Sack the bloke in charge of signing and resigning players.

[IQofalimabean]

You sacked api koroisau, no replacement fullback, a rookie 5/8 or center at 5/8 and forwards playing on both fringes wing and center. Then there is the wage gap between players, why have a go when you got the million dollar players to get the job done. Mate anyone with half a brain can see that a pass it to turbo gameplan is not enough to win a premiership.

 

[bSw]

You sacked api koroisau, no replacement fullback, a rookie 5/8 or center at 5/8 and forwards playing on both fringes wing and center. Then there is the wage gap between players, why have a go when you got the million dollar players to get the job done. Mate anyone with half a brain can see that a pass it to turbo gameplan is not enough to win a premiership.

Agreed. This ain't U8s

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

Do we employ someone to write resignation letters for players?

Sounds like a waste of resources.

 

[Tomay]

Maybe we should have allowed Des some say in contracts and recruitment. Whoever is doing it now and has been for the past few seasons has been bloody ordinary.

 

[SeaEaglez]

I have a feeling Des is just coaching a squad he is given.
He doesn’t even look his passionate self.
Maybe he is about to throw the toys out of the cot to get full control again....something not right???

 

[sheridanstand78]

There is no doubt that recruitment and managing the salary cap is a huge part of the modern game.

In 2014 the club faced a huge dilemma. If you remember at the time the ownership of the club was in negotiation and we had a great team that was nearing the end of its era.

The disaster that the club had to deal with in not being able to offer Glenn Stewart a new contract caused a huge split in the playing ranks and our team led the minor premiership with 6 rounds to go by 4 points that season and were on track to have a serious crack at the premiership and when Glenn signed with the Vermin for 2015 it set off a chain reaction where Whatmough went to whinger land and it broke up a great team.

In 2015 the club chased its tail trying to retain DCE and Foran when it was clear that their motivations were cash and that our chances of retaining them both were slim. What was needed at the time was strong leadership from the owners to allow them to go and draw that line in the sand that no player is bigger than the club!

The end of the 2015 season saw Bozo and Barrett gut our squad and so many young talented players were allowed to leave as well as the dead wood in the first grade team. That year our Holden cup team made a grand final and the only player from that team on our books is Tommy Turbo. You see at other clubs the likes of Luke Garner, Nico Hynes, Liam Knight and Jesse Ramien are regular first graders. That purge also meant that players like Gutherson were allowed to leave and he is now Whingermattas best player!

The challenge our club has right now is we have a crop of young players from our Holden cup team success in 2017 and it is VITAL that we retain as many of them as possible!!

The club needs to get some discipline back into the place. We need to make a call on Fainu ASAP!!

We have a coach who needs to show that he is receptive to the modern game and give young players the chance they need as that is the secret of our rivals success.

You cant change the past but you can really affect the future by making good decisions.

Our salary cap is lopsided and it really is damaging us now. DCE is not worth 1.25 million a season that is just absurd now. This needs to be addressed and some tough decisions made to move on guys who are just not up to it due to injuries or age.

The next few months are going to be very interesting as everyone should be playing for their futures. We have young talent, now we need to see what they can do!

The words of our owners are "Its a results driven business" Do no forget that and if that is the case then we need to analyse the last 6 seasons and learn from the mistakes that have been made!!

 

[The Who]

Jade Anderson is a Fullback/winger.
Hoppa Jnr is a Fullback/winger
We do have options in our squad who have not been used.

 

[bob dylan]

This is why we must win those last 4 games, gotta finish as close to the 8 as possible.

Impossible to recruit players if you appear to be no chance of playing finals every year.

The time to dig in is today.

 

[silver]

Jade Anderson is a Fullback/winger.
Hoppa Jnr is a Fullback/winger
We do have options in our squad who have not been used.

ive seen Anderson play a few times for State Cup. He is not NRL standard.

 

[Nordburg]

You sacked api koroisau, no replacement fullback, a rookie 5/8 or center at 5/8 and forwards playing on both fringes wing and center. Then there is the wage gap between players, why have a go when you got the million dollar players to get the job done. Mate anyone with half a brain can see that a pass it to turbo gameplan is not enough to win a premiership.

Disagree with the Korisau assessment.He wasn’t sacked,just didn’t want or need to compete with Panthers offer.He wasn’t playing half as good as he is this year when he was at Manly and Des and co had a younger,cheaper and in some aspects better player in Fainu at the club.Not Des’ fault Fainu got himself in trouble.Fainu’s price allowed the club to re-sign others

 

[SeaEaglez]

This is why we must win those last 4 games, gotta finish as close to the 8 as possible.

Impossible to recruit players if you appear to be no chance of playing finals every year.

The time to dig in is today.

Watch last nights replay for your answer
You can throw in the last month of near misses where we lacked any sort of potency to execute a decent game plan.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

We have a coach who needs to show that he is receptive to the modern game and give young players the chance they need as that is the secret of our rivals success.

Which rivals?
Obviously Penrith has a massive and successful junior nursery but they only have Crichton as a youngster in their side. He debuted last year.
Eels have a very experienced side, Dylan Brown is their one youngster, and he too started in 2019.
Storm have a very experienced side. They debuted Cooper Johns but only because Munster and Hughes were both injured. And they lost, and Johns is zero chance of keeping his spot.
Roosters? Please, they are masters of bringing in fresh young talent? Like the Morris boys, and SBW!!

 

[sheridanstand78]

Which rivals?
Obviously Penrith has a massive and successful junior nursery but they only have Crichton as a youngster in their side. He debuted last year.
Eels have a very experienced side, Dylan Brown is their one youngster, and he too started in 2019.
Storm have a very experienced side. They debuted Cooper Johns but only because Munster and Hughes were both injured. And they lost, and Johns is zero chance of keeping his spot.
Roosters? Please, they are masters of bringing in fresh young talent? Like the Morris boys, and SBW!!

Umm the top teams! Look at the players that the current top 4 clubs have blooded since 2019

Penrith
Naden 2019
Charlie Staines 2020
Matt Burton 2019
Stephen Crichton 2019
Liam Martin 2019

That is why Penrith are flying as they bit the bullet 2/3 of the way through last season and blooded these kids when they were no chance to make the finals, this is what we need to do!

Melbourne

Ryan Papenhuyzen 2019
Tino Fassuamaleausi 2019
Marion Seve 2019
Cooper Johns 2020

Melbourne are well estabilshed there is no doubt about that. They have added a few new young players to compliment their experience and as much as I hate to say it they have a winning culture that nurtures these kids.

Easts

Lachlan Lam 2019
Sam Verrills 2019 - Manly junior!

Right now the Rorters have significant injury problems and their depth is stretched and they have a much bigger and better quality squad than us and they still managed to blood a couple of youngsters, once who is now a premiership winner and players hooker, a position that we are so thin in right now!

Parramatta

Dylan Brown 2019

I will agree with you about Parramatta, yes they have constructed an experienced team by shrewd recruitment.

We cannot afford to squander the legacy of that 2017 Holden cup team at the expense of players who are frankly making up the numbers. Blend our experience with some of these young players and it will be a whole lot better, stay with the same tried and trusted failing players and we will be going no where!!

 

[fLIP]

Ill be fair on the Api issue, Fainu was outplaying him by a fair margin at the time of this decision and Menasi hadn't yet tried to murder a couple church goers.

As I said to my brother last night analysing the game, we are still operating 900k under the cap as far as i know so you do what you have to do.

This team that beat Roosters, Eels twice (should have) , Canberra and so on. We struggle now because of injuries and that salary cap punishment hurts depth beyond what we can deal with.

You bring back Tommy, Walker, AFB, Tapau just last week and we get over the line imo. Thompson missing now with his mouth, Suli maybe broken foot, our fullback backup in Elliot gone for the year.

You cant run a full strength team at a near million dollar disadvantage yet alone fill in for the numbers of guys we've missed since we beat a premiership contented in Canberra.

It is what it is guys, Des is no less a coach than when we were hopeful of a finals birth than he is now. Whats different is we are both injury and financially punished.

The team that was under adversity and lifting beyond its weight to beat the big guys is now injured and suffering accordingly.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Umm the top teams! Look at the players that the current top 4 clubs have blooded since 2019

Penrith
Naden 2019
Charlie Staines 2020
Matt Burton 2019
Stephen Crichton 2019
Liam Martin 2019

Without going through each team ...
Naden is 24 years old. Good player actually, be happy if we were able to get him.
Ditto Liam Martin - 23 years old
As I said, Crichton is the only youngster who is a regular. The others have been picked to cover for injury, then sent back to the waiting room.
Not so unlike how we have given young players a go, Keppie, Haumole, Funa, Cust spring to mind.
I agree they have a faster backline and better depth of talent right now than we do but it's not as simple as just picking a bunch of fast young players and waiting for them to dominate the comp within the next year or two.

 

[sheridanstand78]

Without going through each team ...
Naden is 24 years old. Good player actually, be happy if we were able to get him.
Ditto Liam Martin - 23 years old
As I said, Crichton is the only youngster who is a regular. The others have been picked to cover for injury, then sent back to the waiting room.
Not so unlike how we have given young players a go, Keppie, Haumole, Funa, Cust spring to mind.
I agree they have a faster backline and better depth of talent right now than we do but it's not as simple as just picking a bunch of fast young players and waiting for them to dominate the comp within the next year or two.

I am sure that you will agree with me when I say that in our current team, we have players that are playing out of position, players that are carrying injuries and that all season we have looked disjointed as a team.

My point is that you cannot go on with bandaid solutions when its obvious that we are struggling to match teams in relation to speed and agility.

Its not about blooding them all together, its about using the 30 man squad at our disposal and to have only used 23 is something that needs reviewing as now is the opportunity to give some of these boys a go with 5 games left and give them some experience.

2021 has to be the focus now as this season is about done and dusted for us in relation to finals play.

What have we got to lose???

 

[double hoops]

Isn't DES ultimately in charge of recruitment and retention.

Carty and Scott Fulton assisting?

Carty has one foot out the door.

 

[joeboy]

Ill be fair on the Api issue, Fainu was outplaying him by a fair margin at the time of this decision and Menasi hadn't yet tried to murder a couple church goers.

As I said to my brother last night analysing the game, we are still operating 900k under the cap as far as i know so you do what you have to do.

This team that beat Roosters, Eels twice (should have) , Canberra and so on. We struggle now because of injuries and that salary cap punishment hurts depth beyond what we can deal with.

You bring back Tommy, Walker, AFB, Tapau just last week and we get over the line imo. Thompson missing now with his mouth, Suli maybe broken foot, our fullback backup in Elliot gone for the year.

You cant run a full strength team at a near million dollar disadvantage yet alone fill in for the numbers of guys we've missed since we beat a premiership contented in Canberra.

It is what it is guys, Des is no less a coach than when we were hopeful of a finals birth than he is now. Whats different is we are both injury and financially punished.

The team that was under adversity and lifting beyond its weight to beat the big guys is now injured and suffering accordingly.

Injuries certainly can’t be overstated, but to blame them completely is incorrect. The lack of depth and Questionable selections exposed by the injuries is just as big of an issue. And we haven’t remedied either as these issues have got worse. We don’t look coached, we have no structure we have no leadership. The club had bigger issues than just injuries

 

[fLIP]

Injuries certainly can’t be overstated, but to blame them completely is incorrect. The lack of depth and Questionable selections exposed by the injuries is just as big of an issue. And we haven’t remedied either as these issues have got worse. We don’t look coached, we have no structure we have no leadership. The club had bigger issues than just injuries

That was basically my point. Its not completely injury related, but when you consider we are on year two of a 900K p/a salary cap penalty, covering those injuries become a hell of an issue and I think thats what we are seeing.

And not looking coached I would disagree. There is something wrong but just two months ago with the 'full-ish' strength team we were beating the top runners.

Thats why I tend to think this injury run we've had is the cause of the problem rather than speculating its internal problems. Go with what you see, not what you cant.

In terms of leadership I think you may be right though.Cherry looks highly strung atm. Maybe we need a co captain to alleviate the pressure.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I am sure that you will agree with me when I say that in our current team, we have players that are playing out of position, players that are carrying injuries and that all season we have looked disjointed as a team.

My point is that you cannot go on with bandaid solutions when its obvious that we are struggling to match teams in relation to speed and agility.

Its not about blooding them all together, its about using the 30 man squad at our disposal and to have only used 23 is something that needs reviewing as now is the opportunity to give some of these boys a go with 5 games left and give them some experience.

2021 has to be the focus now as this season is about done and dusted for us in relation to finals play.

What have we got to lose???

In recent years the ultimate premiers are generally the side that used least players through the year, obviously because they have suffered fewest injuries and its an advantage to keep a stable side.
For us, being without Turbo Fainu and Walker looks to be too much to overcome. If we had better depth in those positions we'd be higher on the ladder, no argument there.
In any case, if your argument is solely about "speed and agility" I assume you are only talking about Hoppa Jnr to be used in place of Jorge or Parker?

I wouldn't object to that at all. I presume Des wanted to see him have a run first, hence the loan to warriors, but hey all the conspiracy theories may be right, who knows.