Dane Gagai

Have heard that Dane is only really considering three options, in this order of priority: 1. Souths 2. Newcastle 3. Brisbane. Brisbane baulked at giving him 3 years $1.8 million and so they should, big deals for non-spine players is what messed up their cap to begin with. That same Fox article says Souths won’t budge on the one year they’ve offered. So reading between the lines I reckon we’d get him if we offered two years.

I’d go about a million over two years. We unlike Brisbane have a strong spine already locked down, we’ve got a strong pack, the big hole is experience & class in the outside backs. Whether you want to believe it or not, Dane would be the best OB at the club if we got him back, and he’d make us better. A two year deal would mean he’s off contract at the same time as Tyson & Klemmer. Try and win a comp over the next two years with these guys, then assess where we’re at after that.

He left us to begin with to play finals footy with Souths. That club is now clearly in huge cap trouble, letting go of Reynolds with no replacement lined up, plus Su’a, and now struggling to find the money for Dane as well. There’s an uncertainty to where they’re headed, and Brisbane is a basket case. There’s my pitch for Dane. You wanna try and compete for a comp? Surely you have a better shot with us than anyone else. Oh Parramatta is also interested? Uhhhhhh…

Given there was allegedly cap space to go after both Dane & Finucane, I think in addition to Dane we’ve gotta look at improving forward depth - look for a young, high impact player with potential who provides a bit of a point of difference.

Kind of sounds like there’s a bit of money left over after that - probably I’d look at pre-paying someone and making sure there’s space for extensions for the Saifiti twins, Brailey & Clifford.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Have heard that Dane is only really considering three options, in this order of priority: 1. Souths 2. Newcastle 3. Brisbane. Brisbane baulked at giving him 3 years $1.8 million and so they should, big deals for non-spine players is what messed up their cap to begin with. That same Fox article says Souths won’t budge on the one year they’ve offered. So reading between the lines I reckon we’d get him if we offered two years.

I’d go about a million over two years. We unlike Brisbane have a strong spine already locked down, we’ve got a strong pack, the big hole is experience & class in the outside backs. Whether you want to believe it or not, Dane would be the best OB at the club if we got him back, and he’d make us better. A two year deal would mean he’s off contract at the same time as Tyson & Klemmer. Try and win a comp over the next two years with these guys, then assess where we’re at after that.

He left us to begin with to play finals footy with Souths. That club is now clearly in huge cap trouble, letting go of Reynolds with no replacement lined up, plus Su’a, and now struggling to find the money for Dane as well. There’s an uncertainty to where they’re headed, and Brisbane is a basket case. There’s my pitch for Dane. You wanna try and compete for a comp? Surely you have a better shot with us than anyone else. Oh Parramatta is also interested? Uhhhhhh…

Given there was allegedly cap space to go after both Dane & Finucane, I think in addition to Dane we’ve gotta look at improving forward depth - look for a young, high impact player with potential who provides a bit of a point of difference.

Kind of sounds like there’s a bit of money left over after that - probably I’d look at pre-paying someone and making sure there’s space for extensions for the Saifiti twins, Brailey & Clifford.
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Heard today that he's guaranteed to leave souths

So I'm expecting the news of us signing him soon or someone under the radarish like parramatta or tigers
 
Dan Saifiti is very candid in Toohey's latest podcast about the sort of culture at the club at the time Gagai left - talking of how much drinking he and Jacob were doing and how much weight they were carrying, and also how there were no senior role models till guys like Klemmer, Glasby, Guerra etc arrived.
If Gagai returns, hopefully it's to a different culture and he is able to show us a lot more commitment than last time.
 
Billy said:
Dan Saifiti is very candid in Toohey's latest podcast about the sort of culture at the club at the time Gagai left - talking of how much drinking he and Jacob were doing and how much weight they were carrying, and also how there were no senior role models till guys like Klemmer, Glasby, Guerra etc arrived.
If Gagai returns, hopefully it's to a different culture and he is able to show us a lot more commitment than last time.
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Did Dan say much about his own contract extension?
 
krustykraz said:
Did Dan say much about his own contract extension?
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Talked about it, but basically said the twins were keen to stay - didn't think the club would take advantage of them not wanting to leave, but they are aware they need to look after their families at age 25.
 
Billy said:
Talked about it, but basically said the twins were keen to stay - didn't think the club would take advantage of them not wanting to leave, but they are aware they need to look after their families at age 25.
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Your right but at near hitting 40 comment makes me feel ancient.
 
Billy said:
Dan Saifiti is very candid in Toohey's latest podcast about the sort of culture at the club at the time Gagai left - talking of how much drinking he and Jacob were doing and how much weight they were carrying, and also how there were no senior role models till guys like Klemmer, Glasby, Guerra etc arrived.
If Gagai returns, hopefully it's to a different culture and he is able to show us a lot more commitment than last time.
Click to expand...
Gagai was one of the players he identified as being professional/having the right attitude in that first year at the club (the other was Jeremy Smith).
 
I find this interesting for a few reasons. Gagai has always said his position is centre, if he is playing centre our combination will be Best and Gagai. This means Kurt Mann will go back to the bench. I would think it is unlikely that we will play both Connor Watson and Mann on the bench. I guess potentially with the new rules they might or perhaps they may see Connor as an out and out lock with Mann playing utility, but to me that seems silly. I wonder if this means Connor is confirmed to be signing elsewhere?
On the other hand maybe Gagai is coming to play wing, which then the question becomes do we have money for Gagai and whatever Watson requests as his revised offer? Almost undoubtedly this means an end to the Finucane speculation.
 
I'm stoked at this, love Dane and was devastated when he left us. He returns a more experienced and mature head than when he left, after playing around some fantastic players in a good club culture.

We now have the squad to bring out his best football, he was a standout for us in a terrible team and now he will be a solid player in a strong team.
 
I don't really believe it.
The Telegraph doesn't get scoops on our signings these days.

If he has signed, he's an upgrade on what we have, but we'll have to pay him lot more than he is worth.
 
Happy with this overall. We need something and Gagai is likely to be the best available. Hoping the price is right, but he adds experience and should be invaluable for Best & Sasagi to learn from.
 
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