Manase Fainu

[maxta]

So who is the 9 if Api is out??

 

[Cliffymagic]

Brown to 9 .winterstein in of course. Lets hope he recovers!!

 

[smithy]

Thanks for the explanation. What then, was the upside of letting Lussick go?

No upside really although not much point keeping a player that doesn’t want to be there and is blowing up with the coach.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

We will lose this kid next year if we don’t bring him up, and he IS a future superstar!!

PS: currently my prediction on future superstars isn’t that good but I eventually have to get one right!!

 

[manlyfan76]

If you send a player down to reggies, like Lussick, then you should be alowed to bring a cheaper pkayer up, maybe the player sent down has to stay in reggies for two weeks. Same with injuries

 

[Peter C]

Our roster is a work in progress we are currently working on signings, at the moment they are external not promotion from within.

In regards the cap position with Myles and Lussick the way it works is you can only have 30 players on NRL contracts players 30-26 are a minimum of 70k players 25-1 are a minimum for 100k. So if a player is paid a termination fee like Myles in 2018 or a player leaves mid season like Lussick and they fall within the above numbers they count as a position in the Top 30. My understanding is Lussick was on just over 400k so with 6 months gone he has been paid just over 200k that fits him well within our top 30 cost wise and as so, despite freeing up 200k from the cap he still takes a place and must remain on that list despite the fact he cant take the field for us. Similar to Myles who was paid part of his contract fee for this year, it also fits within the top 30 as such he uses up a place and means we can only have up to 28 players available each week at best.

There's only one way around all of this and this is to fake a career ending injury and then get the boss of the NRL , [whoever that is?], to sign off on the injury to free up salary cap and numbers space.
Has any club previously done this ,I'd like to know?

 

[Ranga]

The salary cap handicap is really biting hard, much harder than I thought it would. I now wish that we had a points penalty instead - e.g. start the season on minus whatever and potentially write this year off, but let us spend up to the cap and look to the future.

 

[Kevinward777]

The salary cap handicap is really biting hard, much harder than I thought it would. I now wish that we had a points penalty instead - e.g. start the season on minus whatever and potentially write this year off, but let us spend up to the cap and look to the future.

Greenberg knew it would hurt us more in the long run... look at the Eels, they lost 12 points but received no reduction to their cap whatsoever. I’ve been saying this from the get go, Greenberg created a whole new set of rules regarding salary cap penalties when it came to us. He has basically handicapped us for another two years, yet when it came to the Eels, he wanted everything sorted out as quickly as possible so they could get back on with things. He even harped on about what a great club they were and how hard they had worked to turn things around, pointing out the importance for league to be strong in the West. It’s a farkin disgrace.

 

[StuBoot]

Interesting.... Barrett mentioned him in an interview on Talkin' Sport a few weeks ago as cover for Api during the Origin period if Api was selected.

 

[MadMarcus]

So who is the 9 if Api is out??

I hope people go easier on the strip club boys now. They were probably just trying to find a hooker.

 

[Tragic Eagle]

No need to worry API won’t be selected for origin Freddy will pick Cameron McGinnes IMO.

 

[sheridanstand78]

Surely there has to be some flexibility, that if a team is unable to name a top 30 squad due to season-ending injuries that a club should be allowed to introduce some rookies to replace them. It is madness that we list a player who has retired, taken the coin due to a career-ending injury and is laughing at us all the way into the bargain. In previous eras, young players would come in if there were injuries and learn their trade. It is madness that we could lose Fainu because we are not able to promote him. He truly is a gun and that would really suck if we lost him to a rival over this!

 

[Sheikheagle]

No need to worry API won’t be selected for origin Freddy will pick Cameron McGinnes IMO.

I agree McGuinness with cook off the bench. Of late Apis form has been poor plenty of missed tackles and errors

 

[Sue]

What baffles me is why Funa is in the top 30 while Fainu isn’t ? Funa is playing U20s,is an outside back and is behind Uate, Tafua, MATT Wright, Jono Wright , Kelly, Parker, Walker and Brown at a pinch.Tom could also play anywhere in backline to cover a crisis.

Api, other than Hastings who was apparently on the nose while the list was composed, has no back up at all at hooker. Captain of U20s GF side,currently playing against men, not 20s like Funa,has a big body and skill set that suits our attacking style .Makes no sense at all.

 

[smithy]

Surely there has to be some flexibility, that if a team is unable to name a top 30 squad due to season-ending injuries that a club should be allowed to introduce some rookies to replace them. It is madness that we list a player who has retired, taken the coin due to a career-ending injury and is laughing at us all the way into the bargain. In previous eras, young players would come in if there were injuries and learn their trade. It is madness that we could lose Fainu because we are not able to promote him. He truly is a gun and that would really suck if we lost him to a rival over this!

Essentially if we cant field someone in a position say Api was called up for Origin we can apply to the NRL to use Fainu or another player on our development list ie. Lussick. It isn't too different to the old system. where we had a top 25 and a second tier of 440k, most of these players would be on about 80k so once you had used 5 (equivalent to a top 30) you then had to apply for dispensation to use other players.

In regards losing Fainu cause we cant promote him. We have 2 spots free, we could use one to promote Fainu into the top 30 although at this point the club is chasing other external targets. So if we do lose him it is more down to a management decision to prioritise other signings over promoting Fainu.

 

[SeaEagle21]

Could just be another media piece to continue all the panic at our club, Myles and Lussick are on the books this yr and would take a fair chunk of our cap. Fainu would be inline for a contract next yr with the money from them and Brown will be gone too. The only thing that is worrying and it doesn’t matter whether we bring him up now or not is that Parra can come in with an open chequebook and flash a starting position at him and we have submitted an upgraded deal for Api that will be our starting no 9 for a while yet.

With Api there we are always a risk of losing him to another club that can offer him a starting position so no point getting worked up over it as with everything you can’t keep everyone. However he is still with us for now so lets see what happens...

 

[Pepi]

Fainu is with us until the end of 2019.

 

[Volley]

Fainu would be crazy to hang around considering Manly are hoping to re-sign Koroisau for another 3 years. It’s not as if he’ll be hanging around learning the craft from Cam Smith.

 

[Budgie]

Fainu would be crazy to hang around considering Manly are hoping to re-sign Koroisau for another 3 years. It’s not as if he’ll be hanging around learning the craft from Cam Smith.

With such cap problems, it might be sensible to let the higher priced Api go, and keep the future star at a cheaper price. Just a thought.

 

[40 years an eagle]

I wouldn't be extending Api for 3 years (at what 400k a season?) with Fainu in the wings. I would upgrade Fainu to our 30 this year and start him next year.

We won't have the money to pay Api that AND keep the others we want AND get a REAL 5/8.

I don't see all this origin hype, the other young hookers in the comp run rings around him, and so will Fainu.

2019 with Fainu, Anderson, Suli and maybe Funa and T Wright, a top level 5/8 and the best of our rest, then sweep out the rest.

We need to get on top of this money thing and with DCE and the Turbos using up about 3M or so (1/3) we need to be really smart with the other 2/3 of our cap.