Key issues that need addressing

I thought I might as well start a thread on these points that do need addressing before kick off for 2020.

Firstly...let me point out that I agree, these are real issues. Some think the club...with all the changes that have been made will sort these problems (finally), and some aren't so sure.

One thing is certain. We ALL, as a Titans mad community, want these matters dealt with so we can give the 2020 season a real shake.

I'm not interested in arguments (healthy disagreements - yes!) or mud slinging. If we want the club to all pull in the one direction...then perhaps we can do that as well.

So, here we go...

1. The Taylor situation. Obviously, we don't know what will happen here, but what do you think should happen?

2. Leadership. On field leadership is so important. Not just a leader, but a leadership team. Who best displays the qualities needed? Toughness (mental and physical), calmness under pressure, the ability to see what's happening during a game and change game plans if they're not working to get the desired result.

3. Depth. How are we looking for depth? In all positions. Not just blokes that fill a hole...but blokes good enough to make a difference if/when called up. Do we have the quality on the books to get the job done?

4. Key positions. Not just the 1, 6, 7 and 9. I'll go further. To be a successful club in the NRL...you need a quality bench. Your coach needs to pick a better than solid 14, 15, 16 and 17. That will come down to depth, obviously...but I truly believe it to be a necessity for success, so...it needs to be addressed.

5. Salary cap management. How is the future looking? Should we (I believe we should) be concentrating on bringing in our young talent first and foremost...with the addition of the occasional established first grader (not a buy for buying's sake. I mean a top flight game changer. Nothing less.)...or if we demand instant success...should we hit the market hard, ASAP?

Discuss...

Good points for discussion Meno. My 2 cents worth.
1. Taylor - let him go, if I'm more blunt - get rid of him. I believe at a minimum we should recoup at least 4 to 500k of his salary. If other clubs want to play games to get us to subsidise his wage for more then the club should stand firm and play him in Qcup.
2. Change the captain. James is an average player and doesn't inspire on the field.
3. This is where we should be developing the locals in the first instance. I'd like to see a situation where guys like Whitbread and Hipgrave develop via the bench, but most juniors have not kicked on when given the chance.
4. Agreed - our bench strength has been hopeless, not helped when Brennan played a midget like Rein off the bench
5. I think we should hit the market hard when the right player comes up, certainly no signings like Boyd or Latu. We need blokes that hate losing like a Graham, Reynolds, ang nothing less. I've had enough of holiday makers. Junior development for sure but we are slautering juniors when we bring them into our current rabble. We need guys that set the example and we don't have many blokes like that.

Yet again I see the off season slipping away without any decent signing news. Surely we ca n manage the cap by offloading some blokes and other clubs seem capable of doing it. To think we are spending as much on our roster as say Canberra and Manly says a lot about ourblokes performances.

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Originally Posted by Mexican titan

Good points for discussion Meno. My 2 cents worth.
1. Taylor - let him go, if I'm more blunt - get rid of him. I believe at a minimum we should recoup at least 4 to 500k of his salary. If other clubs want to play games to get us to subsidise his wage for more then the club should stand firm and play him in Qcup.
2. Change the captain. James is an average player and doesn't inspire on the field.
3. This is where we should be developing the locals in the first instance. I'd like to see a situation where guys like Whitbread and Hipgrave develop via the bench, but most juniors have not kicked on when given the chance.
4. Agreed - our bench strength has been hopeless, not helped when Brennan played a midget like Rein off the bench
5. I think we should hit the market hard when the right player comes up, certainly no signings like Boyd or Latu. We need blokes that hate losing like a Graham, Reynolds, ang nothing less. I've had enough of holiday makers. Junior development for sure but we are slautering juniors when we bring them into our current rabble. We need guys that set the example and we don't have many blokes like that.

Yet again I see the off season slipping away without any decent signing news. Surely we ca n manage the cap by offloading some blokes and other clubs seem capable of doing it. To think we are spending as much on our roster as say Canberra and Manly says a lot about ourblokes performances.

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Thanks for the input, MT.

These points...although on everyone's minds, were raised yesterday by Mr Bods. I really only added the bench players. I thought it deserved its own thread.

My 2 cents...

1. I'm willing to see if Holbrook can get him back on track...but if a buyer came knocking today, I'd certainly have a chat!

2. The obvious choice here is Arrow. Offer him decent coin and the captaincy. He could do with a few level heads around him though in a leadership team role. As I type that...I dream of a 1, 7, and 9 like the storm enjoyed all those years. If we could develop a core group of players like that...I'd be bloody happy!

3. This one I struggle with. Young Farmer has some potential. I would value Mdrew's advice on this.

4. With AJ in the 1 next year, you'd think problem there solved...but injuries do happen. What then? The 6, 7 and 9 are a concern. It comes back to depth I know...but we need to sort the bench if we're any chance.

5. As I have already said...bring the juniors through if ready, but spend on the odd game breaker. Like the roosters do. We need to model ourselves on the successful clubs.

The Manly situation this year gives me hope...in a roundabout sort of way. To have gone through the cap issues and crap coaching they went through last year, only to have Des come in and turn it all around stunned me. It really did! The difference a quality coach can make is incredible.

Holly will have to hit the ground running. I hope the club drummed that into him before he signed. No time allowances for settling in. If we give him what he wants...then we expect results from the get go. Like Manly did this year. Again...mimic the successful clubs!!

Thanks for this thread Meno. I have opinions on everything (pretty much) but will add my 2cents worth later because I already have said my piece on most things. I don’t want to hijack it and interested in what others think.
I will add my bit though in a few days I promise.

I think the club is getting its house in order except when it’s comes to recruitment and the physical attributes they need in each position. Just saying it should be filled with juniors may help with having pride and hVing z dig which our current roster doesn’t have, but you need a roster with the right physical attributes that is also needed to be a top team contender.

We lack genuine speed and power in the forwards and the outside backs as we would easily be the slowest and physically weakest team in the competition. Until we start recruiting these type of players we will continue to not be able to compete with the top sides

1 and 5. I think we are screwed till 2021-2022. Taylors open market value is $100K and we paid 10 times that. Same goes for the rest of the dead weight which includes and isn't limited to S Boyd, Peachey, Latu, Copley, Peats or Rein, Watkins and Cartwright.

The blame doesn't start and stop with Brennan, some of these people were contracted both before and after his demise. So whoever is at the club thinking that these were good signings needs to be cleaned out just as much as the players themselves. Do I think the club has a chance to offload these players, no. If the club has this no payout stance then refer to my first sentence.

2. I love James. So James and Proctor are the only two that even look like anything resembling a captain in this team. Arrow isn't leading this club or he would have signed weeks ago.

3. Depth, we have none.

4. Key positions. Depth on the bench when the first 13 aren't NRL quality?

I won't be dealing in "What ifs?...." I don't care if Cartwright or Peachey play to their potential, they aren't and haven't. Holbrook is an unknown so I won't be dealing with the "what if he gets the best out of Taylor", one thing is for sure he isn't a miracle worker so we can't expect miracles.

Problems I see that are also issues, Whatever we develop in the next two years we will lose to other clubs due to salary cap constraints. We have no money and the club hasn't unloaded player one after talking tough at the end of the season.

Right now, where we stand, we are in line for another wooden spoon next year. Possibly 2021 as well. Then we can hope for a rebuild.

Happy to revise this at the time the club does what other successful clubs do and manage their cap and take control of their playing group.

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Originally Posted by Mr Bods

Thanks for this thread Meno. I have opinions on everything (pretty much) but will add my 2cents worth later because I already have said my piece on most things. I don’t want to hijack it and interested in what others think.
I will add my bit though in a few days I promise.

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No worries, Mr Bods!

Still waiting for your input...and possible solutions to these issues. It doesn't look like anyone else has anything to add.

Let her rip....

1. With Taylor I’m at a loss now. Watching him play for Tweed he simply has no intent to be dominant. He’s now a number 6 because of his lack of desire. We might need to look at Sexton/Boyd to be our halves and just ride it out playing Taylor at 6 until both Boyd and Sexton are right to be our combination.
If Holbrook gets Taylor to be a dominant half then we have got a Coach who’s special.

2. Make Arrow Captain. This is contingent on him signing a contract extension. I’d love James to be given a licence to just bring the aggression and not be burdened by the Captain role.

3. We have something like 20 players off contract at the end of this year. I’d be moving on nearly all of them and with ones that are ok offering them pay cuts. With depth we might be in trouble for a few years.

4.
1-Brimson (plAy him there always)
6-Taylor (reasons as above)
7-Boyd (he and Sexton are our future now, bring them along)
9-Peats (he needs to lift. He is off contract so he will play well next season, we have a couple of good hookers in the system, one of those you would think will come through if Peats doesn’t lift considerably)

5-salary cap, basically I’ve covered that in point 3.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr Bods

1. With Taylor I’m at a loss now. Watching him play for Tweed he simply has no intent to be dominant. He’s now a number 6 because of his lack of desire. We might need to look at Sexton/Boyd to be our halves and just ride it out playing Taylor at 6 until both Boyd and Sexton are right to be our combination.
If Holbrook gets Taylor to be a dominant half then we have got a Coach who’s special.

2. Make Arrow Captain. This is contingent on him signing a contract extension. I’d love James to be given a licence to just bring the aggression and not be burdened by the Captain role.

3. We have something like 20 players off contract at the end of this year. I’d be moving on nearly all of them and with ones that are ok offering them pay cuts. With depth we might be in trouble for a few years.

4.
1-Brimson (plAy him there always)
6-Taylor (reasons as above)
7-Boyd (he and Sexton are our future now, bring them along)
9-Peats (he needs to lift. He is off contract so he will play well next season, we have a couple of good hookers in the system, one of those you would think will come through if Peats doesn’t lift considerably)

5-salary cap, basically I’ve covered that in point 3.

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Yep! I agree with pretty much all of that. I do hope Ash snaps back to his best...and you're right about James. It looks like the captaincy robbed him of his natural, raw aggressive game.

Well...we can all see problems, I'm sure the club does too. With the new coaching staff I'm confident changes will be made for the good. Time will tell, but I have a good feeling about next year.

Then again...I've been wrong before. lol