Peter Wallace officially released to join Panthers

[Big Pete]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

Everyone has been calling for it.

Nearly happened last off-season apparently.

Good luck trying to get him now though - Canberra have revealed their hand playing him off the bench before his time.

 

[Alec]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

I don't understand the obsession with Sam Williams either.

Okay, if he wasn't being scouted by half the competition, it'd be a good pick up but he's not the type of player you want to bother getting into a bidding war over.

He's a solid prospect, but he needs to spend some concrete time in the lesser competitions working on his game.

Your plan always seems to be - screw taking a chance on an unproven player, lets wait until he becomes good, someone else takes him, and we are still stuck twiddling our thumbs. You've got to take chances sometimes. Williams would be the perfect replacement for Wallace.

 

[Alec]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

Anthony Milford anyone?

A lot of people have been saying that he could end up a Ben Barba type of fullback. His ball playing skills aren't particularly outstanding, it's his running game that's amazing.

 

[Big Pete]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

That's plain wrong.

When a lot of members were losing their composure over missing Widdop, TC and JT I was the one calling for us to sign a Keary or Cornish.

Heck, I think you'd find last year I was pushing for us to sign Williams.

But it's under the proviso we're not investing hundreds of thousands into them. At this stage, Williams would be too big a risk and we could make smarter investments.

 

[Ari Gold]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

I don't think Williams is really the answer and I'm not really in the camp to sign him.

I am happy to shift Wallace off though, even if I don't think we'll necessarily get a better short term replacement. The reason why is because Pete can still hinder us even if he is the better option -- firstly, his money could prevent us from chasing a real half. Secondly, he will never get dropped. So an unproven player who would otherwise be given a chance won't get it because we have solid but mediocre Pete as an automatic selection. Imagine if instead of having Wallace these past 2 years we were playing Hunt in the halves. He may have turned out to be really good, but that's something we'll never know because we decided to go with 2 years of mediocrity. Of course, Hunt might have been worse, but we'll never really know because we chose the predictability that Wallace offers.

Now Ashley Taylor seems to be quite highly rated. It's too early to throw him in yet but come next season or whenever maybe it won't be. If we decide to re-sign Pete because a seemingly better option isn't available then we'll be stuck with Wallace for how many years he re-signs for, potentially at the expense of Taylor getting a chance. Now I'm sure someone will say that if player x really is better he'll get a spot, but before you ask that, ask yourself, do you ever see Griffin dropping Wallace?

So yeah, even if there is nobody better available than Wallace right now, that doesn't mean his re-signing can't hurt us.

 

[Alec]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

How much would he want? You've got to remember that the salary cap keeps rising.

 

[Big Pete]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

Whoever is willing to pay the most.

Plenty of clubs chasing him, some more desperate than us.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

I just hope we get Ashley Taylor into Q Cup next year if we are fair dinkum about him being one of our halves.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

Now Ashley Taylor seems to be quite highly rated. It's too early to throw him in yet but come next season or whenever maybe it won't be. If we decide to re-sign Pete because a seemingly better option isn't available then we'll be stuck with Wallace for how many years he re-signs for, potentially at the expense of Taylor getting a chance. Now I'm sure someone will say that if player x really is better he'll get a spot, but before you ask that, ask yourself, do you ever see Griffin dropping Wallace?

So yeah, even if there is nobody better available than Wallace right now, that doesn't mean his re-signing can't hurt us.

Resigning him last year has already hurt us......we simply can't make the same mistake again.

 

[tkday]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

Some young guys thrive in first grade. I say throw Ashley Taylor in next year along side Hunt. Take a gamble on them. I like Wallace, but he's average at best and for playing in the same position at our club and even under Lockyer he should have improved. Fact is, he's reach his potential and will not get any better.

He's tough and defensively pretty good. He even has a good pass on him, perfect hooker player. If he took that position off Macca and we signed someone else in the halves we would be a lot better off. But we won't put him in the hooker role so he has to go.

I know a lot of you will say Taylor is too young, unproven and it may do more damage than good putting him in the halves. But give it a go, worst thing that will happen is that our season will be shot half way through and we will have to send him to QCup. That's probably not going to be that different to how IT will be if we persist with the halves combinations we have this year for next year as well.

 

[nopatience101]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

The expectations of Taylor here are way too high.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

The expectations of Taylor here are way too high.

Without doubt. We are a desperate bunch at the moment.

 

[1910]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

Throw a kid in coming back from an op after a couple of 20's games which hardly anyone even watched. Sounds like a grand plan!

 

[Bucking Beads]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

Throw a kid in coming back from an op after a couple of 20's games which hardly anyone even watched. Sounds like a grand plan!

I think they are talking about next year with Taylor not this year.

 

[tkday]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

Next year, next year, not now. We are desperate for someone good in the halves and it will be no worse than it is currently. Ok, it could be worse, but we are not going to win the premiership this year so anything other than that doesn't matter. We could be surprised by the kid. And if not, ship him back to QCup. By doing that we can ruin his confidence and then we will never pick him in the first grade team again ruining his career :P

 

[Unbreakable]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

Back on topic: Luke Walsh signed with St Helens officially today, we might be seeing a climax to the Peter Wallace discussions very shortly.

Source: http://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/official-luke-walsh-signs-with-st-helens-9775/

 

[1910]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

I think they are talking about next year with Taylor not this year.

Still based on not much at all.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Re: Rumour - Peter Wallace returning to the Panthers?

Still based on not much at all.

Agreed. The hype is growing though. You would think a season of QLD cup would be in order before he is even thought about as a first grade halfback