Player contracts

[Guest]

Krisnan Inu - born 1987

Off-contract - 2010 - http://news.smh.com.au/sport/grand-f...0122-1ne7.html

2007 - debuted Rd 4, dropped from Rd 5 to Rd 7, then played Rd 8 to Rd 28

20 games (10 at centre, 10 at wing), 12 tries, 17 linebreaks, 2 linebreak assists, 6 try assists, 13 offloads, 86 tackle breaks, average 11 runs for 108 metres, 31 errors, kicked 37/45 goals (82.2%)

2008 - missed Rd 2 to Rd 11 with injury

16 games (15 at centre, 1 at wing), 7 tries, 13 linebreaks, 4 linebreak assists, 5 try assists, 22 offloads, 53 tackle breaks, average 12 runs for 106 metres, 28 errors, kicked 15/19 goals (78.9%)

2009 so far - dropped from Rd 7 to Rd 9, dropped from Rd 12 to Rd 13, missed Rd 15 and Rd 17 with injury

18 games (17 at centre, 1 at wing), 6 tries, 7 linebreaks, 6 linebreak assists, 4 try assists, 38 offloads, 66 tackle breaks, average 12 runs for 103 metres, 21 errors, kicked 5/7 goals (71.4%)

[Guest]

Michael Gordon - born 1983

Off-contract - 2010 - http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23210,00.html

2006 - debuted in Rd 8, played Rd 8 - Rd 26

18 games (17 at wing, 1 at centre), 11 tries, 16 linebreaks, 0 linebreak assists, 3 try assists, 5 offloads, 64 tackle breaks, average 8 runs for 73 metres, 16 errors, kicked 7/10 goals (70%)

2007 - missed Rd 12 with injury, missed Rd 16 to Rd 17 with injury, missed Rd 21 to Rd 22 with injury

19 games (15 at wing, 2 at centre, 2 at fullback), 9 tries, 12 linebreaks, 1 linebreak assist, 0 try assists, 9 offloads, 86 tackle breaks, average 9 runs for 92 metres, 23 errors, kicked 57/74 goals (77%)

2008 - missed Rd 1 to Rd 2 with injury, missed Rd 11 to Rd 18 with injury

15 games, 11 tries, 12 linebreaks, 2 linebreak assists, 1 try assist, 9 offloads, 65 tackle breaks, average 9 runs for 73 metres,16 errors, kicked 38/46 goals (83%)

2009 - missed Rd 8 to Rd 18 with injury

14 games (13 at wing, 1 at fullback), 3 tries, 5 linebreaks, 1 linebreak assist, 1 try assist, 14 offloads, 45 tackle breaks, average 11 runs for 92 metres, 12 errors, kicked 57/61 goals (93%)

[stsae]

Thanks MackDaddy.

[Guest]

Other speedy goalkicking backs are Denan Kemp (off-contract, released by Warriors), Kevin Locke (not sure about his contract) and Joseph Tomane (signed with Titans).

There are also some fast, try-scoring goalkickers in the U20's, such as Taiaolo Vaivai (Souths centre), Jake Mullaney (Tigers fullback), Gareth Widdop (Storm fullback), Mitch Porter (Manly winger), Peter Mata'utia (Knights winger), Nathan Gardner (Eels winger - signed to Sharks next year) and our very own Luke Towers (fullback).

[stsae]

We need 2 players out wide with pace, a goalkicker and a hard expierenced prop to lead the forwards around IMO.

[Guest]

I don't mind SKD or Earl on one side of the field, we can direct all the high balls that way, but on the other side of the field, I would definitely like a goalkicking winger like Kemp, Gordon, Locke or Tomane. Or if not, maybe Inu as the strike centre and kicker.

I don't think we need a prop (Myles/Paea/Nuuausala/Hargreaves/Waqa/Kennedy) but we do need a defensive, tough backrower with a high workrate. Waterhouse would be nice.

[stsae]

I don't mind SKD or Earl on one side of the field, we can direct all the high balls that way, but on the other side of the field, I would definitely like a goalkicking winger like Kemp, Gordon, Locke or Tomane. Or if not, maybe Inu as the strike centre and kicker.

I don't think we need a prop (Myles/Paea/Nuuausala/Hargreaves/Waqa/Kennedy) but we do need a defensive, tough backrower with a high workrate. Waterhouse would be nice.

IMO Paea, FPN and Waqa are all too similar and we seem to struggle when 2 are on the field at once. Theyre quiet blokes, we need a carnt who the opposition fears.

Kennedy and Hargreaves are too young to lead.

Nate could do it but he cant do it alone.

I reckon if we fix the centres Maubs will become our Ricko in the middle.

[Guest]

Honestly, I would like to see next year:

Myles and Paea starting up front, being interchanged Waerea-Hargreaves and FPN respectively, so that we always have an enforcer and an explosive prop on the field at the same time. Starting with the two most experienced blokes is the way to go.

Mitch Aubusson at lock, playing the David Stagg sort of role as a mobile, tackling support player.

Symonds to play the Flannery role, come off the bench, hit holes on the fringes.

Friend and Jorbs to rotate as necessary.

Mason to start as one backrower.

That leaves one spot open, for whoever can replace Fitzgibbon. I wouldn't use Kouparitsas, Cherrington or Sa, all have low defense workrates. The Cordner brothers and Ethan Lowe are FAR too young at the moment. Daniel Conn and Aiden Guerra are unproven. Martin Kennedy maybe? He has been playing as a workhorse backrower for the past few weeks in the U20s, maybe they are grooming him for the role.

Myles
Friend
Paea
Mason
Kennedy
Morbs

Jorbs
Symonds
JWH
FPN

Not TOO bad, I must say.

[stsae]

Not too bad Mack but very green IMO.

And if/when Nate gets injured or suspended again we lack any genuine grunt. Look at all the top sides, you need at least two carnts in the pack.

I couldnt see that pack worrying many teams.

Also Jaubs I cant see a spot for, as yet hes failed to really deliver much at all. I like Jones as the utility. He can fit in almost anywhere and get a job done. We havent seen it happen yet but I still believe hed be great at stages of games at 9 to add real impact.

Will be very interesting to see what Smiff does.

[Guest]

Agreed.

I would dearly love to trade Mason for having Fitzgibbon and Harrison back.

We have plenty of big explosive forwards like Mason...Cherrington looks a LOT like a young Mason in build, as does young Masoe. Fitzgibbon and Harrison would provide the defensive solidity that would allow these young kids, as well as Paea and Nuuausala, the freedom to run riot with yardage.

Terrible retention plans re: Mason. His backloaded contract cost us a tackling lock (Harrison), a workhorse forward (Fitzgibbon), a ballplaying backrower (Tupou) and a goal-kicking try-scoring winger (Roberts or J Williams).

I'm not fussed about Shillington, Shackleton, L'Estrange, D Williams or Soliola too much, but the ones above were the bad losses.

[Guest]

Yea I agree with the sentiment of the last few posts. Harrison back would be nice. I think mase should be shed and myles should move into the backrow. Ideally I would like to see a side like this:
1. Perrett
2. Lowe (Drury)
3. Maubs
4. Williamson
5. Mini
6. Anasta/Carney
7. Pearce
8. Rapira
9. Friend
10. Douglas
11. Myles
12. Symonds
13. Harrison

14. Paea
15. FPN
16. Cherrington
17. Jones

Yes lots of changes but realistic, I believe so. The funds that soli, sa, mase and omeley would free up would be plenty to pick up douglas, rapira, harrison and lowe and then it would become a choice between anasta and carney with the funds of anasta covering carney well and truly as I think anastas place is 5/8 or nowhere.

The only person there that we would never be able to sign is harro because of his age. I see conn as a good stop gap at lock for the time being. In a couple of years then we can shed paea from the forwards to accomodate JWH or Masoe and Harrison/Conn from lock to accomodate cordner. Cheyse blair has maubs centre spot when he is ready to take it and moeakiola, SkD or Waqa can battle it out to replace mini down the right.

Its jurastic changes but thats a well balanced side that we could accomodate if we spent our funds wisely.

[Guest]

Yea I agree with the sentiment of the last few posts. Harrison back would be nice. I think mase should be shed and myles should move into the backrow. Ideally I would like to see a side like this:
1. Perrett
2. Lowe (Drury)
3. Maubs
4. Williamson
5. Mini
6. Anasta/Carney
7. Pearce
8. Rapira
9. Friend
10. Douglas
11. Myles
12. Symonds
13. Harrison

14. Paea
15. FPN
16. Cherrington
17. Jones

Yes lots of changes but realistic, I believe so. The funds that soli, sa, mase and omeley would free up would be plenty to pick up douglas, rapira, harrison and lowe and then it would become a choice between anasta and carney with the funds of anasta covering carney well and truly as I think anastas place is 5/8 or nowhere.

The only person there that we would never be able to sign is harro because of his age. I see conn as a good stop gap at lock for the time being. In a couple of years then we can shed paea from the forwards to accomodate JWH or Masoe and Harrison/Conn from lock to accomodate cordner. Cheyse blair has maubs centre spot when he is ready to take it and moeakiola, SkD or Waqa can battle it out to replace mini down the right.

Its jurastic changes but thats a well balanced side that we could accomodate if we spent our funds wisely.

Agreed. That's a very well-balanced side except Carney I think. We've got Anasta who plays five-eighth and is on a huge salary, so I want to know who made the decision to buy Carney and not keep Fitzy, or at least sign a working backrower, much in the same mould as Fitzy.

A player like Douglas would be a great acquisition to our side now that O'Meley has left. Harrison is playing some wonderful footy and we certainly miss his contribution in our side right now. We have definitely got too many impact forwards, we lack real toilers like Harrison, Dallas Johnson etc.

Roz, what are your thoughts on our best up and coming kids such as you've mentioned, Blair, Moeakiola, Cordner, Masoe etc. and throw Towers into that list as well?

[Guest]

As far as I am concerned, this is what our team next year looks like (including where we are lacking, etc):

1. Anthony Minichiello
2. Sam Perrett
3. **Mitch Aubusson
4.
5.
6. Braith Anasta/Todd Carney
7. Mitchell Pearce
8. *Nate Myles
9. Jake Friend
10.
11.
12. *Nate Myles
13. **Mitch Aubusson

14. James Aubusson (I would have had Ben Jones, but his defensive deficiencies are currently glaring)
15. Tom Symonds (great player, but at this stage of his career should be used as a bench impact player)
16.
17. FP Nuuausala


* - we must sign a workhorse, toiling forward that can cover Fitzgibbon's workrate, before next season. If it is a prop, then Myles can slot into the backrow. If it is a backrower, then Myles can play at prop. Either way, Nate needs a high workrate partner like Fitzgibbon.

** - Mitchell Aubusson can slot in where we need him. If we cannot find ourselves a relatively established centre option before next season (no point playing two rookie centres) then Mitch should play in the centres to provide stability. However, if we can pick up a solid centre that has experience and ability, then we could shift Mitch to his more preferred and natural lock position, where we have no good options for next year

-------

Problem 1 - Willie Wanka

The way I see it, Mason has disgraced the jersey. It made me literally sick watching him the past few weeks dog it on the field, and then talk it up off the field, get all chummy with Bulldogs fans and all that garbage. Nate did something wrong, but at least he puts in consistently on the field.

Problem 2 - Reserve-grade standard players

Kouparitsas and the newly signed Conn are Jets standard reserve-graders, and you can add Sisa Waqa, Iwi Hauraki, Riley Brown, Rohan Ahern, Matthew Hall, Tu'u Maori, Smith Samau, Stanley Waqa, Sonny Tuigamala, Ray Moujalli and Khalid Deeb to that list. They simply haven't shown that they are up to NRL quality footy, and to think that 9 of these players played for us this year, not including Jordan Tansey, and the horribly out of form Soliola.

Problem 3 - Out of form players

Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Anthony Cherrington, Setaimata Sa, Ben Jones and Lopini Paea have all shown that they CAN handle themselves in first grade, but their form this season has been inconsistent, and at times downright awful. I would keep these five in the top 25 squad without a doubt (assuming they are remaining with us next season), but I think they need to be forced to work for their spots again, through the Newtown Jets. We need to be more ruthless with these blokes - if they aren't willing to work hard to earn their spots again, and have a cry about being dropped, then give them the punt!

Problem 4 - one too many halves

Braith Anasta is NOT a lock, contrary to some belief. The best teams in the modern game use their lock-forward as a strong defensive tackler who can control the ruck and allow the bigger men to have more petrol in the tank for big hitups and more longevity on the field. Having Braith at lock will not only mean that the others will be making more tackles than they should have to, but ALSO it will cause confusion with Braith, Pearce, Carney and Friend all on at the same time.

Problem 6 - our recruitment?

No problems with retention, we re-signed plenty of young talent this season. However, as for our signings, well the aside from Conn (who I already covered), Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (Manly NYC) is the only one with any NRL experience. He looks a huge talent however. It is too early to judge on Aiden Guerra (Storm), Steve Naughton (Raiders NYC), Brad Takairangi (Rabbitohs NYC) or Kane Linnett (Dragons NYC). But the issue is that these are all kids. We are losing some experience, and replacing them with kids. Someone needs to get in O'Sullivan's ear and tell him that you don't need to sign kids from out of nowhere and turn them into stars to make a good team. We are missing a moderately experienced centre with pace, mobility and try-scoring ability, and one or two forwards who are relatively experienced and have been proven to shoulder heavy workloads and pick up the slack after Fitzgibbon's departure.

Problem 7 - NYC graduates

Sandor Earl, Martin Kennedy and Mose Masoe are all NYC graduates moving into our top 25 next season, with all having brief tastes of first-grade (or none, in Masoe's case) and I think that they will all be tested out thoroughly next season to see whether they are worth persisting with in the long term, the way that Stanley Waqa, Rohan Ahern and Matthew Hall were tried and tested this year. We must work out why the ones we kept from last season failed, while Wintersten and Tamou flourished at other clubs I hope Towers is staying, but I doubt he is that stupid.

Problem 8 - ATTITUDE

On and off the field, attitude is one of the more important things. On the field, it is about never giving up or folding under pressure, staying focused on the games and sticking to set strategies that can adapt the the uptempo nature of the game whilst providing plenty of attacking opportunities and playing an exciting brand of footy. Off the field, simply staying out of trouble, giving the fans plenty of input, holding events, showing that these blokes CAN be role models.

Please Smithy...we need some changes ASAP...

[Guest]

Deeb and Moujalli played a combined 20 minutes of first grade. How can you call them reserve graders based on that ?

Then you go on and list that SKD and Sa belong in the team ? Sa is gone so i don't need to say anything about him, however SKD is pure garbage. There isn't coaching that will fix him. HE doesn't posses basic skills that any kid picks up when he is 15 years of age.
He has size but doesn't use it, i'll add that to the fact that he doesn't have proper tackling technique.
Fanboys will tell me to perservere with him, and to them i will tell you that he will bring you more rocks than diamonds for many years to come. I asked for him to be dropped near the start of the year but the fact that he gets on the board gave him a free pass.
Now we have a winger who is on top of our team in terms of error rate and with the few close finishes we have had this season THAT COST US THE GAME.

[Guest]

Agreed. That's a very well-balanced side except Carney I think. We've got Anasta who plays five-eighth and is on a huge salary, so I want to know who made the decision to buy Carney and not keep Fitzy, or at least sign a working backrower, much in the same mould as Fitzy.

A player like Douglas would be a great acquisition to our side now that O'Meley has left. Harrison is playing some wonderful footy and we certainly miss his contribution in our side right now. We have definitely got too many impact forwards, we lack real toilers like Harrison, Dallas Johnson etc.

Roz, what are your thoughts on our best up and coming kids such as you've mentioned, Blair, Moeakiola, Cordner, Masoe etc. and throw Towers into that list as well?

The reason why I have been reluctant to say buy this guy and that guy and have put so much thought into who i say we should and shouldnt buy is because i dred us going out and purchasing a side and letting the young talent go to waste. The doubters can doubt and harass all they like but I know these youngsters have something special. The side I see taking the field in a few years time looks something like this:
1. Pez
2.
3. Blair
4. Williamson
5. Moeakiola
6. Carney/Miller
7. Pearce
8. Myles
9. Friend
10. JWH
11. Leilua
12. Cordner
13. Maubs

14. Masoe
15. FPN
16. Cherrington/Symonds
17. Jones

As you can see, what we need is a fast and young winger. A few middle aged forwards for experience and to bridge the gap os also perfect. To answer your question footy, the blokes I have included in the side above that havent debuted before I hold in very high esteem including towers. I think towers has the potential to be a really top quality first grader. Just needs some time and coaching.