Todd Carney

With how poorly Maloney ended the season (post Origin), I'd lean towards giving Carney a look on a much more moderate deal than agreeing to pay Maloney $1M.

I'm a big Maloney fan, but he ended the year playing so bad that it soured me on him. He was already ill disciplined and a poor defender, but he ended the year on a whole new low. He was targeted in defence and was a legitimate weakness out there leaking tries and line breaks. He was his usual penalty prone self and his kicking game and attack really dropped off. The way he ended the year, I wouldn't pay him anywhere close to $1M. You don't pay that for a player who's a liability defensively and extremely ill disciplined. Maybe it's the whole contract dispute and him being unhappy there, or maybe there really is something to the NSW Blues camp killing players (see Fifita). Either way, I'd rather be in on the Moylan sweepstakes or give Carney a look. Would be a lifeline contract for a smidge of the price and he'd have something to prove.

Not that I particularly think we need a half. Lamb should be a shoe in for the 7 jersey next year and by all reports, Watson has all but been handed the 6 jersey. IF we could land another quality half, I'd look to pair them with Lamb and have Watson starting hooker with Levi off the bench. You almost have to start Watson with him agreeing to jump ship next season and if not at five-eighth, it would have to be hooker with Ponga manning the 1 jersey. Watson and Levi at hooker would be a nice rotation, but one if not both those guys would probably be unhappy with only playing half a game (give or take). Watson would be spewing IMO, so likely not worth the headache unless the player is too good to turn away. Definitely Cronk, maybe Moylan – both of whom have next to no chance of coming to Newcastle anyway.
 
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Yeh pretty sure he was just trying really hard to be released.. He knows what we're offering and isn't happy with what the Sharks are giving him.
 
With how poorly Maloney ended the season (post Origin), I'd lean towards giving Carney a look on a much more moderate deal than agreeing to pay Maloney $1M.

I'm a big Maloney fan, but he ended the year playing so bad that it soured me on him. He was already ill disciplined and a poor defender, but he ended the year on a whole new low. He was targeted in defence and was a legitimate weakness out there leaking tries and line breaks. He was his usual penalty prone self and his kicking game and attack really dropped off. The way he ended the year, I wouldn't pay him anywhere close to $1M. You don't pay that for a player who's a liability defensively and extremely ill disciplined. Maybe it's the whole contract dispute and him being unhappy there, or maybe there really is something to the NSW Blues camp killing players (see Fifita). Either way, I'd rather be in on the Moylan sweepstakes or give Carney a look. Would be a lifeline contract for a smidge of the price and he'd have something to prove.

Not that I particularly think we need a half. Lamb should be a shoe in for the 7 jersey next year and by all reports, Watson has all but been handed the 6 jersey. IF we could land another quality half, I'd look to pair them with Lamb and have Watson starting hooker with Levi off the bench. You almost have to start Watson with him agreeing to jump ship next season and if not at five-eighth, it would have to be hooker with Ponga manning the 1 jersey. Watson and Levi at hooker would be a nice rotation, but one if not both those guys would probably be unhappy with only playing half a game (give or take). Watson would be spewing IMO, so likely not worth the headache unless the player is too good to turn away. Definitely Cronk, maybe Moylan – both of whom have next to no chance of coming to Newcastle anyway.

For Maloneys money we could get a very good prop, very good centre and probably a cheapish hooker with the change.
 
The thought behind throwing Carney a potential lifeline was based on him filling in a centre or utility role.

He'd be a solid backup half if needed, maybe slot in at hooker to give Levi a spell which would in turn free up Buhrer.

I'd always be nervous of his off-field problems, but one more indiscretion would end his career and he'd know that. Considering that he wants to come back to Australia and would come in cheap to get his foot back in the NRL this is his last chance.

Behavioral issues aside, it's a reasonable solution to the halves problem, wouldn't step on Lamb and Watson in the same way a Maloney or Cronk would, and it'd be cheap.
 
Don't see Carney as a centre at all. If he's signed, it's either for depth or to play in the halves. Think of the role Benji has had at Broncos.

I think all of this is a moot point as I can't see Brown going this route.
 
Yeh pretty sure he was just trying really hard to be released.. He knows what we're offering and isn't happy with what the Sharks are giving him.

I think you are on the money , Alex. Shark deserved what they got - Sharks offered Cronk $1M for BBQs job but already had BBQ for $600K and wouldn't budge, tried to play " hard ball " .

Not smart business decision considering the Sharks Club started instigated the "cronk proposal", even a piecemeal effort may have smoothed things over - Jimmy had about $400K a year reasons to teach them a lesson.

I have heard of bloke leaving/ sabotaging secure jobs for $2.00 an hour more from the opposition in the real world.

Now if you ask me whether Maloney is worth more than $600K , given his experience and influence on a game ( positive or Negative ) I say yes , with stipulations and KPIs attached eg; less missed tackles , less penalties , more line breaks , more try assists , more repeat sets from kicks.

Now that seems like a better business decision, based on Performance - Win, Win.
 
Now if you ask me whether Maloney is worth more than $600K , given his experience and influence on a game ( positive or Negative ) I say yes , with stipulations and KPIs attached eg; less missed tackles , less penalties , more line breaks , more try assists , more repeat sets from kicks.

Now that seems like a better business decision, based on Performance - Win, Win.

The question is who Brown would drop to reserve grade if we signed another half in the same pay bracket as Maloney. He wouldn't be signed as a backup on that money.

I know it's been said before that the way players shape up during the off-season plays a major part in the lineup come Round 1, but barring injury you'd expect Ponga to be fullback and Watson at 5/8.
Does Lamb deserve to be dropped, especially considering his form and apparent anointment as our long-term halfback?

There's undoubtedly some significant player movement coming after the finals wrap up, but after we signed Watson the odds of us continue chasing a marquee half lengthened.
If Cronk retires, I'm expecting either Maloney stays put or explores a swap with Moylan.
 
For mine if that scenario played out, Maloney 6 and Watson 7. Lamb would get reasonable NRL time as a backup and would learn a lot from Maloney.
 
Or if Lamb is killing it NSW Cup he could push Watson to fullback and Ponga to the wing or Watson to the bench.
 
For mine if that scenario played out, Maloney 6 and Watson 7. Lamb would get reasonable NRL time as a backup and would learn a lot from Maloney.

It'll be a tough one. Lamb would probably only get gametime if Maloney or Watson were injured, or maybe if some other spine players went down. It would be a lot easier if he didn't have that good patch at the end of the year. We shouldn't be falling to the demands of a 20-year-old kid with 20 games under his belt but after playing out this whole season in NRL & coming good at the end, he probably won't see himself spending a couple more years in reserve grade anymore. Unless Maloney only comes for 1 year, Lamb will need some good convincing to stick around for another year or 2 in Cup before Maloney finishes up. All a hypothetical at the moment though.
 
Lamb may also be considered as dummy half. Has been a great move for Bedsy, Smith etc coming from a half background
 
To the poster above who scoffed at Sharks offering Cronk $1M but not budging on Maloney's contract, I don't blame them. Cronk's easily worth $1M with everything he brings to the table. He makes everyone around him better. One of his greatest traits is his professionalism too, something Maloney should come under fire for if I'm to believe the posters who think he threw in the towel because of a contract dispute. I think he may have been unhappy, but I don't think that's remotely the case. Either way, with all of this contract speculation, it's a poor look for him. For the record, I love Maloney and thought he was arguably the best five-eighth at the beginning of the season, but with his form slump post Origin which stretched through to the finals, he doesn't deserve anywhere close to $1M.

As for the Knights spine discussion, I'm a big fan of Watson, but I genuinely think Lamb has a higher ceiling as a half than him due to his ball playing ability. If we signed a quality half, I'd be pairing him with Lamb and having Watson start hooker with Levi off the bench. Watson would look good at fullback, but until Ponga craps the bed, I'm giving him the 1 jersey to make his own and giving him a long leash to go with it. I think he has the potential to be one of the class fullbacks in the game.
 
To the poster above who scoffed at Sharks offering Cronk $1M but not budging on Maloney's contract, I don't blame them. Cronk's easily worth $1M with everything he brings to the table. He makes everyone around him better. One of his greatest traits is his professionalism too, something Maloney should come under fire for if I'm to believe the posters who think he threw in the towel because of a contract dispute. I think he may have been unhappy, but I don't think that's remotely the case. Either way, with all of this contract speculation, it's a poor look for him. For the record, I love Maloney and thought he was arguably the best five-eighth at the beginning of the season, but with his form slump post Origin which stretched through to the finals, he doesn't deserve anywhere close to $1M
Barge arse, I think you miss the point - if you have a successful key player why would you offer someone more $ to play the same position, doesn't really instill faith in your current roster.
If you have CAP money to throw around priority would normally be to shore up existing positions.

Professionalism does not necessarily equate to a bonus if the rest of the Roster doesn't buy in , stick with what works. The environment that Cooper comes from he has been apart of developing for a decade, will he be an instant success in a new environment and culture?

If you think for a minute that a footballers commitment or performances aren't subconsieciously effected during contract negotiations you don't know many footballers.
 
Barge arse, I think you miss the point - if you have a successful key player why would you offer someone more $ to play the same position, doesn't really instill faith in your current roster.
If you have CAP money to throw around priority would normally be to shore up existing positions.

Professionalism does not necessarily equate to a bonus if the rest of the Roster doesn't buy in , stick with what works. The environment that Cooper comes from he has been apart of developing for a decade, will he be an instant success in a new environment and culture?

If you think for a minute that a footballers commitment or performances aren't subconsieciously effected during contract negotiations you don't know many footballers.

I think you're missing the point. Cronk is a clear and obvious upgrade over Maloney and watching Sharks all year you could tell they weren't the same team as last year and would struggle to go back to back. Their roster needs a shake up and Flanagan identified that by reaching out to Cronk at the expense of Maloney who openly wants out for more money despite having another year left on his deal. I don't blame Flanagan for reaching out to Cronk and IMO he was right to not throw another $500K at Maloney with the way he finished the year playing. Not to mentioned he's already contracted at Sharks for 2018 and they have no obligation to upgrade his deal if they don't see fit. Being a professional and leader of the team, Maloney needs block it out and just play footy with the teams goal in mind (another grand final appearance). It appears he didn't do that and IMO he's a big reason for their demise this year (losing Ennis and Barba the biggest reasons). Would you pay $1M for someone who's apparently more driven by money than success despite already being under contract? I wouldn't.
 
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