2026 Recruitment And Retention

HarVeeGee13 said:
For the same reason that heaps of teams play their second best fullback at centre rather than on the wing: more impactful attacking position. At centre there's more opportunity to be a creative player rather than just a finisher, more early ball with a chance to beat your man on his inside and outside & you get more opportunity back up through the middle like a fullback would at centre than on the wing. If you imagine him going back to fullback and Kalyn moving on in a year or two, centre is the position that makes the most sense for him to play now IMO.
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Valid points, I thought that would be easier from wing, but I can see your point of view

I do have a concern though moving him to centre and learning a new position just for 1 maybe 2 seasons. That would be 3 different positions in 3 years, it’s starting to get like Sione, if that is what happens. Im concerned we might ruin him moving him around too much
 
Can we just get rid of the guy already, gonna be a huge distraction until he leaves
 

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I've never really accepted "moving Sione around" with no further elaboration as an explanation for why Sione didn't reach the heights many expected. First of all I don't think he was *that* good of a player to where if he was just left in one spot he would have been the superstar some seem to think we destroyed. Secondly I think there's a difference between a guy being a utility with a specific range of positions vs the Sione example of having a guy change his body composition multiple times to switch between positions as different as fullback/wing and lock forward. If anything messed him up it's that, not just "not letting him settle in a position". I would argue he absolutely did eventually settle in a spot (back row).

There are plenty of examples of players being moved around a bit where it hasn't done any harm at all. Nick Meaney has an NRL start in every backline position besides halfback and these days excels in his particular niche as a very reliable right centre + good back up fullback. Dylan Lucas has switched between centre and second row when needed, with no issue. Tyran Wishart is a Kurt Gidley style pure spine utility - anywhere 1, 6, 7 or 9, but has never been tried as a centre or winger, I guess Melbourne think he'd suck there - and has performed well in each spot. Etc.

Peter Parr on SEN the other week said they saw Sharpe as a guy who can play anywhere in the backline and I agree with that, you can plug him in anywhere 7-1 and by the looks of him there's no need to change his body composition to get him in there. It's just as a half I see a guy who can make *some* positive impact in games due to how bloody talented & instinctive he is, but playing him there you lose out on certain good attributes of a genuine specialist half which can take a long time to develop. As someone in the back 5 you still get the good stuff IMO and I'm not sure we'd lose that much playing him one pass wider.

On the flip side, if Brown actually can develop into a good on-ball 7, and we can get Sharpe to understand and execute on the kind of role Tyson Gamble had in 2023 - but, obviously, with a much, much more dangerous and dynamic player in that role - there's no denying that yes that's a very tantalising prospect. He may come back with a new level of ball playing skill and finesse and make me look a muppet for ever doubting it. And I hope that does happen.
 
I can definitely see Sharpe becoming a Cooper Cronk type half, especially with the time he has had to contemplate, learn, and develop mentally without playing.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
I've never really accepted "moving Sione around" with no further elaboration as an explanation for why Sione didn't reach the heights many expected. First of all I don't think he was *that* good of a player to where if he was just left in one spot he would have been the superstar some seem to think we destroyed. Secondly I think there's a difference between a guy being a utility with a specific range of positions vs the Sione example of having a guy change his body composition multiple times to switch between positions as different as fullback/wing and lock forward. If anything messed him up it's that, not just "not letting him settle in a position". I would argue he absolutely did eventually settle in a spot (back row).

There are plenty of examples of players being moved around a bit where it hasn't done any harm at all. Nick Meaney has an NRL start in every backline position besides halfback and these days excels in his particular niche as a very reliable right centre + good back up fullback. Dylan Lucas has switched between centre and second row when needed, with no issue. Tyran Wishart is a Kurt Gidley style pure spine utility - anywhere 1, 6, 7 or 9, but has never been tried as a centre or winger, I guess Melbourne think he'd suck there - and has performed well in each spot. Etc.

Peter Parr on SEN the other week said they saw Sharpe as a guy who can play anywhere in the backline and I agree with that, you can plug him in anywhere 7-1 and by the looks of him there's no need to change his body composition to get him in there. It's just as a half I see a guy who can make *some* positive impact in games due to how bloody talented & instinctive he is, but playing him there you lose out on certain good attributes of a genuine specialist half which can take a long time to develop. As someone in the back 5 you still get the good stuff IMO and I'm not sure we'd lose that much playing him one pass wider.

On the flip side, if Brown actually can develop into a good on-ball 7, and we can get Sharpe to understand and execute on the kind of role Tyson Gamble had in 2023 - but, obviously, with a much, much more dangerous and dynamic player in that role - there's no denying that yes that's a very tantalising prospect. He may come back with a new level of ball playing skill and finesse and make me look a muppet for ever doubting it. And I hope that does happen.
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Yes I guess im in the camp that thought Sione was going to be a star and unfortunately it never happened for us

I do agree, moving around the backline is very different than moving from backs to 2nd row for body composition, so that would have had some bearing on Sione

Yes there are many examples of players who can and have played multiple positions, but they tend to focus mainly on the one position, which is the key IMO

I could be wrong, but I just have this feeling, I don’t have evidence to support it, just a feeling that we move some younger players around and they never settle into a position. They sometimes go on to other clubs and they excel there, Simi Sasagi comes to mind

It really could just come down to coaching or lack there of
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
I've never really accepted "moving Sione around" with no further elaboration as an explanation for why Sione didn't reach the heights many expected.
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I said this at the time that Sione didn't reach the heights expected for a very simple reason.

Coming through he was able to trample over the top of the opposition with ease, he couldn't get it through his head he couldn't run through professional athletes in the NRL and that's why he constantly got his bell rang.

For a short time on the Wing he could get away with it but once he moved to the forwards, he was quite literally a danger to himself.

Add to the fact, he had no lateral movement, no passing game and was not particularly big or fast.
 
KPGreatness said:
Just tell him he will be the halfback, brown to five-eighth and Sharpe to either wing or centre.

It’s easier and looks more dangerous
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Uh no mate it actually makes way more sense to have to shuffle the whole team around (Sharpe 6->1, Smith 9->6, Crossland 13->9) the moment Kalyn gets an injury or goes on rep duty. Rather than just make one change (Sharpe centre/wing->fullback, bring reserve back in). Famously, continuity in the spine is bad.
 
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