I'd be interested to know what involvement Brennan has had in the recent signings. Normally the coach has the major if not all the input but I read the other day he had no involvement at all in Watkins signing. Perhaps the new coach is working behind the scenes.
So have we got our full 30 spots now or still some space left??
Waqa Blake has signed with Parramatta. Fingers are crossed this frees up the funds for Peachey to leave this week to Penrith before June 30.
I don't know what to make of these signings. On the face of it, Stone seems to be an alright acquisition - he is a big body but he hasn't been playing first grade, so are we just buying another depth forward? If I remember correctly he teared us up last year and scored a try when we played the Knights, but that doesn't say much because our defence last year was woeful. I'm disappointed that our name hasn't at least been mentioned as being interested in Sua or even Capewell before we got Stone. Both of those players have been touted as having origin potential and we look like we haven't even considered them.
Watkins appears to be an alright buy but we are getting him after a serious injury and as a club we have had a bad run with English recruits. I do like that he brings a lot of leadership qualities with him but we need strike out wide and by all accounts the days of him tearing up the opposition appear to be past him. So we are gambling on him being able to find that form again.
What makes purchasing Watkins interesting though is it sounds like Brennan didn't want him. We have all seen how Brennan will dig in his heels and play his favourites when he doesn't like a player, so will Watkins actually get a fair crack when he comes here? The other thing is that we keep hearing how Peachey wants to go home, but it is dependant on Waga Blake going to Para and Para have to pay a lot to get him out of his contract. But why didn't we consider swapping Peachey for Blake? We have needed a centre for ages and Peachey clearly isn't one. I thought we may have made a play at Blake first before considering Watkins, especially considering that we would have been in a good position to ask Penrith to ay for some of Peacheys freight.
Our salary cap management at times really makes me scratch my head. I thought for certain that we would have prioritised signing King to a medium term deal. Our bench and extended bench this week looks so unthreatening and I consider him to be better than all of the forwards listed in those positions. The main concern that I have is that we have spent much money on lame forwards that have zero impact, which is left us in the position that we can't afford decent backs. I'd like to see us sign a decent outside back before June 30 but knowing this club we probably can't afford to do that so will just upgrade another centre/second row junior, then not give them any game. Furthermore, we'll also keep plodding away with players such as Don, Matthews and Stockwell and wonder why we can't win any games.
Well said NZFan, I think a lot of us are scratching our head at our recruitment at the moment. Signing Watkins after a serious ACL injury and when he's clearly not playing his best footy and signing a NSW cup level forward who has struggled to break into the first grade Knights team in the last 2 seasons (0 games this year, 2 last year) doesn't seem like good buys to me.
Like you said, why are we buying "depth" players especially in positions where we actually need a top 17 first grade ready player (we seriously have 1 backrower in Proctor and Carty although I would prefer him off the bench). These buys seem like absolute gambles on if's and maybe's when we should be looking at "definite" buys. I cannot believe we weren't after Sua or Capewell. Fingers crossed the club has some big recruits being targeted (or at least first graders) but at the moment publicly we look like a joke with our recruitment.
It hurts seeing big clubs like Souths get Roberts and Sua whilst us in 15th have to settle for Watkins (hope he turns out okay but not sure) and Stone (eh, bench player).
Last edited by BundyTitan; 26-06-19 at 11:18 AM.
Sam Stone showed little to nothing at Newcastle. Who the hell is responsible for signing all these rejects?
Perplexed and growing quickly disillusioned with this club at the moment. We seemed rudderless with no clear direction on where this club is going.
The club needs to have another fan meeting to show to us fans that this club is going in the right direction and that it isn’t an absolute dumpster fire like it seems from outside parkwood. To get the fans to believe in what they are doing is the right decision they should treat us with some sort of respect instead of showing of the absolute nufties who are fringe reserve graders at best. My prediction is Mal will walk away at the end of the year, it might be too big of a job for him too
Yep-good onya Garth. Thanks heaps.
Meninga wont leave ... he’s got the perfect job ... talk a lot with no accountability, best gig after coaching Australia.
Four reasons to escape to Queensland: Sun, Surf, Sand & the Titans.