Re: Player recruitment : Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:42 pm  

Tony Rea has only signed Soward, Tommy Lee, Hurst and one or two loan players.

He can't be blamed for Powell wasting the salary cup on 2-3 year deals for dross.

Re: Player recruitment : Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:24 pm  

markrammond wrote:

Tony Rea has only signed Soward, Tommy Lee, Hurst and one or two loan players.

He can't be blamed for Powell wasting the salary cup on 2-3 year deals for dross.

...correct. David Hughes can be though and guess who holds the purse strings for 2014?

Re: Player recruitment : Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:25 pm  

Euclid wrote:

This is the same Tony Rea that presumably played some part in the signing of clowns like Kaufusi and Rodney?

Surely the issue in relation to the under-performance of Kaufusi and Rodney was nothing to do with any issue related to signing them, it was to do with getting them to perform to their potential when they were here. I think that they were both signed under Powell's regime or maybe even earlier, but they didn't perform for either Powell or Rea (or for me, FWIW).

Re: Player recruitment : Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:12 pm  

Euclid wrote:

This is the same Tony Rea that presumably played some part in the signing of clowns like Kaufusi and Rodney?

Yep, the same one that signed the incumbent QLD hooker, Jason Hetherington; Kiwi Captain, Richie Barnett; origin & international Jimmy Dymock and Dennis Moran and Tony Martin at the same time. Yep, that Tony Rea.

gutterfax wrote:

...correct. David Hughes can be though and guess who holds the purse strings for 2014?

To be Fair GF. If the person holding the purse strings says, "you have X amount of money to spend on players". That tends to be the end of their involvement. Recruitment people go and find, talk to agents, scouts etc. Our recruitment person is Tony Rea isn't it? The buck stops there.

Re: Player recruitment : Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:32 pm  

Rooster Booster wrote:

To be Fair GF. If the person holding the purse strings says, "you have X amount of money to spend on players". That tends to be the end of their involvement. Recruitment people go and find, talk to agents, scouts etc. Our recruitment person is Tony Rea isn't it? The buck stops there.

100% correct, but in the context of my post, the problem was that the person saying you have $xxxxx to spend was David Hughes and the person he was talking to was Rob Powell

Anyhoo....rumours are that we have been granted no exceptions on the overseas quota so it's loaners from SL and a few foreigners together with the 11 or so we have already that need to get us to 12th or better.

Re: Player recruitment : Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:56 am  

gutterfax wrote:

Anyhoo....rumours are that we have been granted no exceptions on the overseas quota so it's loaners from SL and a few foreigners together with the 11 or so we have already that need to get us to 12th or better.

In many ways isn't that for the best? I mean our detractors would have a field day if we were made a 'special case' (basket case more like!). This way if we finish in the top 12 nobody's going to have that to moan about.

Re: Player recruitment : Tue Dec 17, 2013 10:35 am  

BroncOnIon wrote:

Surely the issue in relation to the under-performance of Kaufusi and Rodney was nothing to do with any issue related to signing them, it was to do with getting them to perform to their potential when they were here. I think that they were both signed under Powell's regime or maybe even earlier, but they didn't perform for either Powell or Rea (or for me, FWIW).

Yes, you're right

Re: Player recruitment : Tue Dec 17, 2013 10:46 am  

gutterfax wrote:

rumours are that we have been granted no exceptions on the overseas quota so it's loaners from SL and a few foreigners together with the 11 or so we have already that need to get us to 12th or better.

Good to see that the lines of communication are open again to the rest of us fans (we only live in the same frigging country as the club after all).......as you now seem to be used as the clubs conduit for all announcements, is that an `official` rumour, or dare I say it, is this part a manifesto soon to be published by our beloved CEO, giving us a blow by blow account of how he intends to take the club forward??

Re: Player recruitment : Tue Dec 17, 2013 10:55 am  

gutterfax wrote:

100% correct, but in the context of my post, the problem was that the person saying you have $xxxxx to spend was David Hughes and the person he was talking to was Rob Powell

Anyhoo....rumours are that we have been granted no exceptions on the overseas quota so it's loaners from SL and a few foreigners together with the 11 or so we have already that need to get us to 12th or better.

David Hughes has always a very significant role in both signing new players and re-signing old ones. More than you might expect. It is absolutely not the case that he agrees a playing budget with his CEO/coach and then leaves them to it.

Hughes is a man who is very loyal to those he likes. That's not a bad characteristic in life, but not necessarily great in professional sport. It explains why so many players were retained after it became apparent that their contribution was sub-standard. It also explains Gus not having his P45 yet.

On the playing front for next year, Rea has his faults, but is a very well-connected bloke in the Aussie game. I would expect London to be fielding a lot of young south sea islanders from NRL reserve grades, who can get round the non-federation-trained rule without needing an exemption from the limit.

Re: Player recruitment : Tue Dec 17, 2013 1:05 pm  

Relegation doesn't bother me, as long as I see some pride, I'm beginning to see already, that the "club" don't really care. I think in a year, perhaps two, we'll be looking around for people to start a new club.

I hope I'm wrong, but I just know I'm not.