Broncos Player Movement and Rumours 2020

[Morkel]

The knights have put together a really good squad, and if they do a manage to sign Frizell then I think they’re squad isn’t that far off of ours for overall rating.

Their squad is shit. They "assembled" their roster with what people called at the time astute signings, ie, Moga, Guerra, Ese'Ese, Glasby etc. But in reality they were shit signings because of the money they outlayed, and I said so at the time they were signing these guys.

Ese'Ese for example was one we wanted to keep, but not on decent coin (he would have been like our 8th best forward), but the Knights threw starting-prop money at him. Guerra was way past being useful, but because he was a Roosters premiership winner, they again paid big. Same goes for Glasby, a cookie-cutter Storm plodder. Ponga was a gamble that paid off, but again, they got him by throwing stupid (at the time) money at him, and they now know they only way they'll keep him is by once again being the highest bidder. Pearce and Klemmer are the kind of players they need, but again, Pearce is getting elite elite money.

There's a reason they haven't played finals since 2013, and got 3 spoons in a row, and that's NOT Bennett. It's because their only recruitment plan is to pay 20% more than other clubs for players. It means you don't get the same talent as someone who has spent their cap wisely, and doesn't bring about a culture where players bleed for the jersey. They just bleed for the pay cheque.

 

[Socnorb]

Will rugby still be a thing in 22-23?

 

[Spoon]

Sure just not in a professional level in Australia. New Zealand will no doubt be very strong in rugby. Ponga wants to play for the all blacks, not the wallabies

 

[Kooly87]

Their squad is shit. They "assembled" their roster with what people called at the time astute signings, ie, Moga, Guerra, Ese'Ese, Glasby etc. But in reality they were shit signings because of the money they outlayed, and I said so at the time they were signing these guys.

Ese'Ese for example was one we wanted to keep, but not on decent coin (he would have been like our 8th best forward), but the Knights threw starting-prop money at him. Guerra was way past being useful, but because he was a Roosters premiership winner, they again paid big. Same goes for Glasby, a cookie-cutter Storm plodder. Ponga was a gamble that paid off, but again, they got him by throwing stupid (at the time) money at him, and they now know they only way they'll keep him is by once again being the highest bidder. Pearce and Klemmer are the kind of players they need, but again, Pearce is getting elite elite money.

There's a reason they haven't played finals since 2013, and got 3 spoons in a row, and that's NOT Bennett. It's because their only recruitment plan is to pay 20% more than other clubs for players. It means you don't get the same talent as someone who has spent their cap wisely, and doesn't bring about a culture where players bleed for the jersey. They just bleed for the pay cheque.

The Ponga contract was a risk for sure, but clubs who never take those risks never those risk always miss out on the special players unless they can produce one themselves. Good on them for having the guts to spend up on Ponga, it's like the Cowboys gambling on JT back in 2004, and if they can keep him long term it could well pan out the same way. I always feel like the guys who deride Ponga and what he's potentially worth are the exact same kind of guys who would have turned their noses up at a young JT because it might have cost 'overs' at the time.

 

[Morkel]

The Ponga contract was a risk for sure, but clubs who never take those risks never those risk always miss out on the special players unless they can produce one themselves. Good on them for having the guts to spend up on Ponga, it's like the Cowboys gambling on JT back in 2004, and if they can keep him long term it could well pan out the same way. I always feel like the guys who deride Ponga and what he's potentially worth are the exact same kind of guys who would have turned their noses up at a young JT because it might have cost 'overs' at the time.

I'm not undervaluing Ponga, just saying it was more arse than class. They enticed a whole crop of players by paying overs. The fact that Ponga panned out does not compensate for the fact that the others are plodders on hefty contracts.

 

[Lockysillegitimatechild]

Their squad is shit. They "assembled" their roster with what people called at the time astute signings, ie, Moga, Guerra, Ese'Ese, Glasby etc. But in reality they were shit signings because of the money they outlayed, and I said so at the time they were signing these guys.

Ese'Ese for example was one we wanted to keep, but not on decent coin (he would have been like our 8th best forward), but the Knights threw starting-prop money at him. Guerra was way past being useful, but because he was a Roosters premiership winner, they again paid big. Same goes for Glasby, a cookie-cutter Storm plodder. Ponga was a gamble that paid off, but again, they got him by throwing stupid (at the time) money at him, and they now know they only way they'll keep him is by once again being the highest bidder. Pearce and Klemmer are the kind of players they need, but again, Pearce is getting elite elite money.

There's a reason they haven't played finals since 2013, and got 3 spoons in a row, and that's NOT Bennett. It's because their only recruitment plan is to pay 20% more than other clubs for players. It means you don't get the same talent as someone who has spent their cap wisely, and doesn't bring about a culture where players bleed for the jersey. They just bleed for the pay cheque.

Brown ruined ese ese for mine. A little part of me gets happy when players move to other clubs and they don't do as well.

Let me put it this way, we have the best facilities with the most support staff and money put into the football department. If you don't do well at brisbane, especially if youre a brisbane boy, you will need a fair bit of other areas to be top notch (coaching, support, squad) to succeed at other clubs.

 

[Morkel]

Brown ruined ese ese for mine. A little part of me gets happy when players move to other clubs and they don't do as well.

Let me put it this way, we have the best facilities with the most support staff and money put into the football department. If you don't do well at brisbane, especially if youre a brisbane boy, you will need a fair bit of other areas to be top notch (coaching, support, squad) to succeed at other clubs.

Me too. I want them to do well, but not as good as whatever player we retained at their expense. Locky's cheek notwithstanding, I hoped Beale would have kicked on better than he did. And I wish Hunt all the best. Both players gave their all, they just had their limitations. Conversely though, Norman I enjoy seeing fizzle out every time he shows some promise, probably because he was a bit of a cat for us.

 

[Gaz]

I'm not undervaluing Ponga, just saying it was more arse than class. They enticed a whole crop of players by paying overs. The fact that Ponga panned out does not compensate for the fact that the others are plodders on hefty contracts.

I often wonder would the Cows have made room for him knowing what they know now (Holmes aside).

 

[Kooly87]

I often wonder would the Cows have made room for him knowing what they know now (Holmes aside).

Given what Holmes has likely cost them this year, and given who is likely to have the better 2020 at this stage out of Ponga and Holmes, you'd have to say the Cowboys definitely didn't come out of this all that well.

 

[Harry Sack]

The Ponga contract was a risk for sure, but clubs who never take those risks never those risk always miss out on the special players unless they can produce one themselves. Good on them for having the guts to spend up on Ponga, it's like the Cowboys gambling on JT back in 2004, and if they can keep him long term it could well pan out the same way. I always feel like the guys who deride Ponga and what he's potentially worth are the exact same kind of guys who would have turned their noses up at a young JT because it might have cost 'overs' at the time.

Did he cost them a lot first time around? I thought he was mostly unwanted because he was too small. I remember reading somewhere that Ricky Stuart wanted him though. Or am I thinking of his time prior to the Dogs?

 

[1910]

Did he cost them a lot first time around? I thought he was mostly unwanted because he was too small. I remember reading somewhere that Ricky Stuart wanted him though. Or am I thinking of his time prior to the Dogs?

Cowboys offer was $220k for 2005 and $240k for 2006. So nearly 500k for a kid that Muz said you'll be my seven.

He was only on 60k at the Dogs and had barely played in 04 at the Dogs.

So pretty sizeable risk and money.

 

[Big Pete]

It's similar, but JT had played 26 NRL games by that point, had won multiple reserve grade titles and rep games. He was also 21 years old at the time.

Ponga was 18, had only played 2 NRL games and had achieved nothing in reserve grade. $3.2 Million four year deal and no guarantees that he'd be ready for first grade right away or even if he'd stick with the game. There was every possibility he may lose interest and decide to become the next Christian Cullen or Greg Norman.

It hasn't worked out yet on the field, but they've got 5000 extra fans turning up each week. That's over $2,000,000 per annum and that's before the fans buy their $180 Ponga #1 Jersey.

 

[gordjw]

It hasn't worked out yet on the field, but they've got 5000 extra fans turning up each week. That's over $2,000,000 per annum and that's before the fans buy their $180 Ponga #1 Jersey.

This is a good point, and might be helpful in the short term. But you still need your marquee player to deliver consistently otherwise you’re wasting limited cap space and those 5000 fans will disappear again.

Newcastle have been needing someone of this stature for a long time though, so hopefully for their sake he can come good.

 

[Big Pete]

This is a good point, and might be helpful in the short term. But you still need your marquee player to deliver consistently otherwise you’re wasting limited cap space and those 5000 fans will disappear again.

Newcastle have been needing someone of this stature for a long time though, so hopefully for their sake he can come good.

Absolutely and the 8000 fans they drew against the Gold Coast in their last home game is a testament to that. It certainly isn't set in stone just yet but as it stands it's turned out to be a pretty good investment even if his current win percentage (37.5%) is less than stellar.

Especially considering what the other options were. A lot of star players knocked back similar deals, and I'm not sure if splitting the money between 3-4 players would necessarily make up the difference on and off the field.

 

[gordjw]

Especially considering what the other options were. A lot of star players knocked back similar deals, and I'm not sure if splitting the money between 3-4 players would necessarily make up the difference on and off the field.

Ponga’s contract and value is a moonshot - chuck a massive amount of money at a guy that you hope will immediately be a 99/100 and fix your team.

Locky was that for us for a long time, initially surrounded with top tier talent, but managed to maintain the Broncos at or around that level as that talent retired or left (and usually with very capable replacements). Smith and Melbourne are in a similar position now, and we’ll see how that turns out.

I wonder if it’s possible to have just one person drag a club up to a high (on-field) standard, rather than maintaining it? In which case it seems to me that you’d be better off investing in 4-5 80/100 tier players rather than hoping for a moonshot miracle.

 

[Dazza 92]

I agree with the concept of the club keeping strong tabs on Ponga; may be a blessing in disguise that we have let Knights take this gamble early on for him, if he inst the franchise player they thought he was then we have dodged a bullet...

Having said that...

Broncos "should" start looking at long term franchise potential players now, its worked very well in the past when we chased and attracted these types of players like Kev Walters, Lazarus, Tallis...not coincidentally they are associated with the most sustained period of success in the clubs history.

I say we need to adapt this long term lenses again because if done right it can accelerate the championship window for us. A bit of addition by subtraction if you will. We are at St George levels of overflowing with forward talent and quite frankly some of that needs to be moved on to allow us space under the cap to achieve better balance

What im "not" saying is that Ponga is the answer, he might be when he reaches his peak but...he represents exactly the type of franchise changing talent the club needs to be seriously looking at going forward..

My 2 cents...

 

[Thelmus]

I agree with the concept of the club keeping strong tabs on Ponga; may be a blessing in disguise that we have let Knights take this gamble early on for him, if he inst the franchise player they thought he was then we have dodged a bullet...

Having said that...

Broncos "should" start looking at long term franchise potential players now, its worked very well in the past when we chased and attracted these types of players like Kev Walters, Lazarus, Tallis...not coincidentally they are associated with the most sustained period of success in the clubs history.

I say we need to adapt this long term lenses again because if done right it can accelerate the championship window for us. A bit of addition by subtraction if you will. We are at St George levels of overflowing with forward talent and quite frankly some of that needs to be moved on to allow us space under the cap to achieve better balance

What im "not" saying is that Ponga is the answer, he might be when he reaches his peak but...he represents exactly the type of franchise changing talent the club needs to be seriously looking at going forward..

My 2 cents...

I think we have those players in development. Haas, carrigan and fifita are good examples. We can build a forward pack around them.
Deaden is the only long term player in the backs I can see there (not to say the likes of Milford, staggs or our young wingers couldnt develop but it seems unlikely).
All that said, traditionaly the broncos have brought through a group of young stars and used purchases to fill in the gaps, even going to point of training players in non-prefferred positions to keep them around.
In contrast a side like titans buy some superstars to fill key roles and then pick youngsters around them. Hayne is a classic example.
They had promising young backs but deliberately targeted his return from NFL and we're prepared to let players go or shift them to accommodate him.

 

[Big Pete]

Ponga’s contract and value is a moonshot - chuck a massive amount of money at a guy that you hope will immediately be a 99/100 and fix your team.

Locky was that for us for a long time, initially surrounded with top tier talent, but managed to maintain the Broncos at or around that level as that talent retired or left (and usually with very capable replacements). Smith and Melbourne are in a similar position now, and we’ll see how that turns out.

I wonder if it’s possible to have just one person drag a club up to a high (on-field) standard, rather than maintaining it? In which case it seems to me that you’d be better off investing in 4-5 80/100 tier players rather than hoping for a moonshot miracle.

The way I see it, they were lucky to sign Ponga so if they redistributed his cash they would either be gambling on lesser prospects or signing solid first grade players who would improve their engine room without providing the same sense of direction as Kalyn.

It also makes it easier to sign players when you can use players like Ponga to sell them on the club.