Recruitment and Retention for 2026

[Mailroomsgi]

Meh, if I’m brutally honest shouldn’t get to nsw cup level

hasn’t got much to his game besides a nice little dart from dummy half near the tryline

Cameron Bukowski should be high on the list if TDS ain’t available

 

[Justadragon]

Are we in the market for middles or are we just relying on players coming from lower grades. 2026 is virtually our last chance to secure some decent players before the new teams come in, then good luck. I havent heard of one good thing that Haran has done, I suppose its mainly been Flanno, but who knows !!

 

[Eric]

Are we in the market for middles or are we just relying on players coming from lower grades. 2026 is virtually our last chance to secure some decent players before the new teams come in, then good luck. I havent heard of one good thing that Haran has done, I suppose its mainly been Flanno, but who knows !!

Do we really need one for next year? With two Couchmans, Stewart, LPT and sign JDB for one more year. Seems like a good balance as well. JDB the veteran, Couchmans made their first grade debuts 2 years ago and Stewart and LPT in first grade for most of this year. Seems like enough. Gular, Lawrie and Sele are all contracted next year as well. If Halangahu and Nick T are gun second rowers like it seems almost everyone expects, Egan could easily play in the middle as well.

 

[TheRev]

Hjaltason I think was at pre-training with 1sts? So they were going to give him a shot... but literally hasn't played a game, but tbh although he was solid and Flegg captain iirc.. hes def not a sure thing... maybe he makes it, maybe he doesnt.. maybe it takes a bit longer.. not sure.

Injuries make pathways so difficult.. guys like Williams and Kirk also in that category this year.. ur trying to plan years ahead and u lose up to an entire year of development on ur best kids in a position.. what do you do.. you need a plan b and c.

But I think wait another few days and lets find out whats happened to Liddle.. thats gonna change everything if hes leaving.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Sexton

Before we signed Ilias I was calling for this guy to wear the RedV. Is an under rated play maker imho, just goes about his business with a minimum of fuss.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Gular, Lawrie and Sele are all contracted next year as well.

AS Jd says last chance next year before Perth comes on track but they wont be waiting till then to snare solid first grade players like that trio above. Dead set with our juniors now having their debuts this year and others like Jake H next year there is no room for them anyway. I'd keep only Gurer to be honest.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Liddle.. thats gonna change everything if hes leaving.

All on the coach if we lose him.

 

[Illusion]

All on the coach if we lose him.

Exactly this ............... We lose him to keep Kyle then its on Flanno ...........

 

[GCRV]

Exactly this ............... We lose him to keep Kyle then its on Flanno ...........

Even though Flanno might want to do it, he isn't a club dictator. Far from it. He's well down the food chain. Carr and Young would complain to those closer to the top and they would tell Flanno, "NO". I guess so anyway. His favoritism for Kyle can't go any further without major drama.

 

[Mailroomsgi]

Bit of a random post from Crown sports, showed BMM at St George leagues club (I think) in the slide before this one

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

View attachment 607
Bit of a random post from Crown sports, showed BMM at St George leagues club (I think) in the slide before this one

Wonder if we extended him, after the Latu shitshow...

 

[GCRV]

Wonder if we extended him, after the Latu shitshow...

What does it have to with BMM?

 

[TheRev]

Halangahu extending again or?

Yah BMM was in the frame before, think same carpet, maybe he gave him a lift or something?

 

[Mailroomsgi]

Fingers crossed, should be extended to ‘28 or ‘29 when he’s 22/23 YO

Not ‘27 like he currently is with all the other juniors we’ve extended recently

Talk about a recipe for disaster, parramatta did the same thing with their GF squad all coming off contract at the same time and they got cherry-picked but don’t have the systems in place to replace those players

 

[TheRev]

There was definitely plenty of uncertainty from me with Jacob, was my least preffered of the big 3 (especially with Egan/Nick/CST/Ryan/Stewart in tow.. though some of those are no longer considered 2nd rowers), but i think he has stepped up really well in nsw cup for an SG Ball aged kid... maybe giving some more confidence to the retention and recruitment staff.. i still dont like long contracts though because who knows what hes worth at that point.. but it is what it is.. esp with new teams coming.

I assume its legit and not just old footage.. still seems odd though to be doing it so soon after the last upgrade.. maybe the team is sh*tting themselves after losing Latu.

 

[Mailroomsgi]

I do like that loads of the forwards we have pushing through can play edge and Middle or it’s probable in the future

Nice little bonus to have that versatility

Egan/Halangahu/Cyrus/Api Amone + maybe Creighton Meafou if he fills out a bit more

 

[Eric]

There was definitely plenty of uncertainty from me with Jacob, was my least preffered of the big 3 (especially with Egan/Nick/CST/Ryan/Stewart in tow.. though some of those are no longer considered 2nd rowers), but i think he has stepped up really well in nsw cup for an SG Ball aged kid...

That was exactly my position too but he's been so good in NSW Cup and seemingly getting better with every game, I rate him best of the 3 now.

 

[Justadragon]

Before we signed Ilias I was calling for this guy to wear the RedV. Is an under rated play maker imho, just goes about his business with a minimum of fuss.

Yep he tore Hunt a new one every time we played him.

 

[Mug Fan]

Wonder if we extended him, after the Latu shitshow...

No, that's just a flex from Mario.

 

[Mug Fan]

Riccio did mention on the radio today (sounded like he had chatted with Flanno) because he mentioned the dragons injury list in detail.. but he also mentioned that the Dragons still have a large amount of cash free for another signing before June 30... I assume Flanno wanted that message out there which makes sense.

Spending it assumes we can actually land someone ofcourse.. its also possible (I think) that perhaps we could use it to pay out some players to make more room for some other lesser 'non marquee' signings.. again though not sure how much we can get done prior to June 30 though, we tend to move pretty slowly with this stuff.. but bye week is when Flanno gets his best work done.. so we shall see..

They absolutely should be looking to pay off as much for the deadwood as possible

Ravalawa and Lawrie’s money for 2026 we should be trying to erase as much of that as possible with the cap space for 2025

Paying out or front loading contracts isn't as easy as just saying it.
Players have to agree to it.

Take Vili Fifita why would he take a payout if he doesn't have another contract. He stays at the club, monthly wage, uses the training and medical staff and plays weekly footy.
Even Tom could still want access to medical staff and monthly wage.

Extra salary cap is usually spread over a dozen players and even then a lot don't like it
You can't bulk pay a player like Lawrie.
Say he is on 480k we give him 240 front load and then next year he gets 20k a month instead of 40k. He's not agreeing to that
Plus you could end up with a Molo situation where Lawrie leave early and we have to get 200k back off him