I like our recruitment this year. For mine Brooks is a very smart signing and I see Lodge and Brown adding a bit of steel to our forwards.
Honestly I think this has been a great off season / pre season recruitment
Ins:
Brooks - key signing that will help provide more structure, straighten up our attack and run the ball as well as getting Koula more involved this year - 600k
Lodge - When he comes back around round 5 I can see him being the leader with Paseka of the pack and both of them complement eachother well through Lodge more power and grunt and Paseka more mobile with size and late footwork - around 500k or whatever Keepie was on
Brown - Needed more middle forward depth with grunt and has experience - on min / cheap wage
Paulo - Favourite to be starting winger and suits our style of speed on edges also allowing Garrick to play centre - on min wage
James - More middle forward depth and good to have a young gun amongst experience - on cheap cash
Talau - Needed more centre cover with parker converting to 2nd row and has more upside than Harper - min wage
Waddell - Insurance option on edge if Schuster doesn't perform to get a bench spot and could also transform his game into a middle forward with leg speed like Bully did to be effective in modern game - on min / cheap
Outs:
Tuilangi: With Brooks coming and Schuster going 2nd row and Burbo taking over his role smart decision to let him go on 300k a year. Made poor defensive reads and ran for 70 metres a game as well.
Keepie: Far too many errors and defensive lapses in the middle of the park and was on 500k. Great trade by going Keepie to Lodge.
Kao Weekes: Too skinny to play anywhere else then fullback with tommy, koula and garrick all ahead of him and with Brooks signing he had no chance of playing 1st grade and was on decent cash. Manly also gave him plenty of opportunites and he didn't perform.
Morgan Harper: Mentally he needed a change as most Manly fans don't like him and his peak is pretty average. Replaced by Tommy Talau who has more upside and who's on min wage.
Christian Tuipulotu: Replaced by Paulo who's on cheaper cash and suits Manly style of speed on edges and is on cheaper cash then Tuipilotu, another great decision.
So basically;
- Brooks for Tuilangi (Schuster 2nd row) -
- Lodge for Keepie
- Paulo for Tuipulotu
- Talau for Harper
All 4 trades that are wins for us.
Manly's problem last year was not enough depth in middle forwards -
Brown - Middle forward depth
James - middle forward depth
Waddell - middle forward / edge depth
3 more wins
7-0
Great recruitment