2022 Knights Recruitment & Retention Thread

Fitz interview in the Herald says he had two major surgeries in the off season - a pelvic mesh surgery and a shoulder reconstruction - so all last year he had a pelvis injury that would have affected his running and a shoulder injury that would have affected his arm strength.
Despite that, I thought his fitness was better last year and he got through a lot more work in defence.
I suppose it makes sense, but when players are playing on with injuries now, it's like fight club, the first rule is, you don't talk about it.
Fitz says in the herald interview that he feels fitter now than ever before and he's "looking forward to punching out 80 minutes in reggies".

I think we need to give him a month or so to see if his below par form last year was an injury thing and he's now ready to show he has improved under O'Brien like most of the others.

www.newcastleherald.com.au

Fitzy back and ready to make up for lost time

Fitzgibbon back for Knights after tough six month rehab.
www.newcastleherald.com.au www.newcastleherald.com.au
 
Nothing would make me happier than a resurgence of his 2018 attacking impact. I think his work in defence has gotten better, so he’d be indispensible if he went back to breaking the line as often as he used to.
 
Signed team for 2022.

1 Kayln Ponga
2 Starford To'a
3 Dominic Young
4 Bradman Best
5 Brayden Musgrove
6 Jake Clifford
7 Mitchell Pearce
8 Daniel Saifiti
9 Jayden Brailey
10 David Klemmer
11Tyson Frizzell
12 Mitch Barnett
13 Jesse Sue

14 Simi Sasagi
15 Pasami Saulo
16 Jirah Momoisea
17 Jacob Saifiti

18 Bailey Hodgson
19 Krystian Mapapalangi
20 Garrett Smith
21 Christian Ma'amania

Likely to be signed

22 Kurt Mann
23 Connor Watson
24 Tex Hoy
25 Hymel Hunt
26 Gehamat Shibasaki (his call)
27 Brodie Jones

Possible signings

28 Blake Green
29 Josh King
30 Enari Tuala
31 Jack Johns
32 Phoenix Crossland
33 Jacob Kiraz
34 Lachlan Fitzgibbon
35 Chris Randall

Not being signed

Edrick Lee
 
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Billy said:
Signed team for 2022.

1 Kayln Ponga
2 Starford To'a
3 Dominic Young
4 Bradman Best
5 Brayden Musgrove
6 Jake Clifford
7 Mitchell Pearce
8 Daniel Saifiti
9 Jayden Brailey
10 David Klemmer
11Tyson Frizzell
12 Mitch Barnett
13 Jesse Sue

14 Simi Sasagi
15 Pasami Saulo
16 Jirah Momoisea
17 Jacob Saifiti

18 Bailey Hodgson
19 Krystian Mapapalangi

Likely to be signed

20 Gehamat Shibasaki (his call)
21 Brodie Jones
22 Kurt Mann
23 Connor Watson
24 Tex Hoy
25 Hymel Hunt

Possible signings

26 Phoenix Crossland
27 Lachlan Fitzgibbon
28 Blake Green
29 Josh King
30 Enari Tuala
31 Jack Johns
32 Garrett Smith
33 Jacob Kiraz
34 Christian Ma'amania
35 Chris Randall

Not being signed

Edrick Lee
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Garret Smith and Christian Ma’amania are both already signed for next year also

garret I think development and Christian could be top 30 I think
 
Billy said:
Signed team for 2022.

1 Kayln Ponga
2 Starford To'a
3 Dominic Young
4 Bradman Best
5 Brayden Musgrove
6 Jake Clifford
7 Mitchell Pearce
8 Daniel Saifiti
9 Jayden Brailey
10 David Klemmer
11Tyson Frizzell
12 Mitch Barnett
13 Jesse Sue

14 Simi Sasagi
15 Pasami Saulo
16 Jirah Momoisea
17 Jacob Saifiti

18 Bailey Hodgson
19 Krystian Mapapalangi
20 Garrett Smith
21 Christian Ma'amania

Likely to be signed

22 Kurt Mann
23 Connor Watson
24 Tex Hoy
25 Hymel Hunt
26 Gehamat Shibasaki (his call)
27 Brodie Jones

Possible signings

28 Blake Green
29 Josh King
30 Enari Tuala
31 Jack Johns
32 Phoenix Crossland
33 Jacob Kiraz
34 Lachlan Fitzgibbon
35 Chris Randall

Not being signed

Edrick Lee
Click to expand...
Very inexperienced team
 
When I started this thread I was thinking in terms of us filling the last roster places which would let us compete for the top four. Now I’m starting to think a cleanout is needed.
 
No need for anything drastic if they want to shake the squad up.
Only 9 players signed past the end of 2022, but they need to be fairly circumspect with who they are extending, and for how long.

KP (Player Option)
Friz (Player Option)
Best
Barnett
Hodgson
Klemmer
Ma'anaima
Toa
Young

As it stands Klemmer would be the only one who may be a salary cap liability in 2023.
 
Not a clean out more a selective pick of not wanted/needed and what we really need. If we get rid of 6 or 7 that are not the standard we want and replace them with players needed in certain positions, ie Right centre, 5/8 and look to develop our local players. If only buy 3-4 non locals a season, 2 top drawer then we will improve
 
slotmachine said:
No need for anything drastic if they want to shake the squad up.
Only 9 players signed past the end of 2022, but they need to be fairly circumspect with who they are extending, and for how long.

KP (Player Option)
Friz (Player Option)
Best
Barnett
Hodgson
Klemmer
Ma'anaima
Toa
Young

As it stands Klemmer would be the only one who may be a salary cap liability in 2023.
Click to expand...
I’ve never been a huge fan of Barnett but I’ll reserve judgement till he’s playing in the middle again, where I do think he goes better.

It’s good that we don’t have too many long term deals. Only player on the books I’d be looking to extend past 2023 right now who hasn’t already been is Jayden Brailey. I think we’re Buckley’s of finding a better 9 any time soon, if Cook & Api get injured in the next few weeks he’d probably play for the Blues...
 
Frank McWilliams said:
Not a clean out more a selective pick of not wanted/needed and what we really need. If we get rid of 6 or 7 that are not the standard we want and replace them with players needed in certain positions, ie Right centre, 5/8 and look to develop our local players. If only buy 3-4 non locals a season, 2 top drawer then we will improve
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Yeah the pathways need to be better, and we need to be able to keep the better prospects at the club, competing for spots, without them cracking the ****s and leaving us because they can’t crack first grade.

That amazing Storm spine, every one of those players became regular first graders at the perfect time, after a lot of low pressure development time. Munster was 22 I think, Grant is now 23. They bided their time in the lower grades learning their craft, competing for a spot. Souths don’t seem to be worried about losing Reynolds because they have Dean Hawkins (22) and Blake Taafe (21) and are confident one of them can step into the void. Yet they also signed Benji to do a job for the club this year and keep the pressure off their young prospects while they develop in reggies. Melbourne are somehow still holding Nicho Hynes despite the fact he’s obviously a good player, and there’s first grade ready depth behind him too.

The consistent thing bad clubs do is pick guys at 18-19 with the pressure to be the “next big thing” if they show a glimpse of talent. Then they ruin them. Only the special few are ready that young. I honestly don’t believe Luke Brooks would be going this bad at Easts or Melbourne for example. It’s a testament to how talented Mullen was that he managed to get through 200+ games with us despite our best efforts to ruin him.

I think Jake Clifford is a huge talent and hopefully we can help him reach his potential, but it’s very frustrating that guys like Aidan Sezer went to the UK and Jamal Fogarty made it at the Titans on a train-and-trial. Known quantities who could have done a job for us while we allow kids like Tex & Phoenix to develop out of the spotlight. I think it is the right move for the club to look for an experienced right centre at least, plug that hole and improve our defence, and Simi/Dom, whoever else takes that spot, will be better for the extra development time.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
2023 right now who hasn’t already been is Jayden Brailey
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If they're not talking to him about an extension right now they should be.

Barnett isn't on huge money, a guy over-payed by $50k-$100k doesn't ruin the cap, its the $600k+ blokes that you could replace with a min wage guy and get 80% of the production that do.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
When I started this thread I was thinking in terms of us filling the last roster places which would let us compete for the top four. Now I’m starting to think a cleanout is needed.
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What players could we clean out as such that would actually improve the team moving forward? I think what you said about developing them longer in the lower grades is the better way to go about it because the way we utilise them now, like you said again, just tends to ruin them. Prime example being playing Crossland at 9 when quite clearly he’s a halfback, without a great deal of reserves under his belt has now basically got him in some fans bad books and he hasn’t even played 10 games yet. It’s so disappointing watching Melbourne, Roosters, Penrith continually bring in these juniors and just watch them flourish under good coaching systems yet we tend to throw our blokes to the wolves and watch their careers diminish in the matter of a few games.
 
Matty23 said:
What players could we clean out as such that would actually improve the team moving forward? I think what you said about developing them longer in the lower grades is the better way to go about it because the way we utilise them now, like you said again, just tends to ruin them. Prime example being playing Crossland at 9 when quite clearly he’s a halfback, without a great deal of reserves under his belt has now basically got him in some fans bad books and he hasn’t even played 10 games yet. It’s so disappointing watching Melbourne, Roosters, Penrith continually bring in these juniors and just watch them flourish under good coaching systems yet we tend to throw our blokes to the wolves and watch their careers diminish in the matter of a few games.
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I don’t hold the chequebook, but if we’ve got guys like Tuala playing first grade every week where at any other club he’s playing reggies, as well as Jesse Sue suiting up all the time, our first grade depth is a problem. It’s not good enough and I think there are some fairly middling guys getting more than they deserve if our cap is that f’d up that Hymel is the second best outside back we can afford, and also we haven’t had a proper half to play beside Pearce the whole time he’s been here...
 
Not much room to move when over a third of the cap is going to 4 blokes.

Manly in a very similar position with big money invested in their half, fullback and two forwards who are not living up to the pay cheque, not suited to the new rules or always injured
 
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slotmachine said:
Not much room to move when over a third of the cap is going to 4 blokes.

Manly in a very similar position with big money invested in their half, fullback and two forwards who are not living up to the pay cheque, not suited to the new rules or always injured
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My understanding is that Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker, Damien Cook & Adam Reynolds take up about a third of Souths cap, pretty close to our spend on Ponga, Pearce, Klemmer and Frizell, and they’ve got Dane Gagai, Cameron Murray, Jai Arrow & Tom Burgess on big deals as well. That’s a lot of really good players before you even get to strong contributors like Johnson, Mansour (being paid pretty well too I believe), Su’a, Koloamatangi, Graham, Tatola, Knight, etc. I reckon the only way this makes sense is if you run your finger down the line of our player contracts and assume that a lot of our players, across the board, are getting more than you think. Could be up to ten guys getting, cumulatively, about $1-1.5 million more than they should be. I think that’s where we’re hurting and that’s where the top clubs are beating us in cap management, assuming they’re not just cheating.
 
Could be both in reality (or just cheating).
Cook is the highest paid of those 4 at 900k, and the Rabbits got a pretty good deal on the others. Walker especially only on $650k but due for a nice upgrade next year, which is why they can't spend on Reynolds. But obviously confident enough to let him walk and back their youngsters.
 
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