While my thoughts on Kev are well known, it’s not all negative. I think w have an extremely good team that is fairly well balanced and the balance is only going to improve as young guys develop into experienced first graders. 2024 is probably the closest thing we’ll have to a premiership window for awhile and then it’s a matter of holding the core of the team together while we try and find a replacement for Reynolds.
I think we have a good starting 13/17 when fully fit; however I had more hope last year because of the depth we had available.
Ins and outs for this year are:
Ins:
- Walsh (top 5-10 fullback in the comp... although question marks on his defence. He's an absolutely quality signing that I can see entering the leadership group very soon)
- Jock Madden (covers halves and considered a promising player; however he is lacking in NRL experience. If Reynolds goes down then Jock will have to be our starting 7 and will be relied on as the primary kicker)
- Arthars (returning from a loan deal and covers the outside backs; however he has never been able to hold down a starting spot in his career and we were happy to let him go on loan after he was surpassed by other depth the year before)
- Smoothy (Unknowns on whether he can make the step up to NRL... also only on a development deal (limitations on availability until Rd 11) and represents the 4th hooker we have on the books
Outs:
- Brenko (Not a superstar, but can easily cover centre if someone goes down)
- Gamble (No superstar again, but covered halves and won us games as the starting halfback)
- TMM (was on a development deal and covered fullback and halves... earning his way to the starting fullback)
- Tesi (covers fullback... our best fullback cover now requires a starting centre or winger to be moved)
- Kelly (Starting 6 at the start of the year... covered 6 and 7)
- Hosking (back row cover and can play 80mins reliably)
- Ryan James (was looking old and slowing down, but he was experienced and could be brought into the 17 during dire situations)
- Rhys Kennedy (not making the 17 regularly, but was first grade standard depth to cover the middles)
- Mead (not overly needed last year, but showed the year before that he could be relied on if needed)
- Turpin (played poorly throughout the year and no massive loss, but if required he could play big minutes at hooker in dire circumstances)
Based on the above there is a massive imbalance between the ins and outs suggesting a number of players have simply been upgraded to Top 30 deals rather than recruiting to replace the departures... so our depth has gone from experienced first graders to promising kids.
I've seen this story before when we tried it in 2020