2026 Recruitment And Retention

krustykraz said:
I really want to see what Holbrook can do with the spine in 2026 before they think about releasing Ponga
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It'd be a crime of immeasurable magnitude for us to happily donate Ponga's career as a Knight to the exclusive use of AOB.

The moment we have a decent attacking coach we ship Ponga out, as though the problem was the player and not the coach. Absolute madness
 
But seriously, I like the idea. I think he would be a good get. He was at Melbourne in a real sweet spot of their evolution as a defensive behemoth.
 
Bellamy has been trying to offload NAS for ages now and he’s on 900k. They don’t get everything right. A lot more than the Knights definitely but not everything

Crazy the between the spine and NAS they’re essentially spending $5million. How are they balancing squeezing 25 players into the other $7million?

And no thank you to Burton, we need to raise the average IQ of this group, not drag it to the floor
 
MBQLD said:
What do people think of Brett White as assistant? Assistant for NSW and my wife’s school bully is all I know of him.
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Damn we let a real WGD into the club.

Owey said:
But seriously, I like the idea. I think he would be a good get. He was at Melbourne in a real sweet spot of their evolution as a defensive behemoth.
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Posted elsewhere but he was the defensive assistant at Canberra from 2018-22 so that should assuage some worries about him being the Titans defensive coach. There's as much if not more of a track record as a good defensive assistant than what McDermott had.

Titans poached him for 2023, Holbrook wanted him, and they were only working together for about half a year so I guess he made a good impression. Holbrook had some other assistants up there who were with him for a long time and he appears to have prioritised getting Brett.
 
Newygirl said:
Bellamy has been trying to offload NAS for ages now and he’s on 900k. They don’t get everything right. A lot more than the Knights definitely but not everything

Crazy the between the spine and NAS they’re essentially spending $5million. How are they balancing squeezing 25 players into the other $7million?

And no thank you to Burton, we need to raise the average IQ of this group, not drag it to the floor
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It's about to balloon, too.

Munny has been reported to be on about $1.25 million and that's what I heard Hughes agreed to. Pappy's extension was $1 million. I think they'll surely have to beat a million to keep Grant. I don't think anyone will be near them in terms of what they spend on their spine soon and they already spent the most.

And then yeah NAS is on big coin and they paid up to get Stefano.

A lot of guys who play regular footy for them must be among the lowest earners relative to game time in the NRL. I think it's all above board and the thing I'd point to is how they do demonstrably have a way worse record when they're down to only two of their four spine guys... them being so great is built on elite key players and everyone else just holding the gloves up. They've been on struggle street with when Hughes and especially Grant have been out this year.
 
frankLauda said:
I'm all for keeping at least this year. If for whatever reason, he doesn't work out or it's not best for the team, then consider parting ways 27 or 28. I think it's crazy talk to want him to go next year or do a swap, for who?
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I think Ponga will have a huge season for us next year. He would know last season was not upto scratch, although he was likely harboured with lingering injuries all season. He was far off what we know he can produce.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
It's about to balloon, too.

Munny has been reported to be on about $1.25 million and that's what I heard Hughes agreed to. Pappy's extension was $1 million. I think they'll surely have to beat a million to keep Grant. I don't think anyone will be near them in terms of what they spend on their spine soon and they already spent the most.

And then yeah NAS is on big coin and they paid up to get Stefano.

A lot of guys who play regular footy for them must be among the lowest earners relative to game time in the NRL. I think it's all above board and the thing I'd point to is how they do demonstrably have a way worse record when they're down to only two of their four spine guys... them being so great is built on elite key players and everyone else just holding the gloves up. They've been on struggle street with when Hughes and especially Grant have been out this year.
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Yeah they’re very top heavy and then there’s still guys like Katoa, who must be massively underpaid since he didn’t feature on the rich list. They had Howarth sitting in QLD cup on $500k

Yeah Grant Anderson is only on $150k and there must be quite a few others on same or not much more.

I assume they’ll let Papi go and maybe even Munster. I’m guessing they’d like to keep Wishart but would surely be impossible unless they can unload NAS and those two.
 
Newygirl said:
Yeah they’re very top heavy and then there’s still guys like Katoa, who must be massively underpaid since he didn’t feature on the rich list. They had Howarth sitting in QLD cup on $500k
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:eek:

Now that is crazy. Eli may be the best back rower in the game right now.

Go get paid Eli!
 
Newygirl said:
Bellamy has been trying to offload NAS for ages now and he’s on 900k. They don’t get everything right. A lot more than the Knights definitely but not everything

Crazy the between the spine and NAS they’re essentially spending $5million. How are they balancing squeezing 25 players into the other $7million?

And no thank you to Burton, we need to raise the average IQ of this group, not drag it to the floor
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Apparently they just outbid or matched our offer to Pezet too which was around $600k, need to up the money to wishart for him to stay, Loreio and King signed upgraded deals.
The one thing they have always done is find QLD cup guys that can come in for $80k and match most $400k players but they would be bursting at the seams you would think
 
knights80 said:
Apparently they just outbid or matched our offer to Pezet too which was around $600k, need to up the money to wishart for him to stay, Loreio and King signed upgraded deals.
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Say what.

Lol.

Something's got to give there, then. Surely there's some sort of wink wink deal to let Munster out early to go get paid at the Bears if they win the comp or something?
 
knights80 said:
Apparently they just outbid or matched our offer to Pezet too which was around $600k, need to up the money to wishart for him to stay, Loreio and King signed upgraded deals.
The one thing they have always done is find QLD cup guys that can come in for $80k and match most $400k players but they would be bursting at the seams you would think
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That’s crazy they were also able to match Pezet’s offer.
 
Sheent14 said:
I think Ponga will have a huge season for us next year. He would know last season was not upto scratch, although he was likely harboured with lingering injuries all season. He was far off what we know he can produce.
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He will have a big year next year trying to attract a contract elsewhere
 
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