Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Wed Jul 19, 2023 3:09 pm
Once were Loiners wrote:
Not number but quality, and in key positions. I don't think there's any need to panic though. Past history suggests that UK media have very little insight into Leeds' investigations into players in Australia, and most of the Aussie media (including The Mole) are also clueless about many SL signings until very late in the day.
On the other hand the club may find itself in the very difficult position of having cap money available (especially via the marquee route) but not a lot of NRL talent available at the same time. While not getting somebody to be excited about would be disappointing, we have to get this right for the longer term. An even worse outcome would be signing players just because they are available if they're useless, as we would then be stuck with them for years which would delay the ultimate recovery even more.
Maybe the best thing to do is sign quality where we can (e.g. a full back who can cover elsewhere) if the trade-off is wait a year for a quality player? Bottom line is its awful squad management to end up with 3 spine players right at the fag end of their careers at the same time.
On the other hand the club may find itself in the very difficult position of having cap money available (especially via the marquee route) but not a lot of NRL talent available at the same time. While not getting somebody to be excited about would be disappointing, we have to get this right for the longer term. An even worse outcome would be signing players just because they are available if they're useless, as we would then be stuck with them for years which would delay the ultimate recovery even more.
Maybe the best thing to do is sign quality where we can (e.g. a full back who can cover elsewhere) if the trade-off is wait a year for a quality player? Bottom line is its awful squad management to end up with 3 spine players right at the fag end of their careers at the same time.
Agree with that. It's definitely quality not quantity we require. As it stands we are pretty certainly losing Tetavano, Sezer, Walters and Tindall. We have also already lost Leeming. Assuming Goudemand comes on a similar wage to Leeming ( although I think he would likely be less) I reckon we'd still have over 300k to spend on the cap, plus whatever we can afford in marquee payments. I would like to think that might put us in a competitive position to focus on two NRL additions to the spine. These might be A) Not regular starters or B) Deemed surplus requirements due to the emergence of younger talent, but both more than good enough to make a dramatic difference to Leeds. If the market has shifted to such an extent that is no longer doable we are in a very tricky spot indeed.
