We need a new 7 and 9.

[Ray Stehr]

I know it's not going to happen anytime soon but if we are to go to the next level that is what we need. Pearce and Friend have gone past their use by date, in fact Pearce is on the nose.

[Guest]

I think Friend is worse than Pearce but you may be onto something.

However, who are you going to sign? Options are slim to none.

Its like sacking Robbo. Sure and replace him with who?

[Lydon]

As you said it won't happen anytime soon,especially with Robinson as Coach..
Unfortunately his loyalty will come back to bite him soon enough

[Ray Stehr]

Cronk is available atm but it won't happen.

[Guest]

Could Cronk go for a two year deal?

[Steakface]

I know it's not going to happen anytime soon but if we are to go to the next level that is what we need. Pearce and Friend have gone past their use by date, in fact Pearce is on the nose.

Here we go.

Ray 'NIkorima is the next Freddy Fittler' Stehr.

If your opinion is that Pearce and Friend need to go, i'm inclined to believe the exact opposite!

At least give a rationale. Reasons. Evidence. Who would you replace them with? Why?

[Johnny.]

Could Cronk go for a two year deal?

2018 - Cronk
2019 - Cleary

[Parkway_Drive]

Im over them.as well, and there are some exciting possibilities from 2019 on.

I would get Cronk for a one year deal but its a pipe dream considering the players we had to release to accomodate Teddy. Cleary and Taylor are off contract end of 2018. I dont think we can get Cleary but i would go all out for Ash Taylor. Lachlan Lam and O'Sullivan are still a few years off playing good consistent fg. If we were to get someone of Taylor's quality and potential in 2019, I could live with another season of Pearce but Im over him staying longterm as our 7.

Friend needs a revamp starting with no longer the captaincy and starting to run from dummy half. He needs a stint on the sidelines each game. With the reduced interchange, I dont know how apart from resting him for the final 20-25 mins of the game and letting Radley finish the games.

By just passing the ball from dh as he just does now, opposition defences just run off the line and smash the reciever. If he could only have a decent deft kick lol.

[Ray Stehr]

Here we go.

Ray 'NIkorima is the next Freddy Fittler' Stehr.

If your opinion is that Pearce and Friend need to go, i'm inclined to believe the exact opposite!

At least give a rationale. Reasons. Evidence. Who would you replace them with? Why?

Don't you watch games?

[The Thracian]

Don't you watch games?

His surname is Pearce

[Steakface]

Don't you watch games?

Yes Ray Nikorima, I do.

I notice you didn't offer up any suggestions for a replacement 7 and 9 - not surprising.

And the bottom line is, we finished second in the regular season, and were a series of brain snaps away from a grand final.
Our club had a good season.

We have a bloody good team that has room for improvement. Wholesale changes, especially with Tedesco coming, is madness.

Pearce and Friend will be the 7 and 9 next year. Both are regarded as being in the top 3 in their position in the NRL, and both have almost a decade of playing together. There is no genuine reason not to persist with them and Uncle Nick and the coaching staff know that.

I think too many fans demand premiership every year without appreciating how lucky they are for having a team that is always in the mix for the title almost every year. Also too many fans searching and clambouring for reasons why we didn't win the premiership this year and coming up with some real pearlers that make little actual sense.

Bottom line is - if we cut out most of the errors and get completions above 80%, the title is ours given the talent we have in the squad.

[DP1990]

Viable option would be to get rid of Jake Friend, push Pearce into the #9 spot and wait for one of the following:

1. Let him retire at the Roosters (if he somehow has become a good guy on/off the field and stays that way).
2. Watch him sooner or later piss off to the Super League to finish up his career over there.
3. Or wait till he does something stupid so the club can sack him i.e. Australia Day 2016.

In the mean time the club should go to market for a #7 like Ash Taylor for example. I think the Broncos missed getting him since they got Jack Bird and he probably knows the Titans aren't going to be a premiership threat any time soon so he may need to take a page out of Ferguo's children's colouring book "join a club where it's possible to win a premiership". The young guns like Lachlan Lam and O'Sullivan are couple years off and as we all know first grade is a different beast, so they're going to have to be able to prove their worth down the track. See what happened to Jackson Hastings (obviously he had other internal issues as well) and Jayden NIkorima !?.

[Arties Pie]

Here we go.

Ray 'NIkorima is the next Freddy Fittler' Stehr.

If your opinion is that Pearce and Friend need to go, i'm inclined to believe the exact opposite!

At least give a rationale. Reasons. Evidence. Who would you replace them with? Why?

No disrespect to Ray here but they saying " Even a broken clock is right trwice a day" is true, you may not agree with him but that doesn't mean he's wrong either. Personally I think Pearce should have been punted after his last indiscretion and Friend just isn't a 80 minute player with his workload.

[milanja]

Brandon smith from Melbourne might be a nice signing.

[Steakface]

Viable option would be to get rid of Jake Friend, push Pearce into the #9 spot and wait for one of the following:

The young guns like Lachlan Lam and O'Sullivan are couple years off and as we all know first grade is a different beast, so they're going to have to be able to prove their worth down the track. See what happened to Jackson Hastings (obviously he had other internal issues as well) and Jayden NIkorima !?.

You've touched upon a really important point, which is that Pearce's head is called for every year. A HUGE number of fans on here were advocating for Pearce to be released not long ago and that the future was Hastings and Nikorima. Plenty of other examples too - a shiteload of people on here thought Gordon would be an awful signing. Plenty thought Keary would be a poor man's Maloney at best, but turned out to be our best player this year.

Bottom line is - SOME of the loudest voices on here don't know jack s**t about football. Which is why i really can't take anything some people say on here seriously. They get overly emotional because we don't win the premiership every year, then make ridicuoulous calls for key players to be sacked and replaced - usually without ANY analysis or reasoning other than "x is shit, we will never will a premiership with x in this position". FFS, at least try to develop a watertight case for your point of view.

Having said all of that, i really agree with you in terms of moving Pearce to 9. I've always thought the strengths of his skillset were a little better suited there.