Who should be number 7 for next season?

Owey said:
Looks like our preferred spine for next year is:

1.Ponga
6.Gamble
7.Brooks
9.Brailey

I hope it gets the ball zinging to where it needs to be. No square pegs I guess. And I guess that leaves Ponga kicking goals? What does everyone think?
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10th spot possible...
 
Ethan said:
1.Ponga
6.Gamble ...Haven't seen him play so cant comment
7.Brooks
9.Brailey
If 1, 7 and 9 play to there potential and Gamble is an upgrade as well then that spine could be a good one , don't forget Brooks was touted as the next A Johns because of his skill set . You dont lose those skills geez im 63 and can still kick a ball accurately i can still throw a straight spiral pass and when i tackle the wife i hit her just above the hips lift and drive lol.
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Definitely a better line-up than what we have. Also with lots more points in us in my opinion.
 
Just read an article Gus and Ben hunt been chatting. Jeez that would be a good pick up for the dogs. Having Burton and Hunt in the halves. They would look like a very good side next year with the new recruits.
 
Actually Ben Hunt should simply make up for the fact he has Aaron Woods, Blake Lawrie, Jack DeBelin and Josh McGuire in his starting pack instead of the likes of James Fisher-Harris, Isaah Yeo, Viliame Kikau, Moses Leota and Liam Martin. He must do this by running 500 metres & making 60 dominant tackles every week to make up the shortfall.

^^^
This appears to be what so many people who watch this sport sincerely believe.

It’s a team sport people. 13 players in each team on the field at any one time. One player can only do so much & Hunt has been remarkable given how mediocre the team around him is.

I know he makes over a million dollars but it doesn’t mean he’s a failure if he can’t hard carry a bad team, or he’s stealing if he hits some bad form.

Munster is on about $1.2 million this year, J Hughes about $900K, H Grant $1 million… all the top players get paid no matter where they’re at and in those sides where the top players are all concentrated like that, those guys absolutely have an off-night every now and again - Munster had one last night and also absolutely sleepwalked through most of the regular season in 2020-21. You just don’t notice or care because at least a couple of guys out of Smith/Grant/Cheese/Hughes/Papenhyuzen had a great game each week & the pack is usually going forward and laying a dominant platform.
 
At this stage I really like the idea of gamble coming to newy. While he isn't the high end player we are after, he has exactly the hard no non sense attitude we need.
I can really see him becoming a fan favourite. Additionally, with the signings of hetherington, elliot with klem, hopefully we can have a hard edge to us next year.
 
R4D5 said:
i don't think we need to limit it to players off contract, contracts are broken all the time. We need to look for halves that are stuck behind other players looking for a first grade opportunity

Will mean they probably wont be in the top 7 or 8 halves, but currently we'd have what, the 17th or 18th best halves in first grade 🤷‍♂️

I think we just need someone who can organise the team around the field that offers something in attack to help Ponga out. He can't be expected to do everything
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Necro-ing a bit, with the proviso that I think this approach is more likely to work when it comes to finding a fullback or hooker than it is a halfback (just cos there’s 2 halves spots at each club rather than 1 hooker and 1 fullback - if a guy was that good, he’d probably nab one of the two spots), but there’s only really one player in this position at the moment, stuck behind two halves who’ve both been killing it, who has been able to come in when either has been injured and have it not result in a particularly noticeable drop-off in how well the team has played. It’s a guy that @Owey has mentioned a lot, Braydon Trindall.

From what I’ve heard he’s happy to stay at Cronulla and bide his time until Moylan retires, but I think he’s notably improved a lot between each stint in the top grade and at 23 is probably in that sweet spot of, you know what you’re gonna get next year, but also you can anticipate he’ll be better in a few years.

It’s kind of been glossed over when he’s been mentioned but had a quick squiz at his attacking stats in starts at 6/7 over the last 2 seasons and they might surprise you:

14 games
Line breaks - 4
Line break assists - 16
Tries - 5
Try assists - 13
Forced drop outs - 10

He’s currently usually used as a bench utility, a role in which he offers very little, he’s not an impact guy. Might be frustrating for him. 🤷‍♂️

With the way he’s improved, I’d be more prepared to bet $3-400K a season on him becoming a really good NRL halfback by 27 than betting $600K a season on Brooks doing it by 29 - Brooks is another guy with that lethal run & step which should unlock his ball playing close to the line… not that you’d know it watching him these days lol.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Necro-ing a bit, with the proviso that I think this approach is more likely to work when it comes to finding a fullback or hooker than it is a halfback (just cos there’s 2 halves spots at each club rather than 1 hooker and 1 fullback - if a guy was that good, he’d probably nab one of the two spots), but there’s only really one player in this position at the moment, stuck behind two halves who’ve both been killing it, who has been able to come in when either has been injured and have it not result in a particularly noticeable drop-off in how well the team has played. It’s a guy that @Owey has mentioned a lot, Braydon Trindall.

From what I’ve heard he’s happy to stay at Cronulla and bide his time until Moylan retires, but I think he’s notably improved a lot between each stint in the top grade and at 23 is probably in that sweet spot of, you know what you’re gonna get next year, but also you can anticipate he’ll be better in a few years.

It’s kind of been glossed over when he’s been mentioned but had a quick squiz at his attacking stats in starts at 6/7 over the last 2 seasons and they might surprise you:

14 games
Line breaks - 4
Line break assists - 16
Tries - 5
Try assists - 13
Forced drop outs - 10

He’s currently usually used as a bench utility, a role in which he offers very little, he’s not an impact guy. Might be frustrating for him. 🤷‍♂️

With the way he’s improved, I’d be more prepared to bet $3-400K a season on him becoming a really good NRL halfback by 27 than betting $600K a season on Brooks doing it by 29 - Brooks is another guy with that lethal run & step which should unlock his ball playing close to the line… not that you’d know it watching him these days lol.
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You and @Owey could be onto something with Braydon Trindall, I had no idea he has such good stats. Hopefully someone at the club is looking and seeing if he is interested.

Just a question as i haven't seen much of him play, but when he has played first grade has he played a supporting role or been the chief organiser/playmaker?
 
His first grade stint this year as a five eight has been more as a supporting half to Hynes, but last year he was very much the chief playmaker
 
Yeah and he wasn’t Cooper Cronk out there as the chief playmaker to be sure, he needs to work on it (he comes up with some wrong options with his kicking game and has the odd hospital pass in him still). But if you like you can go watch him play in the reserve grade finals in 2019 and at back then he looked very much like one of those halves who’s a career reserve grader, mostly plays footy for a bit of fun, very off the cuff and cursing by on that natural pace and skill he has, couldn’t tackle for ****. 2-3 years later he has looked like he’s developing into a genuine first grade half (defence still needs work). It’s either a huge compliment to Cronulla as a development club or his work ethic, possibly both.
 
The tough thing with signing Super League halves is that you never know if their game would translate to the NRL. Brodie has done the club the favour of already demonstrating categorically that it does not. It’s a big, bold, all caps “no” from me.
 
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