2023 Recruitment & Retention Thread

1 Kalyn Ponga
2 Dane Gagai
3 Krystian Mapapalangi
4 Bradman Best
5 Dom Young
6 Tyson Gamble
7 Adam Clune
8 Daniel Saifiti
9 Jayden Brailey
10 David Klemmer*
11 Tyson Frizell
12 Lachlan Fitzgibbon
13 Adam Elliot

14 Kurt Mann
15 Jacob Saifiti
16 Leo Thompson
17 Jack Hetherington

That's the same as 2022 but LESS DEPTH

And Klemmer likely not to be here, wouldn't surprise me if Hunt goes as well.

If we sign Brooks, Ponga still stays at 1 just means Clune goes to reserves where he belongs
 
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Krambach said:
Just watched eng vs Greece. Few thoughts are:
- we should be getting young and KPP practicing AFL style jump/catch and kicking bombs right all day.
- english recruits have been good so far. Wouldn't be surprised to see hodgeson make 1 his own next year if we don't sign Garrick.
- in the days of 'floating bombs' etc from the likes of Cleary, Burton, etc I reckon our long kicking game will be a weakness with brooks/ponga/Brailey.
- I reckon aob is ok. Probably not the best coach in the nrl but not the worst either.
- harder to justify pongas 1.1 million price tag at 5/8. Your luai and walkers of the world arnt on 1.1 mil. Out right side attack should be ok with brooks KPP gagai young. Ponga used to look awesome going left. Would be great to have a backrower in the kikau mold to get those plays going again.
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I agree with most of your points but disagree about AOB. I think he's the worst coach in the NRL right now.
 
OnTilt said:
I feel like our recruitment team is always about half a step behind the market, Nicoll-Klokstad was available earlier in the year as well and would have been a good option at FB.
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Absolutely pathetic imo. They're well behind the market. Chasing contracted outcasts, our competitors reserve graders and teenagers from the other side of the planet. But somehow are missing half a spine.
 
Billy said:
Davie Armstrong is the same age as Hodgson.
In his first 2 game of reserve grade he scored 2 tries, 1 try assist and 3 line breaks.
In fact, he scored a scorching try nearly the first time he touched the ball.
we never have heard what his injury is.

Davie Armstrong burns a defender to score in his reserve grade debut.
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Billy - how far you think Armstrong is away from first grade?
Would you have him ahead of Hodgson?
 
When Rick Stone lost his job it was very easy to make the connection that good players weren't coming because of the coach we had. It was easy because we had several guys who had signed to play under Bennett who were openly saying they didn't come to play under Stone - and no one else was keen either.
We can't land any decent signings at the moment.

Wests say we are making a profit, but still they are not keen to spend money on a big name coach.

I think that is the obvious starting point.

Hire a coach who players think will improve them and advance their careers, and they'll be keen to sign.
 
Oliver said:
Billy - how far you think Armstrong is away from first grade?
Would you have him ahead of Hodgson?
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He hasn't had a firstgrade pre-season.
Hodgson has been training at a high level for a few years, but he's young and should keep improving too.
Armstrong came to us from a country comp in Qld - which is like being plucked out of the Lower Hunter second div.
If he is fit and ready to start training tomorrow, and has spent the last few months in the gym getting ready, he could catch up to Hodgson real quick, or put on a lot of bulk, lose his speed, and go backwards.
I think we'll see where he's at in the trial games.
 
The only other player in our squad that has played fullback in the NRL is Dane Gagai. It appears the last time he played fullback was for Souths in 2018 against the Broncos.
He topped the run meters with 210m and he had the most tackle breaks with 12. He also had 2 try assists. I believe he played most of his juniors as a fullback too? If we don’t sign a backup to Ponga then we definitely should looking at training him as the backup fullback at the very least.

39EC2171-27A1-4C54-BFC3-138FBFE1CA24.jpeg
 
Oliver said:
The only other player in our squad that has played fullback in the NRL is Dane Gagai. It appears the last time he played fullback was for Souths in 2018 against the Broncos.
He topped the run meters with 210m and he had the most tackle breaks with 12. He also had 2 try assists. I believe he played most of his juniors as a fullback too? If we don’t sign a backup to Ponga then we definitely should looking at training him as the backup fullback at the very least.

View attachment 6127
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I could get behind this.

If for no other reason than it would be a cost effective solution. And let's be honest, it's better than signing a Tesi Niu like player for $500k to do a nothing job for us. Players like Gagai could do the same for no extra cost.

We're truly fkd for next season already. We're in a bad position with our roster with very few if any realistic and effective solutions available to us rn. We're a dumpster fire.

AOBs bet the house on Luke Brooks for 2023 and now needs to find a fullback to make his plan stick. Very interested to see if he can find a fullback within the next month.
 
KnightsUnite said:
Spoon, Ponga can't go to 6 we have Clune and Gamble right now
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Oliver said:
The only other player in our squad that has played fullback in the NRL is Dane Gagai. It appears the last time he played fullback was for Souths in 2018 against the Broncos.
He topped the run meters with 210m and he had the most tackle breaks with 12. He also had 2 try assists. I believe he played most of his juniors as a fullback too? If we don’t sign a backup to Ponga then we definitely should looking at training him as the backup fullback at the very least.

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I actually agree Gagai could be a possible solution. We seem to have a few outside back options.
 
Oliver said:
The only other player in our squad that has played fullback in the NRL is Dane Gagai. It appears the last time he played fullback was for Souths in 2018 against the Broncos.
He topped the run meters with 210m and he had the most tackle breaks with 12. He also had 2 try assists. I believe he played most of his juniors as a fullback too? If we don’t sign a backup to Ponga then we definitely should looking at training him as the backup fullback at the very least.

View attachment 6127
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Better than Mann
 
krustykraz said:
Why does this close b always seem to behind the 8 ball?
No forward thinking!
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It isn't a club anymore, consider It an Organisation.

When It was a club people had pride doing their jobs, now It's an organisation where the bottom line has to be met and the rest can eat ****.

That's why their Is no forward thinking, what are you going to do to hold anyone In the organisation to account?

We seem to keep rocking up every week to the home games no matter how bad we are going.
 
I don't think we ever want to get to a point we're we boo the players like some other clubs. But maybe members not turning up to games will send a message if the side keeps dishing up crap.
 
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