2026 Recruitment And Retention

Hate to break it to POS and Green, but Brown isnt a 7 and Sharpe isnt a 6.

Yes, there will be periods of play where that combination is effective but if thats how footy worked Ponga, Walsh and Tedesco would all be halfbacks. Its now how it ****ing works.

So ridiculous
 
Les Misérables said:
Hate to break it to POS and Green, but Brown isnt a 7 and Sharpe isnt a 6.

Yes, there will be periods of play where that combination is effective but if thats how footy worked Ponga, Walsh and Tedesco would all be halfbacks. Its now how it ****ing works.

So ridiculous
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Can only conclude they haven’t given up on the idea of Ponga playing as more of a lead playmaker alongside Brown, with Sharpe as the clear #3. If it doesn’t work Ponga walks, Sharpe goes back to fullback, and we will almost certainly then be looking for a new half in the market. I guess POS simply doesn’t rate Sandon enough as a half in this scenario and backs himself to find someone else.

Hope Kalyn is watching Reece tonight and it’s awakening his competitive spirit, he’s basically playing 6 tonight and has been best on ground. Get on the toilet water Kalyn!
 
Les Misérables said:
What a ****witt.

First he signs an 800k running 6 for $1.4m to play 7, then turns down a 7 by forcing him to play 9 knowing it'll cost him the signing.

Some frightening levels of idiocy from the bloke we're supposed to trust to rebuild the roster
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At the very least, POS has actual runs on the board. Calling a proven recruitment manager an idiot just because you don’t agree? That’s… well, that’s a bold strategy, Cotton 😂
 
KPGreatness said:
That rejection list of talent we actually want is getting pretty long for POS

Latu ❌
Pezet ❌
Da Silva ❌
Pahulu ❌
Smith ❌
King-Togia ❌

Seems like he can only get players that others aren’t going for, so far the only big name we needed and got is Mooney, I would suggest going after the many really good young halfbacks like Black at the Broncos after they just signed Duffy from the Cowboys or Woods from the dogs after they signed Galvin but I doubt POS has it in him to get one of the higher class halfbacks even if their path is blocked.

That legendary reputation is getting a work out.

No matter what people think of Smiths ability is literally doesn’t matter as everyone on here has an issue with literally everybody unless they are already an established and or premiership winning half like Hughes or even Moses which is incredibly unrealistic and pie in the sky crap.

The same people on here that hate everyone we go for are the same that were calling for Crossland to get moved on, don’t really hear those to much now.

Smith was the best halfback on the market now if he wants to find one he will have to go for the upper class rookies that are under contract which I mentioned but with his strike rate I don’t like our chances.

He is clearly backing the hell out of Brown to succeed fast, if he doesn’t that reputation is going to take a catastrophic hit
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Disagree. We have a basket-case coaching situation and are battling for the spoon. There are plenty of factors at play for why players do or don't want to come here over other clubs. I like that he's refusing to pay overs with a long-term strategy in mind. Our cap has been mess for a long time and he has his work cut out for him. Too early right now but time will tell.
 
TBF the King-Togia thing was his agent coming to us in an attempt to bully the Dragons into fast tracking him into first grade (it worked).

Was just watching Dawn of the Dolphins and POS dropped his spiel, he never worries about missing out on a player because someone else will come along. Never seemed flustered or panicked as he kept getting rejected at the Phins.

With that in mind, I guess his thinking is likely - they’re going to try Ponga, Brown & Sharpe, if that works great, if it doesn’t Kalyn is likely going to signal to us that he’s gone at the end of 2027, and then he’ll just get someone else.

Now. I can’t read the dude’s mind. But, at the end of 2027 here’s who’s going to be off-contract: leaving out the ones there’s zero chance at getting (Munster, Cleary), there’s Matt Burton & Luke Brooks (I know, I know) as the available established halves, plus Latu Fainu, King-Togia, Ethan Sanders, Joey Walsh & Mitchell Woods as the highly touted young prospects.

Worth noting that four in the established camp (Burton, Woods; Brooks, Walsh) are at the same club, so in both cases one of the two will almost certainly be gone at the end of their deal. It’s common for young halves who do end up making it to do so at their second or third club. He CAN just sort of sit there, observe, and wait. Try to identify the young fella who gets given up on that has a lot more to give (as he did with Keary and Metcalf). Pay up for someone if the club they’re at gets priced out of keeping them. Etc. Even with the Bears and PNG side coming in I think there still may honestly not be enough halves spots at those clubs that there still won’t be anyone available to sign. Plus he signed the young prospect Matt Hunter I believe on a timeline that would match up exactly with Ponga leaving (if Ponga ditches at the end of 2027, Hunter is signed in 2028, so if he’s developing well in he goes I guess).

There is, actually, a lot of movement in the halves market (with Moses and Brown breaking up, the longest serving halves combos after Hughes and Munster are Mam and Reynolds, since 2022, and Nicho and Tricky, since late 2023. Keeping a combo together for longer than one season is so rare now), and that’s what’s really been frustrating about how we’ve gone in the player market on that front since getting Pearce. So many halves have changed clubs and when we’ve signed someone we’ve somehow landed on one of the worst possible options every time lol.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Can only conclude they haven’t given up on the idea of Ponga playing as more of a lead playmaker alongside Brown, with Sharpe as the clear #3. If it doesn’t work Ponga walks, Sharpe goes back to fullback, and we will almost certainly then be looking for a new half in the market. I guess POS simply doesn’t rate Sandon enough as a half in this scenario and backs himself to find someone else.
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I don't mind this explanation.

POS hedging for Ponga's departure. Gives Sharpe a year in the halves, keeps our powder dry for a gun 7 once Ponga leaves. The only thing I dont like about it is that we're dusting another season in preparation of some hypothetical future, again.

I suppose kicking is an issue, neither Sandon or Brown can wack it, that's a bit of an issue. But man, notwithstanding, I hope we get him.
 
Les Misérables said:
Hate to break it to POS and Green, but Brown isnt a 7 and Sharpe isnt a 6.

Yes, there will be periods of play where that combination is effective but if thats how footy worked Ponga, Walsh and Tedesco would all be halfbacks. Its now how it ****ing works.

So ridiculous
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Melbourne have 3 blokes in their spine who were fullbacks. No reason both sharpe and brown cant be developed into what we need, its a long play so no point crying when its all over the shop in 26.
 
EASBay17 said:
Melbourne have 3 blokes in their spine who were fullbacks. No reason both sharpe and brown cant be developed into what we need, its a long play so no point crying when its all over the shop in 26.
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This is more “technically true” than true true, Munster’s always been considered a five-eighth and played fullback primarily in first grade initially due to injury to Billy Slater. Hughes had played in the halves a fair bit in lower grades/QCup before they tried it in first grade, the Storm didn’t just wake up one day and decide he was a half. I don’t think they predicted what he’d become at 7 & thought Brodie was going to be a gun, but he didn’t learn how to play in the halves in the NRL.

Pappy the only one of the three who has only ever been considered an out and out fullback.
 
Les Misérables said:
I suppose kicking is an issue, neither Sandon or Brown can wack it, that's a bit of an issue. But man, notwithstanding, I hope we get him.
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Yep someone would have to get better at it. Actually don’t think there’s anything wrong with Dylan’s boot and that’s one of the things that frustrates Parra fans I think, the dude can kick, he just doesn’t for some reason. Which just makes me think he doesn’t want to do it much.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
This is more “technically true” than true true, Munster’s always been considered a five-eighth and played fullback primarily in first grade initially due to injury to Billy Slater. Hughes had played in the halves a fair bit in lower grades/QCup before they tried it in first grade, the Storm didn’t just wake up one day and decide he was a half. I don’t think they predicted what he’d become at 7 & thought Brodie was going to be a gun, but he didn’t learn how to play in the halves in the NRL.

Pappy the only one of the three who has only ever been considered an out and out fullback.
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I mean Sharpe started as a halfback and played halves as a five eighth as well before transitioning to fullback and winger.
 
Yes I heard that. But watching him play in 6 this year passing and organising doesn’t seem like his natural game. But you could see he was slowly getting better. It was unfortunate his injury to see that progression.

The concern is Brown is not an organiser. So the pair as halves partners is the question. At this stage from what I’ve seen neither of them have shown qualities of “running” the team. I did see that in watching Smith.
 
Yeah he honestly didn't look like someone who's played in the halves much at all. As I understand it, the time in the halves was at the Goannas, and he's been a fullback in our system the entire time. There's a difference between that and playing halves all through Ball/Flegg/NSW Cup. A lot of players who are centres, wingers etc at NRL level now were halfbacks at their local club because they were the best player and it meant they got the ball a lot. You know who else played halfback as a teenager for their local club? David Klemmer.

Obviously there's a lot more chance of Fletcher making it as a half in the NRL but he has a long way to go. Biggest mistake we made this year was trying to use him too much in that pocket down the left on Kalyn's inside, where in previous years Hastings, Clune & Crossland have played, his work in shape was really really poor. At the same time they wanted them switching a lot with Kalyn as the 6 and Sharpe swinging around as a 1 and they really struggled to get in sync the whole time. It looked sexy in the trial but in real NRL games it was just not good. Very silly when you think about it: Sharpe is learning a new position on the fly and we drop him straight into the more important and difficult role in shape, while also wanting Kalyn to take on a bigger role and play more like a hybrid 7/1... they kind of jumped straight to the end of what they want to do with them and tried to execute it in the NRL from day 1.

Things did look a lot better when they moved Sharpe over to the right & got him playing outside his back rower in shape more often than inside, playing with more depth in those 'slingshot' shapes sweeping around that side (which is what Gamble did a lot in 2023), but there's still a lot of work to do. Why they watched him & Kalyn in training and thought they could execute down that left side playing as close to the line as they did is beyond me but there's more chance of that stuff working with Brown & Ponga combining.

That'll be the key for me next year; I've seen a few say they think Sharpe can evolve into a true organising 7 like Cooper Cronk. I'd like to see if we can set our sights on getting his ball playing, kicking and decision making to the level of Tyson Gamble before we worry about Cronk. That's actually a really good player when you add in the stuff Fletcher is great at right now.
 
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Yeah definitely throwing him in the deep end. The coach took a punt on this, because of the injury to Gamble.

In hindsight Hasting should have been playing 7 this year. Gamble being injured and Cogger up and (mainly) down performances was a massive factor in a poor year.

Most of the blame needs to go to the coach and recruitment not being able to sort out halves since Peace left the building.

Just trying to remember who we had playing as six during that time? I remember Blake Green played two games which we looked really good.

Also the hooker curse affected us. We looked good with McCullock before he was shot.
 
frankLauda said:
Yeah definitely throwing him in the deep end. The coach took a punt on this, because of the injury to Gamble.

In hindsight Hasting should have been playing 7 this year. Gamble being injured and Cogger up and (mainly) down performances was a massive factor in a poor year.

Most of the blame needs to go to the coach and recruitment not being able to sort out halves since Peace left the building.

Just trying to remember who we had playing as six during that time? I remember Blake Green played two games which we looked really good.

Also the hooker curse affected us. We looked good with McCullock before he was shot.
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Watson, mann , milford , lino. What a ****show.
 
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