NRL Player Movements & Rumours

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decent signing for the Dragons.

hook will get them into the conversation for the the premiership ... but, i'm not convinced he has what it takes to get them over the line
 
They sacked McGregor because he's a limited coach and replaced them with Griffin, a coach who's main idea of attack is to kick it to corners. That's actually terrible news for Broncos fans because no doubt Xavier Coates is going to be offered a million to head down.

Can we nip this idea of Hook assembling this gun roster for Bennett in the bud please. Of the 17 players in that 2015 Grand Final side, Hook brought in one player. He was more like the substitute teacher who's idea of education was making you sit and watch Babe Pig In the City every Friday. Who did he assemble? Ben Barba? 50 year old Scott Prince? Josh Dugan Remember when we threw a collective party because Hook actually managed to sign someone? It was Martin Kennedy, but we were so wrapped about actually signing somebody we were ecstatic. The only player who can be credited to Hook is Milford and even then, Milford made it clear he just wanted to get out of Canberra. In fact he had second thoughts because of the coach which is part of the reason why Murdoch pulled a few strings and brought Bennett in. Fair call too because there's no doubt that Milford would be a lock forward by now.

He was slightly better at Penrith when he got to bring through a few gun NYC prospects. It's hard to know what say he had on recruitment, I used to enjoy watching Penrith because it reminded me of one of my favourite movies of the 2010s Moneyball. Gus was there as Billy Beane convincing Hook to play Nathan Cleary in first grade, Hook there as Art Howe looking miserable, so Gus sent Soward to London to force Hook's hand. Good times, although he got carried away when he traded Segs for Zak Hardaker. It pretty much ended exactly the same as Moneyball, except instead of other clubs taking notes and winning premierships, Gus and Gould just started dishing on their respective media shows. At least we got Griffin's work on commentary which was seriously like listening to McBane's stand-up routine.

Still better than Ginane.

I feel for the Dragons. They're in a similar position as the Broncos where they can't bring themselves to admit investing $1.2 million into Hunt was a terrible idea, they're willing to compromise their roster just to wait the whole contract out. Maybe if they could bring in a coach who has some fresh ideas and they brought Hook in as an assitant just to help work on defence that would be fine, but really they're just biding time. Hook will come in, he'll get them playing like a fringe top eight team and when he's inevitably sacked he'll have a bunch of talking heads talking about how hard done by he was even though anyone who watched their games would know how flakey they were.

And I like Hook. I wanted him to replace Henjak and I was willing to cut him some slack because the Broncos were always going to go to pieces once Lockyer retired. However, he has that 'she'll be right' attitude that just doesn't cut it to be a top flight coach.
 
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broncsgoat said:
Had the panthers 5th when he got sacked and he got knifed for Bennett after assembling a decent team. Calling him a dud is a bit harsh.
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Won 23 of his last 55 games as a Bronco coach. He isn't as hopeless as Seibs but he is still a dud.
 
Big Pete said:
They sacked McGregor because he's a limited coach and replaced them with Griffin, a coach who's main idea of attack is to kick it to corners. That's actually terrible news for Broncos fans because no doubt Xavier Coates is going to be offered a million to head down.

Can we nip this idea of Hook assembling this gun roster for Bennett in the bud please. Of the 17 players in that 2015 Grand Final side, Hook brought none of those players in. He was more like the substitute teacher who's idea of education was making you sit and watch Babe Pig In the City every Friday. Who did he assemble? Ben Barba? 50 year old Scott Prince? Josh Dugan Remember when we threw a collective party because Hook actually managed to sign someone? It was Martin Kennedy, but we were so wrapped about actually signing somebody we were ecstatic. The only player who can be credited to Hook is Milford and even then, Milford made it clear he just wanted to get out of Canberra. In fact he had second thoughts because of the coach which is part of the reason why Murdoch pulled a few strings and brought Bennett in. Fair call too because there's no doubt that Milford would be a lock forward by now.

He was slightly better at Penrith when he got to bring through a few gun NYC prospects. It's hard to know what say he had on recruitment, I used to enjoy watching Penrith because it reminded me of one of my favourite movies of the 2010s Moneyball. Gus was there as Billy Beane convincing Hook to play Nathan Cleary in first grade, Hook there as Art Howe looking miserable, so Gus sent Soward to London to force Hook's hand. Good times, although he got carried away when he traded Segs for Zak Hardaker. It pretty much ended exactly the same as Moneyball, except instead of other clubs taking notes and winning premierships, Gus and Gould just started dishing on their respective media shows. At least we got Griffin's work on commentary which was seriously like listening to McBane's stand-up routine.

Still better than Ginane.

I feel for the Dragons. They're in a similar position as the Broncos where they can't bring themselves to admit investing $1.2 million into Hunt was a terrible idea, they're willing to compromise their roster just to wait the whole contract out. Maybe if they could bring in a coach who has some fresh ideas and they brought Hook in as an assitant just to help work on defence that would be fine, but really they're just biding time. Hook will come in, he'll get them playing like a fringe top eight team and when he's inevitably sacked he'll have a bunch of talking heads talking about how hard done by he was even though anyone who watched their games would know how flakey they were.

And I like Hook. I wanted him to replace Henjak and I was willing to cut him some slack because the Broncos were always going to go to pieces once Lockyer retired. However, he has that 'she'll be right' attitude that just doesn't cut it to be a top flight coach.
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Love this comment. Spot on. I guess one good thing is that we won't have to hear him in commentary again 😂
 
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tommy said:
Hunt was going ok under Griffin
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In 2014 when he was finally made the full time halfback... prior to that BHunt was a utility off the bench for about 20mins a game

He was also going better than ok when he was made halfback... he was God level and should've won halfback of the year.

I'm not sure if that BHunt exists anymore though... as he has been moulded into a "game manager" and now does everything 5m from the defensive line... unless he gets a media article indicating that "he should run more" at which point he'll take random runs at the line without causing too much trouble... his instincts as a runner have basically been coached out of him and he's almost completely ineffective as a half nowadays
 
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Big Pete said:
They sacked McGregor because he's a limited coach and replaced them with Griffin, a coach who's main idea of attack is to kick it to corners. That's actually terrible news for Broncos fans because no doubt Xavier Coates is going to be offered a million to head down.

Can we nip this idea of Hook assembling this gun roster for Bennett in the bud please. Of the 17 players in that 2015 Grand Final side, Hook brought in one player. He was more like the substitute teacher who's idea of education was making you sit and watch Babe Pig In the City every Friday. Who did he assemble? Ben Barba? 50 year old Scott Prince? Josh Dugan Remember when we threw a collective party because Hook actually managed to sign someone? It was Martin Kennedy, but we were so wrapped about actually signing somebody we were ecstatic. The only player who can be credited to Hook is Milford and even then, Milford made it clear he just wanted to get out of Canberra. In fact he had second thoughts because of the coach which is part of the reason why Murdoch pulled a few strings and brought Bennett in. Fair call too because there's no doubt that Milford would be a lock forward by now.

He was slightly better at Penrith when he got to bring through a few gun NYC prospects. It's hard to know what say he had on recruitment, I used to enjoy watching Penrith because it reminded me of one of my favourite movies of the 2010s Moneyball. Gus was there as Billy Beane convincing Hook to play Nathan Cleary in first grade, Hook there as Art Howe looking miserable, so Gus sent Soward to London to force Hook's hand. Good times, although he got carried away when he traded Segs for Zak Hardaker. It pretty much ended exactly the same as Moneyball, except instead of other clubs taking notes and winning premierships, Gus and Gould just started dishing on their respective media shows. At least we got Griffin's work on commentary which was seriously like listening to McBane's stand-up routine.

Still better than Ginane.

I feel for the Dragons. They're in a similar position as the Broncos where they can't bring themselves to admit investing $1.2 million into Hunt was a terrible idea, they're willing to compromise their roster just to wait the whole contract out. Maybe if they could bring in a coach who has some fresh ideas and they brought Hook in as an assitant just to help work on defence that would be fine, but really they're just biding time. Hook will come in, he'll get them playing like a fringe top eight team and when he's inevitably sacked he'll have a bunch of talking heads talking about how hard done by he was even though anyone who watched their games would know how flakey they were.

And I like Hook. I wanted him to replace Henjak and I was willing to cut him some slack because the Broncos were always going to go to pieces once Lockyer retired. However, he has that 'she'll be right' attitude that just doesn't cut it to be a top flight coach.
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Excellent post.

Only thing I'd consider arguing is that I think Hunt can still go a long way to proving good value if they persevere with playing him as an 80 minute Dummy Half. I think in this role he can get close to being the best in his position and given how vital a gun Dummy Half is to a team's success in the modern game, if he was to achieve that then I think $1.2 million a season wouldn't look quite so bad for such a rare and important asset.
 
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Alec said:
He's definitely worth the money, even if he starts to slow down by the end.
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Lot of money but he's quality through and through. Ultracompetitive with elite skill levels.
 
Unbreakable said:
Is that confirmed? All I've seen is 'leaving the Cowboys at the end of the season', which implies he's going to play on.
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I could be wrong ... but the quotes I read in the qrl.com article certainly read like a retirement speech
 
James Tamou has signed a 2 year deal with the Tigers
 
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