Dont you say play play the point, not the man?
Lodge, Woods, Waddell and Lawton are all off contract and none have been re-signed beyond this year yet.
I've consistently not been a huge fan of any beyond a minimum wage squad player.
I'm discussing our current recruitment and retention and so far this year I've been quite pleased though the length of Saabs deal worries me.
In terms of the past, how long is a piece of String? Lawton signed years ago under Dessie, and we tried to shop him in the off season. How long do we complain on that? All we can do is discuss our current recruitment and be better moving forward.
Also hindsight is 20/20, am I wrong in remembering you were quite pro Lawton at some stage.
Do you recall our last "proper" rebuild? What was that built around? I'll give you some hints. Lyon, Williams, Orford, Bell, Kennedy, Rodney, Perry, Kite etc etc etc along with astute finds like Stewart(s), Matai, Ballin & others.
The Bulldogs have been trash for years. What do they do? Addo-Carr, Burton, Chrichton, Kikau, Mahoney, Ciraldo, and they were KNOWN to have cap problems just two short years ago. They have a ways to go, but they are at least trending.
Marquee, or players trending UP. Let's look at say (as example) our last 20 signings (to have played 1st grade) that aren't juniors coming through:
1. Tommy Talau
2. Jaxson Paulo (reserve grade)
3. Nathan Brown (injury prone)
4. Luke Brooks
5. Matt Lodge (injury prone)
6. Dean Matterson (reserve grade)
7. Jakob Arthur (reserve grade)
8. Ben Condon (reserve grade)
9. Samuela Fainu (gone)
10. Aaron Woods (reserve grade)
11. Kelma Tuilagi (gone)
12. Cooper Johns (gone)
13. James Roumanos (gone)
14. Ray Vaega (reserve grade)
15. James Segeyaro (gone)
16. Pio Seci (gone)
17. Ethan Bullemor
18. Christian Tuipulotu (gone)
19. Karl Lawton (going)
20. Jason Saab
Tell me, Disco, out of those 20, who is either marquee, or trending up? How's the strike rate been the last 10 years? How has that positioned us on average over that span? But now you're talking up Schoupp and Simpkin?
How long will I, or anyone else continue to complain? Well......probably as long as we continue to be rubbish, and sit 11th or below? Probably that long (not taking into consideration a one off solid year every 4-5).