5 minute read (approximately 25 minutes for
@Bulldogs09)
Hi La Familiars,
It's me, your favourite Kenneler, back with another uncomfortable but insightful opinion piece.
I've been doing a lot of thinking and as much as it pains me to say it, we are getting this rebuild all wrong. I'm talking more wrong than
@Bulldogs09's answers on a general aptitude test.
Being the most astute mind on the Kennel, I have taken it upon myself to compile a few thoughts on exactly what we are getting wrong, and how we can look to the example of a club in a similar position which is getting its rebuild right (Wests Tigers) to learn from our mistakes.
So, where is it all going wrong?
Recruitment
With the exception of Matt Burton - (an elite centre we are playing out of position whom we may well lose to a rival club), Max King (good but slightly overrated on here. Will never strike fear into the hearts of opposition teams a s an elite prop should)) and Josh Ado Carr (a winger...great attacking player, but not going to win us a premiership), we have gotten our recruitment all wrong.
We have invested way too much money in the backrow, spending a combined $1.6 million on the game's most overrated forward TPJ and Viliame Kikau in the past few years. Not only is Kikau on overs (there is a reason he was squeezed out of Penrith - elite clubs don't pay overs for backrowers), he is an I'm only here for the money signing, if ever there was one. Kikau has achieved everything he wants to achieve in the game. He is a dual premiership winner and a Fijian international. Do you really think he's going to put in maximum effort here? Even more alarmingly, he poses a serious threat to this club's good haircut culture. At least we have signed a few solid backrowers in Andrew Davey and Ryan Sutton for no more than market value. In addition, we have paid an arm and a leg for an overweight hooker who doesn't know how to use his legs. Overall recruitment grade C-
Lets compare this to the Tigers. They have signed Bateman - who is an absolute animal, and Papali'i - one of the comp's form backrowers this year, and they've done it for no more than two thirds of the price we've paid for our overpriced backrow pair. In addition they have added the best hooker in NSW to their roster. Add this to their exciting batch of halves and outside backs and things are looking good for the Tigers in 2023 and beyond. Recruitment grade A+
Departures/ Retention
Think we couldn't get anything more wrong than our recruitment? Think again! In the past few years we have released Adam Elliott (now a top 3 lock in the competition who will only get better), and JMK (one of the most improved players in the comp and a future NZ hooker). Even worse, we have pushed our inspirational captain and the glue that holds our defensive line together into early retirement. I shudder to think about how many points we'll leak next year without Jacko in the team. We really should have refrained from signing Kikau so we did not have to push this club legend out due to cap pressure. We have however extended the most selfish centre in the game, so it's good to know we have our priorities in order. Grade F
The Tigers are losing nobody important, getting rid of the over the hill James Tamou, the wayward James Roberts, the least talented half on their roster and a few depth backrowers. There is also talk they will free themselves of the very overrated Adam Doueihi - whom we will no doubt be linked to soon. Oh, hooray! Grade B+
Coaching appointments
While the Bulldogs have repeated the mistakes of the recent past, the Tigers have looked to the architects of their most recent triumph to build a better future.
We have signed another handsome Penrith assistant, silver haired and silver toungued, but completely lacking in experience when it comes to head coaching at the top level. Rumours persist that he is chasing Stephen Crichton harder than Reed Mahoney chasing a delivery truck filled with profiteroles, which instills no great confidence that Cameron will improve our recent history of bad recruitment decisions. Most worryingly of all, we have signed Ciraldo for a mammoth five years. Having sacked two coaches in the last three years, another premature termination will seriously hamstring our ability to attract and retain new players, meaning we are stuck with Ciraldo for a very long time, sink or swim. Our new coach is highly regarded and the gamble may off, but the parallels to Trent Barrett are frightening, and the early signs are far from good. Grade C-
The Tigers have identified a club legend, the star player of their last premiership campaign and overall excitement machine Benji Marshall as the man to lead the club forward, but he's not quite ready yet. So what do the Tigers do? They enlist a coaching legend who has won premierships with two clubs and was the man who guided the club to glory in 2005 to step in for a few years and show him the ropes. Grade A ++
TLDNR?
The Tigers are in my 8 next year, the Bulldogs will be lucky to finish higher than 12th. I will do my very best for us, as always. But a man can only do what he can do in these prohibitive conditions.
So, what do you think, Kennelers? Share your thoughts below. I hope this thread will provoke robust debate and discussion, as always. But please, keep it civil. Remember we are all in this together.
Namaste
