I agree but why are they doing that? Why do they pay big money for everyone they sign (same as the other clubs you mentioned in that time period)? Add the Knights to the list. I actually think the kid has potential (same as Lomax) just it's a lot of money. Again you need to answer the question and remember we're in the same boat (and even worse) as these clubs. We're not a powerhouse anymore. We're not in a good position regarding attracting talent.
I personally think it is far too early to be saying that.
When you have DWZ and Hoppa talking up the place like they do publicly, people will understand. We have the tools to be a powerhouse.
My problem with the above statement is it is being based on our lack of buying recently - of which, I would say the market isn't in fantastic shape. It's not like there are dozens of off contract guns that we could have purchased (or attracted) - because when they were available, we were left in a Dib+Des shit heap - and when we do have some cash freed up, the market is nowhere near as good as it has been in previous years.
I am all for us as a club buying youngsters hoping to turn them into guns (Meaney, Cogger, Crichton etc) because our cap situation was fucked. If this statement was said in a years' time after we literally purchase no one, then I would agree with it.
I just think it's jumping the gun. And to prove my point - here are some guns from 2018, who moved clubs (we can argue about how good they've been, but they're all on marquee/second-to-third tier contracts):
2018 players who moved clubs:
Jack Bird, Ponga, Watson, Pearce, Hiku, Moylan, Dugan, Hunt, Tedesco, Cronk, Harris, Green, Gagai, Arrow
Compare that to players for 2020:
Brailey, Marsters, Holmes, Matterson, RCG, Korisau, Mitchell, Croft, Curtis Scott, Leilua x 2, G. Williams, Ramien
Can you honestly say the class of 2020 is better than 2018? Because we had no money to spend in 2018 after the Foran purchase - and look at all those moves.
Yes - you could argue we missed out on Ramien, Latrell et al in the 2020 bunch. But Ramien was using us as a bargaining chip, because he always wanted a Sharks reunion. And Latrell - well, let's not go there (I think time will show we dodged a bullet).