2022 Squad, Signings and Rumours Thread

[hungryjacks]

I would not be against throwing between 8-900k towards a player of Ben Hunts caliber for 2-3 years. It would be smarter than most other signings we have ever made and would tick alot of boxes of what the club needs from one individual player.

[coreythompson]

Sign Andrew Fifita and David Fifita and play Corey Thompson at Hooker

[indoallstars]

https://www.cairnspost.com.au/sport/...eaca8615efd08e

Not much of a story but Jayden essentially saying that he wants to stay with the Titans as he grew up here since he was 7. He also said he has played wing and centre and is happy to play there if AJ moves back to Fullback when Foran comes here. He will play wherever the team needs him.

Hard not to love this guy...now he just needs to bulk up this off season

[Upthetits]

He needs to call bronson xerri and get some help

[jacksonm]

Probably not a popular opinion but I would consider signing Tyson Gamble as a lock. Hear me out…. Talent in our team but no mongrel, not since the Greg B days have we had someone willing to take it up to the opposition.
Yes he has limited ability but could add value at the right price and maybe bring some real dog eat dog attitude in our young forwards.
Could be a handy 14 as well.

[Upthetits]

Probably not a popular opinion but I would consider signing Tyson Gamble as a lock. Hear me out…. Talent in our team but no mongrel, not since the Greg B days have we had someone willing to take it up to the opposition.
Yes he has limited ability but could add value at the right price and maybe bring some real dog eat dog attitude in our young forwards.
Could be a handy 14 as well.

I was thinking this earlier today but does he fit the no ******** policy? He definitely revs the team and and puts fight into the side, appears to switch blokes on more

[Titansborn'n'bred]

Making a play for Ben Hunt just makes sense on a few levels for mine. Firstly, it’s commonly discussed us having a lack of IQ, maturity, experience and leadership. We’re missing a decent quality halfback who can be the go to player and call the shots in those clutch play situations and making the correct decisions on fifth tackle options and good defender. There’s not many other options around worth considering IMO (aside from a cheap Hastings) Fans don’t want another year of mediocracy and poor performances. A 2 - 3 year deal around $850k as he can pass his knowledge onto our up and comers in Weaver and Sexton if they persist with him. Also acts as cover for Verills as he has injury clouds around him thus far.

[gotitans101_]

I'm in the firm no camp for Ben Hunt personally, especially for that price. Turns 33 next year so his best playing years are almost over, and we already have another 32-year-old half coming. Doesn't make any of sense in my mind to run two old blokes as our halves when we should be blooding a younger bloke alongside Foran like the Broncos are with Mam/Reynolds.

[RavShamrock]

Ben Hunt is a no brainer yes for me

[Hail Sezer]

This is going to sound a bit miserable but I'm finding it hard to get too excited by any potential new signings unless our defence improves significantly.

Look at Brisbane for example...they were a top 4 defensive team playing great football off the back of it, their defence falls off a cliff and suddenly their wonderful halfback isn't making much of a difference for them at all.

I'm not too keen on Ben Hunt for the same reasons GT says. Worth noting he's not technically available until 2024 either, and getting him for 2023 is subject to the Dragons releasing him. He'll be 34 years old in 2024.

[The Birdman]

This is going to sound a bit miserable but I'm finding it hard to get too excited by any potential new signings unless our defence improves significantly.

Look at Brisbane for example...they were a top 4 defensive team playing great football off the back of it, their defence falls off a cliff and suddenly their wonderful halfback isn't making much of a difference for them at all.

I'm not too keen on Ben Hunt for the same reasons GT says. Worth noting he's not technically available until 2024 either, and getting him for 2023 is subject to the Dragons releasing him. He'll be 34 years old in 2024.

Plus I'd add Hunt has shown he goes through long spells where his form drops off a cliff. No thanks he'll be too old when we can sign him. St George won't release him early.

Also agree we won't achieve anything until we stop conceding 60-70 metres every set. We are soft as tissue paper.

[NZTITAN]

I don't really think there is a world where I would be happy with the Ben Hunt signing in all honesty.

Will be 34 by the time he debuts for us, a smaller halfback, most of which don't age well into their 30's, would block the pathway of a couple of younger guys in the meantime.

Doesn't really fit the type of player I'd like to sign either, don't mind the splashy types (Fifita & Idris mainly, Hayne & Taylor to a lesser extent), but I think there are far more shrewd ways to use the cap we have (ie longer, taller middles & better defensive minded players overall).

I'm also worried that the club might think if they sign Hunt that means they have the confidence to move Brimson to centre which IMO would be just a complete disaster on all levels. Also, if the club is trying to take as many bites at the 'Adam Reynolds Broncos signing archetype' as possible, we're way better off sitting with the Chad Townsend-y type in Foran and boosting positions around him ala Cowboys, there's just more value to be had there from a fit standpoint considering what we already have imo, while even the Reynolds play by the Broncs seems to have fallen to pieces late in the season and I would say in general those types of moves don't tend to work long-term although I could be wrong.

^I've touched on it before but it seems we have an overload in high-end raw talented players (Fifita, Tino, Fermor, Brimson, Campbell, even the likes of Fotuaika and Kelly/Sami and co. to a far lesser extent), with some kind of semblance of a decent end-of-roster cover (Tanah Boyd, Special Teams Marzhew, Ese'ese, and younger development guys in Aaron Booth, Paul Turner, Klese Haas, Spry, Vuna), but there seems to be a serious lack of the middle types of players that can play good quality minutes each week (Isaac Liu, Jolliffe and maaaybe Sam McIntyre I guess?) while taking on the grunt work of Tino, Fermor, Brimson etc but are not as raw as guys like Turner & Marzhew.

I'd like to see us target more of these types of 'mid-range workhorse-y types' (preferably younger I suppose) and less of the Ben Hunts of the world. Fletcher Baker as someone linked to us would be a fantastic start.

It also seems very much like a panic buy to me, and as general recruitment play, that may be the single worst way to go about building a roster and culture.

TL;DR - No thanks to Hunt, buy more workhorses that actually play defense.

This is going to sound a bit miserable but I'm finding it hard to get too excited by any potential new signings unless our defence improves significantly.

Look at Brisbane for example...they were a top 4 defensive team playing great football off the back of it, their defence falls off a cliff and suddenly their wonderful halfback isn't making much of a difference for them at all.

I'm not too keen on Ben Hunt for the same reasons GT says. Worth noting he's not technically available until 2024 either, and getting him for 2023 is subject to the Dragons releasing him. He'll be 34 years old in 2024.

Beat me to it HS, summed it up perfectly

[Titanic]

It's a no from me on Hunt for all the above.

I'm also for the body shape recruitment strategy. We don't have the body shapes in our depth forwards to be competitive but we do have them coming through. I believe we should invest in those guys (Tino v2.0, Haas, Alick, the Ipswich captain, Hau, etc) and we have the depth in the outside backs in the usual suspects mentioned ad nauseam (just give them a proper go). Verrills is a stand out fix and Foran will help with the "smarts" while our depth in those positions comes through. Spend big on proper support staff and shoring-up the development pathways between QCup and the NRL team.

In summary, if we use our resources properly and can keep the ones that stand-up then we will be strong for a long period of time. If we keep bs-ing around with fringe players because they are available and ridiculous selections because the poor fragile darlings might be offended then we may as well just live as bottom feeders.

[MaroonTitan]

I agree with most of you. Hunt is not a good defender out wide and doesn't marshal his edge well. He's a dynamite hooker at any level and a good attacking halfback but too old when the money can be better spent. Our defence is definitely our biggest issue and Hunt does nothing to solve that.

I also agree on the need for a couple of really good middles over the next two years. We are hopefully in the mix to sign McLean (or even Tamou or Taupau on a cheap one year) for next year and NAS the year after (c'mon, let me dream). Gilbert will also be available in 2024 and looks like he has a big future. I just can't work out if he's an edge or a middle yet. He does both pretty well. If we can't re-sign Dave for a big reduction, we might also be able to sign both Nanai and Teig Wilton for the same price. Or even just one of them. I don't mean to be greedy.

After that, the Junior program will just keep pumping quality into our squad.

I've revised our position to 'below rock bottom', so surely, we have to be on the way up.

[JunctionBlock]

Tyson Gamble is my current least favourite player. Sick of the Broncos rejects anyway