Rumours and Stuff

[lucablight]

Are we picking up roughies who showed early potential, picked up fat contracts and then failed to live up to them? Or are we just accumulating a team full of mercenaries?

I’m still trying to figure out if we’re the biggest homewreckers or safe houses in the NRL. FWIW I think a lot of the players who came here do actually want to be here as evidenced by Moses, Matterson and RCG re-signing their next contracts with us even though they probably could have received more elsewhere.

 

[eels_fan]

As much as I have been justifiably critical of the club of late, the fact a player is willing take a $200k plus haircut per year to play for us is not the type of thing we are used to seeing. It’s over $1m over 4 years difference to what he was/could have continued to earn at the Drags.

we’ve had a player refuse to play for us in order to save themselves $5000

clearly players maybe don’t dwell on the negatives as much we do - that or Mrs Arthur cooks a real mean steak.

 

[JokerEel]

But if we are spending again on juniors, shouldnt we have a first grade squad full of them and be leading the comp already?

No because it's not 1986 we had to stop spending on juniors in the years after Brown came through until last year when we won SG ball....
Poor resources and bad luck is the major problem reason also Clearly never won a competition before 2021 and Diwali doesn't fall on the right day for us to be successful.

Not sure I have made enough excuses yet.

 

[JokerEel]

As much as I have been justifiably critical of the club of late, the fact a player is willing take a $200k plus haircut per year play for us is not the type of thing we are used to seeing. It’s over $1m over 4 years difference to what he was/could have continued to earn at the Drags.

we’ve had a player refuse to play for us in order to save themselves $5000

clearly players maybe don’t dwell on the negatives as much we do - that or Mrs Arthur cooks a real mean steak.

Is cooking a mean steak a euphemism...

 

[Parra Pride]

the fact a player is willing take a $200k plus haircut per year

If Lomax's haircut is going to cost him $200K a year here hopefully it's some kind of cutting edge anti balding haircut.

 

[Gronk]

Matto Dunster Sivo deals with Player Options is terrible.

Dunster is a MO.

2024 NRL Signings Tracker: Keary, Whitehead to Catalans; Raiders sign English forward

Luke Keary will join Elliott Whitehead at Catalans next season, while England second-rower Matty Nicholson is coming the other way to the Raiders.

www.nrl.com

 

[hineyrulz]

Why bother with Xerri when we got Morgan Harper for a similar price and saved him a 1 way ticket to England.

The club did the right thing............

 

[hineyrulz]

Yeah but whenever I mentioned PO's on here I get talked down by the protection racket on here that the club did the right thing.

It's embarrassing Moses PO screwed us over last year I don't care what anyone says he was distracted for that 1st month of the season and it cost us a finals spot going 0/3.

Htf does a 18 year old in Blaize have a PO at this stage of his career. He would not have played a FG game when he signed that

It's indefensible.

We hand them out like frigging Tim Tam's.

Calm down you mean girl troll!!! You know that the club always does the right thing!!

 

[hineyrulz]

Lussick is the worst Hooker in the comp right now....I don't understand how he gets picked

Helps being the captains bro in law.........

 

[hineyrulz]

Pretty interesting how we have a history of procuring our notable signings by getting them to break their contracts. Moses,RCG, Matterson, Ofahengaue and now Lomax looking likely.

The Parramatta homewreckers!!!

 

[Soto]

We need 5 recruits for next year.
3 outside backs.
A centre ( presumably done)
2 wingers ( Simonsson + Russell + Sivo at the moment) Can do better. Need pressure on these guys. Sivo I'd be letting go unless he pulls his finger out. Russell is getting better. Simonsson has versatility. However we need a metre eater and or express winger. Targets - Turuva, Schiller, Savage
Backrower - Need a hole runner. Lane needs to sort himself out. Carty is good. Kelma I like but the depth stops there. I like Guymer..tough
Hooker - I'd love to have Wade Egan or Reece Robson. Jake Simpkin from Tigers may be worth looking at unless MA is ready..not sure how Riley Smith is going in 20s. Is Soni Luke worth a shot..

 

[IFR33K]

We also had a good crop of juniors in 2017: Drown, Mahoney, Kaufusi, Stone, Dunster, Doorey, Marzhew

Then we had the fallout of the salary cap scandal and Mad Max took over and put the brakes on spending. Then Covid hit and the PLC only recently recovered. Now we're spending again.

Let me know how long we’re going to keep making excuses for our club’s incompetence and not prioritising a premiership.

 

[IFR33K]

But if we are spending again on juniors, shouldnt we have a first grade squad full of them and be leading the comp already?

Ah the voice of reason, right on time. How’s the polishing been going?

 

[yy_cheng]

Very much assume Harper isnt getting kept for next year now...

We will keep Simmonson as a wing/centre backup along with Sivo.

Along With Dick AMS Blaize we start to have an ok backup backline in 2025.

But our pack will be old as bat shut

 

[hineyrulz]

Let me know how long we’re going to keep making excuses for our club’s incompetence and not prioritising a premiership.

Pou’s teply

 

[Glenneel]

Why for a club thats supposed to be a development club do our junior players always look way out of their depth when they arrive in first grade??? Look at youngsters from other clubs. We are doing something horribly wrong.

Yes already commentated on this very point. Most of our juniors appear hopeless in D so is it lack of training in the lower grades or lack of a system in NRL? Probably both. I look at other teams youngsters, particularly in the top echelon teams, and D never seems a problem. They slot seamlessly into their NRL team as they continue along their winning ways.

Honestly, our backline is poor, very poor, and desperately needs a good injection of decent players. Lomax is a good start, Peninisi is getting better (D still a concern) but now 2 good wingers are needed as Sivo's form has dropped off a cliff (is there a reason?). We need more speed in the backline and with that maybe a different style of play is required to bring the wingers more into play.

What I'd like to see is our players dig more into the D line of the opposition before passing, do less one out running by the forwards and offload more. There appears to be a minor adjustment to our attack with less offloading and imo it's hurting our attack. And as always our edge D is hopeless and maybe more speed will help overcome that deficiency. Btw, what I'd like is for our wingers to basically stick to their opposites and for the inside players to cover any overlaps.

 

[Glenneel]

Well, there's one reason...and it rhymes with "Plaid Smarter", which, incidentally, is what the game plan for this team seems to be very week...

Farter?

 

[Soren Lorenson]

South’s ANZAC jersey. And we thought ours looked like the Dogs.

 

[King-Gutho94]

Looks like cowboys away strip

 

[Soren Lorenson]

Looks like cowboys away strip

Looks like a male stripper outfit