Recruitment And Retention Discussion

Think there’s a forgotten man in all of this who might be the big casualty. Pretty much all of the significant upcoming free agents have already extended or had public negotiations ongoing (Best, Hunt). It’s been very quiet around Jacob Saifiti. Last we heard he was happy to wait for the club to sort everyone else out and then get back to him, but that’s just not how the business side ever works, and it’s also a lot easier said before the bigger offers elsewhere are actually in front of you. (To me that almost sounds like a bloke who’s got retirement in the back of his mind and is just kicking the can down the road, but that’s just my read).

He’s on good money, and with Niukore coming in, and the development of Mooney, and Croker becoming a reliable starting middle, and the faster-than-expected emergence of Hopwood and Crouch, and the likely looming move into the middle of one of our second-rowers (probably McEwen), maybe there’s just no new deal for Saifiti here and that money is spent elsewhere. As it stands, two of those above names are already going to be missing out at full strength next year.
 
I'm beginning to think the end is nigh for JSaf. I know how good he was going earlier in the year. He may sign on for one more year to take him through to 2028. Then he becomes one to move on so we can sign the younger blokes. Might even be that next year is his last. The resigning of Francis was an interesting one being for one more season to buy us time to get our options right. The way Curtis Mulherin is going will have a big say in all this too.
 
mullenmagic said:
Think there’s a forgotten man in all of this who might be the big casualty. Pretty much all of the significant upcoming free agents have already extended or had public negotiations ongoing (Best, Hunt). It’s been very quiet around Jacob Saifiti. Last we heard he was happy to wait for the club to sort everyone else out and then get back to him, but that’s just not how the business side ever works, and it’s also a lot easier said before the bigger offers elsewhere are actually in front of you. (To me that almost sounds like a bloke who’s got retirement in the back of his mind and is just kicking the can down the road, but that’s just my read).

He’s on good money, and with Niukore coming in, and the development of Mooney, and Croker becoming a reliable starting middle, and the faster-than-expected emergence of Hopwood and Crouch, and the likely looming move into the middle of one of our second-rowers (probably McEwen), maybe there’s just no new deal for Saifiti here and that money is spent elsewhere. As it stands, two of those above names are already going to be missing out at full strength next year.
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Great minds...
 
He'll be 32 in 2028, and while he was still good this year I've long been sceptical about him (and Daniel) still being effective into their 30s. Debuted very young (too young) so have a lot of kilometres on the legs already, and big lumbering props aren't typically the ones still playing into their mid 30s in general.
 
slotmachine said:
You're kidding if you don't think having an extra 600k lying around won't make a difference in 2028.
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No, I just know we have no idea what players are actually making. A lot of guys make way less than you’d think and basically anyone who’s played a lot of regular first grade is likely making more than you think. And it doesn’t work like “having an extra 600K lying around”.

Billy said:
I don't know why Francis would leave.
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The same reason half of Penrith’s big dynasty players are now at other clubs. $$$
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
The same reason half of Penrith’s big dynasty players are now at other clubs. $$$
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Yeah, as much as I love to think "it's the Knights, if we're playing great then our players will take a cut to stay here!", it never works like that.

Francis was a pretty big candidate to be gone as soon as he started breaking out. We did well to extend his contract by a year. But he will attract massive offers next time he's on the market, if he continues his rise.
 
slotmachine said:
If there's no deal for Jsaf because POS signed Niukore the fans might burn down the stadium.
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Eh the team just won two finals games with him cooling his heels on the sidelines because of one of the dumbest tackles of the last ten years. If that hadn’t happened yeah maybe but he might be a bit lighter on admirers than usual atm.

Look at the end of the day we have more good players locked in for longer than any other club and the only ones left where it’s like, no you can not under any circumstances lose this guy are Fletcher Sharpe and Cody Hopwood. POS will know this. These guys were being decently looked after financially before they were even playing first grade.
 
Billy said:
I don't know why Francis would leave.
Holbrook has worked wonders with both Marzhew and Francis.
His style of training, based largely on football drills, really suits those guys.
Francis has always been a genetic freak with natural skills, but he failed at the Warriors and Penrith and was failing at the Knights because he just wasn't nearly fit enough.
I think Francis would be taking a massive gamble if he went away from whatever is working for him right now.
All last year he had highlight reel moments that made you think he could be anything, but for most of the time he was struggling to get back in line and missing tackles because he was gassed.
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Hope you’re right Billy and the fee hungry agents see it that way too. Dom can forever be a case study on the grass isn’t always greener……..
 
Jsaf only becomes expendable if the likes of Mooney, Hopwood, Crouch keep improving and don’t stagnate next season. I can also see Jsaf taking a team friendly deal tbh.
 
luke46 said:
Who would you drop? Maybe crouch but I think he will as more in the front row.
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Niakura. Can't even make their extended benches at the Wahs admittedly plenty of talent but I certainly wouldn't even be dropping a Cant who still has growth in him for a bloke 3-4 years past his best.
 
Also remember Cant is 2 years younger than Croker who up until last year probably wasn't much better than Croker is this year.
 
Grandpa Joe said:
Niakura. Can't even make their extended benches at the Wahs admittedly plenty of talent but I certainly wouldn't even be dropping a Cant who still has growth in him for a bloke 3-4 years past his best.
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Devil’s advocate: Niukore gets dropped to Cup knowing that, because he’s leaving, he probably won’t get back into first grade unless injuries force Webby’s hand. Webby is naturally going to prioritise players who are staying.

Wouldn’t be the first senior player to take the foot off the pedal a little to preserve his body when he knows there’s a better opportunity waiting elsewhere.
 
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