2023 Recruitment & Retention Thread

Any word on us resigning fitzgibbon ? imo if he stays, huge pay cut. Despite his current form, which is long overdue for what he is being paid.
 
Captain Planet said:
Any word on us resigning fitzgibbon ? imo if he stays, huge pay cut. Despite his current form, which is long overdue for what he is being paid.
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I reckon if he stays it will be a deal done very late in the season. With the rumours around us trying to get Sorensen along with KPP coming, I would say you’re correct if he’s going to stay with us it’ll be in a reduced role on less money unless we miss a few targets.
 
I hope we can sign a decent backrower for next year but if not then he'll have to be retained, we don't have much else. But man he pisses me off sometimes, can be a real liability at times. I'd like to think we can aim higher.
 
Maybe not a coincidence that our second-rowers are in their best form for years and both happen to be off contract. I think that position is the most obvious need of an upgrade, particularly on Fitzgibbon but Frizell’s age & the fact he always seems to be playing through injuries worries me, too. Still an athletic freak but that has to catch up with him at some point.
 
mozza said:
Fair enough. I’ve had a couple of bad experiences in Penrith so you won’t hear much positive about the place from me.
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I alternate half between the shire and half between Colyton(Penrith) spend quite a bit of time in Mount Druitt, St Andrews, ect and most area's are fine. There are a group of 4-5 suburbs that I wouldn't drive through after dark though!
 
Re-sign Friz.

Pick up Sorensen.

I’d have Keeley and KPP in mind as successors on those edge spots eventually but both will need time.

I know that leaves us with very old back rowers, the Knights signing old guys once again, but that’s only a problem if you don’t have a succession plan in mind. Our problem in the past tended to be that we never had a viable replacement coming through. It wasn’t an issue in a vacuum, that signing 30 year olds is always necessarily bad - it isn’t.
 
Matty23 said:
Hosking would’ve come in handy, just quietly.
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The frustrating thing for me is that when he wanted to come back here, we were not interested and now he is playing first grade for the Panthers. :angry::angry::angry: I really used to wonder about the decision making ability of our recruitment staff before Parr took over.
 
frankLauda said:
Why did hosking get no love here?
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Two reasons.
He saw himself as a middle forward and mostly played prop or lock, despite being very skinny. I was very surprized he got into reserve grade because he was well under 90 kg when he played his 1 year of Flegg as a 19 year old. He got a firstgrade preseason and I'm sure his work ethic is the only reason he was kept on.
The other reason is he is like his father in that he works his arse off in an actual job - carpenter - so he was working crazy hours and slipping in training and playing in his spare time, so always tired.

Moving to Brisbane and throwing everything into training to give it one last shot is the best move he could make. We haven't heard the story of which coach decided he was a second row, but he now plays very differently to how he did here. He was a tackling machine in the middle here with very little attack in him, and too small to have a lot of impact at under 100kg.

In short, moving position and putting all his energy into football has turned him into a much better player.
 
Celticman98 said:
Found this comment on Facebook a few weeks ago about why Hosking didn't get a top 30 gig with us. Bloody stupid as we could have done with him right now.
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I think that would be true of a lot of clubs to be fair, the head coach doesn’t have the time to be monitoring the NSW Cup side as well as the first grade one. That’s where the NSW Cup coaching staff and recruitment should have come in.
 
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