Our squad and what we have to recruit to be a top 8 team

[Kempsey Dog]

Its only your opinion that he picks "the wrong 17". He is with these guys almost 24/7 and knows what they are doing.
Because its been "pointed out" on here doesnt mean much.

Nah dude wingers players centre is enough to prove my point... and don't say we don't have centres because we do have options.

 

[Daustin]

we need to pay overs for a gun hooker like brandon smith or harry grant. surely theres a few others too but those two look most likely as they're fighting for the same position and both are more than ready to be nrl starters. our team would be so much different with a good hooker, we had the right idea by targeting koroisau but unlucky to get him

 

[bradyk]

we need to pay overs for a gun hooker like brandon smith or harry grant. surely theres a few others too but those two look most likely as they're fighting for the same position and both are more than ready to be nrl starters. our team would be so much different with a good hooker, we had the right idea by targeting koroisau but unlucky to get him

Brandon Smith on contract. Storm are already starting to give him a bigger role.
I can't see Grant going anywhere besides the Storm or Tigers. The Tigers will match whatever we offer unless it's ridiculous, I see the Tigers offering up to 800k to keep Grant if it comes to it (they paid ~600k for Doueihi e.g.).
Friend (article today with Nick Politis saying they want to re-sign Friend on a year to year basis) and Mahoney are the other two hookers off contract.

 

[Daustin]

Brandon Smith on contract. Storm are already starting to give him a bigger role.
I can't see Grant going anywhere besides the Storm or Tigers. The Tigers will match whatever we offer unless it's ridiculous, I see the Tigers offering up to 800k to keep Grant if it comes to it (they paid ~600k for Doueihi e.g.).
Friend (article today with Nick Politis saying they want to re-sign Friend on a year to year basis) and Mahoney are the other two hookers off contract.

yep looks like if cameron smith plays on then #2 will be brandon smith and harry grant apparently has a get out clause in his contract if cameron smith plays on so he would most likely be at the tigers. I'd take mahoney for sure but as good as friend is i think its important to target younger players in the spine that we can build our team around for 5-10 years if possible

 

[bradyk]

yep looks like if cameron smith plays on then #2 will be brandon smith and harry grant apparently has a get out clause in his contract if cameron smith plays on so he would most likely be at the tigers. I'd take mahoney for sure but as good as friend is i think its important to target younger players in the spine that we can build our team around for 5-10 years if possible

I agree, if they're available. I see Friend as a similar buy to Kimmorely back in 2009. I think we'd only get ~two years out of Friend. He's also injury prone, but we haven't left ourselves with many options (that tends to happen when you miss out on five or so other hookers).

 

[bradtalo]

I'd like to see (and expect) something like this

1 Will Hopoate
2 Josh Ado Carr
3 Jake Averillo
4 Nick Cotric (Curtis Rona)
5 DWZ
6 Jackson Hastings
7 Brandon Wakeham
8 Dylan Napa
9 Harry Grant / Brandon Smith / Ben Hunt
10 Luke Thompson
11 John Bateman
12 CHN
13 Josh Jackson

14 Renouf Toomaga
15 RFM
16 Dean Britt
17 Kerrod Holland

Keep JMK as back up hooker on reduced contract. Maybe keep Meaney too as a back up only or shed him if the money is needed. I think he's finally proved too weak to be a regular starting fullback or winger.

Cotric and Averillo would be a great attacking centre pairing. 2 great wingers in JAC and DWZ. A reliable fullback in Hopa with great hands (not much else available at fullback on the open market but we could still also recruit an up and comer like Sailor). I was disappointed with Foran's lack of involvement against the Sharks. If you watch highlights from when he was young he's slowed down so much - past his best and unfortunately unreliable as we all know. If he's willing to take 400K or less then yes keep him as back up but I think Hastings would be worth a shot if you watch his highlights from Super League.

Bring back CHN on the cheap next year. NRL would likely re-register him then as remember his offence wasn't quite as bad as Oka. CHN and Bateman on the edges would kill it. We'd kill it with quick service from a young gun hooker like Grant who is rumoured to have a get out clause in his contract if Smith plays again next year. Surely we could offer more than the Tigers to him or Brandon Smith.

600K JAC
700K Cotric
500K Hastings
600K Grant / Smith
750K Bateman
300K CHN
--
$3.45M - just over the reported $3M war chest but we'd be saving 1.2M on Foran + save over another MIL by shedding Reimis Smith (just too lazy), Tolman (too average), Cogger (less than average) Lewis (less than average in attack), Elliott (wants more than he's worth), Montoya (shit), Katoa (average). Shed Stimson too whenever we can.

 

[bradyk]

I'd like to see (and expect) something like this

1 Will Hopoate
2 Josh Ado Carr
3 Jake Averillo
4 Nick Cotric (Curtis Rona)
5 DWZ
6 Jackson Hastings
7 Brandon Wakeham
8 Dylan Napa
9 Harry Grant / Brandon Smith / Ben Hunt
10 Luke Thompson
11 John Bateman
12 CHN
13 Josh Jackson

14 Renouf Toomaga
15 RFM
16 Dean Britt
17 Kerrod Holland

Keep JMK as back up hooker on reduced contract. Maybe keep Meaney too as a back up only or shed him if the money is needed. I think he's finally proved too weak to be a regular starting fullback or winger.

Cotric and Averillo would be a great attacking centre pairing. 2 great wingers in JAC and DWZ. A reliable fullback in Hopa with great hands (not much else available at fullback on the open market but we could still also recruit an up and comer like Sailor). I was disappointed with Foran's lack of involvement against the Sharks. If you watch highlights from when he was young he's slowed down so much - past his best and unfortunately unreliable as we all know. If he's willing to take 400K or less then yes keep him as back up but I think Hastings would be worth a shot if you watch his highlights from Super League.

Bring back CHN on the cheap next year. NRL would likely re-register him then as remember his offence wasn't quite as bad as Oka. CHN and Bateman on the edges would kill it. We'd kill it with quick service from a young gun hooker like Grant who is rumoured to have a get out clause in his contract if Smith plays again next year. Surely we could offer more than the Tigers to him or Brandon Smith.

600K JAC
700K Cotric
500K Hastings
600K Grant / Smith
750K Bateman
300K CHN
--
$3.45M - just over the reported $3M war chest but we'd be saving 1.2M on Foran + save over another MIL by shedding Reimis Smith (just too lazy), Tolman (too average), Cogger (less than average) Lewis (less than average in attack), Elliott (wants more than he's worth), Montoya (shit), Katoa (average). Shed Stimson too whenever we can.

Not getting Grant for 600k. Tigers will match up to ~800k imo. There is no way he's not going to be at the Storm or Tigers unless we offer ridiculous money.

 

[speedy2460]

Nah dude wingers players centre is enough to prove my point... and don't say we don't have centres because we do have options.

Can you name the "good" centres. DWZ, and Harpur apparently dont meet the Kennel criteria. Who else is there?
Averillo is good, but hes not ready yet. Its a case of hoping for the best.

 

[BondiBulldog]

I'd like to see (and expect) something like this

1 Will Hopoate
2 Josh Ado Carr
3 Jake Averillo
4 Nick Cotric (Curtis Rona)
5 DWZ
6 Jackson Hastings
7 Brandon Wakeham
8 Dylan Napa
9 Harry Grant / Brandon Smith / Ben Hunt
10 Luke Thompson
11 John Bateman
12 CHN
13 Josh Jackson

14 Renouf Toomaga
15 RFM
16 Dean Britt
17 Kerrod Holland

Keep JMK as back up hooker on reduced contract. Maybe keep Meaney too as a back up only or shed him if the money is needed. I think he's finally proved too weak to be a regular starting fullback or winger.

Cotric and Averillo would be a great attacking centre pairing. 2 great wingers in JAC and DWZ. A reliable fullback in Hopa with great hands (not much else available at fullback on the open market but we could still also recruit an up and comer like Sailor). I was disappointed with Foran's lack of involvement against the Sharks. If you watch highlights from when he was young he's slowed down so much - past his best and unfortunately unreliable as we all know. If he's willing to take 400K or less then yes keep him as back up but I think Hastings would be worth a shot if you watch his highlights from Super League.

Bring back CHN on the cheap next year. NRL would likely re-register him then as remember his offence wasn't quite as bad as Oka. CHN and Bateman on the edges would kill it. We'd kill it with quick service from a young gun hooker like Grant who is rumoured to have a get out clause in his contract if Smith plays again next year. Surely we could offer more than the Tigers to him or Brandon Smith.

600K JAC
700K Cotric
500K Hastings
600K Grant / Smith
750K Bateman
300K CHN
--
$3.45M - just over the reported $3M war chest but we'd be saving 1.2M on Foran + save over another MIL by shedding Reimis Smith (just too lazy), Tolman (too average), Cogger (less than average) Lewis (less than average in attack), Elliott (wants more than he's worth), Montoya (shit), Katoa (average). Shed Stimson too whenever we can.

Worst halves pairing in the comp.
With a ‘war chest’ I’d expect a minimum of one DCE, Munster, Cronk caliber of player.

Not a rookie 7 and troubled NRL reject who couldn’t even get picked up as a utility.

 

[Bulldog_4_Life]

Worst halves pairing in the comp.
With a ‘war chest’ I’d expect a minimum of one DCE, Munster, Cronk caliber of player.

Not a rookie 7 and troubled NRL reject who couldn’t even get picked up as a utility.

Where are we gonna find a player of that quality? None on the market.

 

[TwinTurbo]

It’s not a Rubik’s cube at all. It’s nothing more than a salaries and wages budget that anybody who’s been a senior manager can understand.

There is very little if any similarity, we have a "business" that can afford (in non Covid times) much more than the salary cap that we are artificially limited to. There's a 3rd party (the NRL) telling us what we can pay our employees and how many employees we have to have (we can't have more, we can't have less, must be exactly 30). Plus we have to spend no less than 95% of the cap every year.

To add a layer of complexity, the cap is annual but the player contracts aren't, most are multiple years. How many employment contracts have you had that have a fixed pay rate for their full duration, no CPI, no pay rises for 2, 3, 4, 5 years or the in the case of Taumalolo for 10 years? In that time frame it is a guess as to whether the player will improve (and be worth more) or regress (and be worth less) or stay the same (and get paid effectively less due to CPI). If it was "nothing more than a salaries and wages budget" then every team would be equal, which plainly they aren't as a result of some teams managing their Cap way better than others.

The fact is we have recruited duds that haven’t improved the team.

If the Cap limits you to the same level of player then how does that "improve" the team. In fact we were forced to replace players on, say, $500k with players on, say, $200k just to get Cap compliant. It's no wonder that we regressed.

We may or may not have players on backend we deals, unlike other sports you can’t see a player’s cap number.

FWIW the NRL haven't registered contracts that are notably back ended since 2018, obviously contracts registered prior to that can still be in force. Our big back enders appear to run out this year. Whether or not that is the case no really knows but it's an NRL requirement and they have all player contracts to audit.

I’ll ask you a simple question. Do you think we are paying Doorey and Topine the same as we are paying Britt? Who do you think is getting paid more between Meaney and Tass?

I'm pretty sure that my post answered that exact question, with the NRL average contract at $330k we have to have some players on below the average to offset those players who are on above the average. Not in any way suggesting that Britt or Meaney are on above the average.

The fact is since 2018 we been forced to let go a number of "above average" players then we were forced to replace with "below average" players. Maintaining relevancy, I could ask ask a simple question, do you think Ogden (who we signed) is as good a player as Graham (who we let go to fit in Woods, who we then let go to get Cap compliant)? Or is Lewis (who we signed) as good as Reynolds (who we let go)? Or is Holland (who we signed) good as JMoz (who we let go)? etc etc.

With any player signings of course there are "duds", just look around the league there are far higher paid "duds" than what we have. When you are forced to gamble on untested players to get Cap compliant of course there are going to "duds" but there really is no other option as we have to register 30 players and we have to spend 95% of the Cap, every year.

Go Dogs

 

[BondiBulldog]

Well we need to figure it out, simple. Why should Roosters had (Keary/Cronk) last year and other teams having constant guns in key positions. Are we not entitled to at least one gun in the halves. Is that how pathetic we have become? We can’t have a top line half?

 

[bradtalo]

Worst halves pairing in the comp.
With a ‘war chest’ I’d expect a minimum of one DCE, Munster, Cronk caliber of player.

Not a rookie 7 and troubled NRL reject who couldn’t even get picked up as a utility.

Yes if only there were some of that calibre available. DCE is on about what 1.2M a year and not off contract for a while. Dragons invested $1M a season in Hunt and look what happened there. Titans did similar. There's only really Keary and Munster who are consistent. When they come off contract there will no doubt be a major bidding war probably with more clubs involved than not. We'd have to pay something like 1.5M for one of these players to outbid everyone else. Their current clubs will pay at least a MIL. Maybe we should spend the 3M on Keary and Tedesco ?

 

[bradtalo]

Not getting Grant for 600k. Tigers will match up to ~800k imo. There is no way he's not going to be at the Storm or Tigers unless we offer ridiculous money.

I didn't think Grant was proven enough yet to command even 600K but I could be wrong. Tigers don't have much room to move in their cap unless they shed Reynolds or others.

 

[khan]

Realistic
1. Hopoate (not a long term option, hopefully Averillo can develop into a fullback)
2. JAC
3. Averillo
4. Reimis
5. DWZ
6. Foran
7. Wakeham (Lewis will probably still play)
8. Thompson
9. Friend
10. Napa
11. Bateman
12. Jackson
13. Elliott

14. JMK
15. To'omaga
16. RFM
17. Smith

Ins: JAC, Thompson, Friend, Bateman

I think this is almost best case scenario. We'll have enough money to make one more decent signing (maybe a centre or a prop). Not necessarily what I'd do but this is what I'm expecting.

Yuk.

 

[DoggyStyla]

I agree, if they're available. I see Friend as a similar buy to Kimmorely back in 2009. I think we'd only get ~two years out of Friend. He's also injury prone, but we haven't left ourselves with many options (that tends to happen when you miss out on five or so other hookers).

Friend isn’t leaving Roosters, he is a god there!

 

[bradyk]

I didn't think Grant was proven enough yet to command even 600K but I could be wrong. Tigers don't have much room to move in their cap unless they shed Reynolds or others.

Oliver Clark, Matthew Eisenhuth, Robert Jennings, Chris Lawrence, Benji Marshall, Sam McIntyre, Chris McQueen, Alex Seyfarth, Dylan Smith, Elijah Taylor
All off contract. McQueen's on a decent amount.

 

[bradyk]

Friend isn’t leaving Roosters, he is a god there!

I agree, unless we offer him ~700k and two years. I don't think the Roosters will be willing to match or even pay close to that (I could be wrong) they've also come out recently saying they want to re-sign him for one year. More money and job security for a 30 year old while the Roosters also have Verrills ready.

 

[halfcast]

There’s no reason we can’t turn it around instantly with the right recruits and coach, look at 09 season

Need a gun 9
Topine
Alomoti
Piatavvo

 

[2144superman]

Need a gun 9
Topine
Alomoti
Piatavvo

Throw the kitchen sink and JMK at Harry Grant.