Storm gives 7 players permission to leave, Knights want White

[perverse]

if we are relying on Evarn "The Pillow" Tuimivave to start for us next year we are in a world of trouble. the bloke is so soft it defies belief. he makes Brett White look like The Chief.

 

[The_Joey_Show]

I'm not a massive wrap on him either, but at leats he is young enough to get better. Our other options (barring another prop signed) are:

Faas (not a starter)
Tolar (universally hated, despite the fact that I respect him a lot)
Taufua (not a prop)
Simmo (over the hill)
Cross (a pricey re-signing)
Ailaomai / Finn etc (kids)

 

[Johns Magic]

Wouldn't mind White... would prefer O'Donnell and his kid brother though.

Yeah I wouldn't mind White either. Just like I wouldn't mind Bryan Norrie.

The difference is one thinks he's worth 350K and the other's aware that he's actually just pretty stock-standard.

Signing White will be Josh Perry-esque.

Costigan seems over the line. Not sure on that one. Could add some much needed mongrel to our "nicest blokes in the world" forward pack. I think people who are writing him off entirely forget that the selectors of the greatest QLD side of all time seem to rate him. Could be a massive suspension liability.

The selectors of the greatest QLD team of all time also have the greatest bunch of players available in history and have the easiest job in the world.

Just because Costigan plays 15 minutes off the bench for them and doesn't f**k it up doesn't mean he's an Origin star.

Costigan clearly gets picked by QLD because he's a merkin.

I can guarantee you if QLD lost a starting backrower for Game 3 they would be rushing Scott Bolton or Corey Parker into the side and not even entertaining the thought of putting Costigan in the starting team.

So I guess the big question is... what does our '11 pack look like? My guess wopuld be:

8. White
9. DeGois
10. Tuimavave
11. Costigan
12. Paterson
13. Taia (unless we get O'Donnell)

14. A back - possibly Rogers
15. Hilder
16. Faas
17. Tolar / Kaufusi / Edwards.

Cross > White
Simpson > Costigan
IanG > Kaufusi

That pack would be even worse than this year's.

The worst part is that if we get White and Costigan the Knights will make the following press release:

"Knights Sign Four International Stars

The Newcastle Knights are proud to announce the signing of four international representative stars. Antonio Kaufusi, Neville Costigan, Siutonga Likiliki and Brett White cap off a remarkable recruitment drive for the Newcastle club, who were looking to bolster their roster with some big names.

Coach Rick Stone said he was very pleased with the end result of the Knights efforts on the open-market, and was satisfied that the club had achieved what it set out to do. "I'm very excited about these signings," Stone said, "they all have ripper abs."

 

[perverse]

I'm not a massive wrap on him either, but at leats he is young enough to get better. Our other options (barring another prop signed) are:

Faas (not a starter)
Tolar (universally hated, despite the fact that I respect him a lot)
Taufua (not a prop)
Simmo (over the hill)
Cross (a pricey re-signing)
Ailaomai / Finn etc (kids)

this is what worries me. your list - and my thoughts:

Faas (not a starter) - spot on. will always be an impact forward i think. he is cheap and earns his way in my opinion. one of only 2 of our forwards who consistently runs onto the ball.
Tolar (universally hated, despite the fact that I respect him a lot) - pillow in attack, but does his best. i don't think he's universally hated, but he would struggle for a bench spot in a premiership winning pack i think. i'd be happy enough to keep him from the bench, once again he would be cheap and he is technically sound in defence.
Taufua (not a prop) - yep. not a prop. hard bastard in defence, but doesn't run onto the ball or run with as much gusto as he could.
Simmo (over the hill) - sadly, yes. over the hill. couldn't deal with the physicality required in the middle of the park. if he's to be retained, it must be on reduced wages.
Cross (a pricey re-signing) - not playing to his paycheque. can't see him staying, to be honest. i would say money and other self-interests are his prime motivators.
Ailaomai / Finn etc (kids) - Ailaomai will probably make first grade as an impact forward. from what i have seen of him (limited, i'll admit)... he has a lot of go-forward, but not much of a motor. i'm not sure the rest of the kids have what it takes. regardless, im not sure if he's better than Richie... and he would be filling the exact same role i would say.

we are in a shocking situation, i suppose. my problem is that our recruitment doesn't seem to be improving the situation as much as is required. not even close. what concerns me even further is the amount we are talking these sorts of blokes up in the papers... if you were a league fan you'd be forgiven for thinking Kaufusi was one of the best forwards in the game judging by the spin in the papers.

 

[perverse]

Coach Rick Stone said he was very pleased with the end result of the Knights efforts on the open-market, and was satisfied that the club had achieved what it set out to do. "I'm very excited about these signings," Stone said, "they all have ripper abs."

:lol:

the rest of yoiur post is pretty spot on, too. we are f**ked if these blokes are the solution to our forward pack problems. none of them are much better, if any better at all, than what we have. we are up sh*t creek judging by the noise coming from the club... and the sad part is i'm not even sure they can see it. if they can, they certainly wouldn't be blowing smoke up our arses with these "rep quality" players.

 

[Newie is God's Country]

Would it be unrealistic to say we could afford White ($300k), Blair ($280k), Manu ($220k) and Lima (200k)?

Plug those 4 in, and all of a sudden we have a pretty decent squad...

It probably is unrealistic given they will be expecting Storm money, not market rate... and there will probably be clubs willing to give it to them - I expect the Warriors to go all out for one or more of the Kiwis, and a number of other clubs always seem to find miracle money for big signings.

Storm players aside, Brent Tate is off contract - thoughts? I rate him big time, one of the best centres in the game. Imagine him and Aku on one side - speed to burn....

Tatey is off to North Qld Mac. Family reasons according to news reports. Warriors offered him heaps more to stay.

 

[macavity]

sorry guys have been out of the loop the past 6 weeks

 

[Newie is God's Country]

Have to agree with JM and Perverse on all points but are we really kidding ourselves believing we could lure any better players than the ones mentioned?

 

[Newie is God's Country]

sorry guys have been out of the loop the past 6 weeks

Mac I wish it was untrue what i wrote. Tate is a brilliant and proper footballer. All heart to go with his immense talent. I actually believe when he was fully fit (pre neck and knee injuries) he was the best centre in the game.

 

[Serc]

Has it occured to anyone that the spin in the papers is to try to generate some excitement about our team (to get people to come to the games etc), regardless of whether we are paying bugger all to some of these recruits?

Kaufusi - he's not even a has-been. he's a never-was. will prove as much when his scenery change to the knights makes zero impact. unless we are paying him in claps from the grandstand, this is an absolute farce.

We are - see my post in the Kaufusi thread last night

 

[cram]

Has it occured to anyone that the spin in the papers is to try to generate some excitement about our team (to get people to come to the games etc), regardless of whether we are paying bugger all to some of these recruits?

People will go back to the games when the team starts winning and/or shows a commitment to win games, I think that some times its referred to as "heart":shock:

 

[Serc]

For me thats how it should work too - but not necessarily for everyone!

 

[perverse]

We are - see my post in the Kaufusi thread last night

you said that the cowboys are picking up some of the deal, for the next year and a half. we've signed him up for TWO and a half years. we're picking up the full bill on the last year of his contract.

unacceptable.

additionally... it doesn't matter who is paying the cash, it matters how much he is taking out of our salary cap. i couldn't care if Bill Gates was paying the bill out of his own pocket, it's still going to go against our cap.

completely unacceptable.

 

[macavity]

I hear Joey is gunna give Kaufusi a rev up speech before every game.... :sarcasm:

 

[88.Knights]

how convinient just after we get the waste of a signing kaufusi, the storm suggest 7 players start looking for other clubs. if ya minus kaufusi and say we pick up white, manu, lima (totally possible i reckons) + henry + likiliki that would be a pretty decent job of signings.

1. gids
2. uate
3. sau
4. likiliki
5. mcmanus
6. mullen
7. henry
8. white
9. degois
10. lima
11. taia
12. paterson
13. manu

14.
15. mika
16. faaoso
17. edwards

 

[Serc]

you said that the cowboys are picking up some of the deal, for the next year and a half. we've signed him up for TWO and a half years. we're picking up the full bill on the last year of his contract.

unacceptable.

additionally... it doesn't matter who is paying the cash, it matters how much he is taking out of our salary cap. i couldn't care if Bill Gates was paying the bill out of his own pocket, it's still going to go against our cap.

completely unacceptable.

I don't see how it is?

Some people are reacting as if he is going to be Kirk Reynoldson Mark II.

I'd like to know how everyone seems to know that we are paying him 2 or 300k (or more, going by the outcry here) on the last year of his contract.

Did anyone think it's a possibility that the last year of his contract is incentives based? No I'm not saying that I have inside info here - but it wouldn't be surprising, would it?

If he turns out to be a dud, he will be getting more or less paid as such.

 

[RABK]

Yeah I wouldn't mind White either. Just like I wouldn't mind Bryan Norrie.

The difference is one thinks he's worth 350K and the other's aware that he's actually just pretty stock-standard.

Signing White will be Josh Perry-esque.



The selectors of the greatest QLD team of all time also have the greatest bunch of players available in history and have the easiest job in the world.

Just because Costigan plays 15 minutes off the bench for them and doesn't f**k it up doesn't mean he's an Origin star.

Costigan clearly gets picked by QLD because he's a merkin.

I can guarantee you if QLD lost a starting backrower for Game 3 they would be rushing Scott Bolton or Corey Parker into the side and not even entertaining the thought of putting Costigan in the starting team.



Cross > White
Simpson > Costigan
IanG > Kaufusi

:lol:

 

[Apey]

Didn't see that one :lol:

 

[K-Man]

Manu is the one I would actually want. He breaks tackles, eats up metres, and has an off-load. I would actually prefer to get Manu than BOTH White and Costigan together.

The club needs to be thinking quality not quantity. Smith wanted a big squad (EPL style) of players that could be easily interchanged after injuries/suspensions etc (Lulia, McDonnell, Wes, Ciraldo, Karawana, etc etc)... but it isn't working.

It's time to spend the lot on the 3 best players (2 forwards, 1 outside back) that we can find. If we don't think the quality we need is available, I am even happy to wait another season and throw the cash at genuine quality for 2012.

But no more middle of the road players that add to our depth! We already have that.

 

[roopy]

We told Perry we didn't want him, then go for White who is only a year younger, wants more money, isn't as good - and will probably tell us to piss off anyway (if we are lucky - if we are unlucky he will come here and suck the life out of our salary cap for nothing)