Recruitment & Retention 2027

Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
I would rather get Lomax and or Dufty back than sign Drinkwater for a mil a season. Dufty would be a short term solution until Burton is ready and for half the price. I would like to see how Lomax goes at fullback and if he wasn't a success, he can always play wing or centre. If we had those 2 in our team next year, I think our backline would look a lot stronger.

1 Dufty
2 Lomax
3 Holmes
4 TBC
5 Sami
6 Atkinson
7 Reed

That would be looking much better to me than this year's backline.
 
Zen

Zen

SGI Jersey Flegg
St George-Illawarra’s potential acquisition of Drinkwater would immediately impact current fullback, Gutherson, who is contracted until the end of the 2027 season.
However, Gutherson - who will miss the club’s traditional ANZAC Day clash against the Roosters on Saturday with a hamstring injury - said on Wednesday that he would willingly play any position to accommodate Drinkwater at the club.
“I would 100 per cent welcome it. I’ve sent him a few text messages to try and get it across (the line),’’ Gutherson said.
“I don’t care (that the club are chasing Drinkwater).
“It doesn’t bother me, I just want to play, I want to win.
“Winning is more important than where you play on the footy field and that’s something I’ve lived by my whole career.
“He (interim coach Dean Young) knows my opinion on where I can play and what I can do and that’s anywhere.
“I’ve said it the whole time, it doesn’t bother me.
“Where he thinks I’m going to best fit, is where he’s going to put me.’’

Describing the past 48-hours at the club as “wild” following the departure of head coach Shane Flanagan, assistant coach Michael Ennis and football manager Ben Haran, Gutherson said the players had no choice but to respond.
“It’s sad, I’ll give Shane another call this week, but it’s where we’re at, it’s what the game is, and we’ve got to make sure we bounce back and get ready to go for Saturday,’’ Gutherson said.
“Dean has been involved with the club for a long time and he’s going to be great. He’s got a lot of respect from the players, we trained really well and Youngy is in charge now and we have to do what he says.’’
 
Zen

Zen

SGI Jersey Flegg
To me, the best position for Gutherson is as the backline spare on a 6 man bench. It's not like he needs regular matches, if anything it would actually benefit his old legs. Instead of taking a young back out of NSW Cup and sitting them there, just name Gutho at 19 every week and cover most backline injuries
 
TheRev

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
I still reckon Su'a in the middle could be a revelation (and nothing to lose from our perspective).. and we might be shipping off a more valuable product to Parra.. than the time he was here in another position, like we did with Lomax.

Dont rly see the point in shipping him anywhere immediately though... unless we can actually get a swap that we remotely want.. we could def do with strength in every other position apart from 2nd row. Were not gonna be able to buy anything useful imo for 2026.. and I bet we still have funds to spend.. every year we keep frontloading cause we miss our targets.
 
RufusRex

RufusRex

SGI Jersey Flegg
Unless he is a merc merkin and his continued presence in the club is an affront ...
Would apply the same logic to Sele.

Are they good in transition to have here or would the club be better off with them gone and not in the ears of the younger kids (esp the ones travelling)

again hypothetical without insight/mail.
 
R

redv13

SGI Jersey Flegg
Frank Facer said:
I would rather get Lomax and or Dufty back than sign Drinkwater for a mil a season. Dufty would be a short term solution until Burton is ready and for half the price. I would like to see how Lomax goes at fullback and if he wasn't a success, he can always play wing or centre. If we had those 2 in our team next year, I think our backline would look a lot stronger.

1 Dufty
2 Lomax
3 Holmes
4 TBC
5 Sami
6 Atkinson
7 Reed

That would be looking much better to me than this year's backline.
Click to expand...
Ok, let’s see if I have this right? So you want to bring back a player who absolutely shit on us, had an absolute sook when moved to the wing (Flanno was right on that call by the way), threw his toys out of the cot, went to Parra, shit on them after 1 season of a 4 year deal, asked for a release to join “rugby 360” circus, fell through, had another sulk when Parra dug their heels in when he wanted to go to Melbourne Storm, pissed off to super rugby and is now playing for Western Force.

The kicker is he can play fullback, if he is shit house at fb then he can go and play on the wing??
 
TheRev

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
The other thing is if we cop a couple of serious injuries to our middles.. an guys like sele and sua solve that.. I guess we could bring in hutchinson or webster on a T&T but like these r proper 1st grade middles I feel.

In any case I still wouldnt mind Fuller for the rest of 26.. but the longer we leave it the less benefit.. im sure we could use him @ctr in 27 or wing.. maybe im wrong.. think hes playing ctr this weekend though.
 
Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
redv13 said:
Ok, let’s see if I have this right? So you want to bring back a player who absolutely shit on us, had an absolute sook when moved to the wing (Flanno was right on that call by the way), threw his toys out of the cot, went to Parra, shit on them after 1 season of a 4 year deal, asked for a release to join “rugby 360” circus, fell through, had another sulk when Parra dug their heels in when he wanted to go to Melbourne Storm, pissed off to super rugby and is now playing for Western Force.

The kicker is he can play fullback, if he is shit house at fb then he can go and play on the wing??
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Yeah, if Lomax wanted to come back, I would be happy for him to come back to our club. He was one of the best wingers in the game, when moved there. I would like to see him given a run at fullback, if we don't have anyone better. He always gave 100% in all the games he played for us and Parra. He is a great competitor and if he wanted to come back, his heart would be in it. He would probably still have strong bonds with many of our current players and Dean Young. He is a local junior and would be back in his home town. He is also a good goal kicker too. We would be stronger with him back at our club.

I also don't blame him for asking for a release to join the 360 rugby. If it didn't fall through he probably would have been earning double what he was at Parra. He wanted out before Flanno got here. Then Flanno told him he was the 23rd best centre in the game or something like that and moved him to the wing. He wasn't happy about being moved to the wing, but it turned out to be a masterstroke on Flanno's part. I think he was also promised or told he would get a shot at fullback, but that never happened. If we offered him a shot at fullback, he would probably be even more interested in coming back. I don't know if he can get out of his rugby contract if he wanted to. I don't think it is that much money either. Maybe a deal could be worked out?
 
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Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
Dragon David said:


Interesting reads.
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I would prefer Boyd to Nikorima. I do see Reed as an out and out halfback, but for some reason he is listed as a 5/8 in Supercoach. Boyd 7 and Reed 6 could work. If someone suggested Boyd at the beginning of the season, I would have laughed at them, but he has been excellent for New Zealand this year and has really come of age. Reed does look to have a very good running game, which a 5/8 should have. If paired with Boyd, it would take the pressure off Reed, while he settles in to first grade. They also both have very good long kicking games and both can kick goals as well.

Harrison Graham is also mentioned in the same article Dragon David provided the link to with Redcliff trying to sign him from Newcastle. I have only see a little of him, but from what I have seen, I would be adding him to my shopping list if I was in charge of our recruitment. Him and Liddle would form a great hooking rotation and he could take on the starting role in 2 or 3 years time.
 
R

redv13

SGI Jersey Flegg
Frank Facer said:
Yeah, if Lomax wanted to come back, I would be happy for him to come back to our club. He was one of the best wingers in the game, when moved there. I would like to see him given a run at fullback, if we don't have anyone better. He always gave 100% in all the games he played for us and Parra. He is a great competitor and if he wanted to come back, his heart would be in it. He would probably still have strong bonds with many of our current players and Dean Young. He is a local junior and would be back in his home town. He is also a good goal kicker too. We would be stronger with him back at our club.

I also don't blame him for asking for a release to join the 360 rugby. If it didn't fall through he probably would have been earning double what he was at Parra. He wanted out before Flanno got here. Then Flanno told him he was the 23rd best centre in the game or something like that and moved him to the wing. He wasn't happy about being moved to the wing, but it turned out to be a masterstroke on Flanno's part. I think he was also promised or told he would get a shot at fullback, but that never happened. If we offered him a shot at fullback, he would probably be even more interested in coming back. I don't know if he can get out of his rugby contract if he wanted to. I don't think it is that much money either. Maybe a deal could be worked out?
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Just wanted to see that I got your original message right. Um, yeah no thanks. That ship has well and truly sailed. Next thing you’ll want Hunt back too
 
Dragsters

Dragsters

SGI Junior League
TheRev said:
I still reckon Su'a in the middle could be a revelation (and nothing to lose from our perspective).. and we might be shipping off a more valuable product to Parra.. than the time he was here in another position, like we did with Lomax.

Dont rly see the point in shipping him anywhere immediately though... unless we can actually get a swap that we remotely want.. we could def do with strength in every other position apart from 2nd row. Were not gonna be able to buy anything useful imo for 2026.. and I bet we still have funds to spend.. every year we keep frontloading cause we miss our targets.
Click to expand...
Sua should absolutely be tried in the front row.

It would allow us to get more game time into our young back row stocks and some better quality in the middle rotation.
 
R

RandomDragon

SGI Jersey Flegg
Perhaps we could leverage sua for Lomax to come back - wonder if he would break his union contract, then we sign him from parra, it’s quite logical, and would solve a lot of our problems, and our main roadblock (big cock Flano) is now gone.
 
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