oh ok. so in fantasy land we are still paying him a pittance when he is a top quality, 'star' halfback.
lol, rightio
excuse me.. but wha? re-read my post... i think the first bit went over your head... because this makes zero sense in relation to what i said. you've got a much better chance of getting a reasonably priced half if they're not at the peak of their career than if the media is felating the crap out of them every chance they get.
thurston is quite clearly one of the best halfbacks in the comp. thats what youre paying for. the star quality he brings to the team and the overall quality he provides on the field. no one is guaranteeing anyone a premiership.
youre idea that we find an unknown and turn him into a superstar ala-andrew johns might work for a season or two. by the time he is of the quality of thurston with the crowd pulling power he has, they are on the same pay packet.
im simply questioning your belief that by uncovering a future johns we apparently wont be paying him 500k by the time he has reached that quality.
now you're putting words in my mouth. i never said we need to uncover the next johns. in fact i believe i said quite the opposite... and have implied that i wouldn't be buying a star halfback. we don't need the best halfback in the game inside mullen, we need a middle-ground half, our cooper cronk (probably even a bit on the pricey side, but melbourne are paying him fairly)... our brent sherwin... our michael monaghan... hell, our jeff robson. you can't just fill your team with stars across the park... the salary cap prevents it. if we signed thurston, we would pay heavily in other areas, it's that simple.
i don't see the point in completely destroying all efforts that have been put in place to build our current squad... and just letting it disintegrate over time because we (well, a few of us) want a halfback with a big name attached, who hasn't proved any more successful in the NRL than a lot of his less-fancied counterparts.
yes, find another halfback, but don't pay overs. those are the rules i'd be playing by if i was in charge of recruitment for 2011. that means staying as far away from thurston as possible.
all of that aside, i still wouldn't buy thurston, because he's genuinely over-rated, he's a muppet (bad influence on our juniors) and not a part of the culture we're trying to rebuild at the club. if we could get him at a bargain, then i would reconsider the risk of taking him. at market price, no way in hell.
