The Road to the Finals

[SpaceMonkey]

Now I've got bad memories of watching us at home and charging out of the gates for an early 18-0 lead, before losing to the Knights.

It was the turning point for the worse that year.

Yes, that was pretty much the tipping point for the Bluey experiment. I still think that if they'd not had those couple of collapses that season could've gone a different way.

 

[sup42]

For mine the death null for the Warriors in the season of the Blue one....was when we lost by one drop goal to Brisbane.

That game was a smash fest and the best game of Blueys tenure for mine.

Both clubs collapsed after that game.....it was rated at the time as the toughest game of the season by some distance by NRL neutrals.

 

[jaseg]

As it stands , no ones getting dropped for other players with the exceptions of Chad ans Havili.

TL has a right of passage if he gets fit , certainly if Townsend grows his game while TL is out....he too could force TL to come back as a Hooker.

I think Havili's spot is under more threat from a TL return than the Chad right now - the Chad has been damn good in the last few weeks. A fully fit Fish will probably push Fusitua out of the lineup... for now... and Benry might push Mateo pretty hard. That's just about all I'd change though. All in all a more settled team than we've had in a looong time

 

[jamaman]

Certainly there was an issue in the past.

Part of the problem was the lack of external sponsors ( Like SLater being sponsored by Asutralian Banana's ) in NZ there are less opportunities.

That's all changed with the loosening up of what is a sponsor directly linked to the club and what is not ( ergo the Tinkler payments to their players ).

This is why all of a sudden sums like 650 K for Hoffman and Teo were being bandied about....these are not registered Salary figures...they're TPA inflated offers ( our cap space couldn't abide those level of payments ).

In short we are going out as aggressively as the next club , albeit well behind a core of them....but the Hoffman deal is to be celebrated...it's us starting to catch up.

Two things about these TPA's to consider : they are not guaranteed so players have to be prepared to take the risk......the other is that they have to be pre approved by the NRL.....clearly some teams like the Dogs understand gaining pre approval better than others.

Brisbane are about to find out all about taking shortcuts.

teams like Brisbane and Melbourne are owned by News media..
they have more loop holes then dotcom :crazy:

 

[sup42]

teams like Brisbane and Melbourne are owned by News media..
they have more loop holes then dotcom :crazy:

Well they pushed the envelope....went for broke....

But they're not the only ones. The Dogs did it.....Mick Watson here did it....blew the cap.

Where the Sydney top four are getting away with it is they have worked out how to run TPA's past the NRL. As such they are a long way ahead of the rest. Only clubs with a lot money floating around need apply.

For example.....hypothetically speaking.....lets say the Warriors got their full shopping list this year :

Matai 1.5 Million +

Hoffman 1.9 Million

Luke potentially 2.5 Million

Moa guesstimate 2 Million

Johnson Two Million plus

Tomkins Two Million plus

In any given Salary cap year that's half of our cap tied up in six players.

Not on your Nelly. Those are TPA inclusive estimates.


Mate the Cap is only eight Million in registered Salary's

That lot goes close to blowing it on their own.

Clearly the Warriors are confident they can push those 'deals' past the Cap Auditor and have them signed off under the new interpretations.

 

[jamaman]

Warriors have a bigger kitty then most teams. Watson isn't worried

 

[sup42]

yes we should see some depth in the coming years.

Higher quality imports in greater numbers than we have ever enjoyed.

Certainly Tomkins / Bukuya / Hoffman are starting to get up there for us. Remembering that Mateo and Nielson irrespective of form....are expensive...Jacob Lillymans not cheap.....so....slowly but surely we are building up a nice portfolio of TPA players.

Throw in what we pay for Locals like Manu and Johnson + Mannering and we're not doing too bad....aiming at getting more.

 

[vvvrulz]

I don't think we really need to buy too much more in terms of player quality, we just need to focus on getting the right coach and looking after our local talent.

Cleary left us with a very good and almost entirely home-grown roster at the end of 2011.
It got butchered with poor coaching and management.

If we're short on anything is probably experience on the field, but top quality coaching can fix that.

 

[sup42]

They are after more players.

They got the center and Second rower they were after.

They also want another experienced prop and a useful hooker.

 

[Izz]

With the re-signing of Friend, not sure they're still after a hooker.

 

[sup42]

They've been trying to have two NRL ready hookers for three years now.

The Loss of Godinet has put them back further still. Part of it depends on Leuluai.

Havili isn't ready to take over from Friend if Friend goes down, campaign over.

Havili is still a year off being up to lead Hooker and there is no one in the Juniors really putting their hands up after Havili for the longer term either.

I can' see them abandoning their long term Hooker plans when Friend is an aging year by year Ropo like contract.

 

[vvvrulz]

They've been trying to have two NRL ready hookers for three years now.

The Loss of Godinet has put them back further still. Part of it depends on Leuluai.

Havili isn't ready to take over from Friend if Friend goes down, campaign over.

Havili is still a year off being up to lead Hooker and there is no one in the Juniors really putting their hands up after Havili for the longer term either.

I can' see them abandoning their long term Hooker plans when Friend is an aging year by year Ropo like contract.

If they don't persevere with Havili and trust him to have the skills, its going to turn into another Mara situation. Or worse probably, he'll get a handful of games here then bugger off to another club and become a star.

We have Friend, we have Leulaui, we have Havili.

We don't need more hookers.

 

[jaseg]

If they don't persevere with Havili and trust him to have the skills, its going to turn into another Mara situation. Or worse probably, he'll get a handful of games here then bugger off to another club and become a star.

We have Friend, we have Leulaui, we have Havili.

We don't need more hookers.

Exactly. Signing another hooker would be wasteful at best, disastrous at worst. We simply don't need one. Actually I'm not sure we need much more in the market.. maybe a prop? Even then, only if you can get someone like Sam Moa who would definitely improve the team (or at least provide a point of difference to what we already have in first grade) - we have young central forwards coming out of our ears at the moment.

 

[sup42]

The Warriors are after an experienced Hooker. Havili won't suffer a Mara situation because McFadden has Havili being groomed now, for a hooking shared Role.

McFadden is also keen on letting players who are performing keep their Jersey.

The environment is completely different to what it was, Fusitua and Laumape for example ....Ikahihifo too....have all been told their Jerseys are theirs to lose.



Leuluai as it stands is the preffered Six, the Hooking option with him is on the back burner.

The Warriors need an Experienced Hooker chaps.

1) they need someone to ideally push Friend in his last season to the NSW cup for good reasons ( the future )

2) they need someone if Friends shoulder goes or whatever......

They shouldn't have a model where their preferred halves pairing has to be broken because of a lack of hooking depth ( Havili left on his own )......it's pretty much the position you don't want to meddle with ( halves pairings.....other NRL teams wouldn't plan that way ).

3) Competition for spots....as i say, there is no one behind Havili.......who's pushing him and Friend? TL in the halves won't be pushing them to perform.....

4) you can't afford to leave it till next year to find someone to replace Friend , well if they do they will be under a lot of pressure.

 

[Scott]

That actually makes a bit of sense, although i'd still rather Tommy be the 9 in the future, I can see how & why he is the preferred 6.

If we are looking for an experienced hooker & the back end of their career and someone to share the role with Havilli...... I give you Michael Ennis....

 

[jaseg]

That actually makes a bit of sense, although i'd still rather Tommy be the 9 in the future, I can see how & why he is the preferred 6.

I can't. The Chad has been very good since returning to the team, and I think we've looked better when he has been in the team - obviously there are many factors and this is somewhat of an oversimplification, BUT... if guys like Laumape and Fusitua are being told the jerseys are theirs to lose surely the Chad must be considered the same.

As for hookers next year; you have Friend, backed up by TL & Havili, with guys like Benry & Sio providing even further depth. I'm happy to count TL as a viable backup hooker option because in the halves we have options beyond just Johnson, TL and the Chad... Tomkins & Tui both immediately jump to mind. Putting another experienced guy in front of Havili seems like overkill...

 

[Diesel]

Is TL staying? There was a rumour recently that his wife wanted to go back to the UK

 

[sup42]

Haven't heard anything on TL other than rumor based on Miss Goulding wanting to go home. I was hoping she would lure her brother out here......not take her man with her lol
That would have been the Center we need, Goulding is class for starters , well drilled in playing the three quarter line off Tomkins , would have been perfect.

 

[reykaine]

That could be a topic for another thread. British backs that have come out here and actually succeeded.
I guess Offiah and Carney are two that spring to mind. But not nearly as successful as the forwards, eg Adrian Morley, Gareth Ellis, Sam Burgess etc etc.

 

[WithTheDawn]

Our main problem is that we had such a poor start to the year and it's such a log jam this season - we are really right on the tight rope, and a loss today would put us in a really bad position. Our main advantage is the Origin period and our run of home games - if we can keep our current form going we can make the finals, but one or two hiccups on games we should win like today and the season can collapse very quickly.