2024 Top 30 / Ins and Outs

Well shut up then
No.

I didn't bring it up, I disagreed with GNR's opinion that it was worse after he mentioned it.

I can't for the life of me understand the hostility in that response of yours. You and I have never had a running battle on here, have always remained cordial and this interaction up until this point was short and respectful.
 
I wonder what Staines has done to fall out of favour. Boggles my mind he hasn't been resigned when we desperately need backs.
Me too...hes our best winger by daylite..but that may be the problem
He and his manager may believe hes our best no 1 ,and the $$$ that go with that.
He isnt
And dont think any other NRL club wld buy that either
So its an impasse,and we all decide to move on until one day he wakes up and everyone has a full roster,and....oops,no room at the inn
 
Hopefully he is on standby while they try to get rid of someone to free up a top 30 spot for him and hopefully for reasonable dollars.
 
No.

I didn't bring it up, I disagreed with GNR's opinion that it was worse after he mentioned it.

I can't for the life of me understand the hostility in that response of yours. You and I have never had a running battle on here, have always remained cordial and this interaction up until this point was short and respectful.
This is a forum.
If you aren’t prepared to discuss your point of view then I don’t see the point in sniping the opinions of others. I’ve provided plenty of reasoning previously surrounding my stance that 2023 was a very poor season. It isn’t hyperbole.
Given the enormous distractions during 22, the spoon was inevitable.
We then strengthened our pack with 4 internationals, our backline with a GF winner and found one of the best rookies of the year and still came last in a comp that had an extra team added to it.
 
This is a forum.
If you aren’t prepared to discuss your point of view then I don’t see the point in sniping the opinions of others. I’ve provided plenty of reasoning previously surrounding my stance that 2023 was a very poor season. It isn’t hyperbole.
Given the enormous distractions during 22, the spoon was inevitable.
We then strengthened our pack with 4 internationals, our backline with a GF winner and found one of the best rookies of the year and still came last in a comp that had an extra team added to it.
Correct. It is.

When you stated 'we've been over this', I read that as you not being interested in continuing the discussion, so I simply stated I was happy to not reopen it if you didn't want to.

That was my response. I hope you can then see why I was was a bit taken aback by the tone of your response.

Also, I'm sure you've seen enough of me to see that I'm more than happy to engage in long discussions, and I'm happy to reply to what you've just written, just give me a bit as it's bedtime routine in our house at the moment.
 
This is a forum.
If you aren’t prepared to discuss your point of view then I don’t see the point in sniping the opinions of others. I’ve provided plenty of reasoning previously surrounding my stance that 2023 was a very poor season. It isn’t hyperbole.
Given the enormous distractions during 22, the spoon was inevitable.
We then strengthened our pack with 4 internationals, our backline with a GF winner and found one of the best rookies of the year and still came last in a comp that had an extra team added to it.
OK, all of what you've mentioned there is true.

And I agree.

My opinion is two-fold, firstly, that the metrics used will dictate whether it's viewed as a better, same or worse season as '22 and secondly, that there are clashing metrics on positive and negative, so therefore to say that it is clearly, or much, or far worse (or better for that matter) than last year is an exaggeration, given the metrics for either side.

I think we made strides in some areas and fell short in others, as you mentioned.

My point is moot without some backing, so here are a few areas I think are worth noting as improvements over 2022:

- Attack was better, despite looking worse, albeit not by much (30 odd points)
- With defense comparable, it was an overall improved for and against
- we were able to get more ball, in good position (even if we couldn't do much with it). We went from 16th to 6th in possession.
- Run metres were up by 5000m over the year. Speaking largely to the improvements in the forwards.
- We went from 4th in missed tackles to 15th. So defensive efficiency improved considerably.
- We had a lot of near misses. 7 games were lost by 6 points or less.

Then, more subjectively, a few considerations -

- Barely any, or in fact zero, off season for many of our big ins, largely due to the World Cup.
- The halves merry go round and injuries to key personnel at key times. We didn't have our starting five eighth for almost the entire season. Wakeham, Smith and Laurie playing multiple games as our starting halves? Man...
- Bula.
- A taste of some other raw, but promising up and comers.
- Offloading several bad contracts in the off season.
- Api's captain's knock for the season.
- Securing in my opinion, some incredible talents.
- And some more off-field stuff that is probably more tangential than specific to the season performance in and of itself.

Anyway, I've waffled enough.

In my opinion, both seasons were woeful.

I just don't think 2023 was worse (more comparable), so I certainly don't think it was much worse.
 
The Staines situation is making me nervous. I cannot for the life of me understand WT reluctance to re-sign him. When he was on the field he was one of our best every time. Be just like us to let him go and hang onto Kepaoa!
 
The Staines situation is making me nervous. I cannot for the life of me understand WT reluctance to re-sign him. When he was on the field he was one of our best every time. Be just like us to let him go and hang onto Kepaoa!
I think the problem is obvious (no offence), but it’s numbers, 30/30.
If we had 26/30 then I think you’d find Stains would probably be signed up. But if we do manage to offload flippers then I hope we sign someone better than stains. He is fast and not bad, but he had a few howlers in him, I remember a drop-out he dropped cold and cost us with mins to go. Anyway we need to offload players like flippers and Simpkin asap and make it 28/30 to give us a chance of signing a quality fast centre and a spare spot for next year or next year isn’t gunna be pretty.
 
The Staines situation is making me nervous. I cannot for the life of me understand WT reluctance to re-sign him. When he was on the field he was one of our best every time. Be just like us to let him go and hang onto Kepaoa!

They prioritized Seyfarth over Staines retention says alot really. They also had hopes a heap of players will find new homes but as a team coming off back to back spoons the reality is our players aren’t wanted or good enough for teams who want to play finals footy.
 
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