2023 Recruitment & Retention Thread

Poor management of space on roster, each year should see 7-8 players contracts end to then be re signed or replaced with a younger replacement allowing for better Flegg players coming through as well as signings from other sources.
Our problem with those mentioned above is lack of space while we have several under performers under contract for another season and then it’s 12 off contract meaning a inexperienced squad filled with young player with insufficient time to adapt.
You cannot move on players that no one wants without it costing big $$$$$
 
Frank McWilliams said:
Poor management of space on roster, each year should see 7-8 players contracts end to then be re signed or replaced with a younger replacement allowing for better Flegg players coming through as well as signings from other sources.
Our problem with those mentioned above is lack of space while we have several under performers under contract for another season and then it’s 12 off contract meaning a inexperienced squad filled with young player with insufficient time to adapt.
You cannot move on players that no one wants without it costing big $$$$$
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Sounds like coaches etc going for short term fixes i.e. paying big money for frizell when he clearly wasn't going to be worth that by the last year of his contract.
 
Krambach said:
Lot of negativity here at the moment and that's probably not unreasonable given how we are going at the moment.

A real positive is KPP lining up at right centre inside dom young for England beating out guys like Farnworth. I've got a gut feeling that if he had stayed injury free young Bailey hodgeson could have been a similar type asset.

I wonder if young will Pryce could become a ballplaying lock in 2024?

1. Hodgeson
6. Ponga
7. Brooks/Hastings
13. Pryce

Not saying this is a top 4 spine, but there is some talent there in my opinion, and if we can keep building with value signings in the forwards and outside backs we should go ok.
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Why we making everyone a ball playing lock, he looks like a great ball running 5/8
 
Krambach said:
Sounds like coaches etc going for short term fixes i.e. paying big money for frizell when he clearly wasn't going to be worth that by the last year of his contract.
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On refection paying top dollar for Frizell was a mistake.

I think Klemmer was a good signing but we just paid too much for him and the game has changed. Klem has provided much needed consistency in gaining ground even though his prolonged struggling with the defence after contact allows them time to reset their line.
 
Billy said:
Purcell and Donoughoe are too old for Flegg next year, so they had to make a call on their future.
With so many young guys coming through we'll have very few second tier positions next year.
I expect the reserve grade team will be mostly top 30 players and Flegg age players getting experience next year - so Purcell and Donoughoe would struggle for game time with us. At least they'll have a chance to play most games in Qld cup.
I'd still like to keep them though.
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I think Johnson is in the same boat? I think the club is thinking along the same lines as you, I just see it differently. To me, all three of those guys have he potential to play first grade. So I'd give them the lock, 5/8 and right centre spot in reggies. If Lucas or Simi need a run one week, give them a first grade preparation, won't hurt. If we have the top 30 split between firsts and reggies, with 19 in a match day squad, at full strength that's about 11 available for the reggies. That leaves a lot of spots open, for developing players. My thinking is the Panthers would have found them spots next year if they'd come through that system.
 
Owey said:
I think Johnson is in the same boat? I think the club is thinking along the same lines as you, I just see it differently. To me, all three of those guys have he potential to play first grade. So I'd give them the lock, 5/8 and right centre spot in reggies. If Lucas or Simi need a run one week, give them a first grade preparation, won't hurt. If we have the top 30 split between firsts and reggies, with 19 in a match day squad, at full strength that's about 11 available for the reggies. That leaves a lot of spots open, for developing players. My thinking is the Panthers would have found them spots next year if they'd come through that system.
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You could say it's a sign of just how healthy our junior stocks are that we have released about 10 guys over the last year with firstgrade potential.
The one I'm most worried about is Noah Ryan.
I've always been a fan, but when we released him after he had taken us on a great winning streak and played some good footy in reserve grade, and then he took Canberra from down the bottom of the table to nearly making the finals, it started to look like a big mistake. In the match where we played Canberra in the second last round, Noah Ryan was easily the best player on the field, giving it to his old partners, Kurt Donoughoe, Mitch Henderson and Riley Jones.
Anyway, Fletcher Myers, Chris Manamania, Zane Camroux, Noah Ryan, Lachlan Crouch, Trentham Petersen, the Johhanson brothers, Johnson, Donoughoe, Purcell, - all guys who were on our books this time last year and now on the books of other clubs - and I refuse to even think about Jonah Pezet - that one really hurts.
If Zammit is the guru at recognising talent early that the club seems to think he is, he is keeping the right players and letting the right ones go.
 
Zammit has failed spectacularly if we are saying that he's the one that is purely responsible for recruitment.
 
There was a reason the Cowboys didn’t offer him a new contract and to keep him at the club.

At first I thought he was a massive loss to the club but the insider on the Cowboys forum said from there start he wasn’t offered a new deal and free to walk.
 
Billy said:
Or, we just damn near won Flegg after using 45 players and ending the season with half the team SG Ball aged, and a big chunk of that team is now doing a firstgrade pre season.
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Just talking NRL wise. When it comes to the juniors, it's a lottery, we will inevitably lose players that in a few years we'll be like why did we let them go. And a lot of them will disappear off the face of the planet, but we won't hear about those ones.
 
Joshhh said:
Just talking NRL wise. When it comes to the juniors, it's a lottery, we will inevitably lose players that in a few years we'll be like why did we let them go. And a lot of them will disappear off the face of the planet, but we won't hear about those ones.
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I don't think we'll ever know exactly how much input any individual has on recruitment, largely because of the old axiom, success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.
Zammit seems to mostly be responsible for identifying young players with a lot of potential I think, but if he has a big role in firstgrade recruitment too, that's been going pretty bad.
 
Frank McWilliams said:
Poor management of space on roster, each year should see 7-8 players contracts end to then be re signed or replaced with a younger replacement allowing for better Flegg players coming through as well as signings from other sources.
Our problem with those mentioned above is lack of space while we have several under performers under contract for another season and then it’s 12 off contract meaning a inexperienced squad filled with young player with insufficient time to adapt.
You cannot move on players that no one wants without it costing big $$$$$
Click to expand...
you nailed it
 
The problem we've now got with a coach in the position that Aob now finds himself is that our juniors will likely be denied opportunities behind mediocre but yet more experienced players like Tuala, Mann, Fitz etc.

Aob will be desperate to give himself every possible advantage, even at the expense of the club, careers of young players and the medium to long term future of the club. That's half the danger with Gardner's decision to give Aob a 4th.
 
Les Misérables said:
The problem we've now got with a coach in the position that Aob now finds himself is that our juniors will likely be denied opportunities behind mediocre but yet more experienced players like Tuala, Mann, Fitz etc.

Aob will be desperate to give himself every possible advantage, even at the expense of the club, careers of young players and the medium to long term future of the club. That's half the danger with Gardner's decision to give Aob a 4th.
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I really wouldn't be surprised to see those 3 players listed in reserve grade soon. Fit centres would be best and gagai. Mapapalangi next in line. Elliot at 13 (mann probably jags 14). Fitz lucky to make 17 with Hetherington, KPP, frizell, etc. To be honest, the only guy who really seems to have been knocking down the door is mapapalangi and can't see him starting this early at other clubs.
 
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Les Misérables said:
The problem we've now got with a coach in the position that Aob now finds himself is that our juniors will likely be denied opportunities behind mediocre but yet more experienced players like Tuala, Mann, Fitz etc.

Aob will be desperate to give himself every possible advantage, even at the expense of the club, careers of young players and the medium to long term future of the club. That's half the danger with Gardner's decision to give Aob a 4th.
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If AOB is smart, which he has shown no evidence of so far, he'd be promoting the younger guys as quickly as possible because he already knows what the current players offer, which is sadly, way short of first grade standard.

So if he continues with the same players as last year, then he will certainly be out of a job by the end of the year as they are not capable or first grade standard. For different results he needs to try different players and change his methods
 
R4D5 said:
If AOB is smart, which he has shown no evidence of so far, he'd be promoting the younger guys as quickly as possible because he already knows what the current players offer, which is sadly, way short of first grade standard.

So if he continues with the same players as last year, then he will certainly be out of a job by the end of the year as they are not capable or first grade standard. For different results he needs to try different players and change his methods
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What would surprise me is if he takes a risk to win, whether that be through player selection or game play strategy. Can bet your life he is going to continue to do all the same shlt he has stuck with so far.
 
As a follow up to those Flegg players we have lost it must be heartbreaking to play through juniors, Ball and Flegg be performing really well, winning competitions and looking forward to a NRL career only to be moved on due to lack of room within the club you have supported and played for over the years. Sure if good enough opportunities will show themselves but it won’t be with the preferred Knights, sad.
 
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