How we left it to the final hour to sign a player from a club that still has finals aspirations is beyond me. There are so many players that we could have looked at for a loan only situation from clubs that have no chance of making the 8 and made a deal with that club if need be. A kind of quid pro quo situation that you lend us your quality player now and in the future lend you one of our quality players if we are out of finals contention and you have a shot or even a Harry Grant/Tigers type of scenario.
I kind of hinted at it a few months back when I suggested we look at signing Semi for a cameo just before the Aug 1 deadline but Gronk swooped in on me like the rabies infected bat that he is and wrongly shut me down telling me that August 1 was a one off due to covid and won't be happening again. But as usual the bonehead had no idea.
It may sound crazy, but I hear that this August 1 late signing deadline is here to stay, so you watch how all the smart clubs are going to start work out ways going forward to get at least one or two top flight players into their roster and really bump up their chances.
We should have been way more pro active on this, I have been waiting and watching this space for a couple of months hoping we would somehow be smarter then they other clubs for once and announce a star signing right at the death of the deadline and stun our opponents. But all we have done is taken a half arsed shot at a sort of good signing in Tapau who is playing for a club that would be stupid to let him go considering their position.
If the Storm somehow swoop in under our noses and nab him then we are an absolute useless joke of a club. I mean these overtures should have been in the works for at least a month or two. We should have made a short list of our preferred targets and what we can afford, I'm presuming we have around up to $200K free to spend and therefore a player who is normally valued at around $700-800K in August 1 would be affordable and our $200K would be enough to secure him for the rest of the season.
I mean look at the endless options of forwards we could have made a play at -
Adin Fonua-Blake
Bunty Afoa
Tohu Harris
Jarrod Wallace
Tino Fa'asuamaleaui
Klema Tuilagi
Raymond Faitala-Mariner
Tavita Pangai Junior
Daniel Saifiti
Jacob Saifiti
David Klemmer
Mat Croker
Mitchell Barnett
Tyson Frizell
I went with mostly experienced players so as they are proven and would not be over oared in the big games and will relish having a chance to play finals again where it was only a dream prior to our offer. Also I am focussing on forwards because I think that we are getting out muscled to often when we aren't primed for a big game and keep losing the ruck to often. Obviously my wet dream preference out of that lot would be Tino, who is brilliant on or off the ball, but anyone of them would give us a massive injection of quality and bolster our bench significantly.
But instead of our clubs brains trust turning no stone unturned, what do they do? Have a shot at a player that his current club will want to keep for obvious reasons. We should have been working on possible loan style players and whispering sweet lovelies into their ears ages ago. One at least would have jumped at the idea of playing with a formidable pack and a genuine shot at a title opportunity out of the blue when all was lost for his regular club weeks ago.
Oh well what else can I say. The apologists will no doubt make the typical and predictable excuses as to why we didn't or that no club would be willing to release a quality player on loan to us, but that is just nonsense. There is an upside to both parties(salary cap relief for them) and then if the player becomes upset with his current club for denying him the opportunity, especially if he misses out and sees another player get that same opportunity and wins a GF, it may cause major discontent and disharmony for those two parties down the tract. It would actually be in the targeted players current club's best interest to loan the player out and we could exploit this situation if we were smart enough, but obviously we are not.
As for who I would have in for Moses injury? 1 Russell, 6 Gutho and 7 Brown as I have mentioned in more detail in my previous post.
Just my thoughts.
