This.
Keep signing new players and fk off the blokes underperforming. At the Roosters if you have a bad season you're usually the subject of a plan by management to be replaced.
Here at the Knights a gig in the 13 is akin to tenure as a professor. Loser culture.
And fans who tolerate middle of the road achievements are themselves at the core of the clubs mediocrity
"Moneyball"? In the NRL FFS.
The Bulldogs supporter is wrong about this as he is with everything.
And the Bulldogs supporter clearly knows SFA about Baseball (as well as Rugby League). There are 30 teams in MLB and no salary cap not to mention hundreds of lower league teams. Yeah, Moneyball was a great idea in MLB when scouts were assessing players on how ugly their girlfriends were and clubs weren't doing deep dives into stats, and teams could almost always find a trade to shift someone on and if they couldn't there was no cap to worry about...just how much the owner was willing to spend but it's the NRL and there is a salary cap. Once a player signs a contract in the NRL the club is stuck with him, options to shift blokes on early are far fewer.
Of course the role of the recruitment manager is crucial at any NRL club and arguably more so at the Knights (which is why they have gone out and got POS) but the idea that the Knights are going to do some magical assessment that other clubs haven't done and "Moneyball" our way to a title just because Gus is buying a team is laughable.
And where are we buying these players from? The player shop. We just missed Pezet and lost Thompson. The club has always struggled to recruit star players because it's a regional centre and we don't have the same third-party money. Even with Ponga we had to take a risk on and pay overs for him as a 20 yr old wunderkind.
It's a fantasy to think the Knights are going to follow the Bulldogs model and be successful. If the Knights are to follow any model it's Penrith's. Where we establish a production line of top talented locals and the only recruit to fill the gaps. Either picking up talented jrs who we can develop or blokes who have burned their bridges elsewhere or are looking for a fresh start like say Ben Kennedy who was crucial in 2001.
PS. Despite the Bulldogs supporters' claim, the Dogs are not at the top of every comp. They finished 7th in the NRL and the same bloke was banging on a few posts back that mere top 8 was a fail. Also, Gus hasn't achieved anything yet. It would be a shame if Gus misses his premiership window (no it wouldn't) because he's running the risk of winding up with a lot of very expensive players and the best of his juniors playing at other clubs.
Finally, the Bulldogs supporter claimed that off-contract at this time of year meant that players were bad and/or unwanted and yet the Dogs have about the same number of off-contract players as us (including Kurt Mann). Some of those blokes will stay at the Dogs, some will move but most will find a contract. I wouldn't be listening too much to the Bulldogs supporter, he's a clueless doggies fan and something of an arse.