Plus we need to look after him, he is an elite local jr, I don’t want to see him get more $$$ and a more glamorous position to play elsewhere. He is worth way more to us than the 500ish k good wingers get. Maybe centre? Might justify paying him more.
No mail on this but I reckon Fletcher and Sandon got very similar deals. Fletcher didn’t show up on the rich list thing (any deal over $600K a season reported) and 3-4 years 500Kish seems about the going rate for someone expected to play a lot in the spine who’s regarded as a player of promise, unless it’s Souths doing the “slamming own **** in a car door” of player valuation. Then those guys get topped up and extended partway into those deals usually if they’re going well.
$500K for a very good winger is fine, and it’s a steal for a gun centre. At this stage it’s not an issue and I don’t think he’s on a wage where he’d feel hard done by.
The big thing with him is as a fullback I am very confident he’d be a guy who we’d be extending on $900Kish after one season there (think: Weekes, Bula). That’s a real dilemma we can’t ignore which has to be resolved by late 2027. It’s correct that we have to have a plan to get him into the spine. We’re not the Roosters - we can’t just keep Joey Manu at centre for years and have it be fine.
I just think we’d be better right away with two genuine halves, the more complete ball playing ability of Kalyn at 1, and players with serious weaknesses like Marzhew and Schiller not as first choice options. And a better team is better for development than a losing one, that’s the eternal balancing act - you can’t just be **** for years and wait for it to come good. The NRL doesn’t work like that.
I also think massively strengthening the pack is the real path to premiership contention in the late 2020’s/early 2030’s (hot take: an amazing pack with a good spine > amazing spine with a good pack. 24/25 Melbourne as constructed are great but the 2023 Broncos would have BELTED them IMO, and look at who the premiership favourites are this year). But you can’t just shunt Ponga out the door and sign Tino or Payne Haas the very same day. Not realistic.
It’s very very easy to say and a lot of hard work to achieve, but a seeing what we can do with the talent we have now (ie - while you have a player like Kalyn in his prime, see what you can do with him; let the next club have post-prime Kalyn), balanced with the long term development plan of allowing the best forwards to establish themselves over the next few years, allowing Kalyn to leave at the end of 2027, locking down Fletcher as his replacement on $900K-1m-ish, and then using the resulting million or so of cap space to secure players like Hopwood, McEwen, Carmichael, Lucas etc for the long haul - that’s the road to lasting success in my view.
Meanwhile I see Sandon as, at very worst, a guy who can do a good job at 7 while we allow prospects to develop underneath him. At best someone who can develop into a very good 7 like a Ben Hunt (not as dynamic as Ben, but Sandon’s boot is far more accurate than Ben’s was in his 20’s; developing that kicking game is his road to going from an okay 7 to a good one).
Arthur, the 9 we were going to develop, at a club where we already have a capable hooker/lock utility… are we just giving up on that?
