Originally posted by Qld Chook
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Ahhhh Ben
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To be honest, I was never sold on the Ben Hunt signing. Great player, but getting older and it wasnt clear where he would land positionally. His attitude towards the end of his tenure at the Dragons also put me off.
What has shocked me is the state of our salary cap though and the fact the Bronco's are in a better position than us currently. Squad wise we have had a massive exodus and on-paper, the Bronco's are already stacked in comparison.
We must be overpaying alot of players on potential which is a worry.
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Originally posted by HDTONE View PostSure you have to back the young guys coming through.
BUT we're different because of the number of players who've left or at injured. 6 and maybe 7 depending on Sandon.
So nudging almost half of 17 experienced 1st grade talent with a heap of experience.
Expecting the young guys to fill that gap is a huge ask. K we got Townsend but he couldn't crack the starting side.
To me this is a massive gamble even in a rebuilding year when nothing is 100% for the season after and you risk denting morale of the squad if they aren't competitive.
Look at our squad this year and compare it to next....says it all imo
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Sure you have to back the young guys coming through.
BUT we're different because of the number of players who've left or at injured. 6 and maybe 7 depending on Sandon.
So nudging almost half of 17 experienced 1st grade talent with a heap of experience.
Expecting the young guys to fill that gap is a huge ask. K we got Townsend but he couldn't crack the starting side.
To me this is a massive gamble even in a rebuilding year when nothing is 100% for the season after and you risk denting morale of the squad if they aren't competitive.
Look at our squad this year and compare it to next....says it all imo
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Originally posted by B2B View PostBen hunt may be good for the short term but long term is not . Promote the younger player and we may be pleasantly surprised .
Look at the Panthers , they back their youth , that is the blueprint for success .
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Originally posted by Rooster_6 View Post
Blaize Talagi, Isaiah, Papali'i, Paul Alamoti, Brad Schneider, Luke Garner, Jack Cogger, Zac Hosking & Tyrone Peachey just in the last couple of years to disagree.
Penrith like all clubs use the player market to address issues they believe they can't fix internally.
This ^^^^^^
Our spine is weak. ZDC yeah. Nah.
A seasoned experienced player could mentor the young guys, steady the ship now JWH isn't screaming at players to lift. We did this with O'Donnell and many thought no way but it worked. Same with Coops who even played busted but him on the field got us home.
Unless there is this Plan B to do it tough next year before a big shopping spree late next year.
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Originally posted by B2B View PostBen hunt may be good for the short term but long term is not . Promote the younger player and we may be pleasantly surprised .
Look at the Panthers , they back their youth , that is the blueprint for success .
Penrith like all clubs use the player market to address issues they believe they can't fix internally.
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Ben hunt may be good for the short term but long term is not . Promote the younger player and we may be pleasantly surprised .
Look at the Panthers , they back their youth , that is the blueprint for success .
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Spot on bring the kids in next season these are not your average youngsters rob toia and va could surprise everyone we don’t need hunt or some other half washed up signing from the super league we have a great backline and a top attacking coach in Justin to handle them the head coach needs to get our defensive structure right as we were really bad in the finals back on the kids va really impressed me he bent the line on every carry if he can develop an offload he will be very hard to handle we need to jag a few wins until walker gets back then go on a run to the finals we will be ok next year imo
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Originally posted by John Corey View PostThis is all about 2026. Big plans that require not over paying for a player like Ben Hunt.
2025 will be a tough season.
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Originally posted by The Marshall View PostOn face value we should have heaps of cash. What we don’t know is what upgrades have we committed to? Or need to ?That may soak up money for players about to break out. I have seen it written in a few places that we have a good academy but I have been skeptical as we don’t seem to have unearthed much in the last few years, especially compared to Penrith and Melbourne.
I have started to come to the view that the club is going to rely more on academy talent as a cost effective way to manage the salary cap into the future. I think the club are clearly of the view that they are about to have the next generation of talent emerge over the next two years and need to keep cap space for those players. That would also fit with the idea of bringing in a few veterans to babysit for a year or two and an elite recruit in certain spots.
I wouldn’t have to much hope for 2025 as it is looking like a 2016 type of year. We know that season lead to a double.
Personally I'm not writing off 2025 before we've even played a game. My thinking is...
- Townsend IS kinda Hunt but at the right price. A club will want to pay Hint $1.2m a year for his last 2 years. We've rightfully upgraded Walker as my little stab at where a big chunk of our $$$ has gone.
- Sua'ali'i (who looks to be the goods in yawnion but never impressed me THAT much) is gone and Mark N is in at the right price (as is Young). A backline of Teddy, Toops, Mark N, Toia/Smith and Young is still stacked to the brim. We just need to get these guys performing!!!
- The Va'a brothers are coming of age. Yes we lost JWH and May but Collins and Leniu are no deadbeats (noting JWH was suspended most of the time anyway so we're not gonna miss THAT much game-time from him). Also, there are guys like the Va'a brothers and Steep (from our systems) who are gonna be expected to step-up. A lot of that's gonna be on Robbo, who IMO has a good track record with developing forwards. Dare say we'll have a pocket of money set aside for that bigger Va'a brother when he starts replicating his dominance in the lower grades in the NRL (he will). Whyte is another one from our systems who I suspect has earned an upgrade (Gus mighta too? He was the comp's form back rower this year).
- Somewhere along the line we need a hooker until Cheese is back. Watson, Sandon and Dockar-Clay are all viable options for hooker/half/utility roles (they're all from our systems too).
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Idk what it is but ever since the fafita fiasco we just haven’t been able to sign our targets, a very abnormal amount of failed deals.. it’s very unlike us… it has me concerned if we even know what direction we are taking atm.
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On face value we should have heaps of cash. What we don’t know is what upgrades have we committed to? Or need to ?That may soak up money for players about to break out. I have seen it written in a few places that we have a good academy but I have been skeptical as we don’t seem to have unearthed much in the last few years, especially compared to Penrith and Melbourne.
I have started to come to the view that the club is going to rely more on academy talent as a cost effective way to manage the salary cap into the future. I think the club are clearly of the view that they are about to have the next generation of talent emerge over the next two years and need to keep cap space for those players. That would also fit with the idea of bringing in a few veterans to babysit for a year or two and an elite recruit in certain spots.
I wouldn’t have to much hope for 2025 as it is looking like a 2016 type of year. We know that season lead to a double.
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