Who should be number 7 for next season?

Les Misérables said:
Over the last 48 hours I've become convinced that we should offer Munster the salary of two halves to come to Newcastle.

It is so obvious to me that this is our only way to somehow springboard out from this hole.
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Known loose cannon whose form has previously dived when engaging in loose cannon activities to Newcastle for 1.5m+a year.

In light of the last week, what on earth could possibly go wrong?
 
Munster exactly fits the profile of the typical Melbourne recruit who was not that great before going to Melbourne, transformed into a worldbeater, and will go back to being ordinary within a year of leaving Melbourne.
A few guys have left Melbourne and kept up the high standards, but they have been level headed, self motivated guys, and Munster isn't of that ilk.
 
Billy said:
Munster exactly fits the profile of the typical Melbourne recruit who was not that great before going to Melbourne, transformed into a worldbeater, and will go back to being ordinary within a year of leaving Melbourne.
A few guys have left Melbourne and kept up the high standards, but they have been level headed, self motivated guys, and Munster isn't of that ilk.
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Munster is a freak, he can make something out of nothing, it's not like he is one the end of a shift or finishing off work others have created. He is the guy often setting the plays up. I dont know how you can say you think he would be ordinary if he left the Storm.
 
Billy said:
Roosters are doing a very bad deal I think.
They sign Cronk and lose Pearce - which looks like they will be paying more for an older guy who will probably go downhill when he leaves his mates at Melbourne, like most Melbourne players do.
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Not trying to be a **** but I had a sneaking suspicion I’d find something like this if I searched for your take when Cronk left Melbourne Bill 😉

So here’s the dirty little secret about Melbourne.

The “Melbourne just have good systems and turn mediocre players into stars” is a bit of a fallacy.

It’s more like they have had a handful of the best players in the comp at their position in their team at all times for the past two decades, and those guys are so good that the game becomes a lot easier for the other guys.

Harry Grant is the best hooker in the comp by a mile, Munster is the best five-eighth, Hughes has evolved into a top 5 halfback, and then they have a sprinkling of guys who add a lot of strike (Nelson Asofa Solomona’s size, Olam is like a cannonball, Welch who they’re missing a lot brings a lot of skill for a prop, Brandon Smith is basically a luxury player for them and is elite at both 9 and 13, etc).

When you have that in your team Josh King’s 60 mins, 30 tackles and 8 runs are plenty, you don’t need a lot more from your squad players. Just do your job and the stars will get you home. If their whole spine suffered season ending injuries they wouldn’t still be just as good, as you can kind of see with how their recent injury crisis really messed with their form.

But yeah we’re at the point now where Melbourne is good because of Munster more than Munster being good because of Melbourne.
 
Can’t say any of their big name spine players have ever left and not gone well … Inglis, Cronk, Harry Grant at the Tigers, Widdop was decent …
 
Some from Melbourne go OK.
Most don't.
And those that go OK when they leave Melbourne were usually pretty good before they went there.
It's a compliment for the Melbourne system.
Whatever they do that turns ordinary players into champions doesn't cross borders into NSW and Qld.
I'm happy to stay with that, and a handful of exceptions doesn't make me want to roll the dice on a million dollar gamble on a Melbourne signing.
 
Billy said:
Munster exactly fits the profile of the typical Melbourne recruit who was not that great before going to Melbourne, transformed into a worldbeater, and will go back to being ordinary within a year of leaving Melbourne.
A few guys have left Melbourne and kept up the high standards, but they have been level headed, self motivated guys, and Munster isn't of that ilk.
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Billy, cuz, Munster was a teenager when he was murdering the QLD Cup before debuting for Melbourne at an age qualifying him for Flegg.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Serious chat about Drew Hutch as an upgrade to our starting halves. My god that’s depressing 😂
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I honestly love getting on here and seeing some of your comments it’s a good laugh.
I’d be keen on knowing most of your Rugby league back grounds. Or are you guys just miserable arm chair critic’s. He has been pretty strong this year and literally tore the knights cup team apart on Saturday. Must be embarrassing if he is not that good.
Don’t have to take things so literal when someone suggests something it may only be a small deal. I think your taking it as a marquee signing. People are allowed their comments. He has worked hard and off contract is an option and genuinely speaking has been playing some quality footy definitely worth a mention.
 
Junior_rep said:
I honestly love getting on here and seeing some of your comments it’s a good laugh.
I’d be keen on knowing most of your Rugby league back grounds. Or are you guys just miserable arm chair critic’s. He has been pretty strong this year and literally tore the knights cup team apart on Saturday. Must be embarrassing if he is not that good.
Don’t have to take things so literal when someone suggests something it may only be a small deal. I think your taking it as a marquee signing. People are allowed their comments. He has worked hard and off contract is an option and genuinely speaking has been playing some quality footy definitely worth a mention.
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Sorry mate, wasn’t trying to have a go. Yeah I sincerely do think he’s not very good and we should be embarrassed by that result on the weekend. Hutch was a guy the Roosters picked out of the Championship - not the Super League, the Championship - and he wasn’t really killing it at that level. They pretty much just like him because he covers three positions, he’s big, and he makes his tackles. With the stars around him at Easts, he can do a job, but I don’t think he’ll ever be a genuine NRL level half.
 
Junior_rep said:
I honestly love getting on here and seeing some of your comments it’s a good laugh.
I’d be keen on knowing most of your Rugby league back grounds. Or are you guys just miserable arm chair critic’s. He has been pretty strong this year and literally tore the knights cup team apart on Saturday. Must be embarrassing if he is not that good.
Don’t have to take things so literal when someone suggests something it may only be a small deal. I think your taking it as a marquee signing. People are allowed their comments. He has worked hard and off contract is an option and genuinely speaking has been playing some quality footy definitely worth a mention.
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Miserable arm chair critic right here lol
 
Personally I don't ever take too much as gospel anymore unless seen with the own eyes. Make your own mind up, don't **** on other people's opinions, assess them for what they're worth and take what you deem valid from them to help form your own opinion. You may have a personal issue with said poster, given what you said about lying Cowboyman, which might be entirely fair, I won't comment on that, but outside of that I certainly don't get the witch hunt. It's just another poster on a forum who clearly has a passion and gets enjoyment out of following the juniors. Why hate on that.
 
so who are the realistic halfbacks we can go after for next year? What order would you rank them in priority wise? I'm not concerned about contracts because they get broken all the time

Ben Hunt
Jayden Sullivan
Jackson Hastings
Luke Brooks
Jock Madden
Tannah Boyd
Toby Sexton
Tyson Gamble

If there is anyone else add them in
 
Contracts only get “broken” when there’s agreement from both parties. We saw this over the last off season when we agreed to personal terms with Brooks, he asked for a release from Wests twice, and Wests told him to eat **** and get back on the training paddock at Concord. Anyone who has an agreement in place next year and is a first choice option for their club isn’t going anywhere.

Ben Hunt will be at the Dragons next year, for example. He’s one of the two highest paid players in the game, and the team he’s at might well be wooden spooners without him. Why would he leave?

You gotta separate it into two categories, players available in 2023 - all of whom are fringe options/stopgaps - and the star players off contract for 2024.
 
Off contract for 2023/confirmed “permission to negotiate”:

1. Tyson Gamble - Absolute no-brainer pickup for next year no matter what else we do, proved he can do a job as either the dominant organising 7 alongside Milford/Mam, or the second fiddle alongside Reynolds. He’s not special in terms of natural skill, vision & athleticism, but he’s a competitor who revs up the guys around him and keeps them on task, and takes good options with his boot and pass selection. If you put his brain in Clifford’s body, Jake would be the player we wanted him to be.

2 (tie). Jock Madden - Most talented of a bad bunch of off-contract players, but publicly telling your club that if you’re not handed a starting jersey next year you walk, and then dishing up play which makes Luke Brooks look like prime Andrew Johns when you get your shot at putting yourself in the shop window, is not a great way to progress your career. Maybe the club let him go for a reason lol.

2 (tie). Cooper Johns - Looks good in a good team. Probably won’t for us.

4 (tie). Jaeman Salmon (Weak Gutted Dog) - You have to be pretty bad to not even look good playing for Penrith.

4 (tie). Phoenix Crossland - Moving on…

4 (tie). Albert Kelly - Has some understanding of the game of rugby league but absolutely on his last legs as a footy player.

4 (tie). Brandon Wakeham - Utility who has shown flashes of talent. In 2018 we would have offered him half a million to be our starting 6. Hopefully we have moved on from this.

8 (tie). Hayze Perham, Billy Walters - Utilities who have not shown flashes of talent.

8 (tie). Kurt Falls - I’ve seen his name around the traps as a player we should look at because he racks up some stats for Panthers NSW Cup, who like the first grade team are really dominant. If the bloke can’t get a run in firsts over the Weak Gutted Dog though, how good could he be?

11. Sam Williams - LOL no.
 
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