Interesting way of looking at it. Fats and Atkins are probably fringe first graders at best. Inu played poorly last year, but what he can do potentially far outweighs those two. Webb is no way a decent replacement for Cayless. He can't play the minutes and can't take the workload that Cayless achieved so someone else is going to have to pick up the slack in that regard. Cayless was a 45 minute per game prop. Webb is 30 minutes on a good day.
Is Maguire still first grade standard at his age and being out of the NRL so long? Is Bruest good enough to be a first grade player to begin with? Only time will tell. Hicks will be a good finisher, as can Walker if his head his screwed on right. But neither can offer as much to the side as Tahu and Grothe. Admittedly Tahu had a poor year, but on form he's a much better player than Chris Walker. Hicks is the only outside back I expect to do well next year, but even then we're going to miss Grothes hitups.
Mateo vs Maitua. Well that all depends on what type of player Reni comes back as. People seem to think he'll be the buy of the season but I tread cautiously. He was poor in his last season in the NRL and with two seasons out there's a big question mark if he still has it. I certainly don't expect him to offer the attacking brilliance that Mateo is noted for when in his best form.
I think Walker should do ok playing out on the wing. He was always one of those players that had a lot of weaknesses in their game though, a bit like Grothe, that oppositions target so I think all of us Eels fans are going to be holding our breath and doing a fair bit of swearing when opposition sides attack down his side of the field.
Or;
- Inu had potential but never showed it last year
- Tahu, most on here were disapointed about his form and were glad for him to go.
- Grothe is a big loss but was injured for most of last year
- Keating struggled to make the starting side
- Cayless was on his last legs, Mannah and Poore will increase their game time now. Webb may only need to play a solid 20 to 30 mins.
- Mateo yes would have been nice to kept. But Shackleton is like having a new player as his replacement, yes different players but the Shackle runs straight and hard. Horo will continue to improve and has the ability to off-load in a more controlled manner. Don't care about Reni, I just see it as a bonus for the squad if he happens to show good enough form to get a call up.
- I am disappointed we lost Wright, I bagged him at first, but last year he started to show some potential. I bet he wished he had now stayed, but not to sure if there were any other issues with him leaving.
Basically the players we let go last year had potential (Mateo, Wright, Keating and Inu) and had not yet shown it - and we have replaced them with experienced players who may or may not still have the ability for the NRL. I don't think our squad is weaker then last year. I think we have more depth in the squad with some good potential in coming up ( Murray, O'Hanlon, Allgood, Loco, Sio, Filga, Mitchell, o'brien)
