I reckon all the guys you’ve said would all fit in I reckon.Ok so Douhie remains which I assume means Benji thinks he is in our top 17. I don’t like him as a centre because he does little to help those outside him and we can’t use his kicking game from that position.
as a half he is too slow over 10 meters and lacks finesse in his passing game.
i can see the idea behind using him as a 13 now that his atttiude in defence has improved and being in the middle limits his need for lateral movement. As a first receiver in attack that can push our halves wider where there skills are more useful (both Latu and Luai play like 5/8ths) and they can develop combinations with their 2RFs and centres. The key is that he needs his role to be defined and structured, receiving the ball in certain parts of the field with a certain purpose ie we need to develop a structure that matches his and Latu/luais games. That will likely take an off season to develop but it has the potential to work so now that he is here for a bit longer we need to find the system that makes it work. It also improves our bench options because douhie can cover the backline also and a prop can cover 13 if needed so it allows you more flexibility in bench choices. We still have a question of how to give Api a spell for 20min. Our recent recruits seem to be more rangy back row depth rather than small forward/hooker coverage. It is a cheap deal for the club though and all the other signings so far are depth so we should have good money to go after a starting prop.
off contract players we can target:
Keaon Koloamatangi (2026)
Tino (player option)
Nelson Asofa-Solomona (off contract at end of 2027 but has played a lot of NSW cup for storm and is on a giant 900k a year contract. I would guess storm would let him go and would have contribute a bit of his contract)
The key point being we are only a couple of players away from a genuine contender and we have Luai and Benji as big draw cards for the pacific island players.