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Big Pete -
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JOINED: .March 11, 2008
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I was being facetious in suggesting that Holbrook embarked on a 3yr journey to get Will Smith as his 6.... but I have previously suggested that hastily releasing Fogarty was a mistake.
They anointed him captain and I thought he was solid enough at getting them around the park to reduce pressure on the rest of the young guys in the spine.
Instead they went all in on the young spine talent... which is expected because U20's arent allowed to develop in the current NRL climate.
Titans were basically forced into this situation, because they had too much young talent come through at the same time.
They went all in on Sexton who played his first year of ISC last year... and then went all in on Campbell, by moving Brimson to 6.
They basically had to or potentially watch them head to a different club.
The issue they'll have moving forward is how to develop these guys and also retain them.
Their cap is loaded with forwards, so how do they expect to retain Sexton and Campbell when they're next off contract... whilst also finding any viable 9. They have Bryant coming through, but then they'll have to retain him as well.
The way the NRL salary cap is setup at the moment doesnt allow proper development.
Young players dont want to do an apprenticeship in lower grades and bide their time... they want cash and if they get the cash then the coach has to play them... because they're taking up top 30 spots and first team money.
The titans have had to take the punt on an U20's spine and it is backfiring spectacularly.
Until the NSWRL changes its approach to development clubs there will be many more tales of NRL teams banking on youth and failing
I'm not sure if they were necessarily 'forced' into this situation. I believe they could have kept Fogarty around if they wanted to but they believed that Campbell-Brimson-Sexton was the best combination moving forward. Since the Raiders offered Fogarty more long term security, the Gold Coast chose to do right by him.
I don't necessarily think they were wrong to let Fogarty go. Jamal had shown time and time again that he lacked leadership and would often come up with bone-head plays when the team needed him most. The issue is that instead of signing a like for like replacement they went and signed Will Smith.
It highlights the poor job they've done with Tanah Boyd who went over to the Gold Coast for the opportunity. They lured him over they've shifted him from dummy half to the halves consistently and he's never found his footing as a result. Tanah was one of the most promising players coming through and he's gone backwards since leaving the Broncos.
I think their view is that Campbell-Brimson-Sexton with Smith, Turner, Boyd as back-up options and Tom Weaver as the fallback option if that combination hits it's ceiling too soon. The issue is, Weaver suffered an injury and has barely played this season, so that's a lot of expectation on somebody who hasn't shown much outside of U/18s.
In fairness to them, they've only had the Campbell-Brimson-Sexton combo once and it resulted in a close win and a close loss. Unfortunately Jayden suffered that rib injury and he's struggling to play through it currently. Last year he was genuinely one of the best players in QCup when he got the opportunity and made the most of it. This year he's struggling to make the same impact.
Getting them on the field would be a major priority, but they also need to change the composition of the team. I'm looking for some dramatic changes from Holbrook, the team is looking very stale and I think they need to inject some fresh blood and change some of their structures around. For me there's still too much play being set up around Brian Kelly who looks injured and isn't talented enough to trouble most teams.
[/st_td_row][st_td]The Don - broncoshq.com[/st_td][/st_tr][st_tr][st_td="0.7"]JOINED: .July 19, 2020
