NRL Player Movements & Rumours

[Kooly87]

With any luck it'll be Milford gone after 2021 and Dearden and Croft will be our long term Halves partnership.

Throw Harry Grant into that mix with the change leftover from Milford's obscene salary off our books and suddenly you have what might prove to be an Origin Scrumbase and Halves combination at the Broncos.

 

[theshed]

With any luck it'll be Milford gone after 2021 and Dearden and Croft will be our long term Halves partnership.

Throw Harry Grant into that mix with the change leftover from Milford's obscene salary off our books and suddenly you have what might prove to be an Origin Scrumbase and Halves combination at the Broncos.

There was a time when we (i.e me) thought that Milf and Hunt would be the walk up QLD halves for a decade.

 

[Kooly87]

There was a time when we (i.e me) thought that Milf and Hunt would be the walk up QLD halves for a decade.

Flash forward to Round 5 2020 and honestly both are lucky to still be getting selected in First Grade this week. I also suspect in both instances that the stupidly overvalued salaries both are earning are the only thing keeping them both our of reserve grade at the moment.

I remember having a good chuckle at the Dragons and what they outlaid to secure Hunt. Turns out the rest of the NRL should have been laughing at both us and the Dragons for thinking either club needed to stump up the big bucks for these two players.

 

[Cult]

If we do go for a Dearden/Croft halves partnership we need some spark at the back. Someone like Ponga would be a perfect suit

 

[Unbreakable]

If we do go for a Dearden/Croft halves partnership we need some spark at the back. Someone like Ponga would be a perfect suit

I've been thinking this for a while.

We're so desperate for a good Fullback it's not even funny. It's unequivocally the most important position in the modern NRL. There's an argument to be made that 7 of the top 8 Fullbacks in the NRL are in the Top 8 as it stands.

1) Eels - Gutherson
2) Knights - Ponga
3) Panthers - Aekins/Edwards
4) Raiders - CNK
5) Storm - Papenhuyzen
6) Roosters - Tedesco
7) Cowboys - Holmes
8) Sea Eagles - Trbojevic

9) West Tigers - Thompson/Douehi
10) Broncos - Bird/Isaako
11) Sharks - Kennedy/Moylan
12) Bulldogs - DWZ/Hopoate
13) Rabbitohs - Latrell/AJ
14) Warriors - Tuivasa-Sheck
15) Titans - Brimson/Sami
16) Dragons - Dufty/Norman

There's a very clear trend here, the sides with a settled, elite Fullback are all doing well outside of the Warriors, who have a litany of issues, none of which RTS can carry by himself. The only outlier is the Panthers, who have somehow managed to force themselves into the top 4 without a good / stable Fullback.

 

[Fernando]

If we do go for a Dearden/Croft halves partnership we need some spark at the back. Someone like Ponga would be a perfect suit

That’d be ideal but isn’t he re-signing with Newcastle long term though?

He’s a gun. Not many players have ripped the Raiders to shreds in the last 18 months like he did on the weekend. Great runner, best passing game in the league already imo, knows where to be positionally, tough.

 

[Kooly87]

Well that’s the end of that wishful thinking. Have to say, at a million bucks a season it sounds like the Knights have got themselves a bargain.

 

[Alec]

He'll be in his prime once his contract ends. If he keeps improving, and the Broncos get out of the mess they are in, they should chase him then.

 

[theshed]

I've been thinking this for a while.

We're so desperate for a good Fullback it's not even funny. It's unequivocally the most important position in the modern NRL. There's an argument to be made that 7 of the top 8 Fullbacks in the NRL are in the Top 8 as it stands.

1) Eels - Gutherson
2) Knights - Ponga
3) Panthers - Aekins/Edwards
4) Raiders - CNK
5) Storm - Papenhuyzen
6) Roosters - Tedesco
7) Cowboys - Holmes
8) Sea Eagles - Trbojevic

9) West Tigers - Thompson/Douehi
10) Broncos - Bird/Isaako
11) Sharks - Kennedy/Moylan
12) Bulldogs - DWZ/Hopoate
13) Rabbitohs - Latrell/AJ
14) Warriors - Tuivasa-Sheck
15) Titans - Brimson/Sami
16) Dragons - Dufty/Norman

There's a very clear trend here, the sides with a settled, elite Fullback are all doing well outside of the Warriors, who have a litany of issues, none of which RTS can carry by himself. The only outlier is the Panthers, who have somehow managed to force themselves into the top 4 without a good / stable Fullback.

Plenty won’t want to admit it for various reasons but Latrell is a better fullback than CNK.

 

[Galah]

The way the out the back depth plays are now in attack, the fb is the most important position in the game and we haven’t had a gun since kunt left. Who’s our best Hope in the system coming through? It’s not isaako, he’s done fine but he’s not winning us a comp. Tesi niu?

 

[Foordy]

Plenty won’t want to admit it for various reasons but Latrell is a better fullback than CNK.

no he isn't ... he has the potential to be, but he isn't at this point in time

 

[Unbreakable]

Plenty won’t want to admit it for various reasons but Latrell is a better fullback than CNK.

It's close. I think I'll wait until there's a decent sample size of Latrell playing 80 minutes at the back before I make that call definitively.

CNK has a phenomenal work rate and is one of the better defensive Fullback's in the competition. He does have his flaws (Not the greatest ball player, does have an error in him), but as an RTS-Lite, he's clearly a top 10 Fullback in the NRL at the moment, albeit towards the bottom of that top 10.

In games where he played 80 mins, Latrell is averaging 100.3 metres per game so far this season.
In games where he played 80 mins, CNK is averaging 213.3 metres per game so far this season.

Work rate + defence > Occasionally busting a tackle and throwing a cut-out pass, imo.

 

[theshed]

The way the out the back depth plays are now in attack, the fb is the most important position in the game and we haven’t had a gun since kunt left. Who’s our best Hope in the system coming through? It’s not isaako, he’s done fine but he’s not winning us a comp. Tesi niu?

We’ve had 2 gun fullbacks since Hunt left:

- Barba
- Milford

They just both happened to suck at fullback while playing for us. You could possibly include Bird as number 3.

 

[Organix]

I've been thinking this for a while.

We're so desperate for a good Fullback it's not even funny. It's unequivocally the most important position in the modern NRL. There's an argument to be made that 7 of the top 8 Fullbacks in the NRL are in the Top 8 as it stands.

1) Eels - Gutherson
2) Knights - Ponga
3) Panthers - Aekins/Edwards
4) Raiders - CNK
5) Storm - Papenhuyzen
6) Roosters - Tedesco
7) Cowboys - Holmes
8) Sea Eagles - Trbojevic

9) West Tigers - Thompson/Douehi
10) Broncos - Bird/Isaako
11) Sharks - Kennedy/Moylan
12) Bulldogs - DWZ/Hopoate
13) Rabbitohs - Latrell/AJ
14) Warriors - Tuivasa-Sheck
15) Titans - Brimson/Sami
16) Dragons - Dufty/Norman

There's a very clear trend here, the sides with a settled, elite Fullback are all doing well outside of the Warriors, who have a litany of issues, none of which RTS can carry by himself. The only outlier is the Panthers, who have somehow managed to force themselves into the top 4 without a good / stable Fullback.

I think those FBs look a lot better behind a great team. Not taking away from the players buuuut it sure helps to have a good team to make a FB look better. Gutho looked pretty meh behind 2018 Eels and RTS looks pretty mild behind the Warriors compared to the Roosters. Milf was looking shit hot in 2015 behind a good team.

 

[Broncapz]

Bet the house on Niu.

 

[Waynesaurus]

Bet the house on Niu.

Yeah, well I think 'going forward' it looks like the new plan is to bring through our younger players rather than spend big on 'outsiders'

 

[Galah]

We’ve had 2 gun fullbacks since Hunt left:

- Barba
- Milford

They just both happened to suck at fullback while playing for us. You could possibly include Bird as number 3.

ain’t that the truth.
I was very excited to see what bird could do at the back.

 

[McHunt]

He'll be in his prime once his contract ends. If he keeps improving, and the Broncos get out of the mess they are in, they should chase him then.

Time to let Ponga go. He'll be off to Rugby Union next. Besideswhich, by that date we'll be fending off offers for Niu, Farnworth & Coates or someone you haven't even heard of yet.