Rumours and Stuff

[Happy MEel]

Merkins who are motivated by money can be just as effective as merkins with other motivations. My guess is that they would generally be more effective.

Depends if they feel adequately remunerated for their services.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Why wouldn't you adequately remunerate them?

 

[Happy MEel]

Why wouldn't you adequately remunerate them?

Good question. Ask the Tigers.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

Good question. Ask the Tigers.

Exactly. If you take a risk on a player and they go better than expected, good for the club. If you then decide to give them exactly what they deserve then you lose. Since when do players accept less money when they play like crap?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I'd say they don't want to give him the upgrade he wants. That doesn't mean we wouldn't. Both clubs have different needs and different vacancies in their roster.

 

[T.S Quint]

Merkins who are motivated by money can be just as effective as merkins with other motivations. My guess is that they would generally be more effective.

If all you are motivated by is money then it stands to reason you want to be performing at your very best at all times in order to get more lucrative contracts.

If you’re motivated by just the love of the game then you’ll be ok with winning or losing as long as you’re having fun.

It’s why I’m so f**king poor.

 

[Matty Bhoy]

If Matto was holding us to ransom, I’m guessing his merkin like behaviour would be viewed a touch differently on this portal.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I think less of him for what he's doing to the Tigers but if our management want him at the club I'd be happy with it. No different to how I think less of Gutherson for trying to hold us to ransom this year. I'm still happy to have him in the team. I just wouldn't care if he left.

 

[Matty Bhoy]

I think less of him for what he's doing to the Tigers but if our management want him at the club I'd be happy with it. No different to how I think less of Gutherson for trying to hold us to ransom this year. I'm still happy to have him in the team. I just wouldn't care if he left.

There’s an enormous difference between Gutherson’s actions and Matterson’s. Like most on here, he’d improve our side or at least off set the departure of Ma’u, so I’d be happy to sign him. But we’ve been linked to around four players including him. Fifita, Frizzell and Crichton. All things being equal, he’d be my fourth choice.

 

[Happy MEel]

There’s an enormous difference between Gutherson’s actions and Matterson’s. Like most on here, he’d improve our side or at least off set the departure of Ma’u, so I’d be happy to sign him. But we’ve been linked to around four players including him. Fifita, Frizzell and Crichton. All things being equal, he’d be my fourth choice.

He’d be my third over Crighton but any of the four would be a good signing for the club.

 

[Twizzle]

Then you're an edge hooker

but Alfie defended on the wing too

 

[hindy111]

I have to admit, so was I. Would liked to have avoided any conjecture this time next year. Ah well, he’s here for two more seasons at a minimum. Good stuff.

2 is enough. We may find flaws in his game next season. Or he may of wanted to much coin

 

[hindy111]

Signing one guy for 2nd row is fine. But our squad remains the same bar RCG as the supposed Matto signing is a replacement and just fills Mau spot.
Most our players are at peaks now. Some like MJ are in decline. Moses may slightly improve. I dont see to many others exploding over what they showed this season.
To be a force and a genuine title chance we would be banking on Rheed and D.Brown going up a few levels and perhaps Stefano and Kafusi breaking out and having huge years.
RCG may help us but he wont turn us into a powerhouse. I reckon we need one more top line forward and a back up hooker.
Otherwise rinse and repeat.
5th-12th finish. You'd be foolish to think any of the sides who finished outside the top 4 are a whole lot better then teams who finished outside the 8. When they play each other it's almost a 50/50 game. Comes down to luck and who has the fittest squad.

 

[Happy MEel]

Signing one guy for 2nd row is fine. But our squad remains the same bar RCG as the supposed Matto signing is a replacement and just fills Mau spot.
Most our players are at peaks now. Some like MJ are in decline. Moses may slightly improve. I dont see to many others exploding over what they showed this season.
To be a force and a genuine title chance we would be banking on Rheed and D.Brown going up a few levels and perhaps Stefano and Kafusi breaking out and having huge years.
RCG may help us but he wont turn us into a powerhouse. I reckon we need one more top line forward and a back up hooker.
Otherwise rinse and repeat.
5th-12th finish. You'd be foolish to think any of the sides who finished outside the top 4 are a whole lot better then teams who finished outside the 8. When they play each other it's almost a 50/50 game. Comes down to luck and who has the fittest squad.

I think you’d also be foolish to think the teams that finished 3rd and 4th were so much better than 4th to 8th. The Raiders did have a good end to the year but they certainly weren’t world beaters.

RCG improves the squad and any of the 4 edge forwards don’t weaken us and probably improves us. Drown, Mahoney and Moses should continue to improve and the two younger middles are a chance of pushing into the top 17 which would ultimately improve us.

we should be realistically aiming for a top 4 finish with a push for a GF.

 

[hindy111]

Quite True. Souths where cooked by season end and Canberra not finishing top 8 wouldn't be a huge shock.
Rooster losing Cronk also weakens them.

 

[Glenneel]

Some Kombucha is sugary but the well made stuff is damn near sugar free tbh

But like ginger beer it is made with sugar, and beer where sugar turns into alcohol, so surely the calories are still present.

 

[Glenneel]

There was a clip on Parra.com with Sivo saying he is an Eel till 2021.

Would have liked a longer term. Maybe he'll test market then, probably go to Roosters who'll have David Fifita, Payne Haas and the Turbp brothers in their squad as well.

 

[Glenneel]

My take on the situation when he was last at Parra was that at the age of 20, having played the bulk of his career in the halves, when he was faced with advice/direction that his future wasn't in the halves, as he wasn't finished growing and filling out his frame.... He cracked it, looked elsewhere... Fair enough.... But history shows Parra's judgement was spot on. He's carved out a near rep career as a forward.

My concern is that he has sooked a couple of times so far whether it be wanting to play in the halves (read $$'s) or prepared to walk when he thinks he's worth more (again, read $$' s)

Is he loving the game? Or is he loving the money? Question needs to be asked IMO

My take is that he is after the money. But he can have most of the money and play for a team ready for a crack at the gf.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Signing one guy for 2nd row is fine. But our squad remains the same bar RCG as the supposed Matto signing is a replacement and just fills Mau spot.
Most our players are at peaks now. Some like MJ are in decline. Moses may slightly improve. I dont see to many others exploding over what they showed this season.
To be a force and a genuine title chance we would be banking on Rheed and D.Brown going up a few levels and perhaps Stefano and Kafusi breaking out and having huge years.
RCG may help us but he wont turn us into a powerhouse. I reckon we need one more top line forward and a back up hooker.
Otherwise rinse and repeat.
5th-12th finish. You'd be foolish to think any of the sides who finished outside the top 4 are a whole lot better then teams who finished outside the 8. When they play each other it's almost a 50/50 game. Comes down to luck and who has the fittest squad.

I think you’d also be foolish to think the teams that finished 3rd and 4th were so much better than 4th to 8th. The Raiders did have a good end to the year but they certainly weren’t world beaters.

RCG improves the squad and any of the 4 edge forwards don’t weaken us and probably improves us. Drown, Mahoney and Moses should continue to improve and the two younger middles are a chance of pushing into the top 17 which would ultimately improve us.

we should be realistically aiming for a top 4 finish with a push for a GF.

I reckon the key is looking at how we lost games this year.

We weren’t really outclassed to often this year (yeah storm did but that’s probably it) and our attack is as good as any (it’s a hard skill to coach into a side/players).

Don’t have time to check right now but think we had close to the most run metres, which indicates we are getting over the top of the opposition quite regularly.

I say the reason we lost most games was either poor ruck defence or just to many simple errors (like drop balls / stupid penalties or no patience in attack). I reckon these are things that can be fixed through coaching / good off season / more experienced players (eg rookies playing more games).

Anyhow so I think we do have the ability to develop into a top 4 side with our current squad (and hopefully some additions)

 

[Glenneel]

I reckon the key is looking at how we lost games this year.

We weren’t really outclassed to often this year (yeah storm did but that’s probably it) and our attack is as good as any (it’s a hard skill to coach into a side/players).

Don’t have time to check right now but think we had close to the most run metres, which indicates we are getting over the top of the opposition quite regularly.

I say the reason we lost most games was either poor ruck defence or just to many simple errors (like drop balls / stupid penalties or no patience in attack). I reckon these are things that can be fixed through coaching / good off season / more experienced players (eg rookies playing more games).

Anyhow so I think we do have the ability to develop into a top 4 side with our current squad (and hopefully some additions)

We have a few problems ingrained into our DNA that urgently needs fixing.

Defence. We've been poor with our defence for the entirety of BAs tenure. What he has been able to do is up our attack to compensate but unless its fixed we'll forever just be a roughie to make the gf and not have a realistic chance to win it.

Mental toughness/good leadership. A real Achilles heal for us. If the going gets rough we appear to have no mental fortitude to tough it out. Then once we get an even share of the ball we make stupid errors, be it thru exhaustion or trying to catch up/poor game management. We don't appear to have the ability to grind a match out and defend for long periods of time without conceding tries. The good teams do.

Again the discussion comes about, is BA the coach we need? My answer is probably not.