The Halfback Conundrum

Which potential halfback, available from November 1, should the club make the #1 priority?

  • Ben Hunt

    Votes: 7 11.9%

  • Braydon Trindall

    Votes: 8 13.6%

  • Jonah Pezet

    Votes: 27 45.8%

  • Sam Walker

    Votes: 3 5.1%

  • Daniel Atkinson

    Votes: 3 5.1%

  • Lachlan Ilias

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • None of the above - Stick by Jack Cogger and continue to nurture kids currently in the system

    Votes: 6 10.2%

  • Other (comment with their name)

    Votes: 1 1.7%

  • Ronald Volkman

    Votes: 1 1.7%

  • Toby Sexton

    Votes: 3 5.1%
  • Total voters
    59
Beatell said:
Now dont take this in any way i dont want KP here, but you could argue he was unlucky that he takes so much of our salary cap to keep him. (Even though he did sign the last contract with him - would have been hung if he didnt). But KP unbalances our roster so badly, we absolutely need his brilliance to shine through as we cant afford a 1m halfback.
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I know my name is is pretty much going to tell ya what side I’m leaning but if we can realistic yes KP is on a lot but if some wages of other players are true we could easily afford a million dollar half if we didn’t get taken on a ride in recruitment, I mean the rumour is what $700k for KPP if that’s true that is a pure joke not to mention the reported $600-650k for pryce, the reported $700-800k for Hastings

Granted the wages are rumours but if true all those I listed are a joke and so far not providing return especially KPP when we have so many good second rowers so it doesn’t matter if one leaves.

We get dominated in negotiations but right there all that money, there is an elite $1m halfback not like they are growing on tress anyway.
 
Seano said:
The Knights have only won one finals game during AOB's tenure
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The single most damning statistic. In 4 finals appearances, we've won 1 game. And the Raiders nearly had us at home, too.

That said, we were unlucky not to beat the Cowboys in QLD this year. But still, a damning statistic. Is there a coach in NRL history with a worse finals record?
 
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Beatell said:
Now dont take this in any way i dont want KP here, but you could argue he was unlucky that he takes so much of our salary cap to keep him. (Even though he did sign the last contract with him - would have been hung if he didnt). But KP unbalances our roster so badly, we absolutely need his brilliance to shine through as we cant afford a 1m halfback.
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I've posted before about how kp playing fullback and main playmaker damages our team structure.

When kp is in D he is fullback, when we have the ball he is often playing like a half.

It's very difficult for a half to come in and own the team, take control as kp is in control.

That's why we need a half that compliments kp.
 
Les Misérables said:
The single most damning statistic. In 4 finals appearances, we've won 1 game. And the Raiders nearly had us at home, too.

That said, we were unlucky not to beat the Cowboys in QLD this year. But still, a damning statistic. Is there a coach in NRL history with a worse finals record?
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We also gave a real good account of ourselves in 2021 final v Parramatta. Guthos dubious drop kick call was brutal with 3 mins left. That same Parramatta was desperately unlucky not to beat Penrith a week later losing 8 - 6.

The year before v Souths was horrible viewing though.
 
KPGreatness said:
I know my name is is pretty much going to tell ya what side I’m leaning but if we can realistic yes KP is on a lot but if some wages of other players are true we could easily afford a million dollar half if we didn’t get taken on a ride in recruitment, I mean the rumour is what $700k for KPP if that’s true that is a pure joke not to mention the reported $600-650k for pryce, the reported $700-800k for Hastings

Granted the wages are rumours but if true all those I listed are a joke and so far not providing return especially KPP when we have so many good second rowers so it doesn’t matter if one leaves.

We get dominated in negotiations but right there all that money, there is an elite $1m halfback not like they are growing on tress anyway.
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Toohey has said multiple times that the guesses for what Pryce is on are way off the mark and it’s really not a high wage at all.
 
Billy said:
Adam Clune didn't get a fair shot at proving himself.
He was a very clever organising half, but through injuries and taking time to fit into our system, he didn't really get to show what he was capable of till he was already signed elsewhere and we'd signed Gogs to replace him.
If he had stayed for last year I think we'd already have the halfback we need.
Having said that, he's old and injury prone, so no point trying him again - the horse has bolted.
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Counterpoint: He got plenty of games and proved himself to be a good NSW Cup player whose game doesn’t translate, and the biggest issue with his game is that he’s a poor on-field organiser - Cogger is better, Gamble is better. We played with terrible structure with him as the main shot caller - point to injuries if you wish, no one is giving Hastings the same excuse, and we got a good run of games with him playing unencumbered to judge him by anyway.

He dined out on Cup defences by throwing samey cut out passes over and over and it didn’t translate to firsts. It’s not translating to the Super League either, where he’s been mid at best.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Counterpoint: He got plenty of games and proved himself to be a good NSW Cup player whose game doesn’t translate, and the biggest issue with his game is that he’s a poor on-field organiser - Cogger is better, Gamble is better. We played with terrible structure with him as the main shot caller - point to injuries if you wish, no one is giving Hastings the same excuse, and we got a good run of games with him playing unencumbered to judge him by anyway.

He dined out on Cup defences by throwing samey cut out passes over and over and it didn’t translate to firsts. It’s not translating to the Super League either, where he’s been mid at best.
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Unfortunately there has been a drought of good halves since the early to mid 2000’s
 
Kurriboy said:
What this team needs is just a good quality 7 that can steer the team around, get us to where we need to be on certain tackles and have a reliable kicking game, good end of set options to secure repeat sets, put in good attacking kicks.

He doesn't need to be the wizard. We have one of those on the roster.

If Hastings didn't go off the rails we wouldn't be having this thread. We had him and he was adequate for the role.

To add to this we need a running threat at 5/8 and Gamble could have done this.

Then we need KP chiming in like a fullback should be, and getting himself in to good attacking positions that the halfback can exploit.
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It’s not enough to break down a quality defence. Gamble is a below average running threat for his position and Brailey/Crossland don’t put the fear of god in defences either. I agree re: mentally well/fully fit Hastings, but I’m not sure if he’s going to get that back. If he does, great. He is on the Fogarty tier of half where all the “steering the team around” duties can be unloaded on him and then he can be paired with another attacking striking weapon. I agree that you don’t need a spine where every player is elite, but two genuinely very good to great attacking threats is a non-negotiable for a contending team.
 
Brad tighe said:
Unfortunately there has been a drought of good halves since the early to mid 2000’s
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It’s more or less always the case that there aren’t 17 quality starting halfbacks to go around, almost by definition, because we kind of judge the worst ones by how far off the other ones they are.

All time great tier: Cleary
Elite: DCE, Moses, Hughes
Very good: Hynes, Hunt, Reyno (would have had him a tier up but he’s on his last legs), Walker (not far from jumping up a tier), Trindall (IMO)
Good/capable: Fogarty, Sexton, Townsend (sort of going the way of Reyno now though), Katoa (also not far from jumping up a tier)
Reliable back-up: Cogger, Te Maire Martin (may be better though - promising stuff this year), Sean O’Sullivan.
Should be good/capable tier but huge questions about them mentally/physically: Hastings, Clifford, Foran.

Then everyone else pretty much I don’t rate.

I know some think I’m jumping the gun with Sexton, but honestly I thought at the Titans he looked promising, like I’m not sure what they expected from a guy who was, what, 19? 20? in a godawful team, and then what do you know, his contributions to a team which didn’t suck *** looked quite good this year. He’s very similar to Chad Townsend for mine (a little slower but way better kicking game), to the point of following a near identical career progression (“breakthrough season” at the exact same age at his second club), and while that sounds like damning with faint praise, Chad is a premiership winner and may end up a 300 gamer. It’s hard to accomplish these things if you’re complete ***.

Very funny to me that the Titans had a solution to their halfback dilemma in Fogarty, then they punted him to give their gun junior Sexton a shot, then they punted him after 18 months. At least we’re not them!
 
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Newygirl said:
Balanced is one word for it.

No KP no finals, probably no Best. Probably no AOB.

You’d just be relying on Sharpe to be as good as KP. I rate Sharpe very highly but he’s not producing a 2023 run.

Players aren’t signing here now, who’s taking that extra money?

If you think the Knights are irrelevant now, wait till KP leaves.
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Can’t wait to watch the Dragons’ balanced roster this season!
 
Nice List @HarVeeGee13, who says people can't be productive on crack.

I think Clune was a journeyman, capable at times but not consistent and certainly not good enough to lift the Knights to another level. But I did feel sorry for him during 2022 when AOB insisted on playing him injured. Andrew Johns played injured at times but he was Andrew bloody Johns.

It's these sort of coaching decisions all through his Knights career that for mine are why the jury is still out on AOB and whether he's establishing a Bellamy style system/era (albeit a bit slowly) or whether he's another Nathan Brown who has hit his ceiling as a head coach.

As for halves (see I'm getting back on track) the only two I think we're a shot at actually signing are TMM and Sexton (maybe Foggarty but I can see him staying in Canberra as a senior player/mentor like Croker was for them). And the only one I'd take a punt on if I had to is Sexton...TMM will be 30 by the time he arrives. But as I've said, keeping what we've got and trying to develop Pryce/Sharpe/Votano and Linnane seems to me to be the best way forward with a view to a 2026-2028 "premiership window".
 
We need to see Linnane in the trials.
From the few reports it seems his fitness is as good as last year, so he is again one of our fittest, and he has bulked up a lot, so probably even stronger than he was, but we need to see if he has lost any speed due to his ACL injury. One of the best parts of his game was his ability to slip into any half gap and take off. He'd be close to Ponga and Sharpe with his ability to hit top speed in a few strides, so we need to see if he still has that going for him.
 
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