Liam Knight

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Sorry HM that 2011 victory was based on the core of a champion team who won the title in 2008.

Point is Manly's premierships team have always had a couple of brilliant young junior talents, but they have never been teams thrown together in 5 minutes.

They have been built and developed over time, bolstered by some key signings. We have never had the strategy of 'just go with our youth.'

Maybe 1978 had the most younger players, with blokes like Harvey, Ian Thomson, Russell Gartner and Johnny Gibbs. But even they came into a team that had already been winning premierships for several years.
 
Zane was suppose to have been one of if not our most impressive props that pre season. Given the legal assistance the club gave him, and all our other felons playing at our club. It's strange Wyong is where he went. But he would have been a Toovey signing.

Roosters will pay him $80 a year, why wouldn't they off load Moa who has looked washed up this year and free up 6-700k in cap space.
 
Remind me which of our premierships was based on kids?


Wont go through every player SeaEagle. But from grand final winning teams the following players were 25 or younger

1972
Eadie 18
Martin 21
Brown 24
Fulton 24
Brannigan 24
Peters 25
Randall 21
D. Ward 24
Reilly 24

1973
Eadie 19
Martin 22
Brown 25
Fulton 25
Brannigan 25
Mayes 25
Randall 22

1976
Eadie 22
Jackson 24
Mooney 24
Martin 25
Gibbs 20
Harvey 21
Randall 25
Norton 24

1978
Eadie 24
Gartner 23
Booth 21
A. Thompson 24
S. Martin 21 (Gibbs 22)
I. Thomsom 22
Harvey 23

1987

Shearer 22
Ronson 20
R. Gibbs 25
Daley 23
D. Williams 22
(oldest player was Ward at 30)

1996
Moore 24
Hill 24
Hopoate 22
Kosef 22
Sedaris 25
Menzies 22
Gartner 23

2008

B. Stewart 23
Robertson 25
Matai 24
Williams 22
Balin 24
G. Stewart 24
Watmough 25

2011
W. Hopoate 19
Foan 21
DCE 22
T. Williams 22
Buhrer 21

Players over 30

1972 Jones, Irvine
1973 Jones, Irvine, O'Neille
1976 None..oldest 28
1978. Knight 30
1987. Ward 30
1996 Gillespie 32
2008. Orford 30
2011. Galuvao 33, Kite 30

So as you can see Manly succeeded best when they had youthful teams with few over 30
 
Wont go through every player SeaEagle. But from grand final winning teams the following players were 25 or younger

1972
Eadie 18
Martin 21
Brown 24
Fulton 24
Brannigan 24
Peters 25
Randall 21
D. Ward 24
Reilly 24

1973
Eadie 19
Martin 22
Brown 25
Fulton 25
Brannigan 25
Mayes 25
Randall 22

1976
Eadie 22
Jackson 24
Mooney 24
Martin 25
Gibbs 20
Harvey 21
Randall 25
Norton 24

1978
Eadie 24
Gartner 23
Booth 21
A. Thompson 24
S. Martin 21 (Gibbs 22)
I. Thomsom 22
Harvey 23

1987

Shearer 22
Ronson 20
R. Gibbs 25
Daley 23
D. Williams 22
(oldest player was Ward at 30)

1996
Moore 24
Hill 24
Hopoate 22
Kosef 22
Sedaris 25
Menzies 22
Gartner 23

2008

B. Stewart 23
Robertson 25
Matai 24
Williams 22
Balin 24
G. Stewart 24
Watmough 25

2011
W. Hopoate 19
Foan 21
DCE 22
T. Williams 22
Buhrer 21

Players over 30

1972 Jones, Irvine
1973 Jones, Irvine, O'Neille
1976 None..oldest 28
1978. Knight 30
1987. Ward 30
1996 Gillespie 32
2008. Orford 30
2011. Galuvao 33, Kite 30

So as you can see Manly succeeded best when they had youthful teams with few over 30

Point well made Bear. Only thing I could add is that since '72 the improvements in diet and strength and conditioning would raise the qualification for being considered young by a couple of years.
 
Prop is a hard spot for a kid. Liam's will bulk up in the NRL system and be a prop one day. But I'm not sure playing him at prop straight out of 20's is where is body shape was at. Toovs even brought Jake along slowly he mainly played at lock.
 
Knight signs with Roosters
By
SMH.com.au
-
September 4, 2016 - 9:56 am


The Roosters have signed troubled Manly forward Liam Knight.

Knight has made just one NRL appearance, cut short by a season-ending injury, but is better known for recording the worst driving offence in NRL history.


The 21-year-old made headlines when he was clocked doing 137km/h in a 70km/h zone. Hoping to beat the breathalyser, he grabbed a can of Aerogard and sprayed it in his mouth. He registered 0.176 regardless.

The Roosters had tried to sign the junior tennis champion previously and have decided to throw him a lifeline.

http://www.zerotackle.com/knight-signs-with-roosters-23536/
 
Prop is a hard spot for a kid. Liam's will bulk up in the NRL system and be a prop one day. But I'm not sure playing him at prop straight out of 20's is where is body shape was at. Toovs even brought Jake along slowly he mainly played at lock.
He is bigger than most of our props already. I watched him from close range warm up with the team prior to the Penrith game at brookie earlier this year.
 
They have been built and developed over time, bolstered by some key signings. We have never had the strategy of 'just go with our youth.'

This is true. Key signings in the past have been guys like Terry Hill, Mark Carroll, David Gillespie. Ben Kennedy, Brent Kite and Jamie Lyon.

This generation's crop includes Nate Myles, Lewis Brown, Brayden Williame, Blake Green and - if we can do a deal (fingers crossed!) Akuila Uate.
 
Interesting list @Bearfax but the overall age of successful squads is not the issue, or at least not the issue I was taking. You said, "Stick with the kids. That's what got Manly premierships in the past".

Eadie, Martin, and Randall came through as youngsters together and are all-time Manly greats, as we all know.

But those premiership wins in '72, '73 and '76 were not due to sticking with the kids.

That trio of outstanding kids came through when Manly had been bashing hard at the premiership door for about 5 years, playing grand finals in 1968 and 1970, and missing the grand final by a whisker in 1969. In 1971 we won our first ever minor premiership!

We had a tremendously strong, skilled, and experienced team and kept adding Test players such as Cracker McDonald and Allan Thomson in our quest to break through and win. The tipping point came with the addition of Reilly, then O'Neill and Branighan. Reilly and Branighan were young but that was not 'sticking with youth', they were already top of the line international stars!

The same principle applies in the other eras, as it still does now. for example - would Watmough and Gift have developed as fast - or as far - if we never signed Ben Kennedy? We'll never know but BK is widely credited with turning our mish-mash collection of journeymen and youngsters into a real team.
 
I must admit I'm quite disappointed by the loss of Knight. There may be issues I am not party to, but as it seems, it looks to me another Gutherson blunder. But both Fulton and Barrett will have to live by their decision and maybe in the long run they are right. I just cant see the logic at this stage.
Interesting list @Bearfax but the overall age of successful squads is not the issue, or at least not the issue I was taking. You said, "Stick with the kids. That's what got Manly premierships in the past".

Eadie, Martin, and Randall came through as youngsters together and are all-time Manly greats, as we all know.

But those premiership wins in '72, '73 and '76 were not due to sticking with the kids.

That trio of outstanding kids came through when Manly had been bashing hard at the premiership door for about 5 years, playing grand finals in 1968 and 1970, and missing the grand final by a whisker in 1969. In 1971 we won our first ever minor premiership!

We had a tremendously strong, skilled, and experienced team and kept adding Test players such as Cracker McDonald and Allan Thomson in our quest to break through and win. The tipping point came with the addition of Reilly, then O'Neill and Branighan. Reilly and Branighan were young but that was not 'sticking with youth', they were already top of the line international stars!

The same principle applies in the other eras, as it still does now. for example - would Watmough and Gift have developed as fast - or as far - if we never signed Ben Kennedy? We'll never know but BK is widely credited with turning our mish-mash collection of journeymen and youngsters into a real team.


I accept what you're trying to say but firstly its easy to identify some young players as exceptions in retrospect. In fact Randall was not an impressive young player when he first started. He and two other 'kids' were all selected for first grade together in the one game, the others were Gary Thoroughgood and another I cant recall. It was only a fortuitous move to the forwards from centre that saw Terry blossom into a great player. Eadie was expected to be great like TT from the start but Martin was not great to start but improved markedly as he developed.

Manly delayed some players coming up because of other top players ahead of them eg Jones and Krillich issue. But when they had someone with skill in the lower grades they were in firsts usually before they had turned 20.

Manly in the past got them young, even top players. They rarely bought players late in their career. O'Neill was an exception as was Ward. They generally bought them aged about 18-23, and if they didnt come on after a year or two they were let go.

Arthurson was a genius at identifying top juniors elsewhere, Fulton and Eadie, both aged 17 were examples. The one comparable grab I suspect will be Tom Wright at 17.

The teams that remind me of Manly of old today are Wests, Canberra and Penrith with how they bring through their young players. That's what Manly did consistently in the past.
 
Liam has shown some potential in the 20's.
But the list of Holden Cup superstars that have done approximately two thirds of nothing at NRL level would fill an encyclopedia.

Now I'm not saying Liam couldn't potentially be a great first grader. But he is untried.

All of the hand wringing could be justified.....or it may just be all for nothing. Time will tell I guess. If it bites us on the ass however, I'll be blowing up deluxe at Baz and Bozo.
 
It's clear to me that from a football perspective he will be a huge loss to manly, no question. I fear this is yet another dumb decision.
 
It's clear to me that from a football perspective he will be a huge loss to manly, no question. I fear this is yet another dumb decision.
Dumb decisions seems the norm at the moment for our club.
 
We are most probably going to pay half his salary as well so the rorters get him cheap as chips
 

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