Soward goes but Thompson comes

[Raider_69]

You could be right ,Williams will enjoy playing for your feeder club while Mccrone and Campese play NRL.

Why would Williams play for Mounties? :?
He's our starting #7. Has been for 2 years now.

 

[Raider_69]

You never know these days and if williams mind was made up he would signed for you guys already

Im not saying his mind is made up, but all of a sudden the Raiders have only Williams left unsigned that is worth attention and we've got a ton of room to work with (thanks in large to Josh Dugan's crusier antics)

Negotiations will start ramping up, Williams has said he is keen to stay in Canberra (Close to his home in Cooma) and there is no reason why Canberra cant and wont match any (reasonable) offer tabled to him, given we have lost Dugan (at least 500k on the books, if not more) and JT now gone.
As i said, i dont like your chances, the one positive coming from JT's departure for Raiders fans is it should ensure Sam Williams stays with us, so good luck, i think you'll need it.

 

[Ronnie Dobbs]

With the loss of Thompson and Dugan, i dont like your chances of getting Sam Williams. He'll be #1 priority for the Raiders and without Dugan and Thompson, plenty of cash to ensure he's a Raider

Cornish got the goods do you thing mate?

I heard from a source very close to Sam that he was on the way out. That was two months ago.

 

[Mr Red]

If you've signed him to play centre... good grief!

He's a back rower who can fill in at centre if one of your outside backs gets injured mid game... if he's playing centre outside of that scenario, you boys have wasted some serious cash on a below average centre

yep and this is why i am still scratching my head about this signing..
we have PLENTY of back rowers..
where does this signing fit in strategically???

Creagh
Merrin
Frizzell
Harrison (dud)
Prior
DeBelin
Matthews
Vea

if they are planning to play him in the centres then as you mentioned we have spent 440k a season on a make shift centre when we could have got an better actual centre for that money..
playing him in the centres wont help spark our attack at all..

 

[LOYAL DRAGON]

Im not saying his mind is made up, but all of a sudden the Raiders have only Williams left unsigned that is worth attention and we've got a ton of room to work with (thanks in large to Josh Dugan's crusier antics)

Negotiations will start ramping up, Williams has said he is keen to stay in Canberra (Close to his home in Cooma) and there is no reason why Canberra cant and wont match any (reasonable) offer tabled to him, given we have lost Dugan (at least 500k on the books, if not more) and JT now gone.
As i said, i dont like your chances, the one positive coming from JT's departure for Raiders fans is it should ensure Sam Williams stays with us, so good luck, i think you'll need it.

Lol so sam was left for last. If sam wants to win a gf and the money is the same whos to say his not going to take. And im not talking about sam signing with us. Btw I reckon will win another before you guys do;-)

 

[muzby]

With the loss of Thompson and Dugan, i dont like your chances of getting Sam Williams. He'll be #1 priority for the Raiders and without Dugan and Thompson, plenty of cash to ensure he's a Raider

yes, definately the #1 re-signing priority..

right after the player that all others fear - paul vaughan..

and the signing to rival thurston.. the little master matt mcilwrick..

http://www.raiders.com.au/news-display/Raiders-ReSign-McIlwrick-and-Vaughan/72738

but yes, definatley after those marquee signings, williams must be number one...

surely?

 

[Godz Illa]

Outside Frizell and possibly Harrison and Matthews (unsigned as yet), we will lack genuine edge backrowers in 2014. This has been discussed already, not sure why its such a head scratcher.

Creagh is headed to the middle. Prop imo.
Merrin is a middle player - hitting his best form at lock
Prior prop
DeBelin prop
Vea a middle player

Thompson is an edge backrower with the versatility to play centre at a pinch. At 24 his best years are still ahead of him. He's big, quick, and tough. This signing is all upside

 

[Mr Red]

Outside Frizell and possibly Harrison and Matthews (unsigned as yet), we will lack genuine edge backrowers in 2014. This has been discussed already, not sure why its such a head scratcher.

Creagh is headed to the middle. Prop imo.
Merrin is a middle player - hitting his best form at lock
Prior prop
DeBelin prop
Vea a middle player

Thompson is an edge backrower with the versatility to play centre at a pinch. At 24 his best years are still ahead of him. He's big, quick, and tough. This signing is all upside

if thats where Price's head is at than i am on the same page, but if JT runs out in the number 3 or 4 next season as first choice centre then once again our recruitment must be questioned.

possibly you are correct, however i am hoping that its more about getting rid of a few of those i named on my list of backrowers..

Vea, Matthews, Prior all spring to mind.

 

[TheRev]

Those 2010 Highlights he is playing #4 in basically every try, has he lost that much speed in 3 years?

 

[watatank]

People are making such a big deal out of this...if we signed Josh Papalii or Matt Gillett there wouldn't be a question asked at all but because it's Joel Thompson there's uproar all because all people seem to know about him is that he played centre a couple of years ago or 2010 if you looked him up on youtube.

 

[Raider_69]

Cornish got the goods do you thing mate?

I heard from a source very close to Sam that he was on the way out. That was two months ago.

I do, i think Cornish is a star in the making but Williams already has runs on the board in FG so that cant be discounted.

Certainly i think the club thinks Cornish is the better long term option and at some point we will have to make a call between the two of them, i dont think we are at a point to have to do that right now. A 2 year deal with Williams would probably be the best and make the call later.

Maybe the club has already decided that Cornish is their guy, if so, i could and probably will be wrong about Williams staying in Canberra, but i think the club will try and get a short term deal with him (which should suit him since if he plays to potential, he'll be in for another large pay increase in 2 years time) so we've got time to fully assess both

As for the peanut gallary, surely you blokes arent thick enough to think that the order in which people re-sign is the order in which they are prioritised? Vaughan and McIlwrick would have had pretty much no other offers to consider, we could have opened negotiations with them monday and had it finalised today. Sam Williams, Joel Thompson, Jarad Croker, Josh Papalii are obviously a very much more in demand players, so negotiations take time.

We'll see but as i said, i dont like Saints chances.

 

[Mr Red]

People are making such a big deal out of this...if we signed Josh Papalii or Matt Gillett there wouldn't be a question asked at all but because it's Joel Thompson there's uproar all because all people seem to know about him is that he played centre a couple of years ago or 2010 if you looked him up on youtube.

there would be a big deal if Papalli was signed to play centre

 

[jenninga]

Outside Frizell and possibly Harrison and Matthews (unsigned as yet), we will lack genuine edge backrowers in 2014. This has been discussed already, not sure why its such a head scratcher.

Creagh is headed to the middle. Prop imo.
Merrin is a middle player - hitting his best form at lock
Prior prop
DeBelin prop
Vea a middle player

Thompson is an edge backrower with the versatility to play centre at a pinch. At 24 his best years are still ahead of him. He's big, quick, and tough. This signing is all upside

Agree.

 

[Minh]

I do, i think Cornish is a star in the making but Williams already has runs on the board in FG so that cant be discounted.

Certainly i think the club thinks Cornish is the better long term option and at some point we will have to make a call between the two of them, i dont think we are at a point to have to do that right now. A 2 year deal with Williams would probably be the best and make the call later.

Maybe the club has already decided that Cornish is their guy, if so, i could and probably will be wrong about Williams staying in Canberra, but i think the club will try and get a short term deal with him (which should suit him since if he plays to potential, he'll be in for another large pay increase in 2 years time) so we've got time to fully assess both

As for the peanut gallary, surely you blokes arent thick enough to think that the order in which people re-sign is the order in which they are prioritised? Vaughan and McIlwrick would have had pretty much no other offers to consider, we could have opened negotiations with them monday and had it finalised today. Sam Williams, Joel Thompson, Jarad Croker, Josh Papalii are obviously a very much more in demand players, so negotiations take time.

We'll see but as i said, i dont like Saints chances.

We hear you, but as the saying goes, you gotta be in it to win it. we are looking for a playmaker and also have space under the cap.

 

[Raider_69]

Yep fair call. As said we will have to wait and see... Anyways congrats to JT and you guys. You'll love his aggression as a saint and I wish him all the best. Good player and a good bloke.

 

[Pete Cash]

For all his strengths he is an epic ball hog so playing him at centre would be silly. He only plays there for us when he has to..

 

[Minh]

Yep fair call. As said we will have to wait and see... Anyways congrats to JT and you guys. You'll love his aggression as a saint and I wish him all the best. Good player and a good bloke.

Thanks Raider 69, hope you're right.

 

[KiamaSaint]

Yep fair call. As said we will have to wait and see... Anyways congrats to JT and you guys. You'll love his aggression as a saint and I wish him all the best. Good player and a good bloke.

Just out of interest Raider_69, would you have preferred to retain JT or Papali?

 

[Pete Cash]

I'm not r69 but the answer will be Papalii. The only area Thompson really is better is he can play across a number of positions.

 

[Raider_69]

Just out of interest Raider_69, would you have preferred to retain JT or Papali?

Definitely Papalii. He's already a better player and is about 3 years younger. I think Papalii has a higher ceilingtoo. Which is no slight on JT, he's a damn good player but I'd rather lose him than papa or fensom