2023 Recruitment & Retention Thread

Jack Welsby the England 5/8, was impressive in the world cup I thought. And apparently he is actually a fullback. I wouldnt mind the club having a crack at him.
I think he has already won 2 premierships over there. Contracted to 2025 so would need to negotiate a transfer.

www.totalrl.com

Three potential candidates to be England fullback in 2025 World Cup including St Helens and Huddersfield Giants men

THE 2021 Rugby League World Cup is over, with the next tournament taking place in 2025. Between now and then, England head coach Shaun Wane will be firmly focused on building his team to win that c…
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Todays Tele, Randall being considered for a swap, Titans, Marzhew, big winger apparently. Knights have Mann and Crossland as back up hooker.
Unbelievable, one of our weakest back up spots for a front line player subject to long term injury.
Know Randall isn’t a star but gives his best, a good backup, better than Mann and Crossland and no sign of someone with any experience in lower grades. Can’t understand some of the deals being done, hope it’s just paper talk.
Do we really need a reserve grade winger?
 
It makes sense because we have way too many reserve grade half/utilities.
If everyone is fit you are playing Clune, Crossland, Randall. Johns, Simi and either Gamble or Mann in reserves.
 
slotmachine said:
It makes sense because we have way too many reserve grade half/utilities.
If everyone is fit you are playing Clune, Crossland, Randall. Johns, Simi and either Gamble or Mann in reserves.
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I may be proven wrong, however Gamble should have 14 on his back for 1st grade 2023 for the entire year. Let someone else prove from reserve grade that they deserve it better; because so far they certainly haven't.
 
I think you're forgetting that AOB has posters of a shirtless Kurt Mann on his wall.

Kurriboy said:
Crossland and Mann have much better utility value than Randall.
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Crossland might find himself as the reserve grade hooker, hopefully the club has realised he'll never be a first grade half at least.
 
Smart move. Plenty of utilities as mentioned, Marzhew is a great runner of the ball and finisher, but I believe it has been mentioned his D is fairly suspect, and he is short for kick contention. But price wise he'd be bang on what we need for some depth.

It's a solid pick up I think, doesnt break the bank at all.
 
Randall is a great defender but quite often stunted our attack at 9, when Brailey came back our attack looked better at time and dummy half service was way smoother

depends if Randall would be in plans going forward with Noah Nailagoliva, Riley Jones and Temple Kelopa with the club and even Luke Huth still a possibility if needed for first grade

If Randall gets 2-3 years, Marzhew could be worth a year to see how he goes as we lost 2 wingers in lee and Musgrove which haven’t replaced yet, but still think Chris Vaelia would be better to promote than Marzhew
 
knights80 said:
If Randall gets 2-3 years, Marzhew could be worth a year to see how he goes as we lost 2 wingers in lee and Musgrove which haven’t replaced yet, but still think Chris Vaelia would be better to promote than Marzhew
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if we are looking at Marshew as a pure replacement for Musgrove, then its a no brainer. Marshew is a massive upgrade on Musgrove
 
KnightsUnite said:
Biggest issue is depth from injuries...
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I agree we don't have enough depth up front, but I'm mostly satisfied with our depth elsewhere.

Fullbacks:
Kalyn Ponga (& halves) & Bailey Hodgson.

Outside Backs:
Bradman Best, Dane Gagai, Krystian Mapapalangi, Dom Young, Hymel Hunt, Enari Tuala, & Dylan Lucas (& back row)

Halves:
Jackson Hastings, Tyson Gamble, Adam Clune, Kurt Mann (middle & hooker), & Phoenix Crossland (& hooker).

Hookers:
Jayden Brailey, & Chris Randall.

Back Rows:
Tyson Frizell, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Jack Johns, Simi Sasagi (& back), Adam Elliott (& middle), & Brodie Jones.

Middles:
Daniel Saifiti, Jacob Saifiti, Jack Hetherington, Leo Thompson, & Mat Croker (& back row).

We have 3 squad spots left, and the club has come out saying that a fullback and front row are on the recruitment target list. Fullback, so we have the option for Ponga to move to 6 and a front row for depth. Parr also hinted today in an interview that Hetherington is seen as a middle, not a back row which makes sense considering our depth in the middle.
In my opinion, we have way too many halves. Crossland needs to go, he's the weakest out of the lot.
 
Kobe Rugless played more lock than hooker in 2022, but we bought him as a potential back-up hooker last year and he's got a development deal for 2023.
It's hard to know if a second firstgrade off season will get him up to speed, but apparently he's been training hard since he was a kid for his boxing career. I think he's still young enough for Flegg, but been training at a high level for a decade already.
 
JuniorFromNewyy said:
I agree we don't have enough depth up front, but I'm mostly satisfied with our depth elsewhere.

Fullbacks:
Kalyn Ponga (& halves) & Bailey Hodgson.

Outside Backs:
Bradman Best, Dane Gagai, Krystian Mapapalangi, Dom Young, Hymel Hunt, Enari Tuala, & Dylan Lucas (& back row)

Halves:
Jackson Hastings, Tyson Gamble, Adam Clune, Kurt Mann (middle & hooker), & Phoenix Crossland (& hooker).

Hookers:
Jayden Brailey, & Chris Randall.

Back Rows:
Tyson Frizell, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Jack Johns, Simi Sasagi (& back), Adam Elliott (& middle), & Brodie Jones.

Middles:
Daniel Saifiti, Jacob Saifiti, Jack Hetherington, Leo Thompson, & Mat Croker (& back row).

We have 3 squad spots left, and the club has come out saying that a fullback and front row are on the recruitment target list. Fullback, so we have the option for Ponga to move to 6 and a front row for depth. Parr also hinted today in an interview that Hetherington is seen as a middle, not a back row which makes sense considering our depth in the middle.
In my opinion, we have way too many halves. Crossland needs to go, he's the weakest out of the lot.
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They just gave Crossland 2 years
 
JuniorFromNewyy said:
In my opinion, we have way too many halves. Crossland needs to go, he's the weakest out of the lot.
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Disagree. Crossland and Mann are utilities. Whether they're good at it is debatable, but the 14 is part of the spine in the current game IMO. The fact that they can also be halves doesn't mean we have too many halves.
 
Marzhew has a lot of rough edges to iron out but his ceiling is exceptionally high, in terms of attack he's already To'o-lite, would be a good trade for both players as Randall is a lot better than their injured backup in Aaron Booth and Marzhew could definitely end up a starter in our side.

Some of these recruitment directions lately have been very impressive IMO.
 
knights80 said:
Randall is a great defender but quite often stunted our attack at 9, when Brailey came back our attack looked better at time and dummy half service was way smoother

depends if Randall would be in plans going forward with Noah Nailagoliva, Riley Jones and Temple Kelopa with the club and even Luke Huth still a possibility if needed for first grade

If Randall gets 2-3 years, Marzhew could be worth a year to see how he goes as we lost 2 wingers in lee and Musgrove which haven’t replaced yet, but still think Chris Vaelia would be better to promote than Marzhew
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I'll lose my voice saying it, but Randall isn't a great defender. He's fit, works hard, and makes a lot of tackles. But making a lot of ineffective tackles which lead to quick play the balls isn't good defending.

He's a likeable player because he tries his best, but he's extremely unathletic, and a liability in both defence and attack. Moving him on for anything is a good move for the club. Mann is a better option at 9, and Crossland is as good as a backup.
 
We have 2 or 3 young hookers that are getting to that age where they either step up to NRL level or won't make it... we have some cover in Mann et.al. Elliott has also played hooker before and is capable of filling in there if we get desperate.

Marzhew is descent and would be a handy pick up.

I'm happy for Randall to go if he's got a better offer up there. He's not a player we need to "pay overs" for.
 
Randall is better than most on here give him credit for, but has reached his ceiling and I suspect they are thinking all our utilities will get us out of trouble if Brailey can't play.
Liam Wilkinson was the main hooker in reserves for most of 2022. He's a guy who has been steadily improving as he's got older. Through most of the juniors he was behind guys like Mitch Black and Huth at hooker and behind Crossland and Madden and Sasagi in the halves, but he had a breakout year in 2022.
 
Randall sets the standard when it comes to fitness from Instagram posts I gather ponga trained/put himself up against him before they got back to pre season training. I’d rather hold onto our fittest player than trade for average winger depth.
 
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