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.
 
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.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
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.
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Hindsight is a wonderfull thing
 
onekn1ghtinbangkok said:
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.
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That’s really well summed up and explained

Thank you
 
Tim said:
This time last year everyone was whinging about the Brown signing, mostly because of how much he was on. I hope this time next year we are all going on about how good Niukore was, and worth every cent.
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Suspect POS paid $600k for 1. versatility / general squad utility value, and 2. To complete the roster then and there.

We're not likely to see $600k worth of on field performance from Niukore. I say that based on what we've seen from Niukore during his career, ignoring even the fact that he will be in his 30s when he arrives
 
I always thought signing Brown was a good idea but tbf it was because I didn’t think Fletcher Sharpe was a half’s ******* and I just think you need A properly class halves player, wasn’t fussed on whether Brown is a 6 or a 7. There have been plenty of great teams where the only elite half was a #6.

Turns out 7 may secretly be his best position & now we have great halves on the books. So yes, hindsight is 20/20.

Look if we go on a Penrith like run where this year was the first of five straight grand finals, they that team managed to field 9 of the same players in premierships #1 and #4. Edwards, To’o, Luai, Cleary, Fisher-Harris, Leota, Martin, Yeo, Sorensen.

If 9 is the magic number for gun players you can reasonably expect to keep that long, the question with this stuff is “who are those 9 players”.

We’re not Penrith though. That team is built around Nathan Cleary, more than anyone else. Our best player is Kalyn Ponga and we found the play style which compliments what he does, and I would argue edge/wide players matter a bit more in a Kalyn Ponga team. You also have to identify your guys who are absolute dogs like Martin, Sorensen, Kenny who came into the team for premiership 2, guys who’d sooner die than lose.

Who are our 9 guys? Is Bradman one of them? I think yes.
 
I’d hate to be Niukore if he’s reading the forum. If he does hopefully it fuels a fire because all the speculation on how garbage someone is before they have a crack in the colours isn’t something I’ve ever been a fan of. Doesn’t matter how great you are, if you are unhappy your potential can never be realised so hopefully he finds happiness here and prove the naysayers wrong.

Now on Best.

I gotta say I don’t like when they start dancing for the press and airing grievances. Yeah it sells a few papers but what’s being said behind closed doors if they can throw a not so sneaky jab for those grubs to eat up and parrot like a broken record for the next month? That’s the sort of thing we constantly had to deal with and listen to during our spoon years and not just this club but any sub par performing club or player. I prefer them to keep their mouths shut and get on with training hard and playing good footy, or for close to a million, exceptional football. 🤷‍♂️
 
onekn1ghtinbangkok said:
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.
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I think this sums it up well, but I have to say the sense of comradery and mateship in the team hasn’t resulted in Best staying for less, has it. From his statements today it sounds like he’s planning to pump us for every single penny we have.

So advantage to POS’s thinking so far, I reckon.
 
jamesgould said:
I think this sums it up well, but I have to say the sense of comradery and mateship in the team hasn’t resulted in Best staying for less, has it. From his statements today it sounds like he’s planning to pump us for every single penny we have.

So advantage to POS’s thinking so far, I reckon.
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I don't think it's neccesarily Best isn't willing to stay for less or that he's pushing for top dollar, more so there were so uncomfortable conversations that left him feeling undervalued and thus stalled negotiations all year which then allowed other clubs to start sniffing around and push his price up.

If the latest rumour of 820k is true, that's still less than Parra's supposed 900-950k offer and probably the middle ground between getting more than we would probably like to spend on him and him choosing a lower salary to stay.

I do think if we just offered him 750k + ratchets with a 'you are a new dad with a business here, here's a 50k payrise and ratchets that push you to 900k' at start of year we would have him locked up then and there.

I think offering him the same contract with no ratchets was rightly seen as an insult by Best. He's a top 3 centre in the game and worth more than 700k.
 
onekn1ghtinbangkok said:
I don't think it's neccesarily Best isn't willing to stay for less or that he's pushing for top dollar, more so there were so uncomfortable conversations that left him feeling undervalued and thus stalled negotiations all year which then allowed other clubs to start sniffing around and push his price up.

If the latest rumour of 820k is true, that's still less than Parra's supposed 900-950k offer and probably the middle ground between getting more than we would probably like to spend on him and him choosing a lower salary to stay.

I do think if we just offered him 750k + ratchets with a 'you are a new dad with a business here, here's a 50k payrise and ratchets that push you to 900k' at start of year we would have him locked up then and there.

I think offering him the same contract with no ratchets was rightly seen as an insult by Best. He's a top 3 centre in the game and worth more than 700k.
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And i should note that that's parras supposed offer come nov 1, we all know about anti tampering and that it's upheld...
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
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.
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Yea hindsight and all, i think POS didn't bargain on Friz having a good year at 35 or the emergence of our forward stocks as quickly as it happened this year. The 600k+ figure seems to have come from Barry Toohey though and he has much connection to club inside as the average punter here though these days. He's mostly wrong on anything recruitment these days and guessing most the time from gossip circles rather than any legitimate club source. It could be 500k for all we know which is what Friz just signed with the Tiges for.
 
The thing with the Niukore signing is that Barnett really wanted to come back and was willing to take unders to make it happen. I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence, but three players POS didn’t want WDC, Gags and Barnett have all ended up at the Broncos. What are the odds Seve ends up there too?
 
slotmachine said:
For stinking up reserve grade no less.

Meanwhile, Bradman, I know you've won origin this year, been one of the three best players on the park in a few finals on the way to the GF and will debut for Aus but all I can offer you is 700k.

No wonder best is pissed, it's insulting
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To be fair we signed Niukore prior to most of his NSW Cup ploddery. He played FG every week when available in 2025.
 
POS also made the tough call on Leo

But both can true a guy can wear out their welcome quick once they’ve done their job and had a crack at it
 
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