Recruitment And Retention Discussion

Newygirl said:
We’ve already spent years overpaying back rowers at the expense of spine players, no thanks. And I actually do like Fifita but we’ve more important areas to address.

I don’t think the Dolphins blew
It by not getting a marquee, I think they’ve done pretty well, all things considered.

Perth are in a worse postion than Dolphins I think simply due to location. Dolphins can just grab Broncos players without them leaving their house. They ended up with a bunch of top line talent anyway. Herbie, Hammer, Katoa, and Flegler who hasn’t even played yet.

Perth on the other hand, need to get players to move to the other side of the country, away from everyone they know and do a heap of travel year.
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Dolphins unlucky with injuries this year with there forwards and Herbie and there winger out for a good chunk. There a good side.
 
Perth are likely to struggle as bottom dwellers for years and probably cop a spoon 1st year. The Dolphins made it look easy, Bennett as head coach, there was perhaps a surplus of talent at the time, at least compared to 2025/26 and, most importantly, they struck gold in Katoa. That's like pulling a 1st edition holographic Charizard out of 3 consecutive packs - its impossible.

Without Bennett establishing the culture, selecting the right young stars in Herbie, Hammer and others, and having the fortune of rolling straight into the hands of Wolfe who turned out to be a bona fide FG coach, without all those stars aligning they'd be a basket case.

Perth Bears are in serious, serious trouble unless they can sign a Harry Grant, plus a super star half on long term contracts, they're genuinely ****ed
 
Les Misérables said:
Perth are likely to struggle as bottom dwellers for years and probably cop a spoon 1st year. The Dolphins made it look easy, Bennett as head coach, there was perhaps a surplus of talent at the time, at least compared to 2025/26 and, most importantly, they struck gold in Katoa. That's like pulling a 1st edition holographic Charizard out of 3 consecutive packs - its impossible.

Without Bennett establishing the culture, selecting the right young stars in Herbie, Hammer and others, and having the fortune of rolling straight into the hands of Wolfe who turned out to be a bona fide FG coach, without all those stars aligning they'd be a basket case.

Perth Bears are in serious, serious trouble unless they can sign a Harry Grant, plus a super star half on long term contracts, they're genuinely ****ed
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They’ll sign a washed Munster.
 
Les Misérables said:
Perth are likely to struggle as bottom dwellers for years and probably cop a spoon 1st year. The Dolphins made it look easy, Bennett as head coach, there was perhaps a surplus of talent at the time, at least compared to 2025/26 and, most importantly, they struck gold in Katoa. That's like pulling a 1st edition holographic Charizard out of 3 consecutive packs - its impossible.

Without Bennett establishing the culture, selecting the right young stars in Herbie, Hammer and others, and having the fortune of rolling straight into the hands of Wolfe who turned out to be a bona fide FG coach, without all those stars aligning they'd be a basket case.

Perth Bears are in serious, serious trouble unless they can sign a Harry Grant, plus a super star half on long term contracts, they're genuinely ****ed
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I’m pretty certain every so called expert said the same thing about Dolphins before their inaugural season too. The dots always join up in retrospect.
 
They got a little lucky with Katoa, O’Sullivan had never actually seen him play in person.

He was also pretty widely known as a *good* prospect but not, like, “Nathan Cleary template with sliders adjusted”.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
They got a little lucky with Katoa, O’Sullivan had never actually seen him play in person.

He was also pretty widely known as a *good* prospect but not, like, “Nathan Cleary template with sliders adjusted”.
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Pure luck. There's several to half a dozen halves of Katoa's pedigree and prospect in that 19/20 yo age group, each and every year. And maybe 1 star emerges every 2 or 3 seasons.

Unless POS could see something everyone else couldn't, I reckon he figured O'Sullivan was going to be the starting 7. Katoa was cheap injury support/prospect, because Katoa wasnt exactly earmarked for greatness
 
They thought Katoa was a 6, too. They were going to play him at 6 in QCup with O’Sullivan and Milf as their starting halves, and give him a chance to develop.

He came into first grade so early because Milf wouldn’t get in shape and he smashed pre-season.
 
Newygirl said:
We’ve already spent years overpaying back rowers at the expense of spine players, no thanks. And I actually do like Fifita but we’ve more important areas to address.

I don’t think the Dolphins blew
It by not getting a marquee, I think they’ve done pretty well, all things considered.

Perth are in a worse postion than Dolphins I think simply due to location. Dolphins can just grab Broncos players without them leaving their house. They ended up with a bunch of top line talent anyway. Herbie, Hammer, Katoa, and Flegler who hasn’t even played yet.

Perth on the other hand, need to get players to move to the other side of the country, away from everyone they know and do a heap of travel year.
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I do not care for the woes of other clubs. The more they have to contend with then the better. We have won four spoons in the last ten years. No more second guessing what may or may not work. But the 1.5 million a year fullback better have a Dally M year on the back of the quality halves he now has at his disposal. If not then the door is 👉
 
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It's been confirmed by Holbrook, the Roosters, and Smith himself. It's possible the Knights just aren't going to put out an "official" announcement for it, like they did last year with Schiller & Arthur.
 
mullenmagic said:
It's been confirmed by Holbrook, the Roosters, and Smith himself. It's possible the Knights just aren't going to put out an "official" announcement for it, like they did last year with Schiller & Arthur.
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Some may think that’s nothing to worry about but this was a tightly fought contest to bring Smith in. He’s a young man, coming to a spoon club. At some point the right thing to do would be to celebrate this signing as being part of “the new plan” and make the young bloke feel welcome. It’s not like we’ve signed Moses, but it’s an important signing and a few notches up from Schiller and Arthur.
 
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