Opinion Will AFB see out his 4 year Sharks deal? Yes or No??

[DinkumDog]

He is a huge miss

Riddle me this, Flipper. How do you ‘miss’ someone you didn’t even offer a contract? .

 

[King Gus]

What hurts worse is we helped facilitate one of the chess pieces by taking curran off the warriors books

Poor you, maybe luai will do a backflip and sing with us.

 

[Magic Burton]

What hurts worse is we helped facilitate one of the chess pieces by taking curran off the warriors books

@04 Dreaming Warriors didn’t want Curran and Sharks didn’t want Tracey. We missed the two targets we badly needed as they played chess on us. They try to say we were never interested in AFB. We were we tried. As usual the deflection we never put in an offer.

@Flanagun replying to your comment too. 3 of our greatest signings were McCarthy 2yrs Kevin Ryan 3yrs and Kelly 4yrs. We get AFB for 2-3 what difference does he make? Gus has a history of moving players on early including massive names like Lewis and Jennings so who cares if AFB didn’t see out the 4yrs with us or if he does with the Sharks. We can’t be moral crusaders re off field records we’ve signed Xerri and want the May brothers. Sign AFB to win games. We are an NRL club in an NRL results driven industry.

Cronulla are aiming for a premiership in 2025-26 moving a lot of deadwood or aging players on some early like Tracey and Moylan. They’ve had experience roster for a few years need to blood players in 2024 doing that.

Two things we need. We need to stop the transit lounge culture we currently have. We just need to back the players we have. We won’t get results until we show confidence in our players within. The only players from elsewhere we should be recruiting a bonafide forward leaders and prop enforcers.

 

[DinkumDog]

@04 Dreaming Warriors didn’t want Curran and Sharks didn’t want Tracey. We missed the two targets we badly needed as they played chess on us. They try to say we were never interested in AFB. We were we tried. As usual the deflection we never put in an offer.

@Flanagun replying to your comment too. 3 of our greatest signings were McCarthy 2yrs Kevin Ryan 3yrs and Kelly 4yrs. We get AFB for 2-3 what difference does he make? Gus has a history of moving players on early including massive names like Lewis and Jennings so who cares if AFB didn’t see out the 4yrs with us or if he does with the Sharks. We can’t be moral crusaders re off field records we’ve signed Xerri and want the May brothers. Sign AFB to win games. We are an NRL club in an NRL results driven industry.

Cronulla are aiming for a premiership in 2025-26 moving a lot of deadwood or aging players on some early like Tracey and Moylan. They’ve had experience roster for a few years need to blood players in 2024 doing that.

Two things we need. We need to stop the transit lounge culture we currently have. We just need to back the players we have. We won’t get results until we show confidence in our players within. The only players from elsewhere we should be recruiting a bonafide forward leaders and prop enforcers.

We didn’t want Flanagan or Waddell either so by your rationale the Steelers and Beagles lost at chess too.

There’s no deflection - an offer wasn’t made to AFB so it wasn’t a ‘miss’ at all - saying so is just another daily dose of your sour grapes. Try another fruit.

Saying ‘So what if AFB doesn’t stay for the full duration of a contract’ is akin to encouraging another TPJ yet in the same breath you say ‘stop the transit lounge’ - which one is it going to be??

Back the players we have? We’ve done just that: Thompson 3.5 years, Flanagan 3 years, T-Rex 4 years, Lichaa 5 years, MBye 5 years, Atoni 4 Years, Ogden 4 years and the list goes on - how is that a ‘transit lounge’?? Either they succeed or they’re moved on - you yourself say it’s a ‘results driven industry’.

Might wanna stop contradicting yourself there Polly

 

[bowleggedwog]

Riddle me this, Flipper. How do you ‘miss’ someone you didn’t even offer a contract? .

He was available to sign , so the theory is if they are available and we don’t get them we missed out. If the terrorcrap report shit it’s clown crew fact.

 

[Flanagun]

He was available to sign , so the theory is if they are available and we don’t get them we missed out. If the terrorcrap report shit it’s clown crew fact.

Dude, I’m staying out of the debate, for the most years… but come on. We have by far and away the weakest prop rotation in the game. We don’s have any NRL quality starting props and badly need a few, if we want a functional team. If a top three prop comes onto the market and we don’t get them, it’s a massive miss. If we don’t offer a contract that just makes us all the more foolish. I think the reason we didn’t formally offer AFB a contract is he made it clear to us he didn’t want to come here.

Not all is lost yet, May has a very high ceiling and would be a great get too. We need to try and do whatever we can to get him here, imo.

 

[bowleggedwog]

Dude, I’m staying out of the debate, for the most years… but come on. We have by far and away the weakest prop rotation in the game. We don’s have any NRL quality starting props and badly need a few, if we want a functional team. If a top three prop comes onto the market and we don’t get them, it’s a massive miss. If we don’t offer a contract that just makes us all the more foolish. I think the reason we didn’t formally offer AFB a contract is he made it clear to us he didn’t want to come here.

Not all is lost yet, May has a very high ceiling and would be a great get too. We need to try and do whatever we can to get him here, imo.

Dude, we all want the club to succeed. We all want a prop sign and a half , but just because they are available does not mean we are in contention. Gus has a long term approach and going by previous regimes and how they ruined the club for short term gain I’m happy to give the guy with a good track record of turning clubs around. I admit Vaughn should have been kept but afb wanted to much and we don’t know what else was the issue for the club not to put in an offer. If the sharks offered 1 mill and saints went 1.2mill and that wasn’t good enough. What you want 1.3 mill on the cap for 5 yrs to get us form 15th to 11th? I believe we build and then break the bank to go from 11th to top 4. Des n dibs ruined the club, the Anderson made some terrible signings and so far the only crap signing is Sutton the rest have been an improvement. I think you will be surprised by this team this yr.

 

[Flanagun]

Dude, we all want the club to succeed. We all want a prop sign and a half , but just because they are available does not mean we are in contention. Gus has a long term approach and going by previous regimes and how they ruined the club for short term gain I’m happy to give the guy with a good track record of turning clubs around. I admit Vaughn should have been kept but afb wanted to much and we don’t know what else was the issue for the club not to put in an offer. If the sharks offered 1 mill and saints went 1.2mill and that wasn’t good enough. What you want 1.3 mill on the cap for 5 yrs to get us form 15th to 11th? I believe we build and then break the bank to go from 11th to top 4. Des n dibs ruined the club, the Anderson made some terrible signings and so far the only crap signing is Sutton the rest have been an improvement. I think you will be surprised by this team this yr.

We bolster the forward pack, we could be contending for finals, fam. Our backline is pretty good, but won’t fire unless they have space. That’s what we want after so long in the wilderness. And I don’t think it’s unreasonable. Building for the future is great, but there’s no guarantee kids are even going to make the jump at that age. All this talk about us signing future stars is doing is putting extra pressure on the kids. There have been plenty of young players touted as future stars who haven’t quite worked out that way. I’m not willing to sacrifice another three or four years in the wilderness for a bunch of kids who may, or may not be stars in the future… and there’s no need to.

Yes, I think we should be paying overs for elite props, if that’s what it takes. We are paying overs for other players in less crucial positions, why not props? Sign a player like May or AFB on overs for four years, and it’s going to have no impact on the development of a bunch of young kids who won’t be ready for a minimum of four years anyway.

What ruined the club in the past was back ending…. Not paying overs to deliver a little short term success. Why do you think Gus is meeting with these players? You don’t think he knows they will be asking for overs? He is struggling to land the big fish we need to give the fans a little joy.

It’s important for the first grade side to be winning when these kids come up, as well, because if the team is finishing bottom of the ladder, as good as they are, they will inherit that losing culture. We need to focus on what has always been this club’s strength. Big, scary, badass forwards.

We need to throw the bank at May.

 

[DinkumDog]

So now the #ClownCrew say that we didn’t offer a deal to AFB ‘because he made it clear he didn’t want to come here’. That’s almost as poor an excuse as Curran ‘faking a smile’. Why did he accept a meeting at Canterbury Leagues then if he was so anti-Bulldog? What a crock. Oh wait - he was open to the idea until he met Gus. Righto. Whether it was character, money, length of engagement or anything else it’s like any other job interview - either the employer and employee are aligned or they’re not. I’m not going to hire an accountant just because I need my books done - I’m going to hire the accountant that I think understands my business and what I’m trying to achieve with it yet because one particular accountant who is available I should hire even though he wants to go home at lunch. No thanks, I’ll keep looking - and that’s not a ‘miss’.

 

[bowleggedwog]

We bolster the forward pack, we could be contending for finals, fam. Our backline is pretty good, but won’t fire unless they have space. That’s what we want after so long in the wilderness. And I don’t think it’s unreasonable. Building for the future is great, but there’s no guarantee kids are even going to make the jump at that age. All this talk about us signing future stars is doing is putting extra pressure on the kids. There have been plenty of young players touted as future stars who haven’t quite worked out that way. I’m not willing to sacrifice another three or four years in the wilderness for a bunch of kids who may, or may not be stars in the future… and there’s no need to.

Yes, I think we should be paying overs for elite props, if that’s what it takes. We are paying overs for other players in less crucial positions, why not props? Sign a player like May or AFB on overs for four years, and it’s going to have no impact on the development of a bunch of young kids who won’t be ready for a minimum of four years anyway.

What ruined the club in the past was back ending…. Not paying overs to deliver a little short term success. Why do you think Gus is meeting with these players? You don’t think he knows they will be asking for overs? He is struggling to land the big fish we need to give the fans a little joy.

It’s important for the first grade side to be winning when these kids come up, as well, because if the team is finishing bottom of the ladder, as good as they are, they will inherit that losing culture. We need to focus on what has always been this club’s strength. Big, scary, badass forwards.

We need to throw the bank at May.

Be realistic who did we really miss. Spence went to the roosters to play off the bench for 500k , what do we offer 700k ? The others weren’t leaving qld . AFB a mill but obviously something was off that Gus didn’t persue it. You want us to play finals this year I want us to be contenders every year like we were when we had juniors and strong squads for years . AFB type signing is a quick fix for short term and if they had started this process 7 yrs ago instead of trying to buy votes to save their butts we would be a finals team year after year.

 

[04 Dreaming]

So now the #ClownCrew say that we didn’t offer a deal to AFB ‘because he made it clear he didn’t want to come here’. That’s almost as poor an excuse as Curran ‘faking a smile’. Why did he accept a meeting at Canterbury Leagues then if he was so anti-Bulldog? What a crock. Oh wait - he was open to the idea until he met Gus. Righto. Whether it was character, money, length of engagement or anything else it’s like any other job interview - either the employer and employee are aligned or they’re not. I’m not going to hire an accountant just because I need my books done - I’m going to hire the accountant that I think understands my business and what I’m trying to achieve with it yet because one particular accountant who is available I should hire even though he wants to go home at lunch. No thanks, I’ll keep looking - and that’s not a ‘miss’.

Good managers will still make sure they and client still meet with interested clubs if there serious. The cronulla deal couldve fallen thru which meant they mightve needed us as a fallback option (ive heard we were #3 or #4 in the queue of preferences but u never know). It was clear from afbs body language that he didnt care what Gus had to offer as the sharks deal was all but done at the time. But at least by being in the room the management firm gains a bit of trust from the club. Just business

 

[DinkumDog]

Good managers will still make sure they and client still meet with interested clubs if there serious. The cronulla deal couldve fallen thru which meant they mightve needed us as a fallback option (ive heard we were #3 or #4 in the queue of preferences but u never know). It was clear from afbs body language that he didnt care what Gus had to offer as the sharks deal was all but done at the time. But at least by being in the room the management firm gains a bit of trust from the club. Just business

Ah, Flipper, you never disappoint .
Nothing but speculation and given your 0% strike rate ‘what you’ve heard’ is as reliable as an email from a Nigerian prince wanting to stash his fortune with me for a week and I get a 10% cut for no other reason than offering my bank account as temporary loot storage. You have absolutely no idea what ‘order’ AFB spoke to clubs in and you’re also claiming to be a body language expert - you can tell from a single still photo AFB had no interest - that’s as credible as your fellow Krusty who was able to read Josh Curran’s ‘fake smile’. Clearly the fingers were way ahead of the brain on this one. Keep the comedy coming, I love it when you guys open your mouth to change feet….

 

[Flanagun]

So now the #ClownCrew say that we didn’t offer a deal to AFB ‘because he made it clear he didn’t want to come here’. That’s almost as poor an excuse as Curran ‘faking a smile’. Why did he accept a meeting at Canterbury Leagues then if he was so anti-Bulldog? What a crock. Oh wait - he was open to the idea until he met Gus. Righto. Whether it was character, money, length of engagement or anything else it’s like any other job interview - either the employer and employee are aligned or they’re not. I’m not going to hire an accountant just because I need my books done - I’m going to hire the accountant that I think understands my business and what I’m trying to achieve with it yet because one particular accountant who is available I should hire even though he wants to go home at lunch. No thanks, I’ll keep looking - and that’s not a ‘miss’.

Players meet with clubs they aren’t really interested in joining all the time in order to get a bit of publicity and a free feed while bumping up their price.

Why did the club meet with him? Because they were interested in signing him. Why did they claim they pulled out? Because they didn’t like his “attitude”. What is the most likely reason he would give off an attitude? Because he wasn’t really interested in joining.

Cronulla is a side on the up and have twice the pack we do. You really think they’d have signed him if he had such “a bad attitude”? Of course they wouldn’t. Gus didn’t like his attitude because he wasn’t keen on coming here and Gus was unable to sell him on it.

Oh, and it’s fine not to sign an “accountant” if you don’t think their values are aligned with your businesses values. But an “accountant” is a pretty important thing for a business to have, so if you pass on one who is so well regarded within their industry, you’d better find another top accountant to sign, or you’re just l going to look like you’re running a poor business that can’t attract a top line accountant.

You can talk down to and about us as much as you like, but common sense isn’t on your side..

 

[Flanagun]

Be realistic who did we really miss. Spence went to the roosters to play off the bench for 500k , what do we offer 700k ? The others weren’t leaving qld . AFB a mill but obviously something was off that Gus didn’t persue it. You want us to play finals this year I want us to be contenders every year like we were when we had juniors and strong squads for years . AFB type signing is a quick fix for short term and if they had started this process 7 yrs ago instead of trying to buy votes to save their butts we would be a finals team year after year.

Yeah, I think we need to pay overs… that’s what clubs have to do to poach good talent from more successful clubs. Players want to play for proven entities, so if you want to get them, you have to offer an incentive.

Something off about AFB that Gus noticed, but a much more successful club in Cronulla did not…. Come on, fam. We couldn’t even land Twal.

We all want the team to have sustained long term success…. But we can also want the team to compete in the short term after half a dozen years out of the finals picture. The two desires are not mutually exclusive. And the more successful the club is in the short term, the more likely we are to see the best of these kids when they are NRL ready. Bring them up into a losing culture and they will not reach their potential. We aren’t that far off competing, I don’t think. But a couple of legit big boppers which strike fear into the opposition are a must.

 

[bowleggedwog]

Yeah, I think we need to pay overs… that’s what clubs have to do to poach good talent from more successful clubs. Players want to play for proven entities, so if you want to get them, you have to offer an incentive.

Something off about AFB that Gus noticed, but a much more successful club in Cronulla did not…. Come on, fam. We couldn’t even land Twal.

We all want the team to have sustained long term success…. But we can also want the team to compete in the short term after half a dozen years out of the finals picture. The two desires are not mutually exclusive. And the more successful the club is in the short term, the more likely we are to see the best of these kids when they are NRL ready. Bring them up into a losing culture and they will not reach their potential. We aren’t that far off competing, I don’t think. But a couple of legit big boppers which strike fear into the opposition are a must.

Gus has always said if the player is interested in coming to the dogs he will negotiate, very obvious AFB didn’t want to come here unless we paid 1.3mill. So I don’t know about you but he isn’t worth that and if he is purely motivated by money I wouldn’t want him.
It clear the player market isn’t flush with talent available and going stupid spending isn’t going to help long term. I will finish with this, CC had a reputation as an assistant, potential to be a good coach & last year was very bad. If we don’t improve drastically than I would be seeking a new coach.

 

[Flanagun]

Gus has always said if the player is interested in coming to the dogs he will negotiate, very obvious AFB didn’t want to come here unless we paid 1.3mill. So I don’t know about you but he isn’t worth that and if he is purely motivated by money I wouldn’t want him.
It clear the player market isn’t flush with talent available and going stupid spending isn’t going to help long term. I will finish with this, CC had a reputation as an assistant, potential to be a good coach & last year was very bad. If we don’t improve drastically than I would be seeking a new coach.

That’s where we differ. I don’t think we can afford to wai
T for posters who “want to come here”. Not many posters are going to want to come here at the moment, we aren’t producing the results. Most of the top players who don’t want to come here seem to be sold on old Penrith connections with Ciraldo, and even Barrett, not on Gus.

it’s not Gus’s job to sit back and wait for players who want to come here. It’s his job to make players want to come here by selling the club and its vision.

I don’t think AFB went to Nulla because of money. He could have commanded just as much, or even more elsewhere.

Agree with you about Ciraldo. But his job isn’t easy if we don’t have dominant props.

Anyway, agree to disagree, fam. I respect your opinion, but personally, I’m not sold on Gus.

 

[DinkumDog]

Players meet with clubs they aren’t really interested in joining all the time in order to get a bit of publicity and a free feed while bumping up their price.

Why did the club meet with him? Because they were interested in signing him. Why did they claim they pulled out? Because they didn’t like his “attitude”. What is the most likely reason he would give off an attitude? Because he wasn’t really interested in joining.

Cronulla is a side on the up and have twice the pack we do. You really think they’d have signed him if he had such “a bad attitude”? Of course they wouldn’t. Gus didn’t like his attitude because he wasn’t keen on coming here and Gus was unable to sell him on it.

Oh, and it’s fine not to sign an “accountant” if you don’t think their values are aligned with your businesses values. But an “accountant” is a pretty important thing for a businesses to have, so if you pass on one who is so well regarded within their industry, you’d better find another top accountant to sign, or you’re just l going to look like you’re running a poor business that can’t attract a top line accountant.

You can talk down to and about us as much as you like, but common sense isn’t on your side..

Thanks Krusty, but allow me to point out your usual many failings:

1) The Bulldogs never gave a reason for not offering AFB a contract - so as usual you’re speculating to try to prove a point you never will be able to prove.

2) Cronulla are ‘on the up’ eh? Is that like how you predicted the Tigers would have a great season last year and whoops - wooden spoon. What about Papa Shane and his ability to attract top talent to the Steelers? How’s that going? Not so flash?

3) Maybe I believe my existing accountant is capable of meeting the brief so why am I going to drop $1m+ on someone who in your own words ‘doesn’t want to work for me’? Not a very smart business decision.

Hardly think you’re in a position to speak of ‘common sense’ flappy gums. But thanks for trying .

 

[Flanagun]

Thanks Krusty, but allow me to point out your usual many failings:

1) The Bulldogs never gave a reason for not offering AFB a contract - so as usual you’re speculating to try to prove a point you never will be able to prove.

2) Cronulla are ‘on the up’ eh? Is that like how you predicted the Tigers would have a great season last year and whoops - wooden spoon. What about Papa Shane and his ability to attract top talent to the Steelers? How’s that going? Not so flash?

3) Maybe I believe my existing accountant is capable of meeting the brief so why am I going to drop $1m+ on someone who in your own words ‘doesn’t want to work for me’? Not a very smart business decision.

Hardly think you’re in a position to speak of ‘common sense’ flappy gums. But thanks for trying .

1. The Bulldogs didn’t say anything directly about why they didn’t make an offer to AFB, but they did through their media mouthpiece Danny Wiedler.

2. No, I mean on the up as in made the finals two years running, have all the key positions covered, keep improving their roster and appear to be building to something. But congrats to you for highlighting an obvious troll thread I posted well over a year ago to deflect from a pretty evident truth.

3. If Gus and Ciraldo think our existing “accountants” fit the brief, they both need to be put out to pasture, because they nearly sent us bankrupt last fiscal year. They clearly don’t think that, because they met with AFB and have reportedly tabled an offer to May.

You really can’t just respond ro someone in a mature way without resorting to juvenile insults, can you? It would normally be annoying if someone did that, but your logic is so clearly flawed that I just feel sorry for you lol. Insults are all you have.

 

[DinkumDog]

1. The Bulldogs didn’t say anything directly about why they didn’t make an offer to AFB, but they did through their media mouthpiece Danny Wiedler.

2. No, I mean on the up as in made the finals two years running, have all the key positions covered, keep improving their roster and appear to be building to something. But congrats to you for highlighting an obvious troll thread I posted well over a year ago to deflect from a pretty evident truth.

3. If Gus and Ciraldo think our existing “accountants” fit the brief, they both need to be put out to pasture, because they nearly sent us bankrupt last fiscal year. They clearly don’t think that, because they met with AFB and have reportedly tabled an offer to May.

You really can’t just respond ro someone in a mature way without resorting to juvenile insults, can you? It would normally be annoying if someone did that, but your logic is so clearly flawed that I just feel sorry for you lol. Insults are all you have.

1) So what? Weidler gets his scoops from Gus. Gus must’ve wanted it out there we weren’t keen on AFB.

2) Troll thread - a habit of yours. Good-o.

3) Obviousjy. Gus has stated we’re looking for a middle. Despite his low value and likely appreciated cap saving, TPJ left a year early so there’s a gap to fill and not mich gap filler available. You guys seem to think you grab the last tube from Bunnings no matter the price but the rest of us think ‘Er, pay that much for gap filler when it could well just be painting over the cracks - didn’t we just do that with TPJ and Thompson? Maybe we should avoid that again and take our time to find a solid solution’.

4) You OK pumpkin? I love the ‘You just hurl insults!’ in the same breath as ‘Your logic is flawed!’. Same as you did for the ‘change the date’ stuff and same as you do always. Keep the hypocrisy in check or even better don’t engage with the righteousness and we’re good.

 

[Flanagun]

1) So what? Weidler gets his scoops from Gus. Gus must’ve wanted it out there we weren’t keen on AFB.

2) Troll thread - a habit of yours. Good-o.

3) Obviousjy. Gus has stated we’re looking for a middle. Despite his low value and likely appreciated cap saving, TPJ left a year early so there’s a gap to fill and not mich gap filler available. You guys seem to think you grab the last tube from Bunnings no matter the price but the rest of us think ‘Er, pay rhat much for gap filler when it could well just be painting over the cracks - didn’t we just do that with TPJ and Thompson? Maybe we should avoid that again and take our time to find a solid solution’.

4) You OK pumpkin? I love the ‘You just hurl insults!’ in the same breath as ‘Your logic is flawed!’. Same as you did for the ‘change the date’ stuff and same as you do always. Keep the hypocrisy in check or even better don’t engage with the righteousness and we’re good.

1. Yeah, Gus wanted it out there for a very good reason - to take the heat off himself when the news broke another key target had signed somewhere else.

2. An old habit… and it was a lot of fun. But name one I’ve started lately. Deflecting again.

3. just lol. AFB is one of the elite props in the game and you’re equating it to picking up the last tube at Bunnings.

4. I’m fine. I’m just pointing out that if you had better arguments, you wouldn’t have to resort to calling people clowns all the day. And pointing out holes in someone’s logic (which I only did after you once again insulted a group of forum members by calling us clowns) is not insulting someone. It’s addressing your arguments, not attacking you personally. If you don’t like people criticising your arguments and the logic behind them, I’d suggest you try coming up with better arguments.