Bradman Best discussion

Hope he’ll stay, he should be trying to get as much as he can, why wouldn’t he.
POS has mentioned a few times that we can’t keep them all, was thinking he was talking about Dom Young, hope he’s not talking about Braddy. He is so good defensively, and the only one who gels with Greg defensively too.
Have to remember we’ve signed his brother too, hopefully that means something. (Not like the Thompsons)
 
KPGreatness said:
I thought every player was aware of it, I mean we got taught to always try to get closer to the post if we could even though we had a great goal kicker, just makes things easier and the kicker loves you for it.
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I have noticed it subtly at times that they could have maybe some times gone in a little, but when you have defenders chasing you everywhere and the ability to rake the ball out, or make tackles to hold you upright, then I'd rather them get the ball down first and foremost
 
jamesgould said:
2020: 11 out of 21 games
2021: 17 out of 25 games
2022: 14 out of 24 games
2023: 25 out of 26 games
2024: 17 out of 25 games
2025: 18 out of 24 games
2026: 12 out of 21 games

Overall 114 out of 166 games played since permanently breaking into first grade. 31.3% missed. I don't hold injuries against any player, but it would be disappointing if he left given all that, and just as we're becoming a force.
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Thanks for the leg work, I was having a look at this the other day.

Like Ponga, we need more games out of them for the $$$ they are on/want.

I think traumatic/in game injuries are a bit of a different story, but the yearly hamstring injuries are getting a little tiresome. Don’t want a turbo situation or even a Latrell situation.
 
Actually a lot more confident in Ponga's fitness even though it's a similar # of games missed. The difference for me is that a lot of Ponga's absences are just really unlucky, like he would have ticked off 20+ games easy last season if he didn't do his lisfranc. This year he did his hammy and that might have been on the trainer, he would hit 20 games this year too if they were smarter there.

With Bradman he genuinely struggles, consistently, to play more than 3-4 games straight without picking something up, and it's pretty consistently the same type of injury. It's not fatal to your chances but it has to cap his value.
 
101k said:
Seen it on clarkeys column so not sure how valid the source is but I hope something gets sorted soon. It’s night and day when he’s on the left edge compared to when he is not
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The problem is that he is not the for a significant amount of the season. He gets paid nearly twice his market rate for the games he actually plays.
 
R_A said:
I have noticed it subtly at times that they could have maybe some times gone in a little, but when you have defenders chasing you everywhere and the ability to rake the ball out, or make tackles to hold you upright, then I'd rather them get the ball down first and foremost
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You can’t kick the goal if you don’t score the try.
 
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R_A said:
I have noticed it subtly at times that they could have maybe some times gone in a little, but when you have defenders chasing you everywhere and the ability to rake the ball out, or make tackles to hold you upright, then I'd rather them get the ball down first and foremost
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True that’s why I said if you can, I understand there are times that you just have to get the ball down as fast as possible but there were times this year that players could have easily come around and didn’t think of it.

I remember half of one early in the season I think it might have been Young that made a break with no one ahead and he didn’t come in at all, that’s very low IQ and makes the kickers pissed.

The smart players think of all this on the fly and know when they can come in or when they have to put it down, the others just think “TRY LINE BABY”
 
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KPGreatness said:
The smart players think of all this on the fly and know when they can come in or when they have to put it down, the others just think “TRY LINE BABY”
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Kalyn Ponga's was a good example of it against the Raiders, he probably could have stepped in and taken somewhat of a risk with defenders swarming near the try line but instead dived a touch early so that he wasn't being held up when he did reach the try line.
 
So a little bit of possible insider talk. The wife has become friendly with one of the knights players gf, and I've had the chance to have a chat shop with her a few times. The info so far
- she said weeks ago we don't have the money for Bradman and he may leave. The articles saying bradman was close to being re-signing appeared after our conversation, so I haven't said anything. But now I am concerned. Her comment was that "all the money is allocated and bradman will need to leave to get paid any more".
- confirms change in atmosphere at the club is like comparing night and day. Apparently under Obrien, the 1st grade boys were separate from the rest of the club, and you had to earn the right to be "in" with 1st grade. It was a boys club that you had to earn the right to be in. Now its one big family where everyone from all grades get along.
- Holbrook is apparently trying to push crossland into lock but crossland is adamant he prefers hooker and is fighting hard to keep his spot.
- the club has started organizing events for the wives and partners to help bond. They are really pushing for a "happy and connected environment".
- Holbrook is very active and social with the players. Has started playing golf with the golf crew. Goes for a surf with the surfing crew. Basically he is one of the boys, not the authority figure obrien was.
 
Jar head said:
So a little bit of possible insider talk. The wife has become friendly with one of the knights players gf, and I've had the chance to have a chat shop with her a few times. The info so far
- she said weeks ago we don't have the money for Bradman and he may leave. The articles saying bradman was close to being re-signing appeared after our conversation, so I haven't said anything. But now I am concerned. Her comment was that "all the money is allocated and bradman will need to leave to get paid any more".
- confirms change in atmosphere at the club is like comparing night and day. Apparently under Obrien, the 1st grade boys were separate from the rest of the club, and you had to earn the right to be "in" with 1st grade. It was a boys club that you had to earn the right to be in. Now its one big family where everyone from all grades get along.
- Holbrook is apparently trying to push crossland into lock but crossland is adamant he prefers hooker and is fighting hard to keep his spot.
- the club has started organizing events for the wives and partners to help bond. They are really pushing for a "happy and connected environment".
- Holbrook is very active and social with the players. Has started playing golf with the golf crew. Goes for a surf with the surfing crew. Basically he is one of the boys, not the authority figure obrien was.
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Bradman: Yeah not shocking. I would bet Lucas got a bit of a pay bump. It sucks but it is what it is, Bradman may very well be the best footy player out of all our guys who play in the wider channels, but he has the most issues with fitness and there’s an argument that left centre is literally the least important position on the entire field lol. The luxury player position. At this stage I would be pitching him sort of similarly to how I’m assuming Francis/Jermaine got retained for another year: “Mate. We think we can win a comp, and you’re the type of player that puts teams over the top. Give us one more year. You come up big in a grand final, the Chiefs or South Island Kea money will be even better.”

O’Brien boys club: He spent all that time under Bellamy and learned nothing.

Crossland: I think what we’re doing now is working really well. I’m usually anti-switching dummy half styles mid game if you can help it because it’s one of those things which is great in theory but often doesn’t work. But the coaching staff is one which makes stuff which is good in theory also good in practice. We’ve landed sucker punches all season out of that 9 spot, hard to miss that Graham barely ran at all vs the Raiders but has done a lot of damage coming on as fresh legs vs fatigued forwards in his cameos.

Holbrook: It doesn’t matter how you do it but the #1 key quality in a coach is players not wanting to let them down. He clearly has it in abundance.
 
I’m hearing 15 million now for Salary cap increase in 28. There are not ratchet clause in Browns and Ponga’s deal. Surely they could back end Bradman’s contract so he gets more the last two years.
 
Owey said:
Not in Brown's but are in Ponga's I believe.
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Ponga took slight under’s I believe. Anyway I would think part of the negotiation would be Bradman we can’t pay you the full amount your asking to start but we can backend it and working out what that figure is.

Interesting Dom also come out and said his offer was really low. POS playing hardball.
 
Brown sort of has one, but it only goes from 1.2-1.3mil.

In one of the POS interviews he said the rule changed recently. So you can't do a ratchet clauses like Browns anymore. Only full ratchet clauses are allowed now.
 
krustykraz said:
Brown sort of has one, but it only goes from 1.2-1.3mil.

In one of the POS interviews he said the rule changed recently. So you can't do a ratchet clauses like Browns anymore. Only full ratchet clauses are allowed now.
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POS said.
You cant sign a player to a percentage of Cap.
The ratchet clause is still able to be used.
 
No offence to Bradman.
I think Bradman will re-sign, his manager is playing hard to get. If Bradman did not stay with the Knights I do believe the mistake would be on Bradman, not the Knights.
This club is moving forward and he would be silly to miss out on a premiership opportunity, just for money. I dont think the Knights would lose a great deal for a long time if Bradman left. We cant keep them all and a centre is not the be all and end all of a footy team.
 
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