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The only ones who went better than the ones we kept were Mahoney and Papali’i. And given the shitty clubs they joined, they would have been on massive overs. We would’ve gone worse if we’d kept them.
Tino and that prop at Penrith that’s off contract. (Lindsay Smith).
Stone is the one I don’t regret - Dylan Walker is much better. But I agree on the rest, they’d all be making our starting side right now and be a marked improvement on what we have
But this was for 2023, to have another shot at the title. Signing them a year too long was the price we paid for keeping the team together after the grand final. A massive injury/suspension toll in 2023 killed our chances followed by losing Moses last year meant we decided to blow it up and rebuild. Again, it's hindsight bias to say we should've started the rebuild in 2022. It's like saying you wish you hadn't put ten grand on the Storm to beat Manly last Saturday.
Hindsight @hindy111 had no problems with our forwards recruitment/retention for 2023.....
He didn't rate Marata and Stone back then, but reckons 3 years later we should have kept them and let the origin level Matterson and Lane go......
It's pretty clear that Mark O'Neill delivered the squad that BA wanted. BA wanted that team kept together and so MON delivered. After all, that's his job: to deliver the squad, as best and close as possible, within the cap, that the coach wants.
BA didn't want them.
This is important to remember.
100% spot on.
I’m sure he did (he picked them every week on route to the grand final), but the salary cap comes for teams when they win a lot of games, whether they jag a premiership or not.
