CONFIRMED - Adam Blair to Broncos

[Unbreakable]

They just interviewed Todd Lowrie on FSN about the signing, his response was -

"Oh, I hadn't heard that, that's good news, I played with him at the Storm"
"Blair's form over the last season or two has been excellent"

I guess Todd doesn't watch a lot of NRL.

 

[Porthoz]

"how does the 2.6 missed tackles compare"

Glad someone is asking a good question. 27.7/30.3 = 91+% made tackles. This is good, particularly for backrower stats, but needs to be balanced with where on the field he is defending and where is he making/missing. Centre of field this is an ok percentage, wider out this is good percentage. When you consider Gillett and Glenn have, in recent years, been worst in league for backrowers, often in the low 80s, it is not a bad sign.

My question is how much influence does Kearney have now within this current regime? This signing seems to indicate a fair amount of influence. Good or no?

Gillett had 90% on the fringes, Blair 91% in the middle.
Glenn had 89% on the fringes btw.

Blair's nos are not that impressive.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

I think you guys are missing the big picture here, this is good news because it means we NEVER have to see -

Parker at Prop
Thaiday at Prop / Lock
Gillett at Lock

Thank the lord! Now they can play their ideal positions every game this season, even if Blair comes here and isn't much better than Kennedy, we'll still be a much better team for having our best players in their preferred positions.

And just quietly, like I said earlier in the thread, Blair has been shit for the Tigers, but he's in the perfect spot in his career and geographically to have a monster comeback season, well that's what I'm hoping for anyway :)

Good points, Unbreakable.

Still, I will wait and see how I feel about this after we learn how much money he's on, but again, if this costs one of our young props a chance to compete for a spot, I will be more than annoyed.

After Kennedy turned out to be such a **** up, this signing is a headscratcher to me.

 

[Sproj]

Well I wouldn't have signed him or flicked Barba but it's happened now. All we can do is hope for the best and support our side unequivocally.

 

[mitch222]

"how does the 2.6 missed tackles compare"

Glad someone is asking a good question. 27.7/30.3 = 91+% made tackles. This is good, particularly for backrower stats, but needs to be balanced with where on the field he is defending and where is he making/missing. Centre of field this is an ok percentage, wider out this is good percentage. When you consider Gillett and Glenn have, in recent years, been worst in league for backrowers, often in the low 80s, it is not a bad sign.

My question is how much influence does Kearney have now within this current regime? This signing seems to indicate a fair amount of influence. Good or no?

This has Bennett written all over it. He was never going to go into the new season without another prop with experience which Blair has. Bennett tries not to carry more than 1 inexperienced prop per game which he would have had to with a Parker, McGuire, Garbutt & Gavet. The latter have pretty much no nrl experience

 

[BroncosAlways]

Really unhappy about this signing, but hopefully we're proven wrong.

I'm not sure if this has been said, but it will make the starting side very interesting.

I'll assume we see Blair as a prop, and cant see him coming off the bench, so maybe the best thing to come out of this situation will be Parker being moved back to Lock ?
If so someone ( most likely either Gillett or Glenn ) will be dropped back to the bench and I wonder how that person will handle it.

 

[Ari Gold]

How does Blair compare with Kennedy? That's the real question, as this is basically a swap that we have to pay more money for (unless Blair signed for minimum).

I wasn't a fan of Kennedy, he was a flop, but so too was Blair. I have no real feelings on the players, but am disappointed in what appears to me to be WB's unwillingness to work with somebody who was already at the club that he may not have been the biggest fan of. It's one thing to sign a free agent Blair over a free agent Kennedy, but to actually shove off Kennedy (and for that matter, Hannant) at our expense and then pay even more money to sign a player like Blair (who is essentially just another disappointment) speaks to me as an unwillingness on WB's part to work with what he's got.

Fair enough if you **** off a poor performer and replace them with a young gun or marquee signing, but to replace one disappointment with another doesn't send any kind of message that poor performance will be punished. All it really says is that you better hope the coach likes you. And when you consider we're likely paying money to have Blair instead of Kennedy, it has the potential to hurt the club too. Particularly given we've signed him for 3 years.

 

[GCBRONCO]

I think what it means for having Blair in the side now is the chances of seeing the likes of Lowrie and Stagg in the 17 outside of the rep season or injury call up situations are even more remote now, there's just too many quality options in the back row especially with the chances of seeing either of Parker or Thaiday in the front row.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Blair vs Kennedy. I would have preferred to give Kennedy one more year.

Optimistic about Blair. Outside of the Tigers, he has played some good football.

 

[nathano11]

Initially a bit dumbfounded at the news but now I'm pumped for it, it will only make us stronger! Wayne Bennett would of selectively chosen him to do a job, so pumped for next year!

 

[Unbreakable]

How does Blair compare with Kennedy?

Kennedy had 1 good season with the Roosters
Blair had 3-4 great seasons with the Storm

I think it's obvious which of them is a more reliable option to become a top-level player within the next 3 seasons. I feel like Adam being back living with his girlfriend could be great for him, we have 3 guys joining us next season to be closer to family and girlfriends, I think it'll be great for Darius, Anthony and Adam, hopefully we see all 3 of them really enjoying their football and enjoying themselves off the field as well.

Imagine if all 3 of them play to their potential, we'll be unstoppable.

:clap2:

 

[GCBRONCO]

How does Blair compare with Kennedy? That's the real question, as this is basically a swap that we have to pay more money for (unless Blair signed for minimum).

I wasn't a fan of Kennedy, he was a flop, but so too was Blair. I have no real feelings on the players, but am disappointed in what appears to me to be WB's unwillingness to work with somebody who was already at the club that he may not have been the biggest fan of. It's one thing to sign a free agent Blair over a free agent Kennedy, but to actually shove off Kennedy (and for that matter, Hannant) at our expense and then pay even more money to sign a player like Blair (who is essentially just another disappointment) speaks to me as an unwillingness on WB's part to work with what he's got.

Fair enough if you **** off a poor performer and replace them with a young gun or marquee signing, but to replace one disappointment with another doesn't send any kind of message that poor performance will be punished. All it really says is that you better hope the coach likes you. And when you consider we're likely paying money to have Blair instead of Kennedy, it has the potential to hurt the club too. Particularly given we've signed him for 3 years.

It's a hard sell I'll give you that Ari Gold, though from another perspective I also fail to see how poor performance is punished when you remain in the side and continuing to be paid a price and you haven't even come close to delivering on what you were signed for, Bennett could have kept him on, worked hard with him and got results granted, or he could have just plodded along like other forwards have that have joined the club from elsewhere. The only real height you have seen from Kennedy was he was in the 2011 emerging QLD squad, at least with Blair you have seen him perform at quality heights at the storm and rep level, granted his been pretty mediocre at the Tigers but given the opportunity of a fresh start elsewhere could do him wonders. Not a bad trade IMO, though not necessarily the forward I would have gone with either, personally I don't think we are any worse of, question is will it pay off? All we can do is wait and see.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Kennedy had 1 good season with the Roosters
Blair had 3-4 great seasons with the Storm

I think it's obvious which of them is a more reliable option to become a top-level player within the next 3 seasons. I feel like Adam being back living with his girlfriend could be great for him, we have 3 guys joining us next season to be closer to family and girlfriends, I think it'll be great for Darius, Anthony and Adam, hopefully we see all 3 of them really enjoying their football and enjoying themselves off the field as well.

Imagine if all 3 of them play to their potential, we'll be unstoppable.

:clap2:

You're on fire today, Unbreakable. I don't usually like anyones posts unless they're really good points and you've got two from me in the one thread.

That point about Boyd is a really good one. One of his best games of this year was Origin 3, which involved the team training and playing in what city?

Yep, Brissy. Darius would've had a chance to visit his girlfriend and family and spend some time with them while he was in camp, thus certifying your point about him being happier back home thus playing better footy.

 

[Rabbir]

Re: [RUMOUR] Adam Blair to Broncos

No he wasn't.

He was shit.

The Tigers finished 13th and he had a few better games towards the end of the season when there was nothing to play for.

So we judge a lock on where his side finished?

I would ask you what you think of Fensom or Gallen but no need to.

 

[Ari Gold]

From a player perspective Kennedy isn't better than Blair, but for every dollar over minimum we are paying Blair we are paying a premium for having Blair over Kennedy. So in that sense we could be worse off.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not for an instance staying Kennedy should have stayed. Just saying that any message you send by turfing him you retract by signing Blair.

Kennedy had 1 good season with the Roosters
Blair had 3-4 great seasons with the Storm

I think it's obvious which of them is a more reliable option to become a top-level player within the next 3 seasons. I feel like Adam being back living with his girlfriend could be great for him, we have 3 guys joining us next season to be closer to family and girlfriends, I think it'll be great for Darius, Anthony and Adam, hopefully we see all 3 of them really enjoying their football and enjoying themselves off the field as well.

Imagine if all 3 of them play to their potential, we'll be unstoppable.

:clap2:

Kennedy was closer to family too was he not? Still turned out to be a massive turd. As for the best bet to become a top-level player within the next 3 seasons, I think you already know my answer to that. So long as that happens, I couldn't really give a shit which of these disappointments play for us next year.

Unless Blair does come good of course. I have a Tigers friend who fucking hates Blair and I give him so much shit for signing him. I'd be able to give him even more shit if Blair kills it and then I can point out he's willing to play when wearing a proper team's jersey. So go Blair!

Not counting on it happening though.

 

[Ari Gold]

You're on fire today, Unbreakable. I don't usually like anyones posts unless they're really good points and you've got two from me in the one thread.

That point about Boyd is a really good one. One of his best games of this year was Origin 3, which involved the team training and playing in what city?

Yep, Brissy. Darius would've had a chance to visit his girlfriend and family and spend some time with them while he was in camp, thus certifying your point about him being happier back home thus playing better footy.

I don't get it. Boyd is married and Kayla lived with him in Newie. Are you saying Boyd has a mistress?

 

[I bleed Maroon]

I don't get it. Boyd is married and Kayla lived with him in Newie. Are you saying Boyd has a mistress?

Don't be stupid, Gold. You understood what I meant.

 

[Alec]

Yeah, I don't buy that headspace stuff. It just sounds too much like false hope. It didn't work for Barba or Kennedy.

I rated Kennedy less than anyone else on here, I even objected to him coming in 2013. But now we are in the exact same situation, just praying for the small chance he actually gets it right...except we are now paying even more for Blair than for Kennedy.