Toohey's News

If Fletcher Sharpe didn't exist, and we'd signed Dylan Brown & say a Jamal Fogarty or Toby Sexton over the last couple of months, people would be feeling very positive. Even though that's an expensive spine, it's obvious how that would fit together.

If Kalyn had cracked the ****s at the end of last year and been granted a release, and this year we had Sharpe at fullback, the signing of Dylan Brown and, again, a capable 7 like Sexton, fans would be very pleased with that.

I daresay everyone would feel more comfortable with Phoenix at 9 in these scenarios as well. A 9 who doesn't have to worry about much beyond crunching defence and good service, a capable, vocal, unselfish general calling the shots, and two very dynamic & skilful x-factor players playing off the back of them. There would be, dare I say it, a bit of optimism about how it could fit together.

We've seen spines like that work great. Barba, Maloney, Townsend and Ennis. Tedesco, Keary, Old Cooper Cronk & Jake Friend. Reece Walsh, Ezra Mam, Adam Reynolds and the Billy Walters/Tyson Smoothy tandem. Ponga/Sharpe, Brown, Sexton, Crossland. If it looks like something you've seen before, it's easy to imagine it working again.

The reported plan of having Kalyn & Brown play "hybrid halfback" as we try to turn Fletcher Sharpe into a five-eighth is why everyone is nervous, and understandably so. The spine set up this most resembles, in all honesty, is Kini, Brimson, Campbell & an imaginary version of Sam Verrils who can bench more than 15kg, way more than it does Melbourne's "all fullbacks + Harry Grant" spine - we don't have Harry Grant, Munster has actually always been better at 6 don't @ me, and while he didn't find his feet instantly, Hughes looked better at 7 than he did at 1 quicker than people remember. Then you factor in a head coach who has had serious struggles with getting consistently good attacking output & isn't at this stage known for a lot of innovation...
 
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Defence wins games said:
first hand reports of players seen out and about at various venues “off their faces”,
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Been going on since the Joey era and probably well before, type of thing that should have been left in the 90's TBH, everyone knows it takes 2-3 days to recover from a heavy night on the drink (or in a 42 year olds case a week!)

Having KP and Mann leading the charge and our coach isn't shy of a big day in public either probably doesn't help...........
 
JOJO82 said:
The difference though is we have POS who is regarded as the best in the game.

If he can't build us a successful roster then seriously the club is a basket case and will forever be cellar dwellers.
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I'm certainly not convinced POS has the midas touch anymore. He started with a blank salary cap and the greatest coach of all time at the phins and they are running 12th. Melbourne Storm have gotten stronger since POS departed and the Warrior's apparently don't whisper his name, so not convinced...Time will be the judge of course. Who regards him as the best in the game, been making a living off the game the longest I would accept....
 
POS was by all reports THE key figure at the Storm in pushing the club to move Cooper Cronk to 7 to replace Matt Orford.

His key halves signings at the Roosters were Luke Keary, when Keary's value was at its lowest ebb, and James Maloney.

His last major recruit for the Warriors was current Dally M leader, Luke Metcalf.

Isaiya Katoa was regarded as a good but not *massively* hyped halfback prospect, POS signed him for $275K, and strongly pushed to the club brass that this was their long term halfback & they shouldn't be looking to make a marquee signing in that position. Katoa was the runaway winner of the league-wide "If you could pick one player under 21 to build a club around, who would you choose?" poll.

He had King-Togia signed for us till the Dragons desperately threw him in first grade and tossed him a bunch of money to get him to backflip during the cooling off period. He looked very comfortable in first grade in his chances so far and an immediate upgrade on their experienced #7 despite being listed as a #6.

No one gets it right every time but I think it's very unlikely any other "recruitment guru" has a better track record, especially with regards to halves. Probably unmatched in identifying which prospects are the real deal and which aren't, and which are being undervalued. Given we're a club which has historically struggled mightily in attracting halves, I say let the man cook.
 
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Oh wow. The Phins started from nothing and have just missed the finals twice. Many touted them for the spoon.

They've already transitioned from a roster that was stacked full of old talent (by necessity) with no marquee to a roster stacked full of young talent with an obvious marquee.

Also, POS doesn't coach them, and arguably the greatest coach of all time blew it last season (and gave the Knights a gift) when he dropped Katoa for the final two rounds.

Bennett may be the greatest of all time, but the back end of his career has been a history of leaving clubs in a mess. He's spent a long time living on reputation.

POS has hardly started at the Knights, and rebuilding a roster is not something that can be done quickly in the salary cap era.
 
Look at the Phins try scorers last night, other than Molo, they're all young blokes brought to the club by POS who will serve the Phins well for years to come.

  • Jamayne Isaako 11'
  • Jack Bostock 38'
  • Harrison Graham 46'
  • Herbie Farnworth 63'
  • Francis Molo 73'
  • Jake Averillo 76'
  • Kurt Donoghoe 78'
 
His lower grade recruiting is similar to Brian Smith.
He buys a lot of players with a long list of positives and some negatives that mean they are unwanted elsewhere. He gives them a chance, but is quick to cut them loose if they don't work out.
Like Brian Smith, he is looking for the odd Zeb Taia amongst a sea of Ben Taia's.
 
The Fins may have started the season slow but they’ve managed to beat the Panthers, Storm and Dogs. Everyone was banging on about the Dogs players out but the Fins were missing 6 starters as well and flogged them.

Their roster looks a lot more balanced than the Knights with plenty of depth also.
 
Newygirl said:
Their roster looks a lot more balanced than the Knights with plenty of depth also.
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And some people still don’t want to give POS a chance because he couldn’t recruit us a premiership side for next season with a badly damaged salary cap. It’s unbelievable.

It would be easy to recruit to the Storm or Roosters but his work at the Phins shows he clearly knows what he’s doing. When was the last time a roster actually kicked on after Bennett left?
 
If anything, you'd have to question the Phins' recruitment post POS with talk they're in market to bring George Williams back from the ESL as some kinda mentor to Katoa. Which I find bizarre, George should watch Isayiah play. The kid is already better than Williams has ever been in his career.
 
Billy said:
His lower grade recruiting is similar to Brian Smith.
He buys a lot of players with a long list of positives and some negatives that mean they are unwanted elsewhere. He gives them a chance, but is quick to cut them loose if they don't work out.
Like Brian Smith, he is looking for the odd Zeb Taia amongst a sea of Ben Taia's.
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100% his approach with forwards and outside backs. No shock he's keen to get Dom Young back and still happy for us to pay him a fair whack of money, despite the poor form at the Roosters. He'll always back the athlete with a few question marks over the safe mediocre guy.
 
Seano said:
If anything, you'd have to question the Phins' recruitment post POS with talk they're in market to bring George Williams back from the ESL as some kinda mentor to Katoa. Which I find bizarre, George should watch Isayiah play. The kid is already better than Williams has ever been in his career.
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Kodi Nikorima has been going good for them too, very comparable to Williams at the Raiders, so yeah it's odd. As far as mentoring Katoa goes, they're both equally capable of teaching him how to miss tackles I would have thought.
 
I'll also add: Had anyone on here heard of King-Togia, before we found out we were after him, and then he played for the Dragons?

I'd not heard anything about him. Mitchell Woods, Toby Rodwell, Coby Black, I can't stop hearing about them. King-Togia, no idea. But he looks like he'll be good.

Isaiya Katoa, the hype really started when people saw him in first grade.
 
Chaister said:
And some people still don’t want to give POS a chance because he couldn’t recruit us a premiership side for next season with a badly damaged salary cap. It’s unbelievable.

It would be easy to recruit to the Storm or Roosters but his work at the Phins shows he clearly knows what he’s doing. When was the last time a roster actually kicked on after Bennett left?
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I think POS did an incredible job considering how little time they had to prepare a whole new club.

I do however believe that the Fins benefit highly though just from their QLD location though. There’s still only two teams sharing the 3rd largest capital city. So they get to scoop up the players the Broncos and Cowboys can no longer afford.

Location is everything. Even the Tigers after 3 wooden spoons haven’t had much trouble recruiting. They’ve scooped up Panthers players
without paying insane overs. They’ve done it simply by virtue of location and having a coach that’s an attraction to young players.

To me that’s part of the Knights problem. Since it’s not a desirable location, we need to have a coach that can attract players. Can’t afford to have a coach everybody thinks is a joke and be a regional team as well. One of those things you can’t change, the other you can.
 
Seano said:
Oh wow. The Phins started from nothing and have just missed the finals twice. Many touted them for the spoon.

They've already transitioned from a roster that was stacked full of old talent (by necessity) with no marquee to a roster stacked full of young talent with an obvious marquee.

Also, POS doesn't coach them, and arguably the greatest coach of all time blew it last season (and gave the Knights a gift) when he dropped Katoa for the final two rounds.

Bennett may be the greatest of all time, but the back end of his career has been a history of leaving clubs in a mess. He's spent a long time living on reputation.

POS has hardly started at the Knights, and rebuilding a roster is not something that can be done quickly in the salary cap era.
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I would vigorously argue with you about Bennett being”the greatest coach of all time”
Agreed, he is a very good coach of very good players, but very ordinary with ordinary players.
The mantle of greatest coach has to go to guys who can take ordinary guys and turn them into a premiership team. The obvious standout for me is Craig Bellamy, who I am comfortable with that title.
 
Defence wins games said:
I would vigorously argue with you about Bennett being”the greatest coach of all time”
Agreed, he is a very good coach of very good players, but very ordinary with ordinary players.
The mantle of greatest coach has to go to guys who can take ordinary guys and turn them into a premiership team. The obvious standout for me is Craig Bellamy, who I am comfortable with that title.
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Warren Ryan mentioned last year Bennett needs the best players around him and keep them happy to be able to win.

Bellamy is more of a teacher of footballers as we've seen over the years.
 
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