We are the laughing stock of the league

[Nuffy]

I'm sorry but its the truth.

I have been a defender of the club and its management particularly during the Newton dramas but I can't anymore.

We have been pinning our hopes on recruiting other clubs cast offs, and FG bench players.

How far have we slipped if that is the highlight of our recruitment for 05.

05 is a write off, we'll just be making up the numbers, the only way that we'll be competitive is if Joey and Bedsy are injury free ALL year.

The club has been aware of the depth problem for several years but we don't enter the market until we have already lost 5 players.

People talk about the decline of the Warriors after the 02 GF, shit, we won the comp in 01 and look how far we have declined.

Do yourself a favour and compare the playing roster of the 2001 GF to the clubs roster now and show me ANY area in which we are better off. We are still paying the same money but where is the quality?

I'm not disappointed, I'm angry because just about every supporter can see what the problems are, and have been, but there has been ZERO action for 3 years.

This year the depth has been eroded further, as of today we have only 2 props in the club of FG standard and maybe 3 backrowers, we don't have a backup for Bedsy, Joey, we are short a playmaker, one class centre, we have two plain wingers,plus our first choice fullback has played 3 games, is coming back from a reconstruction and is yet to even re-sign.

We don't have sufficient quality to field a FG team, let alone being capable of covering for the inevitable injuries.

I'm not trying to be alarmist, I am shit scared about next year because I don't want to see MY club flogged.

I remember reading a comment from a Newcastle club identity who said "that it was imperative that the club continue to succeed and remain in the top group of clubs in the NRL as history has shown that once a club slips from that elite group, it struggles to return to the elite group and thats something that Newcastle can't afford"

unfortunately, we have not taken any steps to ensure that we remain in that elite class, I would argue that in fact we have gone backwards in every area associated with the football club.

Finally, if you want to prove me wrong or argue with me in a lucid manner then go right ahead.

But don't say I'm not a true fan, I AM, I am just a fan who is ANGRY at the way his club is staggering from one disaster to the next.

 

[Terminator]

All I can say is Joey you better hope yopu stay on the paddock for at least one season or hand the money back

 

[Nuffy]

Termy

Its got nothing to do with Joey, in reality he has little to do with this situation.

The club has known that Kennedy was leaving 5 weeks ago and I assume that they had planned to punt Robbie and Parso even before that.

The fact is that Tahu probably felt a bit disrespected that it took so long to get an offer, in fact Kidley got his before Tahu.

I wonder if Tahu had got his offer in May whether he would have even went into the marketplace, its hypothetic I know but we'll never know.

 

[Terminator]

Who cares, I've lost total faith in the Knights administration, nothing but a bunch of village idiots

 

[Nuffy]

Mate, I care because we all now that the Knights aren't flush with money and onfield success ensures commercial success.

If we have a couple of bad years and lets say sponsorship drops by 10% and avg crowds fall by 10-15% that will make the difference between success and failure, the club can't afford not to be successful, yet I can't help but think that we are in for a few lean years due to decisions made in the last couple of years.

 

[knight_of_knights]

nuffy, i couldnt have said it better myself, i love my team but think the admin need to get their SHlT 2gether

 

[Johns Magic]

Look on the bright side.

How much money are we supposed to have leftover? I think it's $300,000.

Next season

Hughes comes off-contract. We shouldn't re-sign him. He's on reportedly about $250,000

Perry comes off-contract. We shouldn't re-sign him. $200,000 more.

That's about $750,000. Plenty of room to move under the cap. We should make plenty of good signings, and the board knows it. We were struggling to keep players this year, thus we missed out on the actual signing part. But next year we won't really have any troubles re-signing just Abraham and Buderus.

Plus the year after that, Johns will more than likely retire. That's an extra $500,000. By that time, we'll manage in the play-making area with Kidley and Briggs/Mullen/Tighe.

Take a look at who we lost this season guys:

O'Davis
Parsons
Tahu
Kennedy
Ennis

The only one who we will really regret losing is Ennis. O'Davis, Parsons and Kennedy are all past it. Tahu would have cost us too much to retain, and he'll more than likely struggle at centre. We don't need to be paying wingers $350,000 a year, or whatever Parra are giving him. Wingers are made. Hall, Quinn, Salkeld, Carmont, whoever we put there will do a reasonable job. Wingers don't win games. It's not like we are losing alot with those four going. Parsons is no longer good and the others hardly play at all. They are all dead-wood. Ennis was a bad loss, but we had no real need for him. We have a hooker, we have a halfback, we have a 5/8, and we will have the backrow covered with Simpson, Abraham, Lowrie, Newton, Brown and Snowden being there. It's not as if the club is going to struggle immensely due to his departure.

Tilse, Snowden and Brown will all blossom in the next couple of years. All look to be standouts. There is a crop of good players coming through.

I think alot of us are over-reacting. The Knights are simply going through a rebuilding phase. We will not struggle for years. Just look at our SG Ball side. They won the competition. They are our future for the next 2-3 years. They will hold us in good stead.

Don't get too worried guys. I'm frustrated too. But when you look at the bigger picture, things aren't going to be too bad.

 

[Alex28]

I think to an extent they were hindered by Joey's continous Yes/No charade which was supposed to be done by the end of May but in the end happened days before 30 June, and Tahu taking his time in signing - all he had to do was say "you are this far out of the market" and give the Knights time to go after other players...but he choose to string the Knights along instead. Both of those guys have something to answer for.

But the admin in reality appears to have absolutely no back up plan at all. Only when all looked lost with Joey did they make a surprise offer to Orford. Only when we lost Kennedy and Tahu was well and truly signed did they decide to enter the market - it was all too late by then!

Ex-players with no planning or financial background are not the answers we are looking for in club management. It is time for this club to stop looking after their mates and get some people in who know what the hell they are doing.

 

[Nuffy]

JM

I like your positive outlook but explain to me why clubs need to go through a "rebuilding phase"

Shouldn't we have identifed potential problems before they became problems, we control the roster and we should refine the mix of talent every year, just like many clubs do and roosters have turned into an artform.

We should have identified Parso's replacement last year, we have known about BK for over 5 weeks, where is plan b for Tahu.

We still haven't signed Carmont and Seage yet people are already suggesting they will be in next years team.

If your running a business, you don't run out of stock and then go into a "restocking phase" you make sure you have sufficient stock on hand to satisfy the requirement and you also are constantly evaluating the product mix to make sure you have the optimal selection.

We haven't done this and are paying the price.

 

[Johns Magic]

I don't understand why you're so worried about losing them?

They are all either past it(O'Davis, Kennedy, Parsons), forever injured(Kennedy, O'Davis, Tahu) or overpaid(Kennedy, Parsons).

Wingers are replaceable. They don't win matches, let alone premierships. The men inside of them do, these beiing Johns and Kidley-2 high quality players. Tahu will not be that sorely missed. Hall will do a sufficient job, on a substantially lesser contract.

Parsons, O'Davis and Kennedy are OLD. All are either retiring or damn close to it. They are nowhere near as good as they once were. Parsons is the only one consistently on the field, and he is a bench player.

Look past the fact that they are big-name players. They are has-beens, overpaid and replaceable. They are hardly ever on the field anyway, so it's not like we're really losing them.

We have a good crop of juniors coming through. Johns, Kidley, Buderus, Gidley and the rest will hold us together. They will form the nucleus of a good team. We will be able to spend big next season, which will bolster our ranks.

There is certainly a need for a re-building phase. Do you think that these players are going to last forever? They are leaving, meaning that we have to "re-build" the team.

 

[NightofKnights]

You are right Nuffy, the Knights depth has been in great decline esp since 2001. Everyone reckons the Eels have lost a lot since then, we are going down the same road.

I too think Joey should have signed much earlier than he did. It could have all been done in the offseason to avoid the whole midseason fiasco. I disagree with the Tahu thing though, he had always maintained he wanted to go on the open market and test the waters, but the Knights didn't grant him permission so he waited until June 30. If the Knights got strung along after that then that is their problem. They knew the situation and let it slide, and are paying the consequences for it.

Btw sorry to Knight of Knights, when I signed up I didn't realize someone had a similar name #-o great minds think alike I guess ;-)

 

[NightofKnights]

Hmm Knight of Knights - I just realized you joined the same day as me :shock:

 

[pennywisealfie]

aint 2005 gonna be great

 

[Bring it home Knights]

I don't understand why you're so worried about losing them?

They are all either past it(O'Davis, Kennedy, Parsons), forever injured(Kennedy, O'Davis, Tahu) or overpaid(Kennedy, Parsons).

Wingers are replaceable. They don't win matches, let alone premierships. The men inside of them do, these beiing Johns and Kidley-2 high quality players. Tahu will not be that sorely missed. Hall will do a sufficient job, on a substantially lesser contract.

I don't think parsons is over paid. He's only on around 150K isn't he?

In most cases wingers aren't match winners. Unless you have a winger like macdougall in your team.

 

[Nuffy]

My point was we have lost 5 FG standard players and are yet to sign any replacements which means we'll be scrapping the bottom of the barrel further.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

aint 2005 gonna be great

Atleast our captain can come back from a bad neck injury, broken back and a knee reconstruction.. Gordy is too much of a cat to play next season cause he has a sore lil neck.. awwww :lol: :lol:

 

[antonius]

The Johns and Tahu fiasco certainly did play a big part in us missing the boat, while we stuffed around with them, the available players were slipping past us. Tahu in particular, we couldn't enter the player market until we knew we had the available money. Putting all that aside the club for years has relied heavily on Johns, and as of yet they still don't appear to have any long term plan for when he goes. Nuffy is correct in saying "the club relies heavily on gate takings, poor on field performance will, like it or not affect those gate takings, and like him I'm fearful for the fate of this club if that happens, we run on a knife edge financially every year, one or two slip ups and we will be in serious financial trouble. The loss of Kennedy and Tahu doesn't really concern me. The lack of long term planning does. Like I said in other posts, we want to hope Johns stays on the field next year, or we are going to be in a deal of trouble, it's showing this year where gates are down, and the general feel at the ground is also down. The club has to look past the Johns era, and do some serious planning for it. We are going to need to find the next Knights star/crowd puller. At the moment we are letting them go because the money has gone to keep Johns here, Kade Snowden may well be that next crowd puller, we can't let him become another victim of "we haven't got enough money, so let him go" brigade. We lost Toupo, this year it was Ennis, (despite what Shane1970 says) Ennis I think will go on to better things, and may well be one player (Like Toupo) who we will regret losing.

 

[axie]

2006 won't be much better than 2005, sure the Knights may have more money to spend than this season, but with the likelihood of a 16th team entering the competition, signing quality players on the open market will be harder than ever.

Honestly, to me it feels like the Knights are now the most unprofessional club in the competition, unless there's a massive shake-up at the administrative level, the fans will be forced to endure mediocrity for many future seasons.

 

[legallyblonde]

so many threads to skim through...and i dont know how current the signings and re signings thread is... havent heard a whole lot up in brissy.

so who have we lost and who have we kept?

 

[reladith]

Ennis I think will go on to better things, and may well be one player (Like Toupo) who we will regret losing.

I agree antonious but that one was out of out control. He wants to play hooker. We have the best hooker in the world.

I have no doubt that Ennis will play rep football, mabye in the back end of Buderus's career, but with Ennis we were stuck in between a rock and a hard place.