2025 Recruitment And Retention

The players, including Ponga, need to realise they don’t run the club. If we had won the premiership last year or are closing in on winning a premiership, we wouldn’t need to make changes.
A number of players at the Knights are very comfortable here and have performed that way for a while now. This shakeup is the inevitable outcome of that leisurely approach to the game demonstrated by same players.
Senior players set the “standards”, and some have fallen well short of this task.
I am convinced our coach, nice person as he seems, has well and truly reached his ceiling, and the shoulder tapping should not be restricted to players who are cruising under the coach’s watch.
One logically follows the other.
 
Maybe as an encouragement to move on we should be offering more, using DSaf let’s say he is on $850K a year and a club offers $600k then instead of paying him the balance of $250k we pay him $300k then we are still in front $550k. He has had a contract increase and we obtained our objective of moving him on and having additional funds in our Cap.
Can be applied to any contract amount.
 
Maybe as an encouragement to move on we should be offering more, using DSaf let’s say he is on $850K a year and a club offers $600k then instead of paying him the balance of $250k we pay him $300k then we are still in front $550k. He has had a contract increase and we obtained our objective of moving him on and having additional funds in our Cap.
Can be applied to any contract amount.
The trouble is our space under the cap is limited and for $300,000 we could buy an up and coming prop forward like Leo.
 
We have a heap of middles. Crazy not to move 2 or 3 of the top 30 guys on... there's a couple of really good young fella's that aren't far away from making their mark on the NRL. Don't block their path.
 
I heard we have had a bunch of chats with others to bring in i think you will find we will lose about 10 players. We will replace with 5 or so mongrel type players.
Losing likes of Crones stings cause he’s a true clubman and I feel like he should be around here for a long, long time. Though we have some serious talent coming through as has been mentioned by a few. Tommy Cant can do the 13 role well I feel. And I feel like it’s his time next season

Makes sense to move a few on but 10
Is fairly hectic. How many are top 30 and how many in just cup squad?
 
I don’t really follow the logical link between not moving the coach on & having a bloated salary cap requiring us to move players on.
Your statement doesn't follow from my comment.

I'm not blaming a bloated salary cap for why we get flogged every year we make the finals. I'm blaming the coach.

I take your point that our contract management is to blame for the issues in the dressing room, but I don't necessarily agree that it is the core issue. Success solves problems that failure creates. Hence my above comment

If we'd swapped coaches 2 seasons ago we almost definitely would've seen a more organic replacement of under performing players. Rather than the lazy and thoughtless persistence with the current bunch of over the hill and overpaid senior players which has only just become a problem because we've had to tap 5 of them on the shoulder at once.

These problems aren't necessarily the coaches fault but they certainly could've been avoided by replacing the coach earlier
 
I know the club gets bagged a heap. I’m glad though we are doing this rebuild now rather then coming off a spoon it’s easy to forget where this club has come from. I think it’s a healthy thing for the club to not be content with just finals.

Peter parr is one of the best in the business and he doesn’t get enough respect from fans.
 
I know the club gets bagged a heap. I’m glad though we are doing this rebuild now rather then coming off a spoon it’s easy to forget where this club has come from. I think it’s a healthy thing for the club to not be content with just finals.

Peter parr is one of the best in the business and he doesn’t get enough respect from fans.
Problem is we go through a bit of a rebuild now, then in two years if there's not improvement, the coach is sacked and guess what? Rebuild time.
 
There have been so many players name thrown around that have been tapped on the shoulder or holding off to extend. I personally think only players that should make way are below from the top 30 squad

Adam Elliott (650k or so)
David Armstrong (will leave 250k)
Jack Hetherington (650k or so)
Jackson Hastings (750k or so)
Jayden Brailey (700k or so)
Krystian Mapapalangi (250k or so)

This alone frees up 6 spots and circa $3m in cap space - I don't think our salary cap is so bad as what everyone thinks and we could use this money to sign a Sam Walker $1.2m, Prezet 500k and upgrade a bunch of players and bring through some development guys and actually push to be top4 team

Easier said then done
 
There have been so many players name thrown around that have been tapped on the shoulder or holding off to extend. I personally think only players that should make way are below from the top 30 squad

Adam Elliott (650k or so)
David Armstrong (will leave 250k)
Jack Hetherington (650k or so)
Jackson Hastings (750k or so)
Jayden Brailey (700k or so)
Krystian Mapapalangi (250k or so)

This alone frees up 6 spots and circa $3m in cap space - I don't think our salary cap is so bad as what everyone thinks and we could use this money to sign a Sam Walker $1.2m, Prezet 500k and upgrade a bunch of players and bring through some development guys and actually push to be top4 team

Easier said then done
You are listing guys that are not off contract though, the only ones that are, are bottom dollar blokes. So our cap space is contingent on us moving guys on. And I can't see anyone paying them the amounts that we are.

I vaguely remember Maps is on some ridiculous amount as well for a nobody, hopefully that's BS.
 
You are listing guys that are not off contract though, the only ones that are, are bottom dollar blokes. So our cap space is contingent on us moving guys on. And I can't see anyone paying them the amounts that we are.

I vaguely remember Maps is on some ridiculous amount as well for a nobody, hopefully that's BS.
It was posted on here that Maps was on $300,000.
 
There have been so many players name thrown around that have been tapped on the shoulder or holding off to extend. I personally think only players that should make way are below from the top 30 squad

Adam Elliott (650k or so)
David Armstrong (will leave 250k)
Jack Hetherington (650k or so)
Jackson Hastings (750k or so)
Jayden Brailey (700k or so)
Krystian Mapapalangi (250k or so)

This alone frees up 6 spots and circa $3m in cap space - I don't think our salary cap is so bad as what everyone thinks and we could use this money to sign a Sam Walker $1.2m, Prezet 500k and upgrade a bunch of players and bring through some development guys and actually push to be top4 team

Easier said then done
I reckon Dan Atkinson and Toby sexton should be sort after if we don’t get Pezet
 
More smoke around the Eels being interested in Brailey from the Telegraph:

"The Eels remain in the market with Brailey the latest to come to their attention. Brailey has been given permission to leave the Knights with 12-months left on his contract. He was originally signed at Newcastle by new Parramatta assistant coach Nathan Brown although Brown was sacked before Brailey arrived."
 
There have been so many players name thrown around that have been tapped on the shoulder or holding off to extend. I personally think only players that should make way are below from the top 30 squad

Adam Elliott (650k or so)
David Armstrong (will leave 250k)
Jack Hetherington (650k or so)
Jackson Hastings (750k or so)
Jayden Brailey (700k or so)
Krystian Mapapalangi (250k or so)

This alone frees up 6 spots and circa $3m in cap space - I don't think our salary cap is so bad as what everyone thinks and we could use this money to sign a Sam Walker $1.2m, Prezet 500k and upgrade a bunch of players and bring through some development guys and actually push to be top4 team

Easier said then done
These must be pulled from your nether region. You're not even close with some of them. For example, from what I've heard, DA wasn't offered that to stay. Not one penny more than his current contract. That was all he was offered to knock back over double to move. I also hear he was chased for several months at that double fee thinking he had a chance here. He continually said no. Then the offer was upped and he chose to take it for obvious reasons. Sad loss for the Knights any way you look at it.
 
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