Bradman Best discussion

When you’re the guy making those tough calls though you’re gonna put people offside if they don’t seem bulletproof.

There was no hard feelings about Daniel Saifiti moving on to sort out the cap. Didn’t seem to be a lot of sour grapes about Brailey, Elliott and some others moving on. It’s a business, they have to do what’s best for them and I have to do what’s best for me, etc etc etc, and players kind of know where they stand, yep mid range players making $5-800K hurt your cap, we get it, no hard feelings.

But then… here you go Marata, here’s $600K. And now look we are seeing mysterious signs of annoyance and POS seems to have fallen out with the coach and director of football 🤔

Has Marata Niukore been a better player in the NRL than Adam Elliott? Genuine question. I kind of think the answer is no.
 
POS left on bad terms with the Warriors. Mind you that wouldn't be hard with some of the people such as the current CEO and owner that are there.
 
From my understanding, it wasn't so much a falling out where things became unprofessional or personal, but rather a difference in philosophy over how the club's roster should be shaped over the next 6-7 years versus the desire to strike while the premiership window is open over the next 2–3 years.

POS was staunch in his belief that the club needed to limit spending outside the spine and assign a maximum value to positions and players based on data, forecasting and long-term projections. The goal was to prioritise internal development and astute recruitment to replace any players lost along the way. This obviously leads to some tough conversations and can leave players feeling overly commodified during contract negotiations.

Holbrook and Parr are much more people-oriented, empathetic and relationship-driven men who are more inclined to factor those qualities into negotiations, whereas POS is well known for leaving them off the table when determining contract value. I think Best mentioning that he's a father now alludes to something that POS simply doesn't see as relevant when putting a dollar figure on a player.

It basically comes down to this: POS's philosophy is that if you consistently compete for the top four over the course of a decade, you'll eventually jag 1–2 premierships.

Holbrook and Parr, on the other hand, believe that keeping the current squad intact is important and that winning a premiership or two here and now will have flow-on effects that benefit the club for the next decade, particularly in terms of player retention, recruitment and junior development.

None of this is to suggest any of the parties are wrong. Everyones got a job to do and POS is the best in the business, but there is a certain 'magic' about the current squad that is heavily driven by the emotion of being underdogs and proving they belong that flows from player to player and POS meetings were a bit of a circuit breaker to that current flowing through the place and Parr and Holbrook identified it.

I don't think this is a lets see who's right type outcome, e.g. will we overspend now and get gutted over the next 3-4 years and have no premiership to show for it and end up looking back that losing POS killed our golden window of opportunity. Or if this squad wins a premiership in the next 2 years then takes unders/cuts in the new raised cap to stay together to win 1-2 more that only losing POS made that possible. I don't think our premiership window is on that big of a spectrum - we just need to capture this magic we have now and turn that into a sustained identity and culture and premierships will come.

It's a complicated business that's for sure.
 
I mostly think you’re right there oneknight but I can’t quite square the Niukore move with that if that was Sully’s intent. Reads more like a short-sighted move to load up on depth while we have a contending roster & a lot of young cheap players, than one which will maximise keeping core players together for the long haul.

The thing is I kind of do think we should be trying to maximise the next 2-3 years. We won’t have this kind of depth again after that for a good while. I just legit think it turns out that the best way to do that may have been just to not sign anyone external and to toss Frizell another year.
 
I mostly think you’re right there oneknight but I can’t quite square the Niukore move with that if that was Sully’s intent. Reads more like a short-sighted move to load up on depth while we have a contending roster & a lot of young cheap players, than one which will maximise keeping core players together for the long haul.

The thing is I kind of do think we should be trying to maximise the next 2-3 years. We won’t have this kind of depth again after that for a good while. I just legit think it turns out that the best way to do that may have been just to not sign anyone external and to toss Frizell another year.
Hindsight is a wonderfull thing
 
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