[Chris71]

Re: Shopping list for 2024 : Mon Jun 19, 2023 10:52 am  

Dave K. wrote:

We have tried the other way, throwing big money at players, Sneyd, Westerman, Ellis etc, this worked short term and to be fair, I'd sure Rovers would take a challenge cup with in the next three or so years, but we have done that and as much I would love to to win the cup again, i want us to build the club ready for challenge long term and there is only one way to do that IMO.

Buying success is realistically only ever a short term solution. For that to work and become a long term solution you need to have to also integrate within that the building of foundations to bring the youth through, in some ways its a bit of Catch 22. Failure to do that will only ever see short term plans which are based purely on funds available which makes it a high risk strategy long term.

As you say we ourselves have seen that, as we failed to build on the 2016/2017 seasons and combined with ridiculous merging of the Academies and assistant coaches promoted beyond their abilities/experiences at the time have set us back significantly.

With TS he has the experience and knowledge and we are already seeing the benefits of that and with the combination of the investment by AP in to the junior development and pathways at the club.

As fans we have seen more positives and changes in the club moving forward in the last few months than we have done from 2018 to 2022.

Re: Shopping list for 2024 : Mon Jun 19, 2023 11:24 am  

Looks like the NRL is coming calling for Clifford. Would be a massive shame to lose him, but pleasure to see him play

Re: Shopping list for 2024 : Mon Jun 19, 2023 11:28 am  

Irregs#16 wrote:

Looks like the NRL is coming calling for Clifford. Would be a massive shame to lose him, but pleasure to see him play

I'd be really disappointed, I get he is a good player, but so are Lam and Croft and both Salford and Leigh have managed to keep those.

Re: Shopping list for 2024 : Mon Jun 19, 2023 11:51 am  

Irregs#16 wrote:

Looks like the NRL is coming calling for Clifford. Would be a massive shame to lose him, but pleasure to see him play

Where?

Re: Shopping list for 2024 : Mon Jun 19, 2023 11:52 am  

mwindass wrote:

Where?

Not sure. Just seen a tweet by someone who normally has things right, given who he hangs around with

Re: Shopping list for 2024 : Mon Jun 19, 2023 11:54 am  

Will be hard to replace that’s for sure

[Mild Rover]

Re: Shopping list for 2024 : Mon Jun 19, 2023 11:54 am  

Dave K. wrote:

We have tried the other way, throwing big money at players, Sneyd, Westerman, Ellis etc, this worked short term and to be fair, I'd sure Rovers would take a challenge cup with in the next three or so years, but we have done that and as much I would love to to win the cup again, i want us to build the club ready for challenge long term and there is only one way to do that IMO.

Fair enough, I think optimal approaches can vary according to circumstances. Being able spend year after year is the key to sustained success, everything else is marginal (all of this, imo, of course). The problem wasn’t that Hull spent big but that they stopped and relied on a generation of academy graduates. It could have worked but when it didn’t momentum was lost. If the money’s not there, it’s not there - you can only spend what you have. Similar to Rovers losing momentum after the first promotion to SL and some relatively good years under Morgan. There was nothing wrong with seeing Dave Peterson and Louis Sherriff (sp?) as heralding a new dawn… until it didn’t work. Surely, both Hull and Rovers have to wonder at some point why it keeps not working for them and whether something else might work better. Maybe next time will be different!

Chris71 wrote:

Buying success is realistically only ever a short term solution.

In all good faith, I have taken the opposite lesson from the SL era. The same few clubs with the biggest budgets the have dominated the competition with a dreary consistency.

Every club should try to prioritise effectively, but whatever they do they’ll struggle against teams who don’t need to prioritise as much.

For clubs that do need to prioritise the most, putting the academy at the top of the list and underlining it (again!), feels like a white hat bias to me now.

All that said, if Rovers are now the sort of club who can offer sizeable transfer fees and stretch the cap, then those relatively low return marginal gains could become just gains.

Re: Shopping list for 2024 : Mon Jun 19, 2023 11:56 am  

Hearing Griff has signed a contract extension, though not sure on the length. Come from a sponsor

Re: Shopping list for 2024 : Mon Jun 19, 2023 12:00 pm  

Irregs#16 wrote:

Hearing Griff has signed a contract extension, though not sure on the length. Come from a sponsor

Hope you are right about this and also wrong about Clifford, from Brooksy I think, who has a mixed record when it comes to rumours.

Near impossible to replace, I still fail to see where he goes, wonder who would take him, he would get in Newcastle team, better player than Gamble. Wests or Canberra look like they are losing 7's too.

Id be disappointed in Clifford if he leaves early.

Re: Shopping list for 2024 : Mon Jun 19, 2023 12:01 pm  

Irregs#16 wrote:

Not sure. Just seen a tweet by someone who normally has things right, given who he hangs around with

Guessing it's Brooksy if it's the tweet I've just seen