Michael Gordon not wanted at Panthers

[Guest]

Id take James Graham in a heartbeat! Great worth ethic, and if it hasnt been said has won the prestigious Man of Steel award in 2008. He is class and would adapt quickly to the NRL.

The same man of steel award that Tulsen Tollett won? Please....

[Guest]

I almost fell off my chair when I saw this thread. If he is indeed available, we need to sign him IMMEDIATELY. I've been saying this for a while and I'll say it again, Michael Gordon would definitely bolster our backline with his pace and also his goalkicking. He is a great player and it's just plain stupidity on Penrith's behalf to get rid of him. I'll take him anyday of the week ahead of what we've currently got on our books.

I agree with you Mack, we need to look really hard into signing a front rower who can very big minutes. We seem to have the big front rowers with impact for short peroids but we now need a workhorse type of player to do a lot of the dirty work in the middle. We missed out on Aiden Tolman which is a real shame as he would have been ideal, but if we manage to snare James Graham from St Helens, we'll be very, very good next year. We should also be looking at young Martin Taupau from the Bulldogs. He gets through a mountain of work that kid and averages something like 200 metres a game in the NYC.

We should release Braith Anasta, Lopini Paea, Anthony Minichiello and Nick Kouparitsis. This would open up a bit more money to sign a decent centre as well which would be quite handy. I like the look of William Isa from the Storm, Dale Copley from the Broncos and even Joel Reddy from the Eels. Any one of these would be a handy buy.

I would love out side to look like this next season:

1. Luke Towers
2. Michael Gordon
3. Phil Graham
4. Joel Reddy
5. Sam Perrett
6. Todd Carney
7. Mitchell Pearce (c)
8. Jason Ryles
9. Jake Friend
10. James Graham
11. Tom Symonds
12. Mitch Aubusson
13. Nate Myles

14. Jared Wearea-Hargreaves
15. Frank Paul-Nuuausala
16. Anthony Cherrington
17. James Aubusson

BJ Leilua
Boyd Cordner
Mose Masoe
Daniel Fepulaei
Kane Linnett
Shaun Kenny-Dowall
Ben Jones
Martin Taupau
Fine Moeakiola
Daniel Conn
Martin Kennedy
Sam Brunton
Liam Foran
Ethan Lowe
Jason Baiteri
Brad Takairangi

[Guest]

I have a feeling James Aubusson, Nick Kouparitsas, Anthony Minichiello, Lopini Paea will be released at the end of this season, and rightfully so.

Jones should either be on the bench, or nowhere.

The core of 1. Towers/Dugan, 6. Carney, 7. Pearce, 9. Friend should be focused on from the moment next season rolls around - Smith needs to persist with it for as long as he can. We have what I consider to be an outstanding and seriously underrated backrow of Symonds and Aubusson who both can break the line, pass the ball well, and rack up tackles too, as well as Myles locking the scrum and providing some serious grit.

Hargreaves and Nuuausala are good players IMO, but are benchies at best right now, because they are still too young and raw to lead a pack. We need a centre, a winger, and a prop. Once we have those, we will be set for a long time.

[Guest]

The same man of steel award that Tulsen Tollett won? Please....

Ummmm No....

In the last 10 years it has been won by Sean Long, Paul Sculthorpe, Jamie Peacock, Andrew Farrell, Jamie Lyon, Brett Hodgon. It is the Dally M of the ESL, and although their competition may not be of the highest calibre, it still is a good indication of the class of player he is. Try again

[Guest]

Ummmm No....

In the last 10 years it has been won by Sean Long, Paul Sculthorpe, Jamie Peacock, Andrew Farrell, Jamie Lyon, Brett Hodgon. It is the Dally M of the ESL, and although their competition may not be of the highest calibre, it still is a good indication of the class of player he is. Try again

Ok he came 2nd one year. Its Adrian Vowles another world beater who won it. My point is that its a huge difference between NRL and Super League. Just ask Mark Edmonson.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Sorry Mike but if Inglis played fullback he would be the best fullback in the world. Dugan isnt fit to tie his shoelaces

I disagree completely.. Dugan would be a much better investment than Inglis at Fullback.. Much younger, more hungrier to acheive and half the pay packet plus imho, better positioning and a gutsier player.

[Cockadoodledoo]

On the reasonable assumption that Inglis would be asking $400k+, this is too expensive for a centre. You saw this with Saints and Gasnier, he was too expensive to justify playing at centre so they tried to make a 5/8 out of him and it didn't work.

There is a certain salary range that is reserved for 1, 6 and 7 and you can get in a lot of trouble paying big bucks for other positions.

Discuss.

and the rest under the table... $600k would be the absolute minimum.. I would reckon he would be on around $600K base at Melbourne.. plus the boat, car, holidays, whitegoods, renovations etc etc..

[Rooster_6]

Ok he came 2nd one year. Its Adrian Vowles another world beater who won it. My point is that its a huge difference between NRL and Super League. Just ask Mark Edmonson.

James Graham has proven himself on the world stage.

The gap isn't as large as people seem to think anymore... just ask Burgess and Gareth Ellis. England are fast catching up and Graham is arguably the best prop in the country if not the world, if we got him I'd be stoked.

Mark Edmenson played in a good side but was never good enough to even be considered for his country... the comparison is irrelevant. A much fairer comparison would be one Adrian Morley, someone who like Graham was well established in the English national set up before coming over to Australia.

[Guest]

Edmondson wasn't even good by Super League standards. He is the equivalent sort of signing as Jordan Tansey, Chris Thorman, and Mark Flanagan.

Morley, Ellis, Burgess are all current internationals. Graham, Peacock, Pryce and that monstrous bloke Crabtree would also be successes in the NRL, in my opinion.

Most of the GB halves and outside backs are pretty average IMO, but they have some seriously tough forwards.

[Guest]

But I thought we were signing Inglis?

[Guest]

I disagree completely.. Dugan would be a much better investment than Inglis at Fullback.. Much younger, more hungrier to acheive and half the pay packet plus imho, better positioning and a gutsier player.

I have seen Inglis play fullback many times and at 17 he was better than Dugan is now. And how do you fathom that Dugan is much hungrier to achieve? or has better positioing or is a gutsier player?? Have you ever seen Inglis play fullback?

[Guest]

I don't understand the need to dispute who is better out of dugan and inglis. We can have both unless you are happy to settle for crap.

[Cockadoodledoo]

I have seen Inglis play fullback many times and at 17 he was better than Dugan is now. And how do you fathom that Dugan is much hungrier to achieve? or has better positioing or is a gutsier player?? Have you ever seen Inglis play fullback?

Forget about Inglis at 17.. That no longer exists.. It is now fat bloated Inglis at 23... If he came to the Roosters he would just get fatter and bludge like most of our highly paid recruits.

[Juggler]

I don't understand the need to dispute who is better out of dugan and inglis. We can have both unless you are happy to settle for crap.

Either one will do! I'm not greedy!

[crikey chris]

Gordon would be a handy buy, and probably not that expensive.

He is quick and can kick goals too. We need speed!

Crikey.