Rumours and Stuff

[Chipmunk]

Not necessarily. They could be contracted to Wentworthville instead. Most clubs would struggle without at least a 40 man squad. The spending cuts relate to the management side of things for mine.

The current Top 4 Teams have the following sized squads:

Storm - 33
Raiders - 28
Sharks - 28
Cowboys - 28

Didn't seem to do them much harm.

 

[Gronk]

 

[hybrideel]

for half of his current Titan's contract

 

[Gronk]

Jackson Hastings not signed with anyone yet ? His season is over cos he played too many NRL games.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

Dargan named nsw cup halfback of year. Plenty say he isnt ready or suggestions wont cut nrl.
Perhaps coaching staff think differently and see him in our side by 2018? I guess forty 20 would have a better idea of our long term view.
He wasnt in the top 20 for missed tackles in the comp either so his defense must be ok for a half

Close mate, he was Under 20's halfback of the year. Personally I am happy with Dargan's performance this season. I think I may have said it in the past but in attack he tends to overplay his hand a bit too much. If he slowed down a touch and focused on getting the small plays right then when he goes for a big play it will look fantastic rather than going for the big play every 2nd set just compounding errors when the team doesn't need it.

His skills are second to none though, he can place a long kick very well, he sets up his edge runners very well and his short kicking game this year has produced many line drop outs.

Defensively he does need to get better but I don't think there's too many 18/19 year old halves running around that are ready defensively for first grade.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Not necessarily. They could be contracted to Wentworthville instead. Most clubs would struggle without at least a 40 man squad. The spending cuts relate to the management side of things for mine.

If they're contracted to another club (e.g. Wentworthville) then they're not part of your squad. Wenty contracted players don't train with the NRL squad, including the pre-season. They don't even train full time for Wenty.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

The current Top 4 Teams have the following sized squads:

Storm - 33
Raiders - 28
Sharks - 28
Cowboys - 28

Didn't seem to do them much harm.

From where did you get those squad sizes?

 

[Gary Gutful]

From where did you get those squad sizes?

www.squadsizes.nrl.com

 

[Noise]

From where did you get those squad sizes?

Probably counted how many pictures were on their web pages.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Close mate, he was Under 20's halfback of the year. Personally I am happy with Dargan's performance this season. I think I may have said it in the past but in attack he tends to overplay his hand a bit too much. If he slowed down a touch and focused on getting the small plays right then when he goes for a big play it will look fantastic rather than going for the big play every 2nd set just compounding errors when the team doesn't need it.

His skills are second to none though, he can place a long kick very well, he sets up his edge runners very well and his short kicking game this year has produced many line drop outs.

Defensively he does need to get better but I don't think there's too many 18/19 year old halves running around that are ready defensively for first grade.

The main problem with defence in the NYC is that the players lack the fitness to work as hard as full timers. This means they struggle to get numbers into the tackle. This advantages the attacking team as so many defenders get isolated. It's a principle of defence (at least at NRL level) that you don't leave your mate on the outside to make the tackle on his own. Unless you desperately need to mark an inside runner you push out to the ball and help your mate. If there's an inside pass the next bloke following you out should pick him up.

In amateur/junior footy this doesn't really happen. Play moves away from a defender and he takes the opportunity to have a breather.

 

[bartman]

According to rugbyleagueproject we only used 28 players this season in NRL, including Peats and Paulo *and Foran (how could I forget him?)*.

So 40 player squads are helpful for two grades, but you don't usually need to dip too far down to fill your first grade.

 

[bartman]

http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/s...tta/summary.html?order=summary-app#playerlist

Gutho and Gordon and Edwards played every game... Wicks and Terepo only missed one game each. Moeroa, M'au and De Gois only missed two each.

10 players played in less than half of our first grade games:
Junior Paulo (11 - gone)
Kieran Foran (9 - gone)
Jeff Robson (9 - started late)
Rory O'Brien (9...)
Vai Toutai (7...)
Nathan Peats (6 - gone)
Cody Nelson (2...)
Bureta Faraimno (2...)
Luke Kelly (1...)
John Folau (1...)

Terepo, Moeroa, Alvaro and Mannah get to do the nudie run for not having scored a try.

 

[hybrideel]

well at least they don't have to run next to the Morgzilla

 

[Bazal]

Williams is ok, nothing special. He'd do a consistent job.
Robson is well past his best and his best was never that good. If he is anywhere near first grade for us that will be a problem.
Roberts is very hot and cold, can have a great game but will then have four or five average games. Goes missing too much, that's why Newcastle did not want to keep him.
Brodie Croft from Melbourne looks promising.

Brodie Croft is no more promising than Dargan. If anything I'd rather Dargan, who is a controlling half. Croft is more of an ad lib half.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

According to rugbyleagueproject we only used 28 players this season in NRL, including Peats and Paulo.

So 40 player squads are helpful for two grades, but you don't usually need to dip too far down to fill your first grade.

The thing is you can't guarantee you'll have the exact second tier player available when you need him. Look at this year - both our backup halves were injured when we needed them. Likewise with backup centres. If you only have one backup at each position you could find yourself with nobody available at a specialist position when you need them.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

well at least they don't have to run next to the Morgzilla

The meaty slapping sound of it bouncing off his thighs can be very disconcerting.

 

[Twizzle]

that's pretty rare though

 

[The Colonel]

The current Top 4 Teams have the following sized squads:

Storm - 33
Raiders - 28
Sharks - 28
Cowboys - 28

Didn't seem to do them much harm.

Are these the squads they have listed on their site? Or where do the numbers come from? Does this include Under 20's players who are paid under the Top tier salary?

 

[bartman]

Sure. I'm just saying that the point that the top four sides used 28 or so players is no different to have many players we used this year, even losing three.

Players used doesn't mean that clubs don't need 40 players, to fill positions in their two open teams (and hence have more than one backup available in each position). You just don't end up getting close to using all 40 in a given year.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

that's pretty rare though

Is it rare enough that you won't spend another eighty grand covering that risk? We have a fair bit of utility cover in our top 17, which should reduce the amount we need to spend on backups, but I'm sure we'll still have more than 30 players on full time contracts.