Toohey's News

If we’ve got the money pay him what he is worth, he is our best 2nd rower and in out top 2 centres when Gags is gone, feel he is a Newcastle Knight and will stay if offer is close, $100,000 or less. He would be silly to go to the new BIG money clubs who will be at least 5 years away from achieving success. I think he wants to check the offers to see what he can get and then negotiate with Knights.
I don’t want us to loose him
 
bremsstrahlung said:
Listened to a pod a while ago, and they reflected on the moment Panthers players announce they are leaving - their teammates celebrate their new contract - bigger $$ than what the club could have given them. Also that’s part of them selling the club to younger players - do your time here, we will improve you, and you can move on to your big money afterwards.
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I’m sure they clapped hard for Luai as no one was giving him what the Tigers and now PNG were offering.
 
It all depends on what we have to pay, if we have a spare sat $1m no problem but if we only have $800k then it will be up to him, does he want to be a Knight or chase the money
 
20/5

Knights are in talks with Baxter Best, Bradman’s younger brother. Currently part of the Broncos system after relocating there with the rest of the family a few years ago. 3 or 4 other clubs are after him as well. An 18-year old centre/wing/fullback by the sounds.

Spinning off from the above - Toohey says it’s a good sign for Bradman’s future here. Says preliminary talks have already taken place with his manager about extending his deal. Best had just been told he would be in the Origin team for game 1 when he tore his calf at training.

Toohey talks up Kalyn Ponga's increasing level of maturity and professionalism. Says Knights apparently were happy to make the 2-year option at the end of his new deal a mutual option, but he insisted on it being in the club’s favour instead,

Wilson De Courcey knocked back a 2-year extension which has subsequently been taken off the table, and his manager is exploring options elsewhere. Always possible talks could re-start but sounds unlikely.

On the battle to replace Gagai next year - Toohey names the two Fletchers as obvious options, but says Peter O’Sullivan has a huge opinion of teenagers Kingston Seve and Toby Winter. Toohey says Baxter Best would be another potential option if signed but likely wouldn’t be ready for first grade next year. Kyle McCarthy is another possible option though with a cloudy future, he’s got an option in his favour for next year. He was told he was free to leave last year which is still the case, and it’s unlikely he’s offered anything beyond next year.

Toohey says Greg Marzhew’s new deal is around $1.2m over 3 years. Knights originally were offering 2 years, but the Cowboys came in with an offer for him to replace Taulagi and the Knights had to throw in an extra year to get it done.
 
mullenmagic said:
Toohey talks up Kalyn Ponga's increasing level of maturity and professionalism. Says Knights apparently were happy to make the 2-year option at the end of his new deal a mutual option, but he insisted on it being in the club’s favour instead,
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Even more of a wow lol. I would have no problem topping it up if they take up the options and he balls out and plays over 20 games each of the years. We’ll see.
 
So the only real Knights article in the Herald today is a Max McKinney article where he rates all the players who have been in firstgrade in order.
I don't agree with a lot of his rankings.

1 Ponga
2 Brown
3 Marzhew
4 Mooney
5 Young
6 Best
7 Saifiti
8 Croker
9 Sharpe
10 Smith
11 Crossland
12 Lucas
13 Hunt
14 Graham
15 Gagai
16 McEwen
17 Frizell
18 Saulo
19 Manuleleua
20 Hopwood
21 Cant
22 Gamble
23 Schiller
24 De Courcey
25 ESL
26 Hola
27 Kepaoa (says he was in the 19 for 1 game but didn't get on the field).
 
Billy said:
So the only real Knights article in the Herald today is a Max McKinney article where he rates all the players who have been in firstgrade in order.
I don't agree with a lot of his rankings.

1 Ponga
2 Brown
3 Marzhew
4 Mooney
5 Young
6 Best
7 Saifiti
8 Croker
9 Sharpe
10 Smith
11 Crossland
12 Lucas
13 Hunt
14 Graham
15 Gagai
16 McEwen
17 Frizell
18 Saulo
19 Manuleleua
20 Hopwood
21 Cant
22 Gamble
23 Schiller
24 De Courcey
25 ESL
26 Hola
27 Kepaoa (says he was in the 19 for 1 game but didn't get on the field).
Click to expand...
Don’t know where to start with that list!
 
It's a weird list but you gotta define your terms with this stuff.

Does he mean talent? Or how good their average performance has been? If so, then yes the Brown-Ponga connection is transformative, without them this is a decent side, with them it looks like a top 4 side.

But how good they've been over the whole season, well, being fit every week has to play into that, right? I would probably identify Jacob Saifiti as the MVP over the whole season. His absence would be very keenly felt if he was out for a while. The team isn't trying to just one out barge through the middle like before so the attack wouldn't be completely cooked, but there's no doubt that he's the absolute lynchpin in terms of us physically dominating the worse teams this year and competing way better with the average to good ones.
 
www.newcastleherald.com.au

Who have been the best Knights players this year? Here's our top 10

Newcastle's NRL players ranked top to bottom.
www.newcastleherald.com.au www.newcastleherald.com.au

The one I have the most problem with is Crossland.
McKinney talks about his number of tackles and long minutes "in the thick of the action" - but marks him down for "few runs" and has him behind Smith - who I'd say does half the work and makes twice the errors (missed tackles).
 
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