Mini's replacement

[Pass the Ball]

I believe they will be very competitive. They have a solid forward pack with some very talented outside backs.

Throw in Slater, Cronk and Smith and you have the makings of a good team.

I do doubt their forward pack..

When they were the best team in the comp they boasted a back-row of Jeremy Smith, Ryan Hoffman and Dallas Johnson..

I guess only time will tell..

[Guest]

Do you base this on any precedent? I can't recall getting too much help from the NRL in the past... ever... Salary caps going up will just lead to player salary inflation so it will be pretty relative..

I don't necessarily base this on precedent which is why i said there is a fair chance the NRL may assist us. For memory though the NRL helped out in keeping Andrew Johns from going to rugby. It would be in the NRL's interests to have Beale come to league as it would drum up all kinds of good publicity for the game, especially if (and imo he will) he has a big year and stars in the rugby world cup at the end of this year. The way for the NRL to help would be to allow the Roosters to fill half of his contract with 3rd party deals that wouldn't count towards the cap.

To a degree yes the cap going up will lead to player salary inflation, but the great thing is, is that the Roosters are re-signing alot of our players now to long term deals, so for the first few years of the cap being higher (2013,2014) we can get away with not having to have those players wages go up with the salary inflation. Then that way the Roosters can afford to get a player like Beale or Dugan and keep basically all of our current squad.

[Guest]

I do doubt their forward pack..

When they were the best team in the comp they boasted a back-row of Jeremy Smith, Ryan Hoffman and Dallas Johnson..

I guess only time will tell..

Your right about the storm's forward pack not being the greatest, but they do have some really good young outside backs so they won't really miss GI too much.

The storm certainly won't win the comp, but with Smith, Cronk, Slater and Blair they should make the bottom half of the 8.

[Guest]

With Smith, Cronk and slater not making the 8 would be a major dissapointment.

[Spanner in the works]

Hypothetically if we were to get Beale or Dugan, who would you choose?

[Guest]

We can afford to keep both our current squad (minus a few like Graham and possibly mini) and get someone like Beale for next year by back ending his contract. The salary cap will go up significantly in 2013, plus there would be a fair chance that the NRL may assist us in getting Beale as we would be getting a star player from another code which can only be good for the game.

I really don't understand the continual talk of a salary cap rise helping us in a year or two. Debate the merits of the cap all you like but a general cap rise is simply inflationary across player payments.

In a nutshell, the cap goes up it goes up for all teams so makes it no easier to keep a squad together.

[Guest]

Your right about the storm's forward pack not being the greatest, but they do have some really good young outside backs so they won't really miss GI too much.

The storm certainly won't win the comp, but with Smith, Cronk, Slater and Blair they should make the bottom half of the 8.

I don't think the storm should or will be underestimated,there forwards are'nt lacking and there back line will surprise plenty of doubters. they have the best ingreadient for success, firstly coach ,culture,and a team that ticks all the boxes. I hope they get the spoon again, but that won't happen.doubters need only check out there team .

[Headless Chook]

I don't think Melbourne are a relevant example as they were massively rorting the salary cap.. Brett White was a journeyman origin player and Neilson was about 19 and a highly promising youngster.

Brett White was a reserve grader when he got to Melbourne, what I would call a journeyman and Dane Neilsen didn't play regular first grade till 2010 when he was 24 going on 25, he was hardly a fresh faced 19yo and is even described on Melbourne's website as a late bloomer

[Spanner in the works]

How far under the cap would we be at the time we need to sign a replacement? That's the real question.

[Rooster_6]

Will they let Mini go? He's got a 200k discount under the cap because of his loyalty... until someone can potentially take that over and Sammy P can't until 2013 then we wouldn't gain any money under the cap to sign a replacement.

[Spanner in the works]

You'd hope they wouldn't force him out. My biggest concern with him is his loss of pace reducing his ability to get into good positions both defensively and offensively. He nearly needs to move to the wing if that becomes the case. Aren't a few of our other guys coming up to the 8 year player allowance mark? I'm pretty sure Perrett is at that point the end of this year, while a few others aren't far behind.

[Guest]

i want to see mark kherrilah get a shot before mini retires at some point at best, this year. he has the pace, finishing ability and has been absolutely shredding up for newtown from halfback so he is an exceptional ball player as well. has the makings and the support so id like to see him in particular have a game there before we go looking for players from other clubs....

[Rooster_6]

Same as Towers, Smith hates small fullbacks.

[Spanner in the works]

I'm thinking no more bloody playmaker fullbacks. We've already got Anasta, Carney, Friend and Pearce. Mini just gets in the way at the moment.

[roostwin]

who ever Mini's replacement is bring him up next week.