I can’t see any way they’ll get better.So Stef's gone early, Bateman's gone early, Ice has gone early, Farah's gone early, Galvin seems to be here for the short term and the club is staring at a third consecutive wooden spoon with a current points differential of -219. Can somebody please give me some hope for the future, particularly if Marshall is retained as head coach? Anybody?
I actually think things are going to get worse.
Cap compliant:
1. Bula
2. Taruva
3. makasini/douhie
4. Olam
5. JAC
6. Galvin
7. Luai
8. welsh
9. api
10. NAS
11. S Fainu
12. Cartright
13. Pole
14. TDS
15. s Fainu
16. Seyfarth
17. Klemmer
think stef might end up at Penrith
we should sign horsburgh and Welsh maybe look at Wilson from Brisbane
And maybe we should have a look at Kleese Haas.
And maybe we should have a look at Kleese Haas.
I dont mean any disrespect Kenny, just picked your post to reply, but I see a lot of posts saying "we should look at.....what about....".
IMO we are in the terrifying situation where it doesnt matter who we "look at" they are not going to look back. A Klees Haas would kill his career coming here.
I genuinely dont know what the answer is. Typically in this situation it would be to look to developing youth, but the good young ones we have are already eying the exit and good kids coming through are already looking to where their careers will grow, not wither.
We are going to be putting a lot on Luias shoulders.
@tiger5150 As much as people might deny it, putting Luai or any other champion player into this team will make little to no difference. Our pack is weak, our backs are small and slow, and we are not well coached or well conditioned.
For us to have any chance of moving off the bottom, we need to, with the exception of a few players, COMPLETELY overhaul our roster. Richo saying at the beginning of the year that we had 80% of the squad settled, was in hindsight a ridiculous comment.
To'a, Staines, Twal, Klemmer, Bateman, Naden, Sullivan, AD, Sezer, Alaimalo, Fa'atape, Tumeth, Porter etc ALL need to be moved on. I haven't said Seyfarth because he'd be a handy reserve grader and isn't on much coin. The rest are unsalvageable.
And obviously, Marshall needs to go now and have him replaced with Brad Arthur. Every other team would make that decision if they were in our position, and if we don't it shows that our admin are no different to previous admins.
It's time to make decisions without fear of how it will be perceived. We are on deaths door as a club and we need a complete turnaround now. Continuing on with the direction we are going will kill the club.
This all comes down to the vision Benji and Richo can sell to potential players that we may target. The story will include Luai, Turuva, Samuela, Api, Bula and perhaps Galvin (assuming reports about the mid season rubbish was all his manager). It will not include Bateman and Ice and now Stefano. It will include the pipeline of young players we have coming through that have now had a good taste of first grade, including a couple of wins with a side heavily weighted with juniors.
I get the feeling that Stef's performances over this season and especially since he announced he was going to market are on the nose with the coach and management. I feel like we have dodged a bullet with Stef, he has shown he is not a Pack leader and i would only want to offer that sort of money and contract duration to an inspirational prop that can lift the whole team and Stef is a quality middle but he isn't that guy.
I'm pretty sure he will end up at the Dogs as they are desperate for a big middle forward (probably more than we are) so they would be paying him good coin whereas the Storm would not be. It has also come to light that he shopped himself a few times to the Roosters and I assume if thats the case than probably the Panthers as well. It will however mean that the dogs need to shed a few players to make way for him and this may disrupt the cohesion they have built to deliver what they have this year. So in summary good luck to him and over to Richo and Benji to spend the $2m war chest. I would upgrade Pole and sign Sione for 2 more years and Porter. I would invest heavily in the development of Jordan Miller, Kit Lualilii and Tim Johannsen. There are some real prospects in the juniors and we may not have to look outside the club if they can be fast tracked and the likes of Seyfarth and Twal can step and Porter and Sione continue to build.
as a footnote i would not be surprised if Bunnies don't swoop in and sign Stef.....the whole thing smells a bit of Wayne. If it was the dogs or Storm I would have expected an announcement, the reality is that neither probably have the cap space easily available next year so they are probably trying to get the deal signed by the NRL with the commitment to move players on, Souths however have Tom Burgess, Cook and potentially Ilias' money to play with and are short a Middle forward once Tom moves on at the end of the year.
To'o being shopped according to Weidler. Make it happen Richo.
To'o being shopped according to Weidler. Make it happen Richo.
a bit weird. I guess they have plenty of good young kids. I would take Too
would take To'o for sure, friend with turuva and luai would start our sets off well.
Get To'o, replace Benji with BA, get RCG and Paulo for the middle and we're already a much much better team.
Mate stop banging on about getting BA he had 10 years at parra got into one GF yet after 22 games you want to get rid of Benji. You and others have gone on about never following through on plans 22 games in you want to change again. How is getting rid of Marshall now going to help us and make us look to potential recruits. BA is not the answer not even closeGet To'o, replace Benji with BA, get RCG and Paulo for the middle and we're already a much much better team.
lets not forget the quality of the squad BA had for those 10 years, they should have performed much better than they did. A bit like Robbo at roosters, has had a premiership winning squad for al bar maybe 2 of the years he has been in charge and generally underachieved in my opinion.Mate stop banging on about getting BA he had 10 years at parra got into one GF yet after 22 games you want to get rid of Benji. You and others have gone on about never following through on plans 22 games in you want to change again. How is getting rid of Marshall now going to help us and make us look to potential recruits. BA is not the answer not even closeGet To'o, replace Benji with BA, get RCG and Paulo for the middle and we're already a much much better team.
We shouldn't really be judging Benji on the crap roster he has for the most part inherited. I give him till mid season 2025 and if we are not better and by that i dont necessarily mean top 8 (depending on who we get between now and then) than i will jump on the lets blame Benji bandwagon.
Need to make sure we get the priorities right going into 2025, and optimising the window of opportunity that once in a generation players like Api and Jarome and the best of our juniors provide. For me they are:
- balance of season 2024 and offseason
I suspect we are trying to avoid another spoon but what’s more important is generating some momentum and avoiding entering the offseason as a shitshow. I’d drop Stef, Ipap, Klemmer and anyone who isn’t core going forward to the Magpies, and give more time to the cubs in 1sts to build their experience. We won’t win games but it will send a signal that the players who’ve put in will be rewarded and the club is serious about developing players.
I’d rest Olam for the rest of the year and have him firing for the start of preseason. Jordan Millers fitness worries me, so I’d increase his minutes for the rest of the year and then get him on a program to lose at least 5 kegs over the offseason.
- Coaching
Benji never had a decent apprenticeship as an assistant coach and didn’t always make good game management decisions as a player. He might get better with time as a head coach, but I think it’s more likely that he will fail. Getting a top notch experienced assistant is the right move, but I’d have Benji on notice that he needs to deliver in 2025 irrespective of his contract length. I don’t think sacking him now is the answer, the optics would be bad given the roster, club legend, injuries etc, and Richo backed himself into a short term corner with his support earlier in the year.
It would be worth approaching Brad Arthur as an assistant - he might back himself if he holds the same view on Benji. He could duke it out with Johnny Morris for the head role, but it’s inevitable that another first grade coach will be available through 2025. Plenty of options here and 12 months gives time for Richo to develop an elegant exit plan for Benji if needed.
- Roster
Agree with others that we’ve dodged a bullet with Stef. It’s great that Richo made it public that we will have $2m to spend, we should get plenty of decent experienced players putting their hand up for some of that and continue the clean out, plus upgrade the best of the cubs.
My goss is that he is not happy with his contract and believes the Panthers have short changed him....also wonder if this might be connected to a Stef move to the Panthers....i still get the feeling that dogs and storm may not be in the box seat. Also if he reached out to the Roosters he sure as hell reached out to the Panthers and things have been very quiet on that front, yet we know they still need to replace Fisher Harris.To'o being shopped according to Weidler. Make it happen Richo.
