Peter O'Sullivan Appreciation thread

mullenmagic said:
Yeah his job was done, all of those players needing upgrades and new contracts are just going to sort themselves out now. As we've all seen from the 20 years prior to O'Sullivan being here: identifying/signing elite talent and managing the salary cap are both extremely easy tasks that anyone can do.
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Yeah that's what I am concerned about, going backwards.

There's even a fair chance POS is just competent and very experienced. Unfortunately, in rugby league, that level of competency isn't that common and I think when you have it, you should hang onto it.

There's still clearly a lot of "jobs for the boys" going on at every level across the comp. I would hope the Knights are acting more professionally these days and don't just hand the job over to anyone to save a buck
 
Matt Lantry did a great job with Ball this year, working with a lot of the players POS had big hopes for - Winter, Hagan, Butler, Nonu, Wells, Bishop, McKey x 2 etc.
He quit Maitland after the local comp and said he's looking to work in an NRL system fulltime.
He's a very smart guy and has been working with POS.
Wouldn't hurt for him to send in his resume.
 
Awkward for Wilson de’courcey. The bloke who has been trying to get rid of you all year is about to walk through the door at your new club.

In all seriousness, this is a bad move for the club. An extra $150k to wrap him up without an obvious replacement seems like a really poor decision. The roster is arguably in its best shape ever.
 
It sucks and he'll be hard to replace, but there is a cap on staff salaries, and we went out and got some pretty well-credentialed staff to support Holbrook. So the money just might not have been there.

The club he's going to is one where they've had the same guy doing everything - pathways and recruitment - for ages. Might explain some of their more interesting decisions over the years.

Melbourne have had the highest paid coach in the NRL for years and years & have run the place on the smell of an oily rag around him. Ultimately the head coach is the most impactful guy. So this shouldn't destroy us if Justin is what he seems to be. Ultimately I don't think the turnaround this year happens with a different coach.

I honestly think POS' big advantage, besides his network of gambling buddies and all that, is that he's one of the few competent guys in a field full of morons. The best stuff he's done by far is securing young emerging talent to long term deals so we get them on the cheap in their first seasons with us... which is an obvious thing to do. Of course you do that. Begs the question "why don't other clubs do this?" and "why weren't we doing it?" Because they're stupid! Because we were stupid!
 
Seano said:
If you're worried AI will take your job, I asked it who the best talent spotters/scouts in the NRL are to replace POS, and it recommended Peter Mulholland, among others. Mulholland has done great work, particularly at the Raiders...but sadly Peter is not an option for the Knights, having passed in 2021.
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Gus will probably try to recruit him then. Think he's now running the whole club from Claude AI chat bot 🤣
 
Paraphrasing, but I remember Kade Snowden being quoted in the media as saying how pleased he was to re-sign with the club despite his "two clapped-out knees"....as long as we don't go back to those days, we'll probably be OK....I'm sure Parr is well aware that winning starts in the front office...and a recruitment officer who isn't a functional moron is probably pretty important.

Edit... I can imagine Hunt, Francis, Sharpe and Graham are all players the new Broncos' recruitment officer will have his eye on.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
It sucks and he'll be hard to replace, but there is a cap on staff salaries, and we went out and got some pretty well-credentialed staff to support Holbrook. So the money just might not have been there.

The club he's going to is one where they've had the same guy doing everything - pathways and recruitment - for ages. Might explain some of their more interesting decisions over the years.

Melbourne have had the highest paid coach in the NRL for years and years & have run the place on the smell of an oily rag around him. Ultimately the head coach is the most impactful guy. So this shouldn't destroy us if Justin is what he seems to be. Ultimately I don't think the turnaround this year happens with a different coach.

I honestly think POS' big advantage, besides his network of gambling buddies and all that, is that he's one of the few competent guys in a field full of morons. The best stuff he's done by far is securing young emerging talent to long term deals so we get them on the cheap in their first seasons with us... which is an obvious thing to do. Of course you do that. Begs the question "why don't other clubs do this?" and "why weren't we doing it?" Because they're stupid! Because we were stupid!
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Hard to argue, POS’s big splash wasn’t there for the big run.

To me, POS is best at just knowing when to fold. He gives players values and doesn’t waiver when they come back with a counter, ie Pahulu and Latu and even Mooney. Safe to say he got those calls right.
 
Yeah it's not *good* that he's going, but the job is easier when you have a clear foundation. Like on Melbourne - the team had Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater on it for 15 years. They only needed to recruit/scout for one spine position, and the rest of the job was just looking for a mix of work ethic and athleticism to fill out the roster. Then as their big three started to get long in the tooth, they brought in eager young guys with something about them, offering the cherry of the opportunity to learn under three of the best spine players ever and an all time great coach. They did a great, great job, no question, but they mostly just failed to **** up.

Is there any argument that a lot of our worst recruiting mistakes were in flailing around searching for *someone* who can play in the bloody halves? That's the hard part. That part is so hard. The majority of clubs don't have a good answer.

Anyone with a functioning frontal lobe will surely know that if you keep Ponga, Brown, Sharpe and your best middles into the 2030's, that's 80-90% of the job done. And two of the three guys named are signed to at least 2032 and beyond already. The hardest part, getting the spine talent in, is done already. We're looking for someone who can hopefully not **** it all up, rather than save us.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Yeah it's not *good* that he's going, but the job is easier when you have a clear foundation. Like on Melbourne - the team had Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater on it for 15 years. They only needed to recruit/scout for one spine position, and the rest of the job was just looking for a mix of work ethic and athleticism to fill out the roster. Then as their big three started to get long in the tooth, they brought in eager young guys with something about them, offering the cherry of the opportunity to learn under three of the best spine players ever and an all time great coach. They did a great, great job, no question, but they mostly just failed to **** up.

Is there any argument that a lot of our worst recruiting mistakes were in flailing around searching for *someone* who can play in the bloody halves? That's the hard part. That part is so hard. The majority of clubs don't have a good answer.

Anyone with a functioning frontal lobe will surely know that if you keep Ponga, Brown, Sharpe and your best middles into the 2030's, that's 80-90% of the job done. And two of the three guys named are signed to at least 2032 and beyond already. The hardest part, getting the spine talent in, is done already. We're looking for someone who can hopefully not **** it all up, rather than save us.
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Ehh, POS spoke at length about how out of whack our cap was when he came into the job. It wasn’t the middles, it was the forwards. We were paying hetherington, Elliot etc way more than their worth.

Agree though, the cupboard is stocked with talent right down now. We just need to be clever with resigning players at the right price. (Something I think POS does well)
 
Cap is a much better place than when he joined. We were paying Hastings nearly 800k to play reserve grade, Brailey 600k to be an okay hooker, and stuff like KPP on 700k for potential and to play under a coach that basically considered attacking football blasphemy.

Now how many duds do we have on the books with regards to their $$? Probably only Schiller, Kepaoa and... Niukore quite likely.
 
Disappointing to see POS leave but was inevitable as he never stays long at clubs. He stands out massively in being very competent compared to other recruitment managers.

But clearly he has left the club in a better place than he found it.

Obviously got DylBro to the club but also Sandon, Manuleulua, Graham and Mooney. While also setting the club pathways to hopefully stand the test of time. The first three blokes have all been very handy finds.

With the Mooney signing has aged well compared to most of the other middles he tried to sign apart from Colquhoun, Maiu'u hasn't even played first grade at Canterbury, Pahulu can't even crack the Storm side this year with all the outs and Finau Latu hasn't play first grade either.

I hope the Knights replace POS with someone is who competent and won't mess up the roster or pathways and not just pick someone because they are an old boy of the club.
 
Seano said:
Schiller and Kepa'oa were low-risk, high-potential-reward bets. Time is probably running out, but either could still crack it for a steady run in the NRL.

Niukore hasn't even walked in the door yet; I wish people would give him a chance.
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Problem with Schiller is we signed him to replace Dom, didn't we? Not saying he'd on the same wage, but I don't think he's some cheapie either, and it's clear he is very far down the outside back pecking order now.

Niukore I think we're all hoping to be pleasantly surprised.
 
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