The big questions- who will we lose

[Steakface]

If Cronk signs, IMO

*We will lose Pearce (more likely) OR Friend
*We will lose Latrell - Souths are going to throw the kitchens sink at him once Inglis is done,which is not far off at all
*We will lose SST. The bloke is a premier forward, LoloMK2. Someone is going to make him a huge offer shortly.

I think the issue is that with Cronk we have NO wiggle room to keep these other guys.

[Rooster_6]

Our salary cap position would definitely be extremely tight if we signed Cooper Cronk & outside of Blake Ferguson there's really not a whole lot of talent in the squad I'd be happy to see leave to free up salary cap space.

Joey Manu, Isaac Liu, Luke Keary, Boyd Cordner & Latrell Mitchell will all be looking for upgraded contracts this year. It'd be sad to lose one or two of those players as a result.

Like I said in the other thread, retaining the above players and possibly signing Angus Chricton to me seems like the safer long term option.

But who knows, maybe we're only looking at Cronk as a one year proposition. I always thought signing SBW would cost us a few good players too but it never did, it ended up playing out perfectly. We seem to have a far more established squad than back then though.

Interesting times.

[Kelby]

In retaliation, we sign Crichton from the wabbits

[Tommy Smith]

It's almost a fait accompli that we'll lose Latrell imo.

He's a centre at our club but someone will offer him 1m to play fullback which we clearly won't match.

And I'd be surprised if he knocked it back.

Just stick to the model and don't overpay for a centre no matter how good; and replace him with a quality rep standard centre at the right price.

[Rooster_6]

It's almost a fait accompli that we'll lose Latrell imo.

He's a centre at our club but someone will offer him 1m to play fullback which we clearly won't match.

And I'd be surprised if he knocked it back.

Just stick to the model and don't overpay for a centre no matter how good; and replace him with a quality rep standard centre at the right price.

If the club are smart about it they'd transition Tedesco into the centres in 4-5 years time when he's turning 30. Roughly 2022. There's very few fullbacks who are still at the top of their game at 30 (especially fullbacks like Teddy) as it's a very athletically demanding position but top class centres usually go on into their mid 30's.

In 2022 Latrell would be 24 which is pretty much prime age for a fullback.

Latrell's currently signed until 2020, a pay rise with another 2 year extension would put us in a good position to then lock him up long term and give him the fullback position.

Bit of fantasy land but that would be the ideal situation. Fair to say I've put a lot of thought into it because like you I don't think he will hang around his whole career to play in the centres but it'd kill me to see him leave. It's rare that someone with such natural instincts for the game mixed with supreme athleticism comes along & it'd be a privilege to see that career played out in our jersey.

[Louis N]

If the club are smart about it they'd transition Tedesco into the centres in 4-5 years time when he's turning 30. Roughly 2022. There's very few fullbacks who are still at the top of their game at 30 (especially fullbacks like Teddy) as it's a very athletically demanding position but top class centres usually go on into their mid 30's.

In 2022 Latrell would be 24 which is pretty much prime age for a fullback.

Latrell's currently signed until 2020, a pay rise with another 2 year extension would put us in a good position to then lock him up long term and give him the fullback position.

Bit of fantasy land but that would be the ideal situation. Fair to say I've put a lot of thought into it because like you I don't think he will hang around his whole career to play in the centres but it'd kill me to see him leave. It's rare that someone with such natural instincts for the game mixed with supreme athleticism comes along & it'd be a privilege to see that career played out in our jersey.

Totally agree with what you're saying here. Latrell's fitness seems to be denying him a fullback role at the moment. But we seem to be buying talent for positions we already have covered. Watson shone at fullback and Pearce is a reasonable enough half. No criticism of Tedesco or Cronks as they are top notch but there are other positions we could have strengthened. It seems that while we have a decent team the idea is to go all out for a guy like Cronk to run the ship. I totally get it in the case of Cronk but the Tedesco purchase almost lost Latrell and certainly put paid to Watson. And we'd put so much time into those talented young players.

[dice]

We won 2013 with a good blend of stars like SBW/Maloney/Jennings, and (young or established) value-for-money players such as RTS/Tupou/LOD/Moa who helped us fit those stars under the cap. If/when the current crop of value-for-money players like Mitchell and SST stop being value for money then so be it. If they want the big bucks then either they become good enough to displace our existing stars or they move on.

[milanja]

It's almost a fait accompli that we'll lose Latrell imo.

He's a centre at our club but someone will offer him 1m to play fullback which we clearly won't match.

And I'd be surprised if he knocked it back.

Just stick to the model and don't overpay for a centre no matter how good; and replace him with a quality rep standard centre at the right price.

Latrell could earn good money playing center, and also prolong his career as it isn’t as demanding as fullback, I don’t think Jennings has missed out financially by playing his career at center, I suppose it’s different at the chooks where we prefer to play backrowers in the centers, and wingers on the bench. And people call Anderson crazy for trying a one marker option.

[Mickie Lane]

It's almost a fait accompli that we'll lose Latrell imo.

He's a centre at our club but someone will offer him 1m to play fullback which we clearly won't match.

And I'd be surprised if he knocked it back.

Just stick to the model and don't overpay for a centre no matter how good; and replace him with a quality rep standard centre at the right price.

He can be paid 1mil to play centre. Money is not a problem at the Roosters especially while ever there are TPA's. All clubs have got to abide by the salary cap amount but you can add as much as you want via TPA's & the Roosters IMO have more access to TPA's than any other Sydney based teams.
As Latrell matures he will become more aware of the big picture rather than worrying about playing FB. If the Roosters can keep being successful he wont go anywhere.

[NorfolkStreetKid]

I heard Cronk will take $800 per for 2 years, with the players we have offloaded already, Guerra, SKD, Evans, Watson, Hastings, Copley and others, plus some we won't be renewing like Nikorima, etc, I can't see us getting into cap problems........ and that's not allowing for either Pearse or Friend or both to move on. As for Latrell Mitchell...... surely the talk of him getting a million a year is a joke, the kid has done nothing, except maybe take away any chance we had of making the GF this year. The Roosters don't lose players they want to keep is an old saying that rings true.

[Tommy Smith]

If the club are smart about it they'd transition Tedesco into the centres in 4-5 years time when he's turning 30. Roughly 2022. There's very few fullbacks who are still at the top of their game at 30 (especially fullbacks like Teddy) as it's a very athletically demanding position but top class centres usually go on into their mid 30's.

In 2022 Latrell would be 24 which is pretty much prime age for a fullback.

Latrell's currently signed until 2020, a pay rise with another 2 year extension would put us in a good position to then lock him up long term and give him the fullback position.

Bit of fantasy land but that would be the ideal situation. Fair to say I've put a lot of thought into it because like you I don't think he will hang around his whole career to play in the centres but it'd kill me to see him leave. It's rare that someone with such natural instincts for the game mixed with supreme athleticism comes along & it'd be a privilege to see that career played out in our jersey.

I'm not sure how patient Latrell will be.

I can absolutely see Souffs offering him GIs 1m per year to be their no.1 when he comes off contract.

Obviously I hope we retain him but that'll be a tough battle.

[Insider]

Our salary cap position would definitely be extremely tight if we signed Cooper Cronk & outside of Blake Ferguson there's really not a whole lot of talent in the squad I'd be happy to see leave to free up salary cap space.

Joey Manu, Isaac Liu, Luke Keary, Boyd Cordner & Latrell Mitchell will all be looking for upgraded contracts this year. It'd be sad to lose one or two of those players as a result.

Like I said in the other thread, retaining the above players and possibly signing Angus Chricton to me seems like the safer long term option.

But who knows, maybe we're only looking at Cronk as a one year proposition. I always thought signing SBW would cost us a few good players too but it never did, it ended up playing out perfectly. We seem to have a far more established squad than back then though.

Interesting times.

Cronk will retire at the end of 2019,same time as Mitchell is off contract so a large part of Cronks money can be used to substantially upgrade Mitchell.They can get rid of Fergo at the end of 18 and upgrade Cordner and Keary with that.

[Rooster_6]

Cronk will retire at the end of 2019,same time as Mitchell is off contract so a large part of Cronks money can be used to substantially upgrade Mitchell.They can get rid of Fergo at the end of 18 and upgrade Cordner and Keary with that.

Latrell's manager wants an upgrade now.

Like it or not they're in a strong position to request it too.

If we lose Fergo and Gordon this year we're going to have to go out and buy some three-quarters because there isn't much at our club currently.

Easy to say Fergos contract goes to topping up others but then who's replacing him?

[Insider]

I heard Cronk will take $800 per for 2 years, with the players we have offloaded already, Guerra, SKD, Evans, Watson, Hastings, Copley and others, plus some we won't be renewing like Nikorima, etc, I can't see us getting into cap problems........ and that's not allowing for either Pearse or Friend or both to move on. As for Latrell Mitchell...... surely the talk of him getting a million a year is a joke, the kid has done nothing, except maybe take away any chance we had of making the GF this year. The Roosters don't lose players they want to keep is an old saying that rings true.

If we sign Cronk for 900 on the cap,we will be about 400 over.Nikorima will save nothing for 2018 whether he stays or goes will be irrelevant to our cap position.NObody is gonna do us any favours and give us any more than 150 and we have to replace his spot with someone on at least 120.Which is why the club are shopping Friend.which of course they are denying publicly.

[Steakface]

As for Latrell Mitchell...... surely the talk of him getting a million a year is a joke, the kid has done nothing, except maybe take away any chance we had of making the GF this year.

That you think he's 'done nothing' doesn't mean shit. He's already one of the best attacking centers in the game and he's a deadset kid. Based on his talent and potential, other club's will be outlaying massive offers for him, guaranteed.

The Roosters don't lose players they want to keep is an old saying that rings true.

That's bullshit. Three recent examples - RTS, SBW, Maloney. The club wanted all three for longer and we lost them.
That saying is right up there with other crap such as 'Uncle Nick plays for premierships', 'The Dogs of war', 'Manly are silvertails', 'Souths are the working class man's club', 'Souths are the only club that understand Aboriginals' etc.
All that stuff is A-grade bullshit that might have had a grain of truth half a century ago but has fk all truth today.