Have the Titans just saved Brisbane from itself?

[Dazza 92]

So, from the off; this isnt original content per see; its more a amalgamation of me talking to various people, reading, researching and listening to podcasts etc...

So, has the Gold Coast just saved Brisbane from itself?

When you drill into it, its amazing to think that, as a percentage of a salary cap, the club has never had so much invested in its forwards.

Then add Fifitas contract on top of that; even ifs its only Brisbane final offer to him, even more of our limited cap space wold have been invested in that forward pack for the next few years

A few people mentioned to me that Bennett never really paid much for his forwards while he was head coach here. Sure there were exceptions (Lazarus, Tallis) but those guys were proven premiership winners, you spend that amount of coin on such players

Traditonally, most of our salary was in the backline. Historically we are one of the highest points per game teams since we entered the comp; thats a World class backline...

And we constantly looked for those "magic" players like Alf, Pearl, Locky, who were the cherry on top....the gamebreakers who played what was in front of them

Since 2015, you can say that this is no longer our culture, our structure or our roster imperatives

Instead, a large constant flow of forwards emerged at the same time, and we decided we needed ALL of them in our side. The media had a field day with describing our potential pack as the future of the competition etc...further encouraging our management to throw immense resources at keeping all of them

Ironically, this actually lead to Fifita, being the last of them, simply pricing himself out of the club and into the Titans...


Heres the point im making; could this be a turning point now for the club to return to basics, to what makes the Broncos different?

In my opinion, a few key decision from here on out could make all the difference to turning the club around. Roster & arguably coach aside, we have everything we need here now to be successful again. Cap space has been freed up by Fifita not being here next season. If we are smart we can continue to retool our pack to match the leading clubs

Meanwhile we can shape the backline we want to regain our historic high scoring rate, promote or sign those players who we think can provide some "magic" back into our attacking structures

It wont be easy, but we can start this now.

The Titans signing Fifita may have been the kick in the solar plexis we need, to take the step back and say to ourselves "how do we get this club back to what it was?" The negativity we are receiving will with luck provide the madate for our next CEO to do exactly this.

For me, 2022 is the goal, the combination of off-contract players here + the available pool of players across the competition means the key strategic signings needed can definately be made in this time period.

What are your thoughts...?

 

[Dazza 92]

So, in terms of what we can do to begin this reboot....

Can i plant this seed; Bird takes up his PO for next year and plays....lock forward...?

Why do this?

I look at the best 4 coaches in the game, and who they have playing lock;

Hasler - JT
Bennett - Murray
Robinson - Radley
Bellamy - Finucane/Smith (Brandon)

Maybe this is what motivated Bennett to bring Bird to Brisbane?

But, if Bird buys in, stays injury free and we have the desire to finally show some desire to get value from what we've paid, we can suddnely rearrange our pack to mirror what the best are doing in the 6-again era...

 

[Ffs...]

Its a stupid signing from the Titans no two ways about it. Reeks of desperation. When you consider he is now higher paid than JT..please give me a break..

 

[Dazza 92]

Its a stupid signing from the Titans no two ways about it. Reeks of desperation. When you consider he is now higher paid than JT..please give me a break..

it could cut both ways....Fifitas tried to do ths without hurting anyone but thats out of his hands...

I just hope the pressure of whats expected now doesnt crush the guys career like it did to Taylor...

 

[theshed]

So, in terms of what we can do to begin this reboot....

Can i plant this seed; Bird takes up his PO for next year and plays....lock forward...?

Why do this?

I look at the best 4 coaches in the game, and who they have playing lock;

Hasler - JT
Bennett - Murray
Robinson - Radley
Bellamy - Finucane/Smith (Brandon)

Maybe this is what motivated Bennett to bring Bird to Brisbane?

But, if Bird buys in, stays injury free and we have the desire to finally show some desire to get value from what we've paid, we can suddnely rearrange our pack to mirror what the best are doing in the 6-again era...

Now we lost Fifita and the huge wage he was demanding, I definitely have changed my mind to now think Bird is worth keeping, especially if we can push out Milford and recoup a decent amount of his awful contract.

where bird is best suited is a massive headache though. You may be right about lock, but he could also be a great fullback or 5/8th option, and then there is always centre though that may not be good value for money.

 

[Ffs...]

it could cut both ways....Fifitas tried to do ths without hurting nayone but thats out of his hands...

I just hope the pressure of whats expected now doesnt crush the guys career like it did to Taylor...

It wont, he'll just do a Jai Arrow and leave as soon as a club that can actually win a premiership offers him a decent deal in three years.

 

[broncos4life]

it could cut both ways....Fifitas tried to do ths without hurting anyone but thats out of his hands...

I just hope the pressure of whats expected now doesnt crush the guys career like it did to Taylor...

Out of interest what has he done to try and not hurt anyone?

 

[IceWorks]

It's rolling the dice for sure, very in character you might say for the coast. You really can't blame the guy for taking that contract, they really outsmarted both clubs with their negotiation skills, unintentional or not!

By the way... does anybody remember the excuse about not wanting to sign a contract longer than 1 year due to the manager? Shows everything is negotiable and Brisbane could have done this for 500k less I'm sure if they had thought it a priority earlier.

 

[Dazza 92]

Now we lost Fifita and the huge wage he was demanding, I definitely have changed my mind to now think Bird is worth keeping, especially if we can push out Milford and recoup a decent amount of his awful contract.

where bird is best suited is a massive headache though. You may be right about lock, but he could also be a great fullback or 5/8th option, and then there is always centre though that may not be good value for money.

Look, im being a bit blue sky with this proposition..

I really dont know just how bad this sternum injury of his is....cause if its as bad as they say, he simply cant defend in the forward line...

But, on paper, he is another Radley at lock with his head up style, good hands and vision, along with solid defence..

Right now, he is a problem, one of many, im trying to find a way that we can turn a few of these problems around.....it might just be too much water under the bridge with Bird...

 

[theshed]

Look, im being a bit blue sky with this proposition..

I really dont know just how bad this sternum injury of his is....cause if its as bad as they say, he simply cant defend in the forward line...

But, on paper, he is another Radley at lock with his head up style, good hands and vision, along with solid defence..

Right now, he is a problem, one of many, im trying to find a way that we can turn a few of these problems around.....it might just be too much water under the bridge with Bird...

Well said.

 

[Dazza 92]

Out of interest what has he done to try and not hurt anyone?

on a personal level, he comes across as someone who doesnt want his mates to feel like hes letting them down by leaving Brisbane, he has mates who he is very close too on the Coast that hed love to play with..

You had his Mum acting as a quasi-agent on his behalf...she had no idea what she was doing but was tring to help her son with his biggest life decision so far..

Kinda forget that...you know...he is 20 years old......i couldnt do what he is doing at a similar age...id be too stoned or drunk for a start...
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It's rolling the dice for sure, very in character you might say for the coast. You really can't blame the guy for taking that contract, they really outsmarted both clubs with their negotiation skills, unintentional or not!

By the way... does anybody remember the excuse about not wanting to sign a contract longer than 1 year due to the manager? Shows everything is negotiable and Brisbane could have done this for 500k less I'm sure if they had thought it a priority earlier.

well....one thing coming out of Brisbanes failed negotiotions with Fifita is that the PO is going to become more and more prevelant.....

If this is the kind of money desperate clubs are going to throw around at the best young players...

 

[TimWhatley]

I think our forward pack is good enough even without Fifita. They are getting rolled atm because our spine is in shambles, confidence is down and maybe our coach is shit not 100% sure on that one yet.

It's a shame to see Fifita leave but if I had to let one go it would've been him. He's just too good (too expensive) of a player in a non-important position.

With the money he's on at titans I'd pick pick 30 other players before I picked him.

 

[Battler]

I think our forward pack is good enough even without Fifita. They are getting rolled atm because our spine is in shambles, confidence is down and maybe our coach is shit not 100% sure on that one yet.

It's a shame to see Fifita leave but if I had to let one go it would've been him. He's just too good (too expensive) of a player in a non-important position.

With the money he's on at titans I'd pick pick 30 other players before I picked him.

Agreed. Lodge, who people seem to forget is a key player in our middle rotation, has been playing injured all year. Get him right for next season and our pack will do some damage with TPJ playing 80 in the backrow to help make up some of the strike we lose from Fifita.

Carrigan is also developing into an insanely good player and should be playing 80 next season in a Jurbo like role.

Edit: if we can get a vet like JBrom, Tamau, or even Blair (on close to minimum wage) to help mentor our pack we’ll be good to go.

 

[Dazza 92]

I think our forward pack is good enough even without Fifita. They are getting rolled atm because our spine is in shambles, confidence is down and maybe our coach is shit not 100% sure on that one yet.

It's a shame to see Fifita leave but if I had to let one go it would've been him. He's just too good (too expensive) of a player in a non-important position.

With the money he's on at titans I'd pick pick 30 other players before I picked him.

....yyyeehhh......im kinda with you there....

Fifitas a generational talent, arguably the best we have produced internally since Lockyer, so you dont see them often...

BUT...like the title of the thread says.....we need far more than what Fifita provides. If we can use the money saved to secure it, then the sacrifice is arguably worth it...

What does Chris Garry say, "freight"....we are going to have to pay freight to move on Bird next year if indeed he wants to go back to Sydney. Likewise if someone approaches us about Milf we'd bite their hand off......again though.....significant freight to get that done...

we need to find some leaders from....fucking somewhere...??

Blake Green alongside Deardon in the halves next year?....look, its not the best but its not the worst either...

Plus, you could talk me into Foran as a ball playing lock here next year too....on a heavily centivised contract

 

[Dazza 92]

Agreed. Lodge, who people seem to forget is a key player in our middle rotation, has been playing injured all year. Get him right for next season and our pack will do some damage with TPJ playing 80 in the backrow to help make up some of the strike we lose from Fifita.

Carrigan is also developing into an insanely good player and should be playing 80 next season in a Jurbo like role.

Edit: if we can get a vet like JBrom, Tamau, or even Blair (on close to minimum wage) to help mentor our pack we’ll be good to go.

this is so spot on....he "should" be our full time captain but apparently thats politically impossible at the club, but he is a bonifide leader, and he has shown that this year both on and off the field...

Carrigan is next in line, another 1 team player with us hopefully. I know he is currnetly our lock but we need another option with the ball in hand. Im not sure Carrigan can develop that but he is going to only be more crucial to us as he develops...

 

[Bigbucky]

I think our forward pack is good enough even without Fifita. They are getting rolled atm because our spine is in shambles, confidence is down and maybe our coach is shit not 100% sure on that one yet.

It's a shame to see Fifita leave but if I had to let one go it would've been him. He's just too good (too expensive) of a player in a non-important position.

With the money he's on at titans I'd pick pick 30 other players before I picked him.

So true man. We need a million dollar half that plays like a million dollar half not a million dollar 2nd rower as good as he is.

 

[Dazza 92]

So true man. We need a million dollar half that plays like a million dollar half not a million dollar 2nd rower as good as he is.

amazing to think what would have happened if Broncos went all in on Moses instead of Bird when we did...?

 

[Jedhead]

I'm really open to the idea that we do a swap deal with the storm if CS9 plays on a year. Milf for Harry Grant. Hell I'd even pick up some of Milf's wages to sweeten the deal.