Recruitment & Retention 2027

[Mailroomsgi]

I feel for the club that spunks $1.2m on Joey Manu

Terrible fullback who can’t ball play and a complete hog + overrated centre with Zero pace

That’s a disaster waiting to happen for PNG

 

[GCRV]

I feel for the club that spunks $1.2m on Joey Manu

Terrible fullback who can’t ball play and a complete hog + overrated centre with Zero pace

That’s a disaster waiting to happen for PNG

Want them to spend as much money as possible so they can't throw huge money at Couchman's.

 

[TheRev]

I think the Couchies will be locked up.. but LPT might be another story.

And yes I think Manu is too much of a risk now, the years roll on and things are never the same.. ctr or nothing.. the advantage PNG have is they can pay less and the player still gets massive overs.. also good for selling to new players.. though they are saying Manu would only be like a 4mth contract or something.

 

[Dragon David]

So far we have signed some decent players for next year but while Gutho could be put into one of the centre spots, we do need a solid and quick centre as well. No use Drinkwater and Metcalf making a break without anyone with decent speed to back them up to the try line.

 

[The Word]

PNG throwing a curve ball with their targets, now Joey Manu is touring their facilities. We need to lock up our youngsters asap, worried about them with their 3rd party deals too. I think there will be plenty of off-season moves, PNG are free to negotiate from Nov onwards with players whose contracts finish end of 27 season. Maybe guys like Suli are a potential fallback option for them if they miss their main recruit. Perth might be desperate too. The sellable players imo Holmes, Suli & potentially Kerr.

Agree the target has to be re-signing Ryan, Toby, Jacob and Loko, likely to cost a fair bit to do so, especially the first 3. Hard to know how much cash we will have left until those guys put pen to paper. I think Mug said Couchies are close, which is good. It may be that Loko and Jacob are waiting for November which makes it very hard for us to budget.

 

[RufusRex]

we still have money for a few players.. not a gun but we have to fill a bunch of spots.. feagai and sloan in particular.. 2 outside backs we lean on heavily. CT gone also.. we need 1 more quick body into that backline..

If Gutho gets retired it'll probably be very late in the piece.. wont leave much time to fill his spot.. but still be a good wad of money to attack someone early 2027..

Correct - we have 4 spots in the roster right now and we have money to pay low value deals for these 4 spots.
I doubt we have money there for a decent signing though and that is problematic.

 

[TheRev]

On top of all this, one of our young backs could have a great offseason and be a genuine option in the backline (Charlie Heidke come on down son)

Starting to feel we wont be able to back Heidke as a starting ctr (or winger) any time soon.. seems like its going to be maybe stints here and there when he can get a month of football under his belt.. its such a sliding door thing though.. genuinely in our starting 17 each week by now if not for injuries.. 1 less player we need to chase.. but now we kind of have to replace him.. and keep his seat warm.. def dont want to lose him.. thankfully hes probably not had any footy for so long that other clubs arent chasing him...

Other than him.. I do think Toby Rumble is getting closer.. not sure how he would handle the hitups.. or the pressure of 1sts (I think of Tu and the brain farts.. Toby has that in him under pressure.. but hes improving in that space).. but hes tall and fast, ok in the air and he can dive to get the ball down for a try which we almost dont have in our club fullstop... I atleast think hes in the conversation given we need some cheapies and some outside back depth.

Other than him its Buchanan who again I dont know what to do with.. and he can go to market come Nov 1st.. and there is Lyric who again how do you assess him when hes been out 12mths.. and then maybe Ollie but thats 2028 roughly and probably coming in for injury..

There are a few players there.. but Its one thing to have them in the 30+6, and another to be depending on them to be a 27 round starting 1st grader.
Oh and TPH.. I mean we need some fullback depth, dogs got Votano, Gutho is technically our fullback depth next year, but a) I dont think its the way to go and b) hopefully he will be able to retire.. but are we going to chase a gun fullback replacement? I doubt it, especially at short notice..... but I would have loved Averillo tbh to cover 1-6.. in hindsight 600k was probably alright, assuming that goes into the next broadcast deal at the same price.

 

[TheRev]

Correct - we have 4 spots in the roster right now and we have money to pay low value deals for these 4 spots.
I doubt we have money there for a decent signing though and that is problematic.

thats also for 2027 too.. if Gutho retires though we could probably afford to upgrade 2 cheapies.. but we wont have confirmation untill its too late I suspect.

2028 is another story.. and thats the guys we will also chase come Nov 1st.. but assume we have factored in promotions to ur Reed, ur LPT, ur Couchies, ur Stewart, ur Egan etc by then.. at some point they are commanding more serious contracts.

 

[RufusRex]

i have finger in the wind the maths on it ...
if we have 4 spots left now and 800k it comes out to 200k each and that is pretty ordinary/inexperienced.

If we can shift Kyle/Suli/Gutho it potentially gives us 2.8M across 7 spots and that is 400k per position and that gets you mid tier experience to complete the roster.

The trick is how to get the players off the roster economically ...

Suli should be the easiest of them and Parra getting blocked on Howarth is a positive there.
Kyle will be difficult we may need to eat some of his wage to get him out - young family/close to mum and dad though means England may be hard
Gutho is the killer though.

Correct as well above - we may not have a position on those three players until after the season and that doesnt help us right now.

 

[No Surrender]

Starting to feel we wont be able to back Heidke as a starting ctr (or winger) any time soon.. seems like its going to be maybe stints here and there when he can get a month of football under his belt.. its such a sliding door thing though.. genuinely in our starting 17 each week by now if not for injuries.. 1 less player we need to chase.. but now we kind of have to replace him.. and keep his seat warm.. def dont want to lose him.. thankfully hes probably not had any footy for so long that other clubs arent chasing him...

Other than him.. I do think Toby Rumble is getting closer.. not sure how he would handle the hitups.. or the pressure of 1sts (I think of Tu and the brain farts.. Toby has that in him under pressure.. but hes improving in that space).. but hes tall and fast, ok in the air and he can dive to get the ball down for a try which we almost dont have in our club fullstop... I atleast think hes in the conversation given we need some cheapies and some outside back depth.

Other than him its Buchanan who again I dont know what to do with.. and he can go to market come Nov 1st.. and there is Lyric who again how do you assess him when hes been out 12mths.. and then maybe Ollie but thats 2028 roughly and probably coming in for injury..

There are a few players there.. but Its one thing to have them in the 30+6, and another to be depending on them to be a 27 round starting 1st grader.
Oh and TPH.. I mean we need some fullback depth, dogs got Votano, Gutho is technically our fullback depth next year, but a) I dont think its the way to go and b) hopefully he will be able to retire.. but are we going to chase a gun fullback replacement? I doubt it, especially at short notice..... but I would have loved Averillo tbh to cover 1-6.. in hindsight 600k was probably alright, assuming that goes into the next broadcast deal at the same price.

Any chance we see Burton play centre in second half of 2027

 

[redv13]

i have finger in the wind the maths on it ...
if we have 4 spots left now and 800k it comes out to 200k each and that is pretty ordinary/inexperienced.

If we can shift Kyle/Suli/Gutho it potentially gives us 2.8M across 7 spots and that is 400k per position and that gets you mid tier experience to complete the roster.

The trick is how to get the players off the roster economically ...

Suli should be the easiest of them and Parra getting blocked on Howarth is a positive there.
Kyle will be difficult we may need to eat some of his wage to get him out - young family/close to mum and dad though means England may be hard
Gutho is the killer though.

Correct as well above - we may not have a position on those three players until after the season and that doesnt help us right now.

Suli I can see going elsewhere, forget about Gutho and Kyle, they won’t budge especially Gutho. Old bloke running on fumes getting 800-900 won’t walk in my opinion. Can’t imagine anyone touching Kyle and i doubt ESL is an option with his new bub etc . Maybe the bears are the only option for Kyle but that may be a stretch too

 

[Mailroomsgi]

I wouldn’t bet against it but I think he’s more likely to debut in ‘28 or ‘29

 

[TheRev]

Any chance we see Burton play centre in second half of 2027

I wouldn’t bet against it but I think he’s more likely to debut in ‘28 or ‘29

I feel like both can be true.. it is possible if Burton plays a fair bit of NSW Cup next season that he could get a game of 1st grade at the back end.. but yes I think 28 and 29 are the years he really starts to get gametime.

Bday in January, so 18yrs of age for next season, 19yrs in 2028.. and thats pretty young for 1st grade.. 2029 @20 he is possibly starting Round 1.. all going well of course.. cross finger, but injuries and other factors change a kids timeline.. as Heidke is finding out.. Buchanan would have played half a season if not for injury, Lyric where is he.. and so forth..

 

[Eric]

I feel like both can be true.. it is possible if Burton plays a fair bit of NSW Cup next season that he could get a game of 1st grade at the back end.. but yes I think 28 and 29 are the years he really starts to get gametime.

Bday in January, so 18yrs of age for next season, 19yrs in 2028.. and thats pretty young for 1st grade.. 2029 @20 he is possibly starting Round 1.. all going well of course.. cross finger, but injuries and other factors change a kids timeline.. as Heidke is finding out.. Buchanan would have played half a season if not for injury, Lyric where is he.. and so forth..

Heidke's injuries are all different. Not like Tom Turbo or Kyle Stanley and the like. He's just been unlucky but he'll be fine. He'll rest this week and as Mug Fan said, maybe better to bring him back via Flegg.