so it is a comment on the live blog page, not the "What we learned" link that was posted. My device is not playing up after all

Ah sorry, I posted wrong link.