Rabbitohs showing interest in signing Josh Papalii

[greeneyed]

Rabbits search for backrow power

Don’t be surprised if South Sydney makes a play for Queensland Origin monster Josh Papalii. The Rabbitohs have had preliminary discussions with his management. While they’re yet to make the off-contact backrower an offer, they have room for another big body in their roster.

Read more: https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... nt=control

[Floydd]

The big fella has been good for us but IMHO i don't think we should get into a bidding war for his services. We need to free up cash and start looking for proven half to organize our immensely talented roster. We have a couple of good young fellas coming through that should be able to fill the void should Pappa chase the money.

[hrundi89]

[sprintman]

Based on current performance they can have him.

[Neeeegz]

Just a ploy by his manager to get top dollar. Hope we don't take the bait, on current form he isn't worth it.

[RTW]

We need to redistribute our salary cap and invest in a quality half back who can organise a team. That means that one of Papalii, Boys or Paulo need to go to free up the cash. If it was me I would be losing Paulo as the other two have come through our ranks.

We need to ensure we are paying as little as possible for these positions and if they are to leave ensure that he club they go to are paying as much as possible.

[Coastalraider]

We have both Papalli and Paulo coming off contract this year that will be asking for top dollar. At their current performance, we should be letting both go, and spending big dollars luring an unhappy half thats currently under contract . I can guarantee a contracted half will switch clubs at seasons end, it happens every year, so looking at who is off contract is irrelevant. In the last 12 months we have had Maloney, Moylan, Pierce, Moses and Green be released from contracts. It happens.

If we had a middle third selection of Boyd/Sia/Whitehead/Bateman/Gubb/Knight/Guler/Hunt + one $300-$400k recruit, and a edge forward rotation of Tarpine/Whitehead/Murchie/Sia/ + one $300-$400k recruit we would have a pretty solid forward pack with depth, while potentially releasing $600k+ to spend by not renewing either Papalli or Paulo. Tie that in with releasing Austin and or Sezer, we could go to market with way over $1million to snare a serious halfback.

Papa is amazing when he is firing, but he's not firing now, and we seem to have a lot of cap wrapped up in our forward pack, of which the 2 biggest earners are not currently leading that pack around.

[edwahu]

We have both Papalli and Paulo coming off contract this year that will be asking for top dollar. At their current performance, we should be letting both go, and spending big dollars luring an unhappy half thats currently under contract . I can guarantee a contracted half will switch clubs at seasons end, it happens every year, so looking at who is off contract is irrelevant. In the last 12 months we have had Maloney, Moylan, Pierce, Moses and Green be released from contracts. It happens.

If we had a middle third selection of Boyd/Sia/Whitehead/Bateman/Gubb/Knight/Guler/Hunt + one $300-$400k recruit, and a edge forward rotation of Tarpine/Whitehead/Murchie/Sia/ + one $300-$400k recruit we would have a pretty solid forward pack with depth, while potentially releasing $600k+ to spend by not renewing either Papalli or Paulo. Tie that in with releasing Austin and or Sezer, we could go to market with way over $1million to snare a serious halfback.

Papa is amazing when he is firing, but he's not firing now, and we seem to have a lot of cap wrapped up in our forward pack, of which the 2 biggest earners are not currently leading that pack around.

If you look at raw talent at the club, I would have those two players in the top three. We need to work out why we can't get the most out of those players rather than just giving up on them easily. It's not the players with high potential that we should be releasing, its the low potential ones who we keep around because they are easy to retain.

That's not to mention we also have to break a 30 year recruitment trend to even sign a high quality in demand half.

[Coastalraider]

We have both Papalli and Paulo coming off contract this year that will be asking for top dollar. At their current performance, we should be letting both go, and spending big dollars luring an unhappy half thats currently under contract . I can guarantee a contracted half will switch clubs at seasons end, it happens every year, so looking at who is off contract is irrelevant. In the last 12 months we have had Maloney, Moylan, Pierce, Moses and Green be released from contracts. It happens.

If we had a middle third selection of Boyd/Sia/Whitehead/Bateman/Gubb/Knight/Guler/Hunt + one $300-$400k recruit, and a edge forward rotation of Tarpine/Whitehead/Murchie/Sia/ + one $300-$400k recruit we would have a pretty solid forward pack with depth, while potentially releasing $600k+ to spend by not renewing either Papalli or Paulo. Tie that in with releasing Austin and or Sezer, we could go to market with way over $1million to snare a serious halfback.

Papa is amazing when he is firing, but he's not firing now, and we seem to have a lot of cap wrapped up in our forward pack, of which the 2 biggest earners are not currently leading that pack around.

If you look at raw talent at the club, I would have those two players in the top three. We need to work out why we can't get the most out of those players rather than just giving up on them easily. It's not the players with high potential that we should be releasing, its the low potential ones who we keep around because they are easy to retain.

That's not to mention we also have to break a 30 year recruitment trend to even sign a high quality in demand half.

I didn't mean we give up on them, and I totally understand your point, but the real question is should 2 of our top 3 talents and earners be a prop and a second rower? Is it good cap management to have that much money wrapped up in 2 non spine positions?

I have a feeling that if we went to market with $1million+ to spend on a half, we would seem very attractive.

[-PJ-]

The Dora Creek Swampies could show interest in Papalii..

Doesn't mean squat.

[MrMilk]

I think the Titans game showed that good halves in an average team is better than a good team with average halves.

[-PJ-]

I think the Titans game showed that good halves in an average team is better than a good team with average halves.

What's that got to do with Rabbitohs/Papalii ?

[Brew]

I think the Titans game showed that good halves in an average team is better than a good team with average halves.

What's that got to do with Rabbitohs/Papalii ?

To spend money on quality halves instead of spending money on Papali


Sent from my iPhone using The Greenhouse mobile app powered by Tapatalk

[Green eyed Mick]

I would like us to keep him but we also need to rebalance our middle to be more effective defensively.

Given we probably can't and shouldn't keep all three of Boyd, Papa and Paulo and given the first two are better defenders, Paulo is the guy I would be letting go of.

[Neeeegz]

If that happens then papalli must move in one to prop opposite Boyd, he's too big for 2nd row these days

[Ilanraiders]

Get rid of Paulo!! Move Papa into prop.

[greeneyed]

We've tried Papalii at prop before and that's failed.

[100%green]

If it's true he is our highest paid player then whatevs. They can have him. He's lost that Aus jumper and on form won't get a look in for a Qld jumper. He is a 600-650k backrower at best on what he has shown recently. And that figure I'm throwing up is based on previous form and maybe him actually pulling his finger out and playing a middle role.
Would be really cool if player salaries were made public. I'd love to know the figures and how the club distributes its salary cap. Cauz our cap management sucks!

It's ludicrous players salaries aren't public...especially the way the game carries on about the salary cap.

We are carrying to much size in the forwards compared to the rest of the league. It's either time to downsize the players weight or downsize our forwards...

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[gangrenous]

We've tried Papalii at prop before and that's failed.

Did we try with more interchanges? And a smaller Papalii?...

[LP Raider]

We've tried Papalii at prop before and that's failed.

This.

We need a quality half!

Papa is not a priority and his lack of professionalism will go against him come contract negotiations.

[greeneyed]

We've tried Papalii at prop before and that's failed.

This.

We need a quality half!

Papa is not a priority and his lack of professionalism will go against him come contract negotiations.

I think he is a priority. I want to see him in 2016 fitness and form. Very nice bloke by the way, he always impresses me if ever I run into him.

[-PJ-]

We've tried Papalii at prop before and that's failed.

This.

We need a quality half!

Papa is not a priority and his lack of professionalism will go against him come contract negotiations.

I think he is a priority. I want to see him in 2016 fitness and form. Very nice bloke by the way, he always impresses me if ever I run into him.

Soft hands I'm hearing...

[greeneyed]

He was also the best second rower in the game in 2016. That's what we need from him, and he needs to get back to that.

[edwahu]

If he isn't a retention priority who is? Bateman?

We can't just replace players like him. Remember when 700k wouldn't get us Proctor? We have 10m to spend, if we can't find 700k for Papalii now we are making a mistake.

[irvste]

Papa had a slow start in 2016 too I'd rather we kept him but he's got to stop eating all the pies that Paulo doesn't get through

[LP Raider]

You can't have a second rower as your top earner.

I have no idea how Bateman comes into this.

[edwahu]

You can't have a second rower as your top earner.

I have no idea how Bateman comes into this.

We have 13 players off contract. We need to retain some of them. So who do you want us to retain?

[Coastalraider]

You can't have a second rower as your top earner.

I have no idea how Bateman comes into this.

We have 13 players off contract. We need to retain some of them. So who do you want us to retain?

Wrong question - we have a total of $10million or so to spend next year and 13 spots to fill. What's the most effective way of filling them, being retention or recruitment.

What positions do we need to fill, what money should we allocate to those positions, and do any of our existing players fit that criteria.

[Green eyed Mick]

You can't have a second rower as your top earner.

I have no idea how Bateman comes into this.

We have 13 players off contract. We need to retain some of them. So who do you want us to retain?

Wrong question - we have a total of $10million or so to spend next year and 13 spots to fill. What's the most effective way of filling them, being retention or recruitment.

What positions do we need to fill, what money should we allocate to those positions, and do any of our existing players fit that criteria.

With so many players off contract it is the perfect time to replace the coach.

[edwahu]

You can't have a second rower as your top earner.

I have no idea how Bateman comes into this.

We have 13 players off contract. We need to retain some of them. So who do you want us to retain?

Wrong question - we have a total of $10million or so to spend next year and 13 spots to fill. What's the most effective way of filling them, being retention or recruitment.

What positions do we need to fill, what money should we allocate to those positions, and do any of our existing players fit that criteria.

We are the clear weakest club in a very uneven player market. You can look at someone like Cordner on 800k at the Roosters and say "well Papa is out of form so he isn't worth that", but the reality is Cordner would be 1.1m to get to Canberra.

It isn't supercoach for us, we need to rely on retaining talent and getting the best out of it. Then we have a chance of retaining on a reasonable salary. Unfortunately we generally have a shocking record for leveraging our talented players but a great one with the mediocre ones.

[gerg]

I'd like to see him play his entire career at the Raiders. But we do have too much tied up in the forwards. I wouldn't complain if Paulo left and we started heading towards a more mobile pack.

[VictorTheViking]

Paulo would have to be the one to go for mine if it came down to a choice between papalli and him

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

[Green eyed Mick]

I think Wighton, Hingano, Hodgo, Sezer, BJ, Croker, Cotric, Tapine, Papa, Whitehead and Boyd is a good place to start a rebuild with more of a shift towards strong defenders.

[zim]

We've tried Papalii at prop before and that's failed.

If he's not going to get himself right to fill the position that's the career path that's open to him. As he is now it'd be the same at most other clubs as well.
As far as re-signing I'd be retaining him and in my starting side. Unlike Paulo he's got the runs on the board.

[Matt]

We have both Papalli and Paulo coming off contract this year that will be asking for top dollar. At their current performance, we should be letting both go, and spending big dollars luring an unhappy half thats currently under contract . I can guarantee a contracted half will switch clubs at seasons end, it happens every year, so looking at who is off contract is irrelevant. In the last 12 months we have had Maloney, Moylan, Pierce, Moses and Green be released from contracts. It happens.

If we had a middle third selection of Boyd/Sia/Whitehead/Bateman/Gubb/Knight/Guler/Hunt + one $300-$400k recruit, and a edge forward rotation of Tarpine/Whitehead/Murchie/Sia/ + one $300-$400k recruit we would have a pretty solid forward pack with depth, while potentially releasing $600k+ to spend by not renewing either Papalli or Paulo. Tie that in with releasing Austin and or Sezer, we could go to market with way over $1million to snare a serious halfback.

Papa is amazing when he is firing, but he's not firing now, and we seem to have a lot of cap wrapped up in our forward pack, of which the 2 biggest earners are not currently leading that pack around.

Thats a good post.

However, that middle third rotation isnt good enough. Too much pressure on Boyd. Not sure to look at just yet, but we need to find a guy like Ese'ese, Fonua-Blake, hell a TPJ type guy who can play good mins as a big body.