Rumours and Stuff

[Avenger]

Melbourne have let plenty of spine players go in recent years. What they do is keep the leadership group together. For us this doesn't include Niukore, Papali'i or Mahoney. It does include Gutherson and Paulo. It is tempting to focus on retaining youth, but what if it costs you your leaders? I think the club would suffer worse, because leadership is how you turn nuffies into the next Niukore, Papali'i or Mahoney.

What happens when Paulo announces that he too is leaving? Does he then stop being a leader and turn from a nuffie to the next Paulo?

And you wanted Gutherson to leave last week and now you rely on him to try and win another stupid argument by calling him a leader.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Source????

Where's your source that we were prepared to give Mahoney more cash but didn't get the chance due to them 'swooping in'?

 

[lucablight]

Except that extremely stupid example doesn't exist. Try again.

I was using it to illustrate a point. If I said to you that the Bulldogs signed a 23 year old hooker on the fringe of origin selection when there aren’t many good hookers on the market for 650k over four years what would your assessment be?

 

[Lethal]

What a pathetic comment. Grow the f**k up.

f**k up merkin

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Good to see eve defenders out in force, and Pou rubbishing Mahoney already. He’s here for another 16 months these new rules are really tough on poor Pou.

I'll support him until he's gone. It's a business and nobody has done anything wrong. The Dogs, Parra and Mahoney all benefit. The media benefit too. The only loosers are the ones lapping up their narrative. It's just business.

 

[Gary Gutful]

Don’t know why the players are signing so early this year especially with a new team coming you’s think they wait till the middle of next year or at least February way to early to have 3players already signed else where

It wont abode well for the player or the club. @Glenneel

 

[lucablight]

I'll support him until he's gone. It's a business and nobody has done anything wrong. The Dogs, Parra and Mahoney all benefit. The media benefit too. The only loosers are the ones lapping up their narrative. It's just business.

What is something the club could do in regards to recruitment and retention that would make you think they stuffed up?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

He was picked ahead of Hunt in game 1 and then got injured. He wasn’t considered for game 3 because he hadn’t played in well over a month. Try again.

Hunt is a much better player than Mahoney. He proved it in game three. You're making excuses for Mahoney not playing, meanwhile Hunt picks up man-of-the-match. Do you reckon Mahoney will get picked next year if Hunt and Grant are available? Will he become an Origin player at the Dogs?

 

[Avenger]

Except that extremely stupid example doesn't exist. Try again.

Take it easy FFS. I already had to apologise for you this week.

 

[IFR33K]

Do you really think we should get into a bidding war with desperate clubs?

Most merkins on here have shit canned the club for paying overs in the past.

I would have loved to have kept him but not at the expense of the entire squad.

The overs were for questionable, aging, injury prone stars of yesterday. Not for your main 9 about to enter his prime.

 

[Gary Gutful]

I was using it to illustrate a point. If I said to you that the Bulldogs signed a 23 year old hooker on the fringe of origin selection when there aren’t many good hookers on the market for 650k over four years what would your assessment be?

If you explained what has already happened and we've already been discussing?

 

[Happy MEel]

Well why else would he choose the Dogs? To learn from Trent Barrett? Who do you think Kikau went there? Or JAC?

I’d say he thinks the dogs will have a stronger team than us in 2023. To be fair, I agree with him. He probably has a strong inkling that Junior is gone as well and that we’ll be rebuilding for a few years from 2023. He probably doesn’t want to waste his best years. We’ve f**ked this up royally and will now be fighting with Dolphin dollars to try and put together a competitive team in 2023.
Wasnt there plenty on here telling us we need needed to lock in BA for stability and clarity for off contract players and that death riders needed to at least wait until how this played out before we shit canned BA’s extension? Do we have the licence yet?

 

[Gary Gutful]

The overs were for questionable, aging, injury prone stars of yesterday. Not for your main 9 about to enter his prime.

We made a call when we signed Gutho. I personally think its the wrong call but I had my concerns about our ability to keep both.

 

[hindy111]

Yep. There is only so many times you can watch a powerful pack dominate and the rest of the team fumble around and not take advantage.

This is how I see it cause plenty say you don't need a good centre or 5/8 etc.....

For me it is about balance. Like building a race car tbh.

So parts must match. You can have a heap of good players that do not gel. Some take away others strengths or others mirror the same skill set so pointless having them.

Main part will always be halves. One who can control field position with a good kicking game is what you want. His play making also but kicking games first. It can give you 20mtrs every single set. I mean who cares about a prop who can get an extra 1 or 2mtrs if your halfback can pun them back inside their 10mtr line every set.

You also want one of your halves to have a run game.

I don't buy into a good 7 and an average 6 is fine. The best sides this year all had great halves pairs.

A strike player can be 1,2,3,4,5. Again I don't beleive it needs to be your fullback. Once you have the defense tired and going backwards your halves need weapons to fire it too. Think when we had Semi. It was usually late in games he would explode.
I'm hoping Penisini might give us this spark. Blake also has a bit of x factor about him. Both are workable and can create if we are in a good position. They can turn half chances into points. Opacic won't.

I also like one 2nd rower who can break the line.

Fullback firstly needs good defense and to be safe. Gutho is both. No point having Dufty who has loads of attack but can't tackle and can drop 2 or 3 bombs in a game.

Props need to bend the line and hurt the defense. But defend well. Ball playing is a bonus.

I also think a good Hooker needs to be able to run. Even if you watch Api or Cook how they steal 1 or 2mtrs then pass. It isolates a defender and let's your prop run at a guy who isn't facing them front on. Means they have a chance of breaking the tackle. I dont care about being able to fire the ball 30mtrs sideways. This is an advantage a few times a game. What Cook and Api do is an advantage take 2 or 3 times every set. It puts you on the front foot.

Had we retained Mahoney I would be happy. But I think we can getaway with just an ok hooker and sharpen up our 2nd row. We need someone who busts the line and is a threat like Manu was.

 

[Chipmunk]

Speaking of the Storm, is Grant or Smith off contract for 2023? Now we know Mahoney's f**king off, let's get involved in the offers for one of those guys... and serious offers, assumimg we're expecting a 2023 hooker to play more than 60 mins.

If we're not willing to offer Mahoney $600k a year there is little point getting involved with trying to get either of those blokes.

 

[Gary Gutful]

I’d say he thinks the dogs will have a stronger team than us in 2023. To be fair, I agree with him. He probably has a strong inkling that Junior is gone as well and that we’ll be rebuilding for a few years from 2023. He probably doesn’t want to water his best years. We’ve f**ked this up royally and will now be fighting with Dolphin dollars to try and put together a competitive team in 2023.
Werent there plenty on here telling us death riders to at least wait until how our recruitment and retention went before we shit canned BA’s extension? Do we have the licence yet?

Don't pretend you need permission.

 

[lucablight]

If you explained what has already happened and we've already been discussing?

Can you answer the question and say whether you think it’s unreasonable or not? Everyone was jumping on the train going on about how unreasonable Papali’is reported contract amount was. Surely you can do the same here.

 

[Happy MEel]

Don't pretend you need permission.

I don’t, but I like the piece of paper. It’s like a pen licence…essentially meaningless but it makes you feel good about yourself.

 

[hindy111]

We made a call when we signed Gutho. I personally think its the wrong call but I had my concerns about our ability to keep both.

The difference is we know what Gutherson will give us. He has done it for 4 or 5 seasons.
Rheed might be the next Cam Smith based on 2021. But his previous few seasons where just average. He is far from being a consistent 650k player.

Gutherson also wins most challenges at training. Teamates aim to beat him. This to me says a lot. He is the guy who sets the bar. All the young guys push themself harder to reach it.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Bbbut Hindy, What do you mean " the best pack " ?
According to this very forum, IP is overrated, Niukora is no great loss, and Paulo is getting on a bit.
And as soon as Mahoney is confirmed gone, he is all of a sudden expendable and not such a good player anyway.
You guys are hilarious.
Lucablight, and the dude with the clown avatar are the only 2 that are still in touch with reality.
Oh, and let me finish with this lil gem: of the many star players you had in your team last year, 2 of the biggest names that have remained loyal are Moses and Matterson.
When those 2 are the beacons of loyalty in your team, shit is messed up

Individually plenty of our forwards are overrated, like so many of the Storm pack. That doesn't mean they're not good players, just that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The pack isn't strong because it's full of stars, but because there are so many above average first graders. It makes everyone look better than they are. The problem is trying to get them all enough ball to get full value out of them.