OFFICIAL Staggs Commits for 4 Years

[TimWhatley]

Wouldn’t be the same game a certain Tesi Niu made his top level debut before playing a single NRL game and being prematurely labelled the next Darren Lockyer as a result would it?

Nah that was against England I think. Staggs' performance against Australia was pretty impressive from memory, his kicking game surprised me.

 

[Locky’s Left Boot]

firstly it's no where near 2.5 million

secondly, it's off the books at the end of this season

I am aware this seems to be the case. I over exaggerated in jest to mock the amount of players we seem to be playing to play at other clubs lately with Matt Lodge now being another possibility to add to that list along with Macca, Bird, Ofahengaue.

What baffles me though is if that is the case, then the club realistically should be in a lot stronger salary cap position for 2022 than they are letting on.

We keep getting told ad nauseum that our salary cap is still a complete mess and we don’t have a war chest, yet we are freeing up Bird, Milford, Macca (and Ofahengaue?) salary which should be in the vicinity of anywhere between $2.5-$3 million as well as possibly losing our only current QLD origin rep player in Coates. This is on top of freeing up Boyd and Kahu’s wages last year which none of it went towards keeping Fifita. Reading between the lines we realistically should be able to afford Reynolds and Hodgson with change left over.

Are we still paying Ofahenague to pay at the Tigers next year? I know this was Milford and Bird’s last year of their contracts.

 

[theshed]

Nah that was against England I think. Staggs' performance against Australia was pretty impressive from memory, his kicking game surprised me.

You were surprised that he put in 3 kicks for 79m? Including a nothing bomb and an easily defused grubber?

He also had no assists, and only 10 runs for 80m.

There was nothing surprising by Staggs game, he played exactly as expected when a centre is named at halfback. Lolohea did everything.

 

[ozzball]

You're making the assumption we weren't simply the last one willing to dance with him at the prom. He's suffered a major injury, want's a heck of a lot for a player only proven in the centres who suffers from defensive lapses and is basically and out and out attack machine and has a laundry list of off field 'issues'. After Eels yanked their offer, were we the last ones offering any serious money? Maybe.

Securing his signature for 4 years is nice, but given the timing and how long he held out on this move, I can't help but feel we were (close to) his last resort.

So .. when I talk about Coates sneaking around and having coffee dates with bellyache I'm told that it's his life and his choice and I shouldn't condemn him and when I applaud the fact that Staggs has placed 'some' faith in the club that raised him it's only because he can't get a gig anywhere else ... phew, this is a tough crowd.

 

[broncos4life]

Anyone that is questioning people for being excited that Staggs is staying or suggesting the 600k/700k is overs does not truly understand the depths of our current situation, lucky them.

 

[Kooly87]

Anyone that is questioning people for being excited that Staggs is staying or suggesting the 600k/700k is overs does not truly understand the depths of our current situation, lucky them.

Realistically, if he cuts it as a 5/8 it's pretty handy value for a spine player, and if he bombs and does have to go back to the Centres then it makes him probably the most highly paid Centre getting around, but he also has potential to be one of the best Centres getting around, so even if he's a little overpaid in that role, it's hardly a complete disaster.

Personally, I'm a little more risk averse and wouldn't have wanted to commit 5/8 money to him until I knew he could play the role, but I still don't see keeping him on the money being discussed as being an awful piece of business either way.

 

[broncos4life]

Realistically, if he cuts it as a 5/8 it's pretty handy value for a spine player, and if he bombs and does have to go back to the Centres then it makes him probably the most highly paid Centre getting around, but he also has potential to be one of the best Centres getting around, so even if he's a little overpaid in that role, it's hardly a complete disaster.

Personally, I'm a little more risk averse and wouldn't have wanted to commit 5/8 money to him until I knew he could play the role, but I still don't see keeping him on the money being discussed as being an awful piece of business either way.

Even at 700k is he really the highest paid centre? I thought Lomax was on 800k and I would take Staggs over him any day of the week.

 

[broncsgoat]

Realistically, if he cuts it as a 5/8 it's pretty handy value for a spine player, and if he bombs and does have to go back to the Centres then it makes him probably the most highly paid Centre getting around, but he also has potential to be one of the best Centres getting around, so even if he's a little overpaid in that role, it's hardly a complete disaster.

Personally, I'm a little more risk averse and wouldn't have wanted to commit 5/8 money to him until I knew he could play the role, but I still don't see keeping him on the money being discussed as being an awful piece of business either way.

So we're paying upper echelon money for a bloke who could potentially be value at two different positions but is currently not at either? And for four years as well.

I think we got stitched up.

 

[Kooly87]

So we're paying upper echelon money for a bloke who could potentially be value at two different positions but is currently not at either? And for four years as well.

I think we got stitched up.

If you believe the $700k figure then yes it's a little high, but if it's more like $600k then it's middle of the road for Halves and only on the high side for a Centre.

Realistically, he's a pretty damn good Centre prospect and we realistically need one gun Outside Back in our entire backline. Gun Outside Backs cost this sort of money these days.

If he does bloom at 5/8, which I agree is a complete unknown, then we've probably got pretty good value out of this deal.

 

[heartly87]

If we paid overs it's not by much. What he does for the team will pay us back, a half is more likely to sign knowing he has attacking options to utilise. If we lost him and then Coates does go also, I don't see a half coming. Having Staggs, Farnsworth is a good start. Plus Coates can be replaced with code name "Milford" lol and I bet we don't lose to much in that replacement.

 

[Mustafur]

You were surprised that he put in 3 kicks for 79m? Including a nothing bomb and an easily defused grubber?

He also had no assists, and only 10 runs for 80m.

There was nothing surprising by Staggs game, he played exactly as expected when a centre is named at halfback. Lolohea did everything.

That is simplfying it, the first kick he did jammed australia into a drop out from a decent distance, hardly exactly as expected, probably could of done more if given more kicking opportunity.

 

[Mustafur]

So we're paying upper echelon money for a bloke who could potentially be value at two different positions but is currently not at either? And for four years as well.

I think we got stitched up.

The last time he was playing its safe to say he was one of the best Centres in the competition, even good teams will pay this much(some even more) for an elite centre.

The gamble is on us with him coming from an injury, but he is young.

 

[theshed]

The last time he was playing its safe to say he was one of the best Centres in the competition, even good teams will pay this much(some even more) for an elite centre.

The gamble is on us with him coming from an injury, but he is young.

To me the gamble is more Kev basing the spine around him. Regardless of the price, I think Kev is hanging a lot of his career at the broncos on this decision. I’m keen to see how it goes. Obviously I hope it goes well.

 

[Mustafur]

To me the gamble is more Kev basing the spine around him. Regardless of the price, I think Kev is hanging a lot of his career at the broncos on this decision. I’m keen to see how it goes. Obviously I hope it goes well.

I don't take the spine stuff seriously tbh, he might be promised time to play there but I highly doubt he is assured to play in a position he hasn't played serious time in.

similar things where said about Jack bird when he signed for us only to mostly play in the centres and we paid alot more for him.

 

[Broncapz]

I am aware this seems to be the case. I over exaggerated in jest to mock the amount of players we seem to be playing to play at other clubs lately with Matt Lodge now being another possibility to add to that list along with Macca, Bird, Ofahengaue.

What baffles me though is if that is the case, then the club realistically should be in a lot stronger salary cap position for 2022 than they are letting on.

We keep getting told ad nauseum that our salary cap is still a complete mess and we don’t have a war chest, yet we are freeing up Bird, Milford, Macca (and Ofahengaue?) salary which should be in the vicinity of anywhere between $2.5-$3 million as well as possibly losing our only current QLD origin rep player in Coates. This is on top of freeing up Boyd and Kahu’s wages last year which none of it went towards keeping Fifita. Reading between the lines we realistically should be able to afford Reynolds and Hodgson with change left over.

Are we still paying Ofahenague to pay at the Tigers next year? I know this was Milford and Bird’s last year of their contracts.

I'm positive that letting the world you know you have a war-chest is just bad practice for future negotiations in regards recruitment AND retention.

 

[Foordy]

To me the gamble is more Kev basing the spine around him. Regardless of the price, I think Kev is hanging a lot of his career at the broncos on this decision. I’m keen to see how it goes. Obviously I hope it goes well.

I don't think his career is hanging on this decision as such ... I don't mind if a coach goes with his gut and takes a gamble, I even applaud this.

IMO, what could make or break his career here, is if this gamble doesn't pay off, whether or not he will have the courage to move Staggs back to centre

 

[BroncosFever]

You blokes have short memories, last year he was our leading try scorer and he played only 14 games.

He scored "that" try against the Dragons, I will go as far to say no other centre in the comp could have done that. If he plays 5/8 it will be for his running game and maybe some long term development on his ballplaying/short kicking.

Regarding Kevvie, he is doing a lot of good things for this club and just because we aren't in the 8 doesn't mean we are going backwards, this club has gone through consecutive years of terrible management. There is no quick fix.

 

[TimWhatley]

There was nothing surprising by Staggs game, he played exactly as expected when a centre is named at halfback. Lolohea did everything.

You except all centres to be able to play 5/8 against the best team in the world and not **** it up? One of those bombs landed 1m from the corner post and the catcher was pushed into touch. Have you seen any of our current halves do that this season?