Strewthcobber
Simon Poidevin (60)
The reality is anyone who has signed overseas in Europe or Japan will start appearing on their team lists pretty soon
My belief is you go out and resign the absolute stars like your Kerevis or amcDermotts
For the rest of the squad. unless there is a glaring weakness at a certain position of depth then you allow the playing group battle it out in NRC a and see which current players excel over their club counterparts or you sign the club counterpart who’s stepping up and putting his hand up for a gig at next level.
Didn’t you hear, Cordingley’s reducing the squad. We’ve got a run on team with 15 contracted players. Throw Rodda into flyhalf, Speight into Hooker and JP into the centres. That’s called saving money. Thorn and McKay on the bench for injuries.
Isn't this what he's currently being paid to do?Yeah mate thinking the same thing. That mental toughness in his games and how to push beyond all to get that win is something the players could learn a lot from.
NRC is too late. You will miss the better talent.
Reds should look into Jamayne Isaako. Current Broncos winger about to lose his spot to a couple of generational talents. Was rookie winger of the year, prefers fullback, kicks goals and grew up playing union in Christchurch.
Don't rate Isaako enough to chase him hard. To be honest I think we sometimes mythologise a bit about the average standard of play and athlete in the NRL. Now don't get me wrong, the top games and players are absolutely extraordinary, a real cut above all but the world's best in Rugby Union but the average (e.g starters/bench players in mid-table teams, 9th vs 12th in round 18) is not a higher standard that the average Super Rugby standard.
If Isaako is about to lose his NRL spot to an 18 year old (though I'll grant that Coates is likely to be a real freak) then I think serious pause should be given before assuming he'd be a success in Super Rugby. This is the type of thinking that caused the Reds to crow about what a coup it was to sign fucking Lachlan Maranta for two years (on absolute peanuts because he was unwanted by the Broncos) and Jayden Ngmanu (a young league player from Perth) and miss out on signing Banks (the outstanding player in QPR and NRC for the previous two years).
And yes I'm still bitter about it.
Basically unless it's pretty obvious that a league signing is going to be almost nailed on to start in their first game, I'd prefer we look locally (or try repatriate somebody) first
There must be some real finessing on JOCs contract happening. I imagine Cheika wants it sorted quickly.
Won’t be a great marriage if forced/either party unhappy with their deal