Wall of text incoming:
Honestly we still have the skeleton of a good team, especially with another year of experience, but we need a few good squad/depth players so that when injury hits we aren't just throwing more rookies in to get belted. The problem is every player wants to play first grade and those who don't get disillusioned (particularly when the under-performers aren't dropped - another issue in itself) or the few times they have some good games they get cherry-picked by other clubs
Fullback: I'm not sold on Tesi or Isaako at FB at all, but we may have to persevere with one of them for another year unless we sign a somewhat proven fullback. Nicho Hynes worth a punt maybe?
Centre and wing: if as above we get another fullback, one or both of those guys fall into this category. I'd try and get Tommy Opacic back regardless. Herbie, Oppa, Staggs and Coates is a pretty good 2-5 with huge upside. Arthars, Tesi, Isaako and Kennar depth.
Halves: Dearden is a lock obviously. We looked much better last night with the ball with him there. I just hope we can build the team for him to be the best half he can be
Give Paix and Croft a shoot-out for the 6. Croft just isn't getting things right. Defensively he's pretty safe, but the bombs dropping 15 metres from tryline or finding the wingers on the full EVERY TIME. Passes going to ground. He needs to be better. I haven't seen Paix play halves, so I'll leave that up to others to comment on. But I think he's done well enough to warrant a shot at being a bigger part of the team than bench hooker (see below). SOS is kind of the forgotten man, if he sticks around and can still run properly, he definitely should be considered too. Still probably need to go to market unless one of them tears it up consistently
Props/Lock: Haas, as silly as it sounds sometimes because he is so good, needs to play less minutes. Lodge needs to get his knee right and get physically fitter, not just 'game fit' before he comes back. Carrigan is a great 1-3 hitup taker and will only get better. Giving him a pass for playing conservatively, because throwing silly offloads isn't what we need right now.
Hooker: Everyone wants Grant, and even as a huge Turpin fan, I get it. I don't see it happening, so I'm viewing this with Turpin as main hooker. Don't forget he's had barely a season and half of that was out of position and was arguably better than our current halves. If he can have an uninterrupted run with the same forwards and a true half like Dearden I think he'll be more than serviceable. He brings good energy and has almost single-handedly won us as many games as anyone else currently in the team
Second Row: Yikes. No Fifita is such a blow, as far as having a highly talented constant there. Pangai I still don't think is best suited there, but he may need to play a couple of years there until we improve our stocks there. Casino Joe has been adequate, but is offering zero attacking threat. With more time, he may get better, but I'm not holding my breath. Glenn when fit will come back in but is on the road to hanging them up. Oates has the physical ability, but not the smarts to make it his own. Te'o has done well to jump back in, not sure he wants to go around again, but if he does, could be a solid option, even with needing an interchange. Piakura, Riki and Petterson-Robati haven't even debuted yet. Hopoate isn't great out wide as we've seen and is leaving anyway right? Still a big short-term problem area
Bench hooker: Paix is a great bench hooker, provided he doesn't win out at 5/8th. If he does, Luke is suitable if he stays on, which as he wants to settle in Brisbane, I imagine he will. Gamble also didn't disgrace himself last night. Macca I don't see returning, and it's best for both if he doesn't. Hetherington to continue QCup and get the odd run if we can afford to
Bench forwards: Flegler has been a rollercoaster, but with the right guidance and mindset, games like last night and the Souths game should be his base. He just needs to get the bonehead mistakes out of his game and he'll be a fantastic player.
Kennedy I'm a big fan of as our no-frills-does-a-job forward. Hope he gets more than 13 minutes in the future.
Pangai would be my final bench forward provided he's not playing second row. He's got 40-50 minutes to maintain the rage. Joe O otherwise assuming the same. Rotate Bullemor, Palasia and whoever else is right on the edge that need to experience first grade.
Realistically, there's very few free agents that are worth chasing to fill the true problem spots we have right now. We would have to almost sign someone early and they try and negotiate an early release. With the forwards depth, we need a seasoned vet or two that doesn't need to learn how to play first grade that we can throw straight in if need be and can help the kids mature as quickly as possible.
The noticeable names I've omitted, Bird and Milford, are spent forces in a Broncos jersey in my opinion, and like I said with McCullough, need to part ways for everyone's sakes. Along with Boyd retiring and Kahu going anywhere else. Oates and Joe O are the other two that are right on the line of this group, but still can be saved and are young enough to be quality contributors going forward.
Ultimately, we don't need to dump half the roster or sign a thousand replacements, we just need to put the right people in place to get the best out of them.