2017 Signings

Knights have had heaps of players left still should have a small war chest in their hands

I really have no idea what kinda of money someone like Rochow commands.
Same with Tariq sims.

It wouldnt shock me if Rochow was on 250 or 400.
Sims I think would be on closer to 400.

They are clearly just guesses though, based off the minimum wage being 80k for the top 25 players.

We've had a whole heap of players leave which is only going to be good for us long term. We should still have enough to buy some quality players. We've got the back covered now we need a 9 and 2 more decent props.

I may next buy a new jersey this year.

Lots of guys on other forums saying the knights paid overs. Avg 700k per year for 5 years is a risk but I think they've done the right thing. It was going to take a massive offer to get him to move (I thought he'd stay) I don't think they'll get the results for that money in the first year or two but the last 3 they'll get a million dollar player for unders. I actually like the young lineup they are building, it's a pity they bought a shlt hooker, Seggy would have been a great fit.

Ponga will look like a great signing once the cap gets adjusted.

Okay I'll be the unpopular guy. If you sign a guy whose played 2 games on the wing to $700k a year on a long term contract, and expect him to be the saviour playing behind one of the worst forward packs in the competition, as a club administration as a whole, your whole philosophy to recruitment is wrong.

Pieman wrote:

The guy has been recurited by Union, AFL and League.
The experts obviously see something good in him so it might be a steal with the increasing salary cap if he ends up being as good as they think he will be.
If not, oh well, we took a punt on someone who was supposed to be awesome and it hurts us for 5 years. Its not like we were going to win a comp in the next 5 years anyway.

I still doubt we get him, even if that is actually the offer, which I agree, is huge and silly. But if its what we gotta do to get him then so be it.

From the very limited gametime I have seen from the young bloke, the hype appears extremely premature and fear that a price tag of that magnitude will inevitably bring great expectation, even playing for a team as shite as the Knights.

The young bloke is obviously a gun sportsman in general but that doesn't guarantee he will exceed in League.

As for the bolded statement above, that's purely crazy talk.

Punts for that amount of time and for over 10% of your cap, can severely cripple a club that is already in crisis and attempting to get their off field shit together.
It's clearly not an 'oh well' situation if it doesn't work out mate.

And don't give me this rubbish about the deal being a steal if the salary cap increases.
The young bloke's manager would either have clauses in his contract to allow for that, or he will simply do what every other player does and break his contract.

Not at all.
Everything I said stands true.

Also, good post mate, you openly say that you havent really seen him play then go on to state its a bad call. Another belter from you there.

We either play Jake Mamo at fullback and lose every game for the next 5 years, or we take a punt on Ponga, (for what could end up being a reasonable amount of money if he lives up to the hype 100% true) and if he fails - we are in the same position we were in before. Its  risky but clearly a great move from the Knights and a step in the right direction. Do you really think that the club wouldnt have done its homework with him? They might have been recruiting him for years for all we know.

It was reported that the cowboys offered him 500k a season, were they stupid for doing that? They would know more about him than anyone and they were prepared to make him the highest paid rookie in history - Newie is just more desperate and less of a desirable destination as far as team wise goes so they had to pay more.

What would you propose the club do? Invest in mediocre established players? Pay even more for an established player to get them to come to newcastle?

It is a risk, a big one, but it is obviously a calculated risk. It is an investment that may or may not work out. We have to try something! We are in a similar situation to what canberra was in a few years ago. Have to pay overs to get anyone to the club. Now players Want to go there. Paying the best young prospect in the game is a no brainer, and will lead to a ripple effect. How did the raiders rebuild?
They bought a couple of good players from england, they bought a halfback and jagged a good 6, then developed some local young blokes. Now they are a fucking powerhouse.

My problem too is that he is playing behind a fairly shit forward pack with no hooker, maybe we will get someone like seggy in a year or 2. We need some good front rowers so badly. Everywhere else but front row and hooker is covered.

Signing Ponga is clearly and indisputably is a step in the right direction.

Dip wrote: Okay I'll be the unpopular guy. If you sign a guy whose played 2 games on the wing to $700k a year on a long term contract,  and expect him to be the saviour playing behind one of the worst forward packs in the competition, as a club administration as a whole, your whole philosophy to recruitment is wrong.

I agree mate we should just play Ken Sio at fullback and be happy with that

Pieman wrote:

I agree mate we should just play Ken Sio at fullback and be happy with that

If you played Super Kenny Sio at FB you would win a Premiership within 5 years.

Dip wrote: Okay I'll be the unpopular guy. If you sign a guy whose played 2 games on the wing to $700k a year on a long term contract,  and expect him to be the saviour playing behind one of the worst forward packs in the competition, as a club administration as a whole, your whole philosophy to recruitment is wrong.

Agreed, it is a massive risk. I don't think they expect him to be the saviour though, more grabbing a massively rated kid to fit their long term goals. But yeah, 700k for an unproven 18 year old winger, and a small one at that

I assume he starts on the wing next year and they go from there?

Well by next year he is 19, and by the time he is at newcastle he will be 20, hes not coming until 2018 isnt he??

TopDog wrote:
If you played Super Kenny Sio at FB you would win 5 Premierships every year.

FTFY.

Pieman wrote:Well by next year he is 19, and by the time he is at newcastle he will be 20, hes not coming until 2018 isnt he??

No idea, if that is the case then yeah, plenty of time backflip

Pieman wrote:

I agree mate we should just play Ken Sio at fullback and be happy with that

I'd prefer to have 3 x $300K players than Ponga for $700K + 2 minimum salary players. Or 1 x $700K player whose played more than 2 games on the wing. Hell Segeyaro is not worth $700K either, but he'd fill the role Newy needs for the next couple of years better than Ponga would IMO (no I am not advocating getting Seggy for $700K).

You guys have got the last 2 wooden spoons, and had 5 wins and a draw from your last 44 games. You need to start being competitive now, not simply trying to be a finals side in 2019 or 2020.

Totally disagree.
It's near impossible to become a good side over night.
We tried that with Bennett and co and failed horribly.

Steps like this help build clubs, newie needs to be built from the ground up not the top down and this is one of those ground up investments, whether it pays off or not - we will see.

I can still see a backflip coming in the future

Pieman wrote:
We either play Jake Mamo at fullback and lose every game for the next 5 years, or we take a punt on Ponga, (for what could end up being a reasonable amount of money if he lives up to the hype 100% true) and if he fails - we are in the same position we were in before.

I think you may have had more than two options here... call me crazy but you could've signed someone else who might've come a bit cheaper?

but let's be honest, the Knights have had nothing since Kirk Reynoldson left.

Pieman wrote:Totally disagree.
It's near impossible to become a good side over night.
We tried that with Bennett and co and failed horribly.

Steps like this help build clubs, newie needs to be built from the ground up not the top down and this is one of those ground up investments, whether it pays off or not - we will see.

I can still see a backflip coming in the future

You don't need to become a good side overnight, but you do need to become competitive. I think you're better off looking at teams like Souths from the mid 2000's in terms of how to build a team. Sure they had a sugar daddy, but the team was on a continuous upwards trend long before Inglis and Burgess.

were they?
I from what I remember, they punted a heap of dead weight, signed some good front rowers and paid big money for Inglis and that was a catalyst for their revival. I remember them going through a phase where they had to pay overs for players too.

Either way, I am happy with the signing of Ponga. If it works out then awesome, if not, oh well, we werent doing anything anyway.

Dip wrote:

You don't need to become a good side overnight, but you do need to become competitive. I think you're better off looking at teams like Souths from the mid 2000's in terms of how to build a team. Sure they had a sugar daddy, but the team was on a continuous upwards trend long before Inglis and Burgess.

I don't think you understand what's happening at Newcastle. We're in a bad way, with money and with results. They're building for a future because 2017 they're still trapped with money. Then we've got 16/25 off contract and we can move some of the deadwood along. That's when you start shifting players in on those $300/$400 contracts and build what you need.

We're going to build a side around Ponga/Lamb/Cogger/Levi (whether that's wise remains to be seen) the last three all juniors who we don't need to pay a shit load for and then we follow that up with the development of the Saifiti brothers. Suddenly we've got a bit of money for 2018 and we can start building around the nucleus of young players.

Signing players now just to be competitive next year is a waste of money and short sighted. The fans believe in the long term plan, the crowds didn't take a backward step at any point this season. We're not a fickle bunch. Short term pain for potential long term gain.