2015 Squad Signings and Rumours Thread

[Titan4Life]

Disappointed to hear about Kelly but unfortunately you can't keep everyone But yes wish we could get rid of Gordon to free up some cap space.

Positives though with Taylor 100% coming to the Titans now apparently. Add Parcell and we look like an exciting, young side if things work well.

Not entirely sure about Taia but he was decent from what I remember and will add some more experience to the pack. Will likely be his last contract though as he is 30/31.

[Hail Sezer]

He's good but would he really be in our starting side?- I'm not sure if he would make the side as we have other players ahead of him. Gordon does need to go for sure, he's blocking the pathway for a Brian Kelly or a Leva Li to make their debut.
So Ash Taylor is 99% coming here from all this?- which is great news.
I don't really know about Zeb Taia though.. Could anyone fill me in on him?

Doesn't matter if he would make our starting side next year or not he's still got another year of 20's eligibility and is an NRL player in 2-3 years time for sure. Leva Li is a fair way off IMHO....Kelly a much better player. GL too.

I'm not sure about Zeb but teke watches a fair bit of SL so will know.

Something for you and T4L to get excited about Sam..Ash Taylor had 6 try assists, 4 tackle busts, 2 offloads, 2 linebreaks and 3 linebreak assists for Broncos 20's v Tigers yesterday. Outplayed Te Maire by a fair margin...on both the stats sheet and the ground.

[TitanSam]

Something for you and T4L to get excited about Sam..Ash Taylor had 6 try assists, 4 tackle busts, 2 offloads, 2 linebreaks and 3 linebreak assists for Broncos 20's v Tigers yesterday. Outplayed Te Maire by a fair margin...on both the stats sheet and the ground.

OMG THOSE STATS. 6 try assists wtf, that's huge!!

[RenegadeGC]

Hmm interesting, Kelly can play. But has his ups and downs. As Ive said before the Carty era of over paid QCup quality players is hampering a lot of whats happening in terms of signings.

Id rate GL ahead of Kelly for potential. So if we lose Kelly we need to lock up GL fast.

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Hmm interesting, Kelly can play. But has his ups and downs. As Ive said before the Carty era of over paid QCup quality players is hampering a lot of whats happening in terms of signings.

Id rate GL ahead of Kelly for potential. So if we lose Kelly we need to lock up GL fast.

One thing that worries me is we say we have potential coming through in terms of players in 20s, yet we sit on the bottom of the table. Which isnt to good for so called 'potential players'

[Bayside Titan]

Rabbitohs favourites to poach under-20’s star Brian Kelly from Titans



CHRIS GARRY AND TODD BALYM THE COURIER-MAIL JULY 21, 2015 12:00AM

THE Titans have secured one of the game’s best young halves in Ash Taylor but are about to lose one of the best young outside backs.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are close to poaching Gold Coast under-20’s star Brian Kelly who has been earmarked as a future New South Wales Blues player.

Kelly hasn’t signed yet but the Rabbitohs are favoured to snatch him from the clutches of the Titans who viewed him as starter in their 2016 team.

The Titans can’t compete with South Sydney’s offer as their salary cap and stack of backs on large money continues to harm their rebuilding efforts

The Titans already have outside backs on large contracts that are burdening their salary cap and it makes it difficult to upgrade a talent like Kelly who at this stage is only potential.

Taylor has been granted a release from Brisbane because the club believes he is ready to start for an NRL team and it would harm the 20-year-old’s career if they stockpiled him.

He has not put pen to paper with the Titans yet but his other suitor Manly have pulled out of the race.

He will combine with Kane Elgey in the halves next year, a partnership with a combined 42-years of life experience.

Kelly helped New South Wales inflict defeat on Queensland’s under-20’s team in the curtain raiser to the Origin decider earlier this month.

The Blues won 32-16 at Suncorp Stadium as Kelly starred in front of a plethora of NRL scouts who began immediately checking their salary cap position.

The Ballina-raised back and is a cousin of former Titan Albert and current Titan James Roberts.

Kelly is one of several Titans juniors with legitimate star potential.

The club has the best crop of youngsters at its disposal since their introduction to the competition when they had the likes of Chris Sandow, Kevin Gordon and David Mead running around.

They still have two Australian schoolboys in their ranks with David Fauid and Tyronne Roberts-Davis.

The Titans are also close to signing Super League standout Zeb Taia.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/...-1227449760737

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meanwhile K-flash is chilling in Qcup on 350k..

Carty era continues to bite.

Rabbitohs is an interesting one though..they've already got Johnston and Olive there as young-gun outside backs. Add to that the centre spots being filled by Walker, Auva'a, Goodwin. They've got Aaron Gray as well although ive heard he's heading to the Storm.

They may have more $$ to throw around but we've got a better NRL opportunity.

Also throw Zilly in that picture as well. Last I could remember we signed him for about $350k-$400k per year ( I could be off a bit I tried to find the article but couldn't. ) so him and Gordon are chewing a fair bit of cap space.

[teke]

Brian Kelly earmarked as a future state of origin player? Jesus christ

[shamus]

The Titans can’t compete with South Sydney’s offer as their salary cap and stack of backs on large money continues to harm their rebuilding efforts

The Titans already have outside backs on large contracts that are burdening their salary cap and it makes it difficult to upgrade a talent like Kelly who at this stage is only potential.


Hmm. If I understand this correctly, although we have an abundance of salary cap to spend, we don't have an abundance of salary cap to spend?

The way I read the above quote is we use a percentage of salary cap for backs, and a percentage for forwards etc...is that right? Coz I never knew that.

[amaline]

The Titans can’t compete with South Sydney’s offer as their salary cap and stack of backs on large money continues to harm their rebuilding efforts

The Titans already have outside backs on large contracts that are burdening their salary cap and it makes it difficult to upgrade a talent like Kelly who at this stage is only potential.


Hmm. If I understand this correctly, although we have an abundance of salary cap to spend, we don't have an abundance of salary cap to spend?

The way I read the above quote is we use a percentage of salary cap for backs, and a percentage for forwards etc...is that right? Coz I never new that.

I don't think so. I think they are trying to say that it is hard to justify using the limited cap space on another outside back when we have so many taking up a large proportion of it.

[Bayside Titan]

The Titans can’t compete with South Sydney’s offer as their salary cap and stack of backs on large money continues to harm their rebuilding efforts

The Titans already have outside backs on large contracts that are burdening their salary cap and it makes it difficult to upgrade a talent like Kelly who at this stage is only potential.


Hmm. If I understand this correctly, although we have an abundance of salary cap to spend, we don't have an abundance of salary cap to spend?

The way I read the above quote is we use a percentage of salary cap for backs, and a percentage for forwards etc...is that right? Coz I never new that.

Might also be the type of contract offered ie a NRL squad contract or an 2nd tier contract.

[RenegadeGC]

I guess its also a willingness to not over pay players from now on, especially one that is untested at NRL level and even QCup level. If Souths want to pay overs for the kid. Then good luck to them. And i wish him all the best. Also another little rumor that another of our U20s players is on the move.

[Hail Sezer]

I guess its also a willingness to over pay players from now on, especially one that is untested at NRL level and even QCup level. If Souths want to pay overs for the kid. Then good luck to them. And i wish him all the best. Also another little rumor that another of our U20s players is on the move.

I've heard that too

[Mexican titan]

The Titans can’t compete with South Sydney’s offer as their salary cap and stack of backs on large money continues to harm their rebuilding efforts

The Titans already have outside backs on large contracts that are burdening their salary cap and it makes it difficult to upgrade a talent like Kelly who at this stage is only potential.


Hmm. If I understand this correctly, although we have an abundance of salary cap to spend, we don't have an abundance of salary cap to spend?

The way I read the above quote is we use a percentage of salary cap for backs, and a percentage for forwards etc...is that right? Coz I never knew that.

Mate I was thinking exactly the same. We had, lets say $1million for DCE, which is now not being spent on him yet we have salary cap issues.
That can only mean one thing - the Titans have signed some really big name players on good coin but haven't announced it as yet.

[RenegadeGC]

Mate I was thinking exactly the same. We had, lets say $1million for DCE, which is now not being spent on him yet we have salary cap issues.
That can only mean one thing - the Titans have signed some really big name players on good coin but haven't announced it as yet.

or we have learnt our lesson and not going to pay overs on players.. lol id rather have a million in cap space free than sign duds on overs.

[mdrew]

The issue with the potential loss of Brian Kelly etc, is as much about perception as it is about losing a young player of potential. We seem keep signing older players I.e. Shillington etc (not saying he is a bad signing) and not looking after our juniors as they progress through the ranks. It makes it easy for other clubs to use this against us when they are looking to steal away our NYC players and for that matter even younger juniors. An example is Connor Carey who represented Qld U20’s, ironically on the wing opposite Kelly, he was a local junior with us for a number of years before being signed by the Cowboys three years ago. Look through the Broncos NYC squad for the number of GC juniors and you can even throw in Jesse Savage who has recently made his debut for Cronulla’s NYC squad after helping them win the SG Ball final earlier in the year. We have some incredibly talented young players but we seem to be making it difficult for them to see a pathway through to first grade and thus they move on. Jarrod Wallace from the Broncos is another example. I know that we have some very talented juniors in our first grade side such as Ryan James, Kane Elgey and David Mead but look at the situation where the NYC coaches son has signed with the Broncos and it is easy to see how things can get very bad very quickly unless the Titans change the perception.

[RenegadeGC]

The issue with the potential loss of Brian Kelly etc, is as much about perception as it is about losing a young player of potential. We seem keep signing older players I.e. Shillington etc (not saying he is a bad signing) and not looking after our juniors as they progress through the ranks. It makes it easy for other clubs to use this against us when they are looking to steal away our NYC players and for that matter even younger juniors. An example is Connor Carey who represented Qld U20’s, ironically on the wing opposite Kelly, he was a local junior with us for a number of years before being signed by the Cowboys three years ago. Look through the Broncos NYC squad for the number of GC juniors and you can even throw in Jesse Savage who has recently made his debut for Cronulla’s NYC squad after helping them win the SG Ball final earlier in the year. We have some incredibly talented young players but we seem to be making it difficult for them to see a pathway through to first grade and thus they move on. Jarrod Wallace from the Broncos is another example. I know that we have some very talented juniors in our first grade side such as Ryan James, Kane Elgey and David Mead but look at the situation where the NYC coaches son has signed with the Broncos and it is easy to see how things can get very bad very quickly unless the Titans change the perception.

Tend to agree with you on the most part MD, however talent can only get you so far and im a big believer in this (its the hard work and discipline/extras that you put in). My point being as I stated earlier is, if we have all this talent and potential (as you have stated) then why aren't our sides performing??

Im pretty sure current NYC coach's son was a Bronc even before his father became coach, he probably should have been a tiger even before being a bronc as he was at keebra where his father taught. We cant keep all the players, we just need to make the right decisions in the ones we keep.

If i had one spot available out of GL and Kelly, I would take GL and put all my eggs in that basket.