But we’ve just gotten rid of Barrett’s worst signings, notably TPJ. And although pre-Barrett, Thompson. So how can you stake that claim?
Yes, we got rid of reserve grade forwards: Davey, Okunbor, Pele and yes, Waddell (who’ll be lucky to crack the 17 at Crookvale). Why would you retain or re-sign any of them and jeopardise our young fellas coming through? And before you get into Waddell love bomb mode - be had 3 years at Belmore and only remotely stood up in his final one - not co-incidentally when he was looking for a new contract.
What young blokes coming through? We have no young middles who are NRL ready.
I’m not against getting rid of TPJ, no doubt he was an underachiever and didn’t have the best attitude…. but he was still one of our only forwards who was capable of bending the line. If you’re going to let him go, all good, but if you don’t have someone lined up to replace him you’re weakening the pack, not strengthening it.
Thompson is line ball. I have a feeling he is a much better player than he was able to show for us… injury has prevented him from playing his best footy, and we could have no doubt re-signed him for much less… so if the cupboard is as bare as Gus says, where’s the harm in signing him for an extra year and making it clear his future beyond that year with the club is in his hands?
Waddell was always a player who put in effort, so the talk he was playing for a contract is rubbish. He had an issue with discipline, and he fixed it. one of the few good things Ciraldo has done at this club is help Waddell improve his discipline and now we are no longer benefiting from it. He was not on much money and keeping him should have been an absolute no brainer, considering hoe depleted our forward stocks are. You honestly think it was worth letting him go to bring an ordinary player like Faamausili in? Waddell goes way harder.
If you’re going to clear the decks of forwards like Gus has, you sure as shit had better land your targets. Gus keeps shooting and missing, and you guys celebrate him for it. It’s absurd. Unless we land a major signing between now and kick off next year, we are going to be going into 2024 with an even weaker pack than we did this year. That is not progress.