Rumours and Stuff

[Poupou Escobar]

Speaking of Junior, I recall seeing an article in late October saying that the Raiders were keep to extend his deal before xmas... but I don't think there's been anything more about it.... with his world cup committments well and truly over, I would have thought player and club would have had ample time to sign and extend but I can't find anything to say he has re-signed with them.... Wonder why it's taking so long....certainly sounded like the Raiders were keen to get it done ASAP....

Maybe they aren’t offering enough money. Just like when we tried to re-sign him.

 

[Chipmunk]

Speaking of Junior, I recall seeing an article in late October saying that the Raiders were keep to extend his deal before xmas... but I don't think there's been anything more about it.... with his world cup committments well and truly over, I would have thought player and club would have had ample time to sign and extend but I can't find anything to say he has re-signed with them.... Wonder why it's taking so long....certainly sounded like the Raiders were keen to get it done ASAP....

The Raiders had to offload some players to get more deals sorted. They've now offloaded Baptiste

 

[Gazzamatta]

Maybe they aren’t offering enough money. Just like when we tried to re-sign him.

The cost of Big Macs and KFC are always increasing.

 

[Gazzamatta]

lol

they just pretty much quoted the DT from yesterday

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...e/news-story/9e269d117a2880ffc63f158ccc9eda23

SHOOSH II

WHY did a Sydney NRL club want to sign Matt Moylan before he joined Cronulla despite already boasting one of the game’s premier pivots?

Of cause it was Parra. Bernie wanted JH and BA wanted Moylan. Missed out on Moylan (obviously scared off by BAs intensity) so we offered JH minimum and he jumped at it. Whats the drama?

 

[Stagger eel]

Of cause it was Parra. Bernie wanted JH and BA wanted Moylan. Missed out on Moylan (obviously scared off by BAs intensity) so we offered JH minimum and he jumped at it. Whats the drama?

From what I know lurker has got it spot on....

Someone failed a background check and it wasn’t Hayne.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

Of cause it was Parra. Bernie wanted JH and BA wanted Moylan. Missed out on Moylan (obviously scared off by BAs intensity) so we offered JH minimum and he jumped at it. Whats the drama?

Do you honestly believe that we would sign a player that BA didn't want? As he said when he was here a while Bernie will leave what the football department does up to BA, mostly. If BA doesn't want a player in the squad I can assure you they won't be in the squad

 

[Gary Gutful]

The cost of Big Macs and KFC are always increasing.

Sauce:

 

[El Diablo]

that sombrero at the Roosters keeps getting bigger

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

I'm actually with my old sparring partner @Glenneel on the issue of fat forwards. The priority really should be 1 good, tall, fat(ish) prop. If we have to give up a backrower to get that, I'd be ok with it.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

I'm actually with my old sparring partner @Glenneel on the issue of fat forwards. The priority really should be 1 good, tall, fat(ish) prop. If we have to give up a backrower to get that, I'd be ok with it.

It would be easier to make a tall skinny one fat than a short fat one tall.

 

[Gazzamatta]

Do you honestly believe that we would sign a player that BA didn't want? As he said when he was here a while Bernie will leave what the football department does up to BA, mostly. If BA doesn't want a player in the squad I can assure you they won't be in the squad

Didnt say BA didnt want JH. if he didnt want JH he would be elsewhere. Nothing surer. My point is that the recruitment strategy wasnt necessarily to replace Norman as suggested. It was to secure a "star quality" player and Moylan didnt pass muster for whatever reason.

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

It would be easier to make a tall skinny one fat than a short fat one tall.

We probably need a poll to determine who would potentially be of sufficient fatness. It is true that you could make Evans fat pretty easily. He's getting to that age where the metabolism starts to slow. One of the English blokes had promise too. As was (and is) the case with Louganis, the height problem can be solved through choice of footwear.

 

[84 Baby]

I reckon that prop is, or at least BA thinks it can be, Evans. Time will tell. I reckon he’ll lead offload per minute stat next year (Brown will have more total because he’ll play twice as many minutes). But he won’t have as many line breaks or crash over tries as Paulo so he’ll be a failure in the eyes of glenneel and rammy

 

[Obscene Assassin]

Didnt say BA didnt want JH. if he didnt want JH he would be elsewhere. Nothing surer. My point is that the recruitment strategy wasnt necessarily to replace Norman as suggested. It was to secure a "star quality" player and Moylan didnt pass muster for whatever reason.

moylan didn't pass muster because he's soft.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

We probably need a poll to determine who would potentially be of sufficient fatness. It is true that you could make Evans fat pretty easily. He's getting to that age where the metabolism starts to slow. One of the English blokes had promise too. As was (and is) the case with Louganis, the height problem can be solved through choice of footwear.

My metabolism is starting to slow. I'm not that tall though. It's an increasing problem.
In all seriousness, I'm convinced that part of the whole tall thing is not just height and weight but also arm span. @miatch or @Forty20 could you please help here? I'm sure Melbourne at least and possibly others test for it and rate it highly as a desirable attribute for props.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

My metabolism is starting to slow. I'm not that tall though. It's an increasing problem.
In all seriousness, I'm convinced that part of the whole tall thing is not just height and weight but also arm span. @miatch or @Forty20 could you please help here? I'm sure Melbourne at least and possibly others test for it and rate it highly as a desirable attribute for props.

I remember in China not too many years ago there was a bloke who kept getting his legs broken and separated in order to get taller. I assume you could do the same for arms. Just offer some cheapies a long contract and slip it into the fine print.

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

My metabolism is starting to slow. I'm not that tall though. It's an increasing problem.
In all seriousness, I'm convinced that part of the whole tall thing is not just height and weight but also arm span. @miatch or @Forty20 could you please help here? I'm sure Melbourne at least and possibly others test for it and rate it highly as a desirable attribute for props.

I suspect that you are correct. But your brothers Kurt and Dane didn't have great arm spans and they did ok.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

I suspect that you are correct. But your brothers Kurt and Dane didn't have great arm spans and they did ok.

Yes, and I'm not sure what impact finger length has either. Maybe long fingers compensate for short arms, or something..............

 

[Forty20]

My metabolism is starting to slow. I'm not that tall though. It's an increasing problem.
In all seriousness, I'm convinced that part of the whole tall thing is not just height and weight but also arm span. @miatch or @Forty20 could you please help here? I'm sure Melbourne at least and possibly others test for it and rate it highly as a desirable attribute for props.

Advanced body metrics like arm length and hand size are a big part of the scouting process in the NFL but I haven't heard anyone employed in the NRL ever bring it up in their conversations with me.

With that said there are absolutely athletic profiles that teams are scouting for on a positional basis. Melbourne really pioneered the way on the craze for tall, athletic props in recent times. While other teams have fielded singular props in that vein, the Storm not only have a first-grade pack full of them but their lower grades and even cast-offs (Dean Britt etc) are loaded up with that type. It really is their pack identity.

My gut feel is that I think we are probably a little less single-minded in our internal scouting profiles for props. We absolutely have a number of young kids that will draw comparisons to props from Melbourne and probably more so in recent times but if you really want to distill the scouting process down...you always want the biggest, fastest, strongest, smartest etc player in every position. At some point though you have to compromise because you don't have unlimited resources internally and the talent pool isn't infinite. Even then, there are guys like Nathan Brown who sort of break the rules and kick arse despite their considerably smaller stature.

Back to your original question though, I would not be shocked if Melbourne prioritised wing span (and maybe hand size). It gives greater leverage and reach when fending and offloading while bigger hands probably translate to marginally superior ball security. In defence it gives each defender a larger 'soft zone' of coverage to use their arms to otherwise make up ground for a tackle on top of greater ability to wrap up the ball. Perhaps they might even apply it for wingers given that they can do so much with so little space these days and every extra centimetre of wingspan is potentially an extra try or three scored in the corner or bomb defused over the course of a season.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

I thought his question deserved a proper answer.