Sione Mata'utia re-signs with the Knights

Sione is better than at least half of our present team. If we can't find a spot for him next year it means we have either signed 8 to 10 better players than we have now, of a heap of players have improved.
We'd need a salary cap of about 12 million if our 18th best was worth 500k.

Sione would not have signed for more than $300k next year his not a starter in any position.
 
It's hard to find players who have gone worse this year tbh member. Lamb certainly. Cogger, probably. Moga until his knee exploded although he was better in attack. Ross up and down. Buhrer and Lillyman have been sub par, but they didn't let in 20 tries either.

Hopefully his new contract says never to play centre again, and we see a much better Sione in 2019.
 
His last month of footy playing centre has probably been his best IMO. Damaging in attack and him and Watson swapping in the defensive line seems to have worked well
 
Sione is better than at least half of our present team. If we can't find a spot for him next year it means we have either signed 8 to 10 better players than we have now, or a heap of players have improved.
We'd need a salary cap of about 12 million if our 18th best was worth 500k.

If every player was interchangeable, you’d have a point, but Sione’s probably limited to centre or second row meaning there’s only maybe 5 openings in the 17 for him. Granted, he does have some versatility if coming off the bench. IMO, that maybe the ideal role for him. Bench backrower with some position flexibility.

But to further my point, he’s not better than Ramien or a healthy Moga, so he likely loses his centre spot. I guess they could move him back to second row full time, but we do have Fitzgibbon, Guerra and Barnett there. Again, possible utility off the bench? But there’s Levi and Buhrer is already on the outer for seemingly not having a true role or position within the team. I don’t think that would happen with Sione as they’ve just re-signed him, so they must have a plan, but still...

It wouldn’t take 8-10 new signings or huge internal improvements for him to not make the top 17. Very unlikely that ultimately happens, but if Moga returns healthy and we sign a backrower or Stone shows something to finish out the year, he could be fighting for the final 1-2 bench spots.

Also, if we paid $500K for Sione, we paid massive overs IMO. I’m far from a Sione hater, but he’s limited, doesn’t seem to have a true position and doesn’t necessarily possess any top tier traits. He’s kind of a jack of all trades, master of none type of player.
 
Brown pretty much confirmed Sione will play back row, that's his prefered spot so I'm guessing off the bench or covers for injuries now and to our centres as well.

He was moved for two reasons, injuries and his head knocks...

Ramien, Lee, Ross, SKD and maybe Fergo makes it hard for Ross, Sio and Sione to play 1sts
 
I hope I'm wrong but I get the feeling that Moga won't be back....

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If Griffin is out for 12 months then he is not back till this time next year and if we don't resign Buhrer maybe they will have Sione training in the off season for the same job Buhrer does back up everything ..
Levi will be starting so Sione could train as a back up hooker in the off season along with being back up for 2nd row , lock , centre , wing and F/b ...With a bit of training in the off season he could do alright as a back up hooker as well as the rest (good at everything master of nothing ).
If he can do that then 14 is made for him and he has played all the other positions he would only need to train at hooker , and im only talking about if Levi really needs a break or gets injured …
 
I'm a Levi fan but I reckon he played wounded against the Bulldogs. Didn't take them on like he usually does.
 
Hooker is a very specialised position. Sione couldn’t pick it up in an off season. Buhrer has been doing it for years and he’s still just good enough to be our second hooker.
Watson is our only real 3rd option at hooker after Buhrer. If we need a hooker it would be better to give Meaney a run at fullback and use Watson at Hooker.
 
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