2023 Recruitment & Retention Thread

Kurriboy said:
I also hope we get Brooks. If we go in to next season with the same halves it is going to give OB another excuse he can use.

Im not head hunting OB but if he isnt up to the task he needs to go. Signing Brooks will give him that halfback, and Ponga from 6 gives him no excuses.

I don't see any other half of quality coming here. Moses on the market and we are not even in the conversation it seems.
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If Ponga plays 6, then I hope we can get Garrick to play fullback. What ever we were going to pay French, can go towards Garrick.
 
Owey said:
What is Fifita worth these days? His $1 million tag is finished for the time being, I'd say successful clubs wouldn't value him above $500 000 atm, although he'd disagree. What price tag would you accept him playing at Newcastle for?
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The only clubs who should look at Fifita are ones who are currently in a good spot with their roster, are well coached, but are just short a genuine game breaker or two. And somehow have the cap space to fit him in.

So… Cronulla?

He’s worth over $750K still.
 
Clifford has a lot more in him than we got out of him in 2022.
I don't really know what his problem is, but he seemed to be going OK towards the end of the year in reserve grade.

I hope he goes and becomes someone else's problem, but if he doesn't, there should be a way to get some good footy out of him.
 
frankLauda said:
Have you heard any talk/rumors with Hastings? I haven't heard anything, about the Knights chasing Hastings.
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There was some stuff a while back saying we’d looked at him but nothing really concrete. If you’ve ever heard Joey talk about him, he insisted before the Tigers actually moved him that Hastings is a lock in the modern game because he’s a really good ball distributor from first receiver but not so good at playing over the ad line a bit wider of the ruck. So that might give a bit of a clue as to why the Knights prefer Brooks internally.
 
If Fifita went to Melbourne he'd be the best forward in the world by the end of next year.
Titans have asked too much of him at a young age.
I don't think we are the right club for him, but I wouldn't say no to him if we could get him at a reasonable price.
just give him 30 minutes a game and let him go his hardest.
 
Billy said:
Clifford has a lot more in him than we got out of him in 2022.
I don't really know what his problem is, but he seemed to be going OK towards the end of the year in reserve grade.

I hope he goes and becomes someone else's problem, but if he doesn't, there should be a way to get some good footy out of him.
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i think it all comes down to his mental ability, Clifford lacks/looses confidence too easily and as a result his games have massive dips and his form disappears.

In my opinion he is not a player we need or want at the club.

We are in need of leaders. Don't know where we can get a couple of them from, but it should be one of our top priorities, as well as sorting out our 1, 6 and 7 situation
 
R4D5 said:
i think it all comes down to his mental ability, Clifford lacks/looses confidence too easily and as a result his games have massive dips and his form disappears.

In my opinion he is not a player we need or want at the club.

We are in need of leaders. Don't know where we can get a couple of them from, but it should be one of our top priorities, as well as sorting out our 1, 6 and 7 situation
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Clifford looked to be getting better & better when MP was here. His long kicking game was sensational and he was truly a defensive weapon. Then, yes, the wheels fell off about round 3 this year whereby, from memory, AOB said Jake had issues off the field. No one can doubt that he's got serious potential but we seem to lack the Bennett, Robinson, Bellyache type of personality stroking mentor that he most certainly needs to fulfil that potential.

Again, he's another player that I believe would thrive under an experienced coach &/or with a very experienced (successful) 7 beside him.
 
Kurriboy said:
I also hope we get Brooks. If we go in to next season with the same halves it is going to give OB another excuse he can use.

Im not head hunting OB but if he isnt up to the task he needs to go. Signing Brooks will give him that halfback, and Ponga from 6 gives him no excuses.

I don't see any other half of quality coming here. Moses on the market and we are not even in the conversation it seems.
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The thing is, I’m not sure about Brooks and KP as a halves pairing. Brooks has been a left-side dominant player for most of his career, a bit atypical for a halfback. Has never defended on the right I don’t think. He would have to play the other side if KP is at 6 because it’s hard to envision Kalyn doing anything else but playing as the left-sided half.

So we’d be hoping Brooks would improve while playing outside his comfort zone…

Gamble on the other hand usually looks better playing on the right.

I still reckon the Brooks/Garrick thing is an either/or. We won’t sign both.
 
Rough Night said:
Clifford looked to be getting better & better when MP was here. His long kicking game was sensational and he was truly a defensive weapon. Then, yes, the wheels fell off about round 3 this year whereby, from memory, AOB said Jake had issues off the field. No one can doubt that he's got serious potential but we seem to lack the Bennett, Robinson, Bellyache type of personality stroking mentor that he most certainly needs to fulfil that potential.

Again, he's another player that I believe would thrive under an experienced coach &/or with a very experienced (successful) 7 beside him.
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He’s in a weird no man’s land as a player where his skill set is better for playing halfback, but his mindset is more like a secondary half, the guy who wants to sit out wide and put on the pretty plays.

But he might be the worst starting half in the comp as an attacking passer, much more likely to throw an intercept than throw a nice ball for a line break assist. Doesn’t really pass with a lot of zip and his timing and feel is terrible.

Probably the only situation he’d thrive is as that supporting half for a really ball-dominant “follow me boys” type of 7 - probably no coincidence he’s played his best footy besides Pearce and Thurston.

Those kinds of players are going the way of the dodo though. Game is moving on. Nathan Cleary I think averaged his lowest possessions per game since he was playing second fiddle to Maloney.
 
Billy said:
If Fifita went to Melbourne he'd be the best forward in the world by the end of next year.
Titans have asked too much of him at a young age.
I don't think we are the right club for him, but I wouldn't say no to him if we could get him at a reasonable price.
just give him 30 minutes a game and let him go his hardest.
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Totally agree with all four comments.

We go to almost every home game & where we sit the visitors warm up right in front of us. Fifita is seriously scary to watch at full flight & his footwork is almost unrivalled for a significantly larger than average human being. He's torn us to threads previously like it's men versus boys. Admittedly though, he normally only targets centres & wingers when he's in a mood and attacking.

Whilst I'd honestly love him to be on our side rather than against us, there are so many larger holes in out arsenal that we quickly need to address prior to engaging a low minute, high cost strike weapon. We already have one of those; sorry but it's true.

I'd value Fifita around $650-700k, definitely nowhere near $1M.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
The only clubs who should look at Fifita are ones who are currently in a good spot with their roster, are well coached, but are just short a genuine game breaker or two. And somehow have the cap space to fit him in.

So… Cronulla?

He’s worth over $750K still.
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That first paragraph summed up Cronulla to a T.
 
Seems Clifford played his best for us when Pearce was about, might need someone revving him up where our Captain/leaders are quiet types, maybe Gamble with his attitude, not ability, might be best mix with Clifford.
We certainly need strong talkers, virtually none in the team except maybe Klem.
 
Frank McWilliams said:
Seems Clifford played his best for us when Pearce was about, might need someone revving him up where our Captain/leaders are quiet types, maybe Gamble with his attitude, not ability, might be best mix with Clifford.
We certainly need strong talkers, virtually none in the team except maybe Klem.
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Klem is a strong talker, when he is riled up at the opposition.

We need a captain who is a strong talker but not riled up.

Klem isn't the right personality for captaincy, too quiet most of the time.
 
Rough Night said:
Clifford looked to be getting better & better when MP was here. His long kicking game was sensational and he was truly a defensive weapon. Then, yes, the wheels fell off about round 3 this year whereby, from memory, AOB said Jake had issues off the field. No one can doubt that he's got serious potential but we seem to lack the Bennett, Robinson, Bellyache type of personality stroking mentor that he most certainly needs to fulfil that potential.

Again, he's another player that I believe would thrive under an experienced coach &/or with a very experienced (successful) 7 beside him.
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i agree, but that just proves my point. He is not strong enough mentally to be playing for us in first grade as our halfback.

I see him as a 5/8 not a halfback as he doesn't deal with the pressure for some reason. Yes if we had a better coach who could help him and simplify the noise in his head, he would be better but that is the problem

Just a thought, how would you see him as a ball playing lock? he has the size and his defence is good enough. Takes the pressure off him as well. Still doesn't solve our halves issues though
 
R4D5 said:
i agree, but that just proves my point. He is not strong enough mentally to be playing for us in first grade as our halfback.

I see him as a 5/8 not a halfback as he doesn't deal with the pressure for some reason. Yes if we had a better coach who could help him and simplify the noise in his head, he would be better but that is the problem

Just a thought, how would you see him as a ball playing lock? he has the size and his defence is good enough. Takes the pressure off him as well. Still doesn't solve our halves issues though
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I honestly would love to see him play at lock but now we have Adam Elliott coming for what i would presume in that position.
However, he would be far better to have on the bench in my opinion than Kurt or Phoenix; by a country mile. Who knows, with injuries etc we could push Elliott to 2nd row and have Jake stay at lock.
You've convinced me! Hope AOB reads this too?!
 
We need Clifford to get his off-field stuff sorted and I hope he can, firstly for himself and secondly, we need that kicking game if we are to be really competitive. I wouldn't play him at lock, we need to move away from this idea that every team has to have a Yeo or Murray style player. Work with what you have and adapt the style of play to suit the players you have, that's coaching Adam, well it used to be....
IMO, the three players coming will bring something we lacked many times this year, effort in all scenarios, and that's a good thing. I don't mind getting beat by better sides, that's going to happen, but what I can't stand is when we lose by big margins, that shows lack of effort.
 
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