Recruitment And Retention Discussion

Frizzel is one of very few old forwards we have bought for good money who has actually kept putting in once he arrived here.

3 years on good money for an old forward has, time after time, meant a retirement package for a washed up old guy who doesn't put in.

Frizz isn't capable of giving less than his best, but guys with his character are pretty rare. Aiden Guerra was another and maybe another couple, but a heap of forgettable old guys have milked us a big paydays to play reserve grade and a few sub par efforts in firsts.

In short, I'd rather keep paying Frizz to do his best than sign someone who will probably stink up the joint and keep collecting paychecks to show up.
 
Billy said:
Frizz isn't capable of giving less than his best, but guys with his character are pretty rare. Aiden Guerra was another and maybe another couple, but a heap of forgettable old guys have milked us a big paydays to play reserve grade and a few sub par efforts in firsts.
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Guerra's motor didn't die, but his quality as an edge player and his lateral movement and acceleration declined. Much like Friz on an edge as well but luckily we have found a new spot for frizzy where his motor and efforts are still utilised and he kills it.
Players who used us as a retirement fund: Heighington, Lillyman, Sue, Glasby, Tupou, the list goes on, they may of not sucked the whole time they all played but for the most part came here to retire
 
Heighington, Tupou and Lillyman were signed off the scrap heap, their careers were effectively already over but Brown wanted some experienced heads. All would've only been on the minimum or close to it. Can throw James Gavet in as another example of this. Glasby actually got a big contract with some expectations and obviously failed to live up to it. Sue was somewhere in the middle but I thought he was solid enough, and he's still playing in England now.
 
mullenmagic said:
"Not cheap" is vague and could mean anything, really. There was no frame of reference to base the comment off.

Haven’t seen any suggestion that an immediate move is on the cards yet other than some wishful thinking on here. Stranger things have happened but he still seems to be in their top side at full health.
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I'm in that wishful thinking group - Webster has always loved Niukore and has indeed regularly started him despite strong performances from their young forwards. Seemingly that love remains based on the minutes Marata got on the weekend, though he is down the backrow pecking order given Capewell, Laban, Halasima and Gannon have all effectively been chosen to start ahead of him this year.

Warriors edge depth chart appears to look something like the following (final contract year in brackets):

1/2 - Capewell (2026) + Laban (2029)
3 - Halasima (2029)
4 - Gannon (2028)
5 - Niukore (2026)
6 - Ieremia-Toeava (2028)
7 - Fatialofa (2027)
8 - Neal (2028)

On either side of Niukore are young talents the Wahs have signed long-term, even down to Bishop Neal who debuted in NSW Cup as a 17yo on the weekend and held his own - fairly regarded at this stage as the best player under the age of 18 in the game.

Positive for Niukore is obviously his ability to play both middle/edge, but even there he appears down depth chart based on early season selections (acknowledging Niukore started the season injured)

1/2/3 - Fisher-Harris (2028) + Barnett (2026) + Clark (2027)
4/5 - Vaimauga (2028) + Ford (2026)
6 - Stowers-Smith (2028)
7+ - Niukore (2026) + Gannon (2028)

The Warriors squad is a bit unbalanced - they have so many quality forwards, many of them being young talents who have already dominated NSW Cup and are signed long-term. They also have a solid stockpile of spine options but desperately lack depth of quality in the outside backs, particularly at centre - hence Halasima lining up there on the weekend. Reports suggest they are actively pursuing outside back targets such as Will Warbrick and Grant Anderson to rectify this.

Barnett's uncertainty regarding an early release is probably the caveat to this depth, until that is resolved Webby will probably want to keep Niukore as dependable backup. If Barnett is committed to playing out the season in NZ, I could see Niukore's release to us if it assists in pursuing ready-made outside back options for this year.
 
Leo was on about 350-400 with us and ended up getting about 850 from the Dogs. Allegedly. So that's probably about what we would have been out if we kept him.

MullosLefttoRight said:
I'm in that wishful thinking group - Webster has always loved Niukore and has indeed regularly started him despite strong performances from their young forwards. Seemingly that love remains based on the minutes Marata got on the weekend, though he is down the backrow pecking order given Capewell, Laban, Halasima and Gannon have all effectively been chosen to start ahead of him this year.

Warriors edge depth chart appears to look something like the following (final contract year in brackets):

1/2 - Capewell (2026) + Laban (2029)
3 - Halasima (2029)
4 - Gannon (2028)
5 - Niukore (2026)
6 - Ieremia-Toeava (2028)
7 - Fatialofa (2027)
8 - Neal (2028)

On either side of Niukore are young talents the Wahs have signed long-term, even down to Bishop Neal who debuted in NSW Cup as a 17yo on the weekend and held his own - fairly regarded at this stage as the best player under the age of 18 in the game.

Positive for Niukore is obviously his ability to play both middle/edge, but even there he appears down depth chart based on early season selections (acknowledging Niukore started the season injured)

1/2/3 - Fisher-Harris (2028) + Barnett (2026) + Clark (2027)
4/5 - Vaimauga (2028) + Ford (2026)
6 - Stowers-Smith (2028)
7+ - Niukore (2026) + Gannon (2028)

The Warriors squad is a bit unbalanced - they have so many quality forwards, many of them being young talents who have already dominated NSW Cup and are signed long-term. They also have a solid stockpile of spine options but desperately lack depth of quality in the outside backs, particularly at centre - hence Halasima lining up there on the weekend. Reports suggest they are actively pursuing outside back targets such as Will Warbrick and Grant Anderson to rectify this.

Barnett's uncertainty regarding an early release is probably the caveat to this depth, until that is resolved Webby will probably want to keep Niukore as dependable backup. If Barnett is committed to playing out the season in NZ, I could see Niukore's release to us if it assists in pursuing ready-made outside back options for this year.
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Yeah that's it. At full strength Niukore probably doesn't start and the four bench players the Wahs use are Healey, Barnett/Ford, Vaimauga and Halasima. He is in the "handy to have" tier for them but they don't need him. Which means they *may* want the cap space, particularly with the recruiting they are trying to do.

I think the Barnett thing is already resolved, he's off to Brisbane next year with Anderson coming back the other way. He's staying for the rest of 2026.
 
I thought they were prepared to pay it but Leo had the ****s because he didn’t get the upgrade he was promised to n his last contract so was going to leave anyway
 
The story at the time was that the Knights were willing to up their offer to at least get in the ballpark of the Bulldogs/Raiders offers, but just last week Toohey said the Knights "didn't go hard" for him and resisted entering a bidding war. I guess those things could both be true, not showing the same level of interest that other clubs did in the first place could mean not "going hard" for him, even if they showed a bit more interest later on.
 
I’ve seen a few Warriors fans say Webster loves Nuikore. Brown obviously thinks highly of him as well. He’s 29 and played 158 games mostly on the edge.

Tapine, Barnett, JFH, Leota, and are all 30 plus, played more games and are still playing rep football. Aside from Haas, they’re still among the best front rowers in the game. 30 isn’t what it used to be.

Frizzell is 35 this year, there’s half a decade between him and Nuikore. He’s still going ok though but I think Frizzell slowed down a bit even from last year. Guessing this will be just last. Could probably still keep going in the UK if he wanted to though

Anyway, hopefully they can get him this year because it’s now that we really need him. Although, the Warriors have a good chance to be top 4 this year and it’s probably the best shot they’ve had in years of actually making a GF so he may be reluctant to leave now
 
Newygirl said:
I’ve seen a few Warriors fans say Webster loves Nuikore. Brown obviously thinks highly of him as well. He’s 29 and played 158 games mostly on the edge.

Tapine, Barnett, JFH, Leota, and are all 30 plus, played more games and are still playing rep football. Aside from Haas, they’re still among the best front rowers in the game. 30 isn’t what it used to be.

Frizzell is 35 this year, there’s half a decade between him and Nuikore. He’s still going ok though but I think Frizzell slowed down a bit even from last year. Guessing this will be just last. Could probably still keep going in the UK if he wanted to though

Anyway, hopefully they can get him this year because it’s now that we really need him. Although, the Warriors have a good chance to be top 4 this year and it’s probably the best shot they’ve had in years of actually making a GF so he may be reluctant to leave now
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I think you can expect friz to retire and gagai to move on. The Nuikore move is about ensuring we have an experienced forward in the pack to mentor the young guys coming through. Especially the polynesian fellas coming through.
 
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Junior said:
Guerra's motor didn't die, but his quality as an edge player and his lateral movement and acceleration declined. Much like Friz on an edge as well but luckily we have found a new spot for frizzy where his motor and efforts are still utilised and he kills it.
Players who used us as a retirement fund: Heighington, Lillyman, Sue, Glasby, Tupou, the list goes on, they may of not sucked the whole time they all played but for the most part came here to retire
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Please don’t forget the Sims boys in that group. That was painfully obvious from their early arrival.
 
Defence wins games said:
Please don’t forget the Sims boys in that group. That was painfully obvious from their early arrival.
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i was talking about people who were collecting a cheque for their retirement funds… Korbin started his career here, he just was ordinary all together and tariq was only mid 20s, he just played woeful while here as well… if only they could use old age as their excuse 😂
 
I thought Korbin was ok tbh. Tariq was terrible though. I hated how he always had a blinder against us once he left and carried on as if we had mistreated him somehow. The ****** stole a wage off us for 3 years and did SFA the entire time other then drop the ball and get suspended constantly.
 
jamesgould said:
Yeah Korbin was good, played his best football for us. Not a world beating player, but he gave his all, I thought.
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Korbin was playing alright till he decided that he was a QLD eligible player but who was born and raised in Gerringong, then he threw his toys out the cot to move to broncos under pretence that he was then going to get picked to play origin and then never really fired another shot in his stint there or the dragons.

Tariq should have been better, but he only ever really had 1 strong season in whole time he left us also and never showed constantly what he should have been like.
 
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