Yea smart move from us, we’ll show him. Contracted will always seek moves, happens every year and will continue
Fine with that as long as we never approach a contracted player ever again.
I would also be advising all our kids to sign 2 year deals max
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Saints did the same thing with Marshall I think we will see more clubs holding players to their contracts imo
Doesn’t mean it’s always the right thing to do, sometimes a player wants out and you ship them out
I’ve been a staunch critic when it comes to how it has been run for many, many years (footy dept perspective). Certainly since Covid. I’ve long held the view the clubs list management inadequacies took too much spotlight from the other areas the club failed in (development, conditioning, culture etc) to many a frustrated fan on this Blitz site! ‘Dodo’ was a distraction from the focus needing to be on other areas of failure too imo…. We’ve dealt with that.
I’m heartened by Andrew Welsh’s elevation to President, he was always going to be terrific…. And will be if given a chance by the broader club stakeholders. And I’m heartened by the direction of the club since his appointment.
That said, I gave up really on these four players about a year ago. If they get right, a bonus for me. I’m looking past them. That’s why the club are trialling Gerryne down back, recruited Farrow as well as two top line mids as I think the club are also mitigating potential risk of these guys not getting right.
Fingers crossed though, we’re better fit these guys being conditioned and free to play at their best.
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A pick in the teens is great value for a guy who isn’t capable of playing more than 3 games in a row without breaking down
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I’ve never understood why players wanting to break contracts is a cardinal sin, even when they want out because they’re about to take a huge pay cut.
If a rival club offers something silly, you now have a good option.
If a satisfactory deal can’t be made, you kiss and make up, which can be done in most cases (probably not Zach’s).
Of course it is, missed opportunity for sure
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We have to look at our next bunch of players in an age group that we think could win a premiership.
Thats the 23-25 age group of:
Cladwell, Durham, Martin, Duursma and the Ruck being Bryan.
When these guys are 27-29 that’s when everyone below that age group has to be good and firing.
Like you said, we have holes everywhere in that group and younger.
e.g. Defensively, I wouldn’t rely on Reid staying on the park. With McKay and Ridley aging in 3-4 years we have nothing defensively.
We need to go into next year’s draft with atleast another 2 first round picks, and then we need to look to trade players in after that.
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I’m guessing the belief was that we already had enough youth in the list and didn’t want to tip the balance further to a younger list… unless we were given a godfather offer which gave us access to top 5.
The mature players are needed during development phases as well. How many and which ones are the key questions.
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And then matched bids on Sweid
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Sweid was tipped to cop a bid inside 30 the club was never going to match even if they had extra picks they didn’t rate him that high imo.
Did he have hamstring injuries the last few years or quad injuries. I thought it was quads, and this hamstring injury is a new injury.
Hammy’s last year and now, quads before that
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Off load him in 12 months time for a third round pick.
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Hopefully we get 10 games out of him that warrants a mid to late 2nd or 3rd rounder.
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Now with his pre-season impacted he’ll no doubt get reinjured again at some stage in 2026
Realistically we can expect 8 - 10 games out of him in next year (similar to 2024 & 25)
Hopefully can trade him out and get a 3rd rounder at the end of 2026
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Ridley a hammie? Bugger.
I haven’t quite given up on these 4 players, but the margin between keeping or trading them is a thin one and getting narrower. I no longer hold out hope that they will all be regular members of the 23 next season. They are part of the sad recent past, when the club needs to be looking forward. Can these 4 be part of the future? Things will have to change if that is to be the case.
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Hopefully Brisbane are still keen next year, with him and Merrett leaving we can hopefully end up with a few decent picks