Recruitment strategy

[Intercept]

If you were in charge of recruitment for the Chooks, what would be your strategy and why? It seems to me that we have two legitimate options and I think I prefer option 2:

1. Add depth signings and hope our core group - players like Friend and Guerra- return to form and we continue to be competitive for years to come; or
2. Assemble the best young players we can find and be prepared to sprinkle the stardust a-la 2013 to round out the team in the hope of winning another title in say 2018 or 2019 and maybe going on with it and creating the elusive dynasty that blokes like Gus speak about.

So, what would you do?

[Mickie Lane]

I would rather the Roosters try to be like the Storm & finish in the top 4 most years & develop our own players.
The Roosters just won the U20's so they have some of the best young talent playing the game on top of a quality first grade team.
I think it is actually up to the coaching staff they need to instill spirit back into the team & get everyone to buy into playing for each other & wanting to go the extra mile for the Roosters club. Pride in the jumper & a desire to want the club to be a success is the key & the coaching staff have to be able to deliver on this.

[eddie]

Option 2 for me.
Mickie Lane summed it up perfectly I think, and Robbo is the right coach in that department. He likes his players to understand the history behind our club.

[roosterproud]

in 2012 the instigated the pride in the jumper. They refit the gym area with the teams of former grand final vistories, hung up posters around the club of former league and club legends, educated the team with the history of easts and the humble beginings of the club, what the meaning of the red , white n blue and how it originated. i think this is what what we need . another club education year.

filling a team with youth is a bad concept and holding onto the old heads is even worse. Trent will find that balance again and victory will be ours.

2017 here we come

[Rooster_6]

Sack the squad.

Sign Jimmy's kids.

[Intercept]

Sack the squad.

Sign Jimmy's kids.

Interesting concept. Not what was being suggested, however. To be clear, I am not talking about making wholesale changes and filling the side with kids that are not ready for first grade. I am talking about preferring to sign quality young players over depth signings like Tetevano and Carter. Taking a longer term view, if you like, by preferring players who may take longer to develop but may also prove to be better players in the long run.

[eddie]

Interesting concept. Not what was being suggested, however. To be clear, I am not talking about making wholesale changes and filling the side with kids that are not ready for first grade. I am talking about preferring to sign quality young players over depth signings like Tetevano and Carter. Taking a longer term view, if you like, by preferring players who may take longer to develop but may also prove to be better players in the long run.

As Roosterproud said it's about having the right balance.
Depth signings like the two you gave as an example could be considered a gamble, but if they come at the right price it's one you could win. Moa and LOD could be considered good examples.
Salary cap makes things hard, and if we had to relieve pressure there, Guerra and Toops spring to mind as representative players that could be moved on without causing much grief.

The signings we've made for 2017 seem to me to be the best we could hope for under the circumstances. Gordon is a good short term signing IMO.
Of course Keary wouldn't be required had we kept Maloney, but I shouldn't go there.
At least we stopped saints getting him.

[Bansai Pipeline]

Re-sign Maloney. Seriously.

The Bird kid is off contract too, I believe.

Hand on heart, I would also lose Pearce. Completely sick of watching him. Aside from being consistently disappointing, he's probably one of the most boring players to watch.

[Intercept]

Agree with you, Eddie and Roosterproud, about getting the balance right. My concern is blocking the path of good young players with blokes that may never amount to much. My theory is that teams that have a batch of 3 or 4 young blokes coming through together can improve out of sight and win a premiership. It seems to be Penrith's strategy and we are yet to see if it works for them (I think it will). But I feel as though we have a strong core group that have been together for a while and could potentially support a batch of young stars coming through and maybe create something stronger than we will by back-filling with depth signings.

[Guest]

Easts really stuffed it up. The club needed to build around a core group of players who are there for in the long term and see a contract extension or two, in my eyes they were/are Cordner, Hargreaves, Pearce, Friend, Maloney and Sheck. Maybe Sheck didn't wanna be here who knows you all seem divided on whether he did or we just got lazy but Maloney should have been re-signed and everyone else is expendable when they're contracts are up and their re-signing is based on performances and priority in position. It's the way we were successful in the 1990's and 2000's and it's the way Storm continue to be up the top. There's always another Moa, there's always a better Guerra for cheap, there's always a tupou etc but now we've got a lot of holes in our squad. Forget 2017 the club is aiming for 2018 with the chequebook

[eddie]

My concern is blocking the path of good young players with blokes that may never amount to much. .

Good point . Its a hard juggling act. Some of our young players may still be a year or two off first grade, some of the depth signings may be seen as short term......................I reckon it's made even harder without a proper reserve grade.
I hope the Holden cup is on borrowed time.

[Freddy]

Look the club made one of the worst decisions ever in retention/recruitment history in getting rid of Maloney. He was here for 3 years for 3 minor premierships and 1 premiership and we let him go for Hastings who ended up being so off at the club at the end that he could only make fullback for the under 20's. The club stuffed up and set us back but I/we need to move on.

If I was recruitment manager for 2017 I'd be moving Guerra and Moa on and signing Vaughn from Canberra whilst also tying up any under 20 players that we want long term. Manu and Butcher will play first grade next year.

The biggest decision for next year is if Mitchell is a fullback or centre/wing. Hopefully he is our long term fullback otherwise we chase Tedesco hard and make him our marquee signing for 2018. That option would see Topou and Gordon, only signed for 2017, leaving. Evans and Napa hopefully will fill their potential otherwise Evans especially would be moved on.

[eddie]

Great post.
Before I put my glasses on I thought you were Gothic Chook.

I did this exercise last year when I decided to purchase the big league.
I think from memory we tied with broncos pty ltd as the team with the least "imported" players.......................meaning most were not signed established.

Too many anti-Rooster types are more ignorance than substance.

[HBK]

I like the idea of building the team around OUR players.

Opposition fans always talk about Roosters 'buying' our 2013 premiership, but look at that team. Minichiello, RTS, SKD, Tupou, Pearce, Friend, Cordner, Guerra, Aubusson, Nuuausala i.e. 10 of our 17 made their first grade debuts at the Roosters. Moa and O'Donnell were NRL rejects in the Super League, JWH had only played a handful of games for Manly, and Mortimer wasn't exactly a marquee signing either.

Even as we lost some of them, the replacements weren't exactly 'name' signings either.

Siua Taukeiaho - replaced SBW, only played 1 game for Warriors
Kane Evans - replaced FPN, made his FG debut for Roosters
Dylan Napa - replaced O'Donnell, made his FG debut for Roosters
Isaac Liu - replaced Mortimer, made his FG debut for Roosters
Jackson Hastings / Connor Watson - replaced Maloney, made their FG debuts for Roosters
Latrell Mitchell - replaced RTS, made his FG debut for Roosters

Our entire team might not be Roosters 'juniors', but they are home grown and I prefer to see us win with these players in tow.

Mitchell - Roosters debutant
SKD - Roosters debutant
Ferguson
Copley (or Gordon)
Tupou - Roosters debutant
Watson - Roosters debutant (or Keary)
Pearce - Roosters debutant
JWH
Friend - Roosters debutant
Napa - Roosters debutant
Guerra - Roosters debutant
Cordner - Roosters debutant
Taukeiaho

Aubusson - Roosters debutant
Liu - Roosters debutant
Evans - Roosters debutant
Moa

If we manage to get that team on the park every single week, without any significant injuries, and getting our defensive structure back to where it was in 2013-2015, that it easily a top 8 team.

that's probably the best first post anybody has ever made. well done!

[Mickie Lane]

that's probably the best first post anybody has ever made. well done!

Nah this one was better

Hi all,

It has been a while since I have posted here.

Special thanks to PoS and the Roosters for giving us James Maloney who was the missing piece of the jig saw puzzle for us to assemble a team who can challenge for the Premiership. Hope the 20 or 30 posters who are on here decide to watch the NRL grand final after your U20s get pumped by Penrith. Fox and Nine could do with the extra 0.000000001 per cent in the ratings lol.

Up Up Cronulla!

Are you related to TDK?