Rumours (signings, sackings & other NRL stuff)

[Wizardman]

I have nothing against Hastings, hope he goes well. Seems a good dude. However when you pull back the nice guy media persona and look at what he brings on the field you have a 7 who’s best asset seems to be ‘controlling the game’ and ‘wanting to win.’ Basically he’s a calmer version of Josh Reynolds.

The bloke would get flogged by Aiden Tolman in a foot race, doesn’t set anything up for his outside backs and has no long kicking game. Good short kicking game and directs the forwards around nicely.

I will say that if Ponga becomes a success at 6 then JH could be a very good foil for him, so that’s a wait and see.

At the end of the day both your club and ours preferred Luke Brooks at 7, you only went for Jackson as a Plan B. And no I don’t think Brooks is the answer to anything.

You have pretty much nailed my thoughts on this whole situation.

Brooks, Douhei and Hastings all have their faults. All three could leave and I'd not shed a tear.

If we kept Hastings, we'd have the slowest halves pairing in the NRL. The way in which NRL is played these days, speed matters. Im prepared to go with Brooks being behind the best pack he'd have ever played with.

Building our pack is a step forward.

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

This is all getting well out of hand.

Even @macnaz is too afraid to hit the beat!

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

People say Brooksy will be born again with a new pack, but what about Hastings…and at a reasonable cost.

Brooksy doesn’t even get up for less than $3k a day.And we get factory performances.

He’s been underperforming for years and years. In fact he was dropped last year.

He’s been very disappointing. He sought three releases from us last year. He’s not loyal or special.

He’s just another snout in the trough these days.

Plus he’s not a big moment player. He often chokes. On the other hand, Hastings is a big moment player. Far more composed and controlled.

This poor decision is otherwise wiping out a lot of progress.

The club knows it’s a joke too. The louder they support something, the more garbage the decision.

 

[Das Hassler]

Like him or loathe him Sheens has coached Daley / Stewart and Prince / Marshall to the top....the John Morris thing is getting old...If Sheens and Marshall have a vision for what they can do with Brooks then who's to say they're wrong about it. Sheens will make mistakes for sure but this club won't get anywhere with inspirational speeches alone...he's the best choice we could possibly have gone with right now. Also...if we land Bateman then we'll well and truly have the roster to draw other elite players...we can be as tiredly cynical as we like if it helps but isn't this really what we've been waiting for?

 

[Kilkenny]

I wish you well with John Bateman. Hope your not paying too much for him. Was decent enough in his two year stint with the Raiders not sure how much good footy he has left in him. Haven’t watched any of the WC, other than a handful of highlight reels so don’t know how he performed for England. I guess have to rely of Sheens judgement he would know best.

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

“Sheens knowing best”

God I’m glad @stryker puss isn’t around to read this stuff tonight.

He’d be going off of his f**king heads (qlder)

I don’t like to remind people, but we are the worst team in the comp managed by idiots.

Most of what Sheensy has done since he’s arrived has been pathetic, abysmal other than help himself and his mates in the trough.

Let’s calm down a bit and not get overly excited.

We are still a long way from where we need to be.

That’s my current opinion.

 

[Kilkenny]

“Sheens knowing best”

God I’m glad @stryker puss isn’t around to read this stuff tonight.

He’d be going off of his f**king heads.

I don’t like to remind people, but we are the worst team in the comp.

Most of what Sheensy has done since he’s arrived has been pathetic and abysmal other than help himself and his mates snouting.

Have to have a little faith, that’s all you can do.

Obviously three or four very good signings coming on board.

Api will improve the spine that goes without saying, I think Klemmer is a great signing.his ability to play big minutes and frequently churn out 20 plu hit ups for over 200 metres will be invaluable. Brooks and Adam D should perform better assuming your forward pack improves which it will, even if there remains some doubts about them. Personally, I’ve never really rated Adam D and he needs a very good 2023 just to get another deal never mind the pie in the sky talk around $900k. Maybe 900k over two seasons.

 

[Das Hassler]

Most of what Sheensy has done since he’s arrived has been pathetic, abysmal other than help himself and his mates in the trough.

What else would you have fairly expected him to have done by now ?

"We are still a long way from where we need to be."

Four months from the start of the season where do we need to be beyond strengthening the roster?....not philosophically but real world actually

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

What else would you have fairly expected him to have done by now ?

"We are still a long way from where we need to be."

Four months from the start of the season where do we need to be beyond strengthening the roster?....not philosophically but real world actually

Making better decisions about the roster. I can’t quite remember when Brooks actually earned his pay? Can you?

 

[Das Hassler]

Making better decisions about the roster. I can’t quite remember when Brooks actually earned his pay? Can you?

Coached by Sheens, then no I can't
Worth adding...coached by Cleary then yes i can

 

[Das Hassler]

Also...who makes the call on what constitutes better roster decisions ? Apart from Hastings ( maybe and perhaps still to play out) who have we let go who hasn't been replaced by someone better?

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

Coached by Sheens, then no I can't
Worth adding...coached by Cleary then yes i can

Lol.

 

[weretiger]

I think there’s a bit of blind faith going on here at the moment just a reminder of what stupid crap sheens has done
Johnny cronk
Daniel fitzhenny
Adam blair
Marshal to half back
Marshal to coach when he hasn’t even coached a junior side
And his name escapes me at 4 in the morning played halfback but should never been allowed to attend mad Monday celebration after the previous mad Monday the year before
And just a special hello to our very own Phil Gould hope all is well
That’s just a glimpse

 

[Tigerm]

What else would you have fairly expected him to have done by now ?

"We are still a long way from where we need to be."

Four months from the start of the season where do we need to be beyond strengthening the roster?....not philosophically but real world actually

I would have expected that he f**ked Brooks off by now, the guy has had many YEARS to show something and has constantly failed in the 2 criteria (imo) that we desperately need: game management and kicking. To blame everyone else around him is pathetic.

Sheens has said he wants to see what he can do with him, good idea, but this has been 10 years of consistent non-performance in these key areas. Well, we now have a reasonably competitive forward pack lining up this season, so we will see.

We have no choice now but to see what happens, but it just feels like another season being wasted, because of ego.

Some seem to have forgotten what Sheens coaching career has been like, bar a golden run at the Raiders with a team of the century squad, and a surprise win here, he has eventually been sacked at all the clubs he has been involved with? He is not a Bennett or a Belamy type coach.

 

[MugaB]

To be fair brooks did get dally M half of the year about 4 years ago, plus you should be getting some dispensation from him being a 10 year player too, maybe he just needs that steady brusing forward pack, playing on the backfoot for a while now, hasnt helped him, and the cycle of halves pairings too, who was the last consistent half he had? Moses perhaps

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

Also...who makes the call on what constitutes better roster decisions ? Apart from Hastings ( maybe and perhaps still to play out) who have we let go who hasn't been replaced by someone better?

If you have a look at the players and coaches available I think we could have done better.

Abandoning a process, Appointing yourself and your young mate ( with no experience) as coach for half a decade wreaks of nepotism and self interest.

Faith in Brooksy after years of expensive failure and no evidence of any kind of an ability to improve defies any kind of logic and appears to be another emotional influence.

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

I think there’s a bit of blind faith going on here at the moment just a reminder of what stupid crap sheens has done
Johnny cronk
Daniel fitzhenny
Adam blair
Marshal to half back
Marshal to coach when he hasn’t even coached a junior side
And his name escapes me at 4 in the morning played halfback but should never been allowed to attend mad Monday celebration after the previous mad Monday the year before
And just a special hello to our very own Phil Gould hope all is well
That’s just a glimpse

Ftw brother.

A few others in our forum family should try to get up a bit earlier.

The second coming of Brooksy is based on faith not science.

 

[The Rosco]

I might be wrong here, but I thought Hastings' biggest impact was the first few games . . . before the opposition coaches worked out he's slow, and has limited variation.
Great guy and all, but it was painful to watch his limited speed hold him back.
At the end of the day, we have to put our faith in our first grade coach . . . who we hope knows what he's doing.
I'm happy to reserve judgement till we find out the final list of comings and goings, and see where the release of JH gets us.

 

[Pezz70]

I might be wrong here, but I thought Hastings' biggest impact was the first few games . . . before the opposition coaches worked out he's slow, and has limited variation.
Great guy and all, but it was painful to watch his limited speed hold him back.
At the end of the day, we have to put our faith in our first grade coach . . . who we hope knows what he's doing.
I'm happy to reserve judgement till we find out the final list of comings and goings, and see where the release of JH gets us.

When Hastings was on the park we had a semblance of direction/structure and the set plays looked better. Speed while a good attribute is not the be all and end all for a 7, Alf, Sterlo, Tommy, Toovey, Stuart were all well above average half backs I wouldn’t say were gifted with pace.

I think the way the squad is shaping up they will avoid the wooden spoon and anything in the top 12 will be a really good year for them. They’re still not gonna cut the mustard as far as being truely competitive.

I like what Papalii did this year (and last) but I can see him being Blair like for us. I hope not.

 

[Pezz70]

I think there’s a bit of blind faith going on here at the moment just a reminder of what stupid crap sheens has done
Johnny cronk
Daniel fitzhenny
Adam blair
Marshal to half back
Marshal to coach when he hasn’t even coached a junior side
And his name escapes me at 4 in the morning played halfback but should never been allowed to attend mad Monday celebration after the previous mad Monday the year before
And just a special hello to our very own Phil Gould hope all is well
That’s just a glimpse

Robert Lui?