2026 Recruitment And Retention

R_A said:
I still don’t know why people keep bringing up Lodge either. I’d rather some young gun get a shot who’s been in the system.
Click to expand...
I would to but some developmental specialist on here believe it might be to soon for our young guns.

Ideally I’d like Hopwood who showed for 40 minutes he can compete at this level against first grade props but for some reason the developmental specialist on here believe you’re not NRL ready until you’re like 25.

And if you aren’t willing to give a guy with talent who is 100% ready for first grade a chance than you’ll need props from other places, you also risk losing said prop as he doesn’t believe he can get game time here.

I’m only going along with pulling props from other teams using their line of thinking. In my world I’d want Hopwood round 1 on the bench
 
If Sandon Smith can lock down the 7 Jersey, which he says is his "dream" - we really are at least 1 experienced hooker short.
We have one experienced guy (Crossland) who seems to want to play lock.
We have a young guy (Arthur) who only played the full 80 minutes in 3 games of reserve grade last year.
And a young new recruit on the development list.
We also have Diesal Hagan training with firstgrade. He played some Laurie Daley cup and some SG Ball last year.

I think Tyson Gamble really has to be training at hooker if Sandon Smith isn't - or we have to buy someone with firstgrade experience.
 
Billy said:
If Sandon Smith can lock down the 7 Jersey, which he says is his "dream" - we really are at least 1 experienced hooker short.
We have one experienced guy (Crossland) who seems to want to play lock.
We have a young guy (Arthur) who only played the full 80 minutes in 3 games of reserve grade last year.
And a young new recruit on the development list.
We also have Diesal Hagan training with firstgrade. He played some Laurie Daley cup and some SG Ball last year.

I think Tyson Gamble really has to be training at hooker if Sandon Smith isn't - or we have to buy someone with firstgrade experience.
Click to expand...
Your forgetting the guy from the dolphins I think he is a big chance of being the back up hooker
 
KPGreatness said:
I would to but some developmental specialist on here believe it might be to soon for our young guns.

Ideally I’d like Hopwood who showed for 40 minutes he can compete at this level against first grade props but for some reason the developmental specialist on here believe you’re not NRL ready until you’re like 25.

And if you aren’t willing to give a guy with talent who is 100% ready for first grade a chance than you’ll need props from other places, you also risk losing said prop as he doesn’t believe he can get game time here.

I’m only going along with pulling props from other teams using their line of thinking. In my world I’d want Hopwood round 1 on the bench
Click to expand...
Think we have some very talented young forwards coming through and Hopwood is definitely one of them but my concerns are yes 40 strong minutes but can he perform at that level each week.
I tend to prefer experience to raw young talent with them being introduced gradually so we don’t burn them out, rather look towards a long career performing at top level. It’s not like the young ones are playing in a pack full of strong hard experienced fwds. The likes of Frizell, Jones, Croker are still as good or better at the moment than the likes of Hopwood, McEwen, EPL etc but no doubt will improve while the vets will fall away so hopefully the young ones are gradually used even rotated week about on the bench
 
KPGreatness said:
I would to but some developmental specialist on here believe it might be to soon for our young guns.

Ideally I’d like Hopwood who showed for 40 minutes he can compete at this level against first grade props but for some reason the developmental specialist on here believe you’re not NRL ready until you’re like 25.

And if you aren’t willing to give a guy with talent who is 100% ready for first grade a chance than you’ll need props from other places, you also risk losing said prop as he doesn’t believe he can get game time here.

I’m only going along with pulling props from other teams using their line of thinking. In my world I’d want Hopwood round 1 on the bench
Click to expand...
Hopwood has the potential to be one of the very best forwards the Knights have ever produced. I'm not sure who the "development specialist" is on here you are referring to, but on last year's reserve grade form he was not ready to play first grade week in, week out at the end of the season. He had, however, come a long way. He was getting pretty physically dominated early on in reggies, which is understandable. By the end of the year he was starting to hold his own. This preseason could see him push past that point and he could come out of it with a round 1 spot if he starts getting over the top of our other middles in training. If he doesn't quite get there, I'm happy to wait until he is really starting to dominate in reggies and demand a spot. I'm old enough to remember some of our really good forwards coming through and watching them dominate reserve grade for a couple of months to really demand a first grade spot. I'm happy the coach will make the right call come round 1 on who he has been impressed with through preseason. If Hopwood isn't there, I'm sure he will get some more firsts experience as the season goes on. Speaking of improvements playing against men, Will Sullivan was much improved over the course of last season too. Don't rule him out either.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top