to be fair, our current cap issues isn't Ryles doing but he understands to fix this you need to sacrifise a blue chip squad member so we can actually achieve what the idiots couldn't in the last 2 years and that's fill the roster.
replacing Reg with another 'big dick' middle just defeats the pourpose.
Yeah I get the idea behind it, but I don't think it is the right call and to me it looks like a rookie mistake.
On the field he needs to improve our defence by a fair margin and shore up the middle. By releasing our best forward he is only going to realise he hasn't the pedigree in the stocks to do just that and find that we will be very loose and vulnerable in the place he wants to fix the most. We don't have bulldogs types of workers at our club and just like the Dogs did we will realise quick smart the players we currently have will need to be replaced with workers and some size.
The problem though for us is we don't have a Gould type to do the heavy lifting in the pathways and recruitment side of things and if we have another season like these past two with injuries and suspensions and MON is still Head Of Football, good luck attracting the quality that we will be needing at that point without paying overs which will then be defeating the purpose and could easily be what we end up doing because by that stage Ryles will be getting desperate because all the knives will be sharpening against him.
You need to remember, Ryles won't have the luxury of time or Gould to support and protect him. Even with that Ciraldo would have been close to a goner this season had they had a similar year this season as their last. We are a big but desperate club for positive results.
If anything were to happen to Moses again next season, then with a inferior forward pack as I see it currently right now, then we will nose dive again to be a seller dweller and the media and many fans won't cop excuses that Moses injury was a big enough reason for that, as they shouldn't. It is incumbent on the coach to be able to still motivate and put enough processes and procedures in their playing style and psyche to get winning results. If he has a strong middle and spine, which we should do as far as the spine is concerned even if Moses goes down for a while then he would/should be able to still keep them going in the right direction.
Next season isn't about winning the Premiership, it is about defensive attitude and winning principle. We already have recruited well enough in Iongi and Lomax, which both should give us some thrust out wide that we haven't had at our club for a while. He in my view should be working on getting all the current players to buy into his methods and instill in them all a defensive take no prisoners mindset. Once he has seen what each current player has to offer and how they fit in with his philosophies, then he can start to cull and add as he sees fit and I dare say, RCG probably wouldn't be one of the ones to get a tap on the shoulder at the right price for 2026 and beyond.
Anyway I hope I am totally wrong and somehow he gets them all firing and our middle in both defence and offence is brutal and tenacious. I really do, but somehow I doubt that removing the most consistent and damaging forward out of our team will accomplish that. But it is what it is now, so let us all see. But if we just miss out or just scrape into the top 8, I'm sure there will have been quite a few games that we will all have wished we had someone like RCG leading our pack to have either helped us get there or give it a decent shake once there. Forwards win big matches.
My greatest fear though is that we will get dominated in many games and therefore our improved strike backs and especially Moses will find it very hard to do their thing and it will lead to more and more frustration and ultimately desperation, errors and even more injuries. Causing a knock on affect of indifferent form and loss of even more confidence and ultimately impact the new coach and the spiral begins.
Notice I have only been referring to our middle defence. That's because that's where it all starts. If we get that right then the edges generally get the benefit of that too. They then can set and adjust accordingly if they are good enough NRL standard players which I think we have now with the inclusion of the two new recruits.
