NRL General Recruitment and Retention

Owey said:
Yeah, apparently players don't want the six hour flight to the east coast every other week. Well there's a surprise!! What sort of dispensation is going to sort that? Remembering that any they are given has to come from the club and/or nrl.
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I remember recruitment was definitely a problem for the Western Reds back in the day, too. They got one or two big name signings like Brad Mackay, players who'd gone off the rails like Mark Geyer, but apart from that it was very much journeymen looking for an opportunity. They were able to compete alright back in the 90s with those players, but I'm not sure there's the depth in the NRL at the moment for lots of them to form a team and be successful. Will need some very skilled recruitment.
 
jamesgould said:
I remember recruitment was definitely a problem for the Western Reds back in the day, too. They got one or two big name signings like Brad Mackay, players who'd gone off the rails like Mark Geyer, but apart from that it was very much journeymen looking for an opportunity. They were able to compete alright back in the 90s with those players, but I'm not sure there's the depth in the NRL at the moment for lots of them to form a team and be successful. Will need some very skilled recruitment.
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Yeah, they went alright, and it will be a tough road trip for teams. They have some young blokes with real potential signed already too. But as players spend a year or two over there and come back to clubs talking about how tough it is, I think recruitment actually gets harder for them. Their best bet is they start developing a crop of locals as the core of their team. That isn't easy in a league start up area.
 
jamesgould said:
Are there genuinely many quality players with PNG roots? Their national team hardly sets the world on fire …
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Contrast this with the task the Perth side has with local juniors. You are right, not a lot of PNG talent in the NRL right now. They certainly don't produce the talent other Pacific nations do at the moment. But if you pour NRL money in to training locals up there, you are going to get some very good players coming out of PNG. It will be an interesting watch.
 
I think it’s a 5 hour flight but still. 10 hours flying every fortnight. Don’t know. Good place to live but you’re packing up your life to go there. A second NZ team seems much more sense now.

Can someone explain with the PNG team where are there home games? Where will they train?
 
frankLauda said:
I think it’s a 5 hour flight but still. 10 hours flying every fortnight. Don’t know. Good place to live but you’re packing up your life to go there. A second NZ team seems much more sense now.

Can someone explain with the PNG team where are there home games? Where will they train?
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AOB would have absolutely loved that 10 hour roadtrip excuse lol.
 
So commercial flights to Port Moresby are 4 hours with Qantas. It’s hotter (tropical) there in PNG, but the mountains in Port Moresby allow temperatures to be less, and dryer. I wonder if it might be better to have night games there still.
 
Seano said:
Shows how desperate the Bears were for the license that they didn't negotiate any level of support to compensate for the difficulties of setting up in Perth.

I wonder if they really were serious about being based in Perth, and if the whole thing is just a stalking horse to get the club back into the NRL and, from there, back to North Sydney.
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Maybe they should have let the Bears poach players while they weren’t free agents like they did with PNG. Both are hatchet jobs really.
 
Seeing a lot of fans freaking out about poaching raids now.

Team of players we already have signed for 2028:

1. Kalyn Ponga
2.
3. Toby Winter
4. Fletcher Sharpe
5.
6. Sandon Smith
7. Dylan Brown

13. Trey Mooney
12. Marata Niukore
11. Thomas Cant
10. Lachlan Crouch
9. Phoenix Crossland
8. Cody Hopwood

14. Matthew Hunter
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.

Next priority IMO is Lucas. Hoping to keep all of Dom, Bradman & Jacob. One thing to consider there though is that Seve and Winter are arguably the best prospects we have… so if you were going to save money anywhere…

I don’t think many teams would have a better list of players already secured.
 
Haha yeah to be clear I didn’t put Sharpe at centre because I’m banging that drum again, it’s just based on us having only one other outside back signed already.

I’d seriously consider locking down Dom next after Lucas. Touch wood but I think any J Saf deal will still be there in a few months.
 
Its hard to imagine Dom would be too hard to re-sign given what happened with at the Roosters. He clearly prefers it here and seems to perform best here as well.

He’s kind of shown his hand already. Other clubs might be also be spooked by his leaving the Roosters too. They might have to wonder if it’s worth the bother, if he couldn’t make it there, who’s to say he would at any other club either.
 
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