macavity
Referee
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thread for discussion on what the player movements (re: Knights) SHOULD be for '07. Obviously this is a bit of wishful thinking, but it has been made fairly obvious there is going to be a bit of a cleanout for the start of Smith's reign.
in a perfect world this is what I would want:
we re-sign Snowden, Tolar, Bailey and Seage. Snowden has a bright future with proper coaching, whilst Tolar has the makings of a great benchie and Bailey/Seage are great backups.
we clear out the lockers of Reynoldson, Carmont, Gidley (UK), Lowrie, Quinn, Campbell, Cooper, Kennedy, Quigley, Smith (retired). Yes I know the top 2 are on contract but we need them out - they are taking up way way too much salary cap space and are a waste of space, to put it bluntly. Maybe we can get St Helens to find them clubs as a condition of releasing Gids.....
We have Fleggies coming up to take PL spots and some are deserving of top 25 contracts as well, meaning we can afford to lose alot of fringe FGers.
Anyways, with the money we have available, we should target 2 outside backs and one prop (assuming we keep Simmo, great work Knights management on that contract...).
A replacement for Gids in the outside backs is top priority - Tahu would be my pick if he really wants to avoid hages (who could blame him) but lets face it, the Eels dont have a track record of allowing unhappy stars out of contracts. Given that we have two options - Tighe to centre and sign a great winger, or go after a top centre. This is assuming Kids is moved to centre, who knows what Smith will do there, but Mullen is a better 5/8 and he is only a kid....
If we can't get Tahu (which is 99% going to be how it plays out) then for mine we should go after Cross AND one of Tupou or Tuaki (from the WT). At minimum we need one of those big units (both would be great if we cant get Cross... with 2 good ballplayers in the centres in Tighe & Kids we would have an awesome backline). Taulapapa from the Warriors is also available (now, contract ripped up due to booze problems...). I guess what im getting at is a BIG blockbusting unit on the wing would be very nice.
As for the forwards, obviously Asotasi is the best of the bunch by a fair bit. In a perfect world he would be my pick, no way we could afford him if we didnt offload the bearded white elephant though - even if we did it would be tight. Kaufusi from the Storm is another option, as is Tuimavave from the Warriors who is going to test his value.
I haven't gone through other teams off-contract lists, but that is what ive come up with so far. Other players mentioned i.e. Morris, Delaney, im not sold on. esp Morris, we just dont need another half, we need outside backs.
Other than that, Danny Wicks from the Drags is apparently off contract and looks absolutely gun. (just checked, looks like he is contracted to '07.) Sims and Poore are also off contract and quality, but dont know that we need more players in that mould - we need a BIG agressive unit to partner spongecake for mine.
so.... priority (no order)
Cross
Asotasi
Tupou
Tuaki
Tuimavave
thoughts guys?
in a perfect world this is what I would want:
we re-sign Snowden, Tolar, Bailey and Seage. Snowden has a bright future with proper coaching, whilst Tolar has the makings of a great benchie and Bailey/Seage are great backups.
we clear out the lockers of Reynoldson, Carmont, Gidley (UK), Lowrie, Quinn, Campbell, Cooper, Kennedy, Quigley, Smith (retired). Yes I know the top 2 are on contract but we need them out - they are taking up way way too much salary cap space and are a waste of space, to put it bluntly. Maybe we can get St Helens to find them clubs as a condition of releasing Gids.....
We have Fleggies coming up to take PL spots and some are deserving of top 25 contracts as well, meaning we can afford to lose alot of fringe FGers.
Anyways, with the money we have available, we should target 2 outside backs and one prop (assuming we keep Simmo, great work Knights management on that contract...).
A replacement for Gids in the outside backs is top priority - Tahu would be my pick if he really wants to avoid hages (who could blame him) but lets face it, the Eels dont have a track record of allowing unhappy stars out of contracts. Given that we have two options - Tighe to centre and sign a great winger, or go after a top centre. This is assuming Kids is moved to centre, who knows what Smith will do there, but Mullen is a better 5/8 and he is only a kid....
If we can't get Tahu (which is 99% going to be how it plays out) then for mine we should go after Cross AND one of Tupou or Tuaki (from the WT). At minimum we need one of those big units (both would be great if we cant get Cross... with 2 good ballplayers in the centres in Tighe & Kids we would have an awesome backline). Taulapapa from the Warriors is also available (now, contract ripped up due to booze problems...). I guess what im getting at is a BIG blockbusting unit on the wing would be very nice.
As for the forwards, obviously Asotasi is the best of the bunch by a fair bit. In a perfect world he would be my pick, no way we could afford him if we didnt offload the bearded white elephant though - even if we did it would be tight. Kaufusi from the Storm is another option, as is Tuimavave from the Warriors who is going to test his value.
I haven't gone through other teams off-contract lists, but that is what ive come up with so far. Other players mentioned i.e. Morris, Delaney, im not sold on. esp Morris, we just dont need another half, we need outside backs.
Other than that, Danny Wicks from the Drags is apparently off contract and looks absolutely gun. (just checked, looks like he is contracted to '07.) Sims and Poore are also off contract and quality, but dont know that we need more players in that mould - we need a BIG agressive unit to partner spongecake for mine.
so.... priority (no order)
Cross
Asotasi
Tupou
Tuaki
Tuimavave
thoughts guys?
