Recruitment and Retention for 2026

TheRev

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
Mailroomsgi said:
Dream scenario is Titans take Luciano off our hands to replace Fifita, they reckon Fermor and Khan Pereira are being shopped as well so they could afford him but we’d probably have to chip in a little
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Any rumours behind that one? Bit left field for them to take another overpaid 2nd rower.. id be happy for him to go because I want Nick/Egan/Sua as my 2nd rowers though.. Halangahu behind them... CST behind him...

Whats making me nervous is I am not sure we can even fill the empty Top30 spots with upgrades... as I believe we have been after numerous numerous players and missed every one of them (bar Kerr), Hiroti the most recent.. we are definitely hunting for the Sloan replacement who can potentially replace Gutho if needed.. Campbell seems like the next one but I think were going after everything that moves, spread the chance of success.. but if we cant get 2nd and 3rd in queue players to come.. maybe we need to keep Sloan and keep Leilua.. and keep Lawrie.. and just ride their value out for 1 more year..

We really needed a Top8 or Top10 2025 to build on 2024s success... then I reckon we would have had our pick of a few players for 2026.. but it didnt work out, mostly due to injuries tbh.. but moving forward... Atkinson is great, but I think we need to land 2 more upgrades before next season or we would be really setting ourselves a very difficult task to push much beyond mid table again.
 
J

Justadragon

SGI Jersey Flegg
Mailroomsgi said:
I wouldn’t hold your breath about 2026 Anderson can’t do much about the immediate since he’s come in very late this season.

I expect there to be more logical and thought out decision making in the recruitment and retention space, where Anderson is thinking right now and 3 years ahead while Flanno thinks about the here and now to win football games

The pathways recruitment is the real point of interest IMO, winning in first grade consistently starts there
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Agree and well done to the Dragons for leaving that position empty for so long and having Flanno and Haran do the Business. Our lack of urgency is now coming back to bite us in the immediate future.
 
J

Justadragon

SGI Jersey Flegg
TheRev said:
Any rumours behind that one? Bit left field for them to take another overpaid 2nd rower.. id be happy for him to go because I want Nick/Egan/Sua as my 2nd rowers though.. Halangahu behind them... CST behind him...

Whats making me nervous is I am not sure we can even fill the empty Top30 spots with upgrades... as I believe we have been after numerous numerous players and missed every one of them (bar Kerr), Hiroti the most recent.. we are definitely hunting for the Sloan replacement who can potentially replace Gutho if needed.. Campbell seems like the next one but I think were going after everything that moves, spread the chance of success.. but if we cant get 2nd and 3rd in queue players to come.. maybe we need to keep Sloan and keep Leilua.. and keep Lawrie.. and just ride their value out for 1 more year..

We really needed a Top8 or Top10 2025 to build on 2024s success... then I reckon we would have had our pick of a few players for 2026.. but it didnt work out, mostly due to injuries tbh.. but moving forward... Atkinson is great, but I think we need to land 2 more upgrades before next season or we would be really setting ourselves a very difficult task to push much beyond mid table again.
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Does anyone really know what we are doing Rev, I know we have all hoped and dreamed and had wishful thinking about certain players, god only knows what the club is doing. I suppose unless DA comes out and gives us his plan(which he wont) then we'll never know. I gave up hoping years ago which saved me disappointment in the long run. My only wish is that some of juniors who we do hold end up being marquee players, because thats the only way we'll get one.
 
TheRev

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
Justadragon said:
Does anyone really know what we are doing Rev, I know we have all hoped and dreamed and had wishful thinking about certain players, god only knows what the club is doing. I suppose unless DA comes out and gives us his plan(which he wont) then we'll never know. I gave up hoping years ago which saved me disappointment in the long run. My only wish is that some of juniors who we do hold end up being marquee players, because thats the only way we'll get one.
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I mean we have tapped Sloan, and we need to replace him.. DA said we wouldnt do it until Sloan leaves.. yet we went after Hiroti (and I think Faulalalo) who were really prime replacements for him wing/fullback. He's said we want a marquee 7 and atleast 1 middle.. so we know the plan.. its just not coming off yet.

I just dont think relying on juniors is an option "on its own" they need experience and first grade class around them, if we just throw our juniors into a losing meat grinder for 2yrs.. they wont develop and they wont be enjoying life, nor want to stay when the roosters/storm/dogs come knocking.

Mailroomsgi said:
We’ll be able to fill the top 30 trust me, it’s a guaranteed 140k+ and full time training

Player agents will be throwing plenty of names to Anderson
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Hope so, but I more mean with 'upgrades' over who we are letting go, i.e. if we replace Jack with the equivalent to Guler for example.. its not really a net win.. and if we replace Sloan with Chevy.. maybe its a win.. but maybe its not.. its a roll of the dice, not to mention Sloan at least has 70 odd first grade games of experience.. I'd much rather a Votano, Faulalo, Hiroti level.. first grade experience and ready to make impact in 2026, with the potential to be a longterm fullback post-gutho.
 
J

Justadragon

SGI Jersey Flegg
TheRev said:
I mean we have tapped Sloan, and we need to replace him.. DA said we wouldnt do it until Sloan leaves.. yet we went after Hiroti (and I think Faulalalo) who were really prime replacements for him wing/fullback. He's said we want a marquee 7 and atleast 1 middle.. so we know the plan.. its just not coming off yet.

I just dont think relying on juniors is an option "on its own" they need experience and first grade class around them, if we just throw our juniors into a losing meat grinder for 2yrs.. they wont develop and they wont be enjoying life, nor want to stay when the roosters/storm/dogs come knocking.


Hope so, but I more mean with 'upgrades' over who we are letting go, i.e. if we replace Jack with the equivalent to Guler for example.. its not really a net win.. and if we replace Sloan with Chevy.. maybe its a win.. but maybe its not.. its a roll of the dice, not to mention Sloan at least has 70 odd first grade games of experience.. I'd much rather a Votano, Faulalo, Hiroti level.. first grade experience and ready to make impact in 2026, with the potential to be a longterm fullback post-gutho.
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As far as fullbacks go, should we be putting a line through Ramsay as a possible choice ? just putting it out there.
 
TheRev

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
Justadragon said:
As far as fullbacks go, should we be putting a line through Ramsay as a possible choice ? just putting it out there.
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You have to just assume medically he can't get there.. if he could ive no doubt we would have played him by now.. I reckon we give him a NSW Cup contract next year and he plays a position to suit what the team needs.. as of right now there are no young fullbacks needing to develop in NSW Cup.
 
J

Justadragon

SGI Jersey Flegg
TheRev said:
You have to just assume medically he can't get there.. if he could ive no doubt we would have played him by now.. I reckon we give him a NSW Cup contract next year and he plays a position to suit what the team needs.. as of right now there are no young fullbacks needing to develop in NSW Cup.
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Whats your thoughts on Buchanan being given an opportunity at FB Rev, imo I dont think he has the size to be a center, got shown up on Thursday by young Duncan.
 
TheRev

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
Justadragon said:
Whats your thoughts on Buchanan being given an opportunity at FB Rev, imo I dont think he has the size to be a center, got shown up on Thursday by young Duncan.
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Yaa I've always been of the belief that unfortunately Hayden's size will (most likely) stop him going all the way as a 1st grade ctr or winger.. and his skillset isnt there for fullback... which is a shame cause u can get away with the size at fullback (Kini or Gray as examples) and he is actually pretty quick if given a chance.. I mean I dunno if he could learn those skills, hes still fairly young too he has more growing to go.. but ive seen no indication we are trying to encourage him @ fullback.. we did try him on the wing briefly.
 
RedVHeartbeat

RedVHeartbeat

SGI NSW Cup
Mailroomsgi said:
We’ll be able to fill the top 30 trust me, it’s a guaranteed 140k+ and full time training

Player agents will be throwing plenty of names to Anderson

And nah there’s no rumours about Leilua just wishful thinking haha
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He aint the first forward we need to be jettisoning, far from it. On his day he can be as good as any back rower in the game. But he does have the odd shocker too. I say keep him as we dont have too many in our pack with ball skill. Lawson needs to get him into the gym and work his bum to a frazzle, so he is super fit for '26. Looked like he ate a minnie minor before this season.
 
RedVHeartbeat

RedVHeartbeat

SGI NSW Cup
Justadragon said:
Whats your thoughts on Buchanan being given an opportunity at FB Rev, imo I dont think he has the size to be a center, got shown up on Thursday by young Duncan.
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He sure did, more than once Jd. Does Buck have any f/b skills. Not that I see. Ask Sloan how difficult they can be to learn, then hone. I like the cut of Chevy Stewart at the back. (betting his n/n is Chase). But at only 78% affective tackle rate he needs plenty of work on his defense. We have been hurt in the past with poor defensive last liners.
 
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RedVHeartbeat

RedVHeartbeat

SGI NSW Cup
Super comeback by our boys, but all too late. Neat lay off by Lyric sends Andrews in for another. We aint finished yet either with Cooper Hale finishing off a midfield break by, was it Fitzgibbon? We won the second 40 comfortably, so some compensation. Newcomer Kye Andrews nabs four. Has some toe this guy.
 
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Edward

Edward

SGI NSW Cup
Mug Fan said:
Rava definitely gone.
Hiroti didn't reject us we rejected him
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I'm going to give myself a wrap just this once:
Edward said:
I'm not privy to negotiations but I would guess a lot of it is players like Hiroti demanding overs and the club refusing. I can understand paying overs for someone like Tino but not for Hiroti who may or may not be first grade standard. And has there been any confirmation the Dragons actually tried to recruit him? I find it very hard to believe a reserve for a team going downhill rather quickly would reject a chance to play first grade even if he thinks that team isn't on the rise.
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TheRev

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
If we can't get anyone better, I do think Dayne Laurie would be a quality 1st grader whos prob gettable for 500-600k..... 26 is that age where he has been rock solid for a long time.. puts in effort in D.. always threating in attack..

Meninga mentioned that Campbell offer has been on the table for ages... im not sure hes gonna get too much money than 900k tbh.. granted the 2028/2029 years are a bit different to 2026/2027 pre-broadcast deal. Their price only makes sense if they see him as a 7... I think we would have to be desperate tbh to go over 1mil.. but we need to land 1 livewire 1 or 7..
 
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