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Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 9:18 am
by Dusty
Mole reporting that Alex Johnston still wants out...

Apparently Wayne will use Greg Inglis at fullback 2019, pushing Johnston onto the wing. This rumour has been doing the rounds for a bit now, I reckon it has legs.

https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/nrl-the-mo ... af150f38a3

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2018

Posted: January 1, 2019, 9:30 am
by edwahu
Dusty wrote: January 1, 2019, 9:18 am Mole reporting that Alex Johnston still wants out...

Apparently Wayne will use Greg Inglis at fullback 2019, pushing Johnston onto the wing. This rumour has been doing the rounds for a bit now, I reckon it has legs.
With Rapanas money, say 175k, plus the Rabbitohs paying some freight he could be a very cheap option.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2018

Posted: January 1, 2019, 10:05 am
by Dusty
edwahu wrote:
Dusty wrote: January 1, 2019, 9:18 am Mole reporting that Alex Johnston still wants out...

Apparently Wayne will use Greg Inglis at fullback 2019, pushing Johnston onto the wing. This rumour has been doing the rounds for a bit now, I reckon it has legs.
With Rapanas money, say 175k, plus the Rabbitohs paying some freight he could be a very cheap option.
If that could be done without losing one of our top shelf players I’d be all for it.

1. A. Johnston
2. N. Cotric
3. J. Croker
4. B. Leilua
5. M. Oldfield
6. J. Wighton
7. A. Sezer
8. R. Sutton
9. J. Hodgson
10. J. Papalii
11. J. Tapine
12. E. Whitehead
13. J. Bateman

14. S. Havili
15. S. Soliola
16. E. Guler
17. D. Lui

Strong


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Raiders player signing speculation 2018

Posted: January 1, 2019, 10:10 am
by greeneyed
The Rabbitohs fans seem quite happy to let Johnston go, rather than have him play fullback. Craig Norenbergs on Twitter is suggesting the Raiders are looking to a fullback at a western Sydney club for 2019.

Image

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2018

Posted: January 1, 2019, 10:15 am
by Dusty
greeneyed wrote:The Rabbitohs fans seem quite happy to let Johnston go, rather than have him play fullback. Craig Norenbergs on Twitter is suggesting the Raiders are looking to a fullback at a western Sydney club for 2019.
Yeah Souths have Inglis and they’ve also locked up the Junior Kangaroos Fullback... I can’t recall his name. They have some options there so losing AJ wouldn’t be a huge one for them.


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Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2018

Posted: January 1, 2019, 10:18 am
by edwahu
greeneyed wrote: January 1, 2019, 10:10 am The Rabbitohs fans seem quite happy to let Johnston go, rather than have him play fullback. Craig Norenbergs on Twitter is suggesting the Raiders are looking to a fullback at a western Sydney club for 2019.

Image
He seems to confirm its Dylan Edwards. I'd be happiest with him signing ahead of Johnston and Dufty.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2018

Posted: January 1, 2019, 10:18 am
by greeneyed
Dusty wrote: January 1, 2019, 10:15 am
greeneyed wrote:The Rabbitohs fans seem quite happy to let Johnston go, rather than have him play fullback. Craig Norenbergs on Twitter is suggesting the Raiders are looking to a fullback at a western Sydney club for 2019.
Yeah Souths have Inglis and they’ve also locked up the Junior Kangaroos Fullback... I can’t recall his name. They have some options there so losing AJ wouldn’t be a huge one for them.


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The point I was really getting at was they think he's not at all suited to fullback.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 10:21 am
by Dusty
greeneyed wrote:
Dusty wrote: January 1, 2019, 10:15 am
greeneyed wrote:The Rabbitohs fans seem quite happy to let Johnston go, rather than have him play fullback. Craig Norenbergs on Twitter is suggesting the Raiders are looking to a fullback at a western Sydney club for 2019.
Yeah Souths have Inglis and they’ve also locked up the Junior Kangaroos Fullback... I can’t recall his name. They have some options there so losing AJ wouldn’t be a huge one for them.


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The point I was really getting at was they think he's not at all suited to fullback.
Yeah, I understand that and tend to agree when he’s in competition with those two. The Panthers 1 would be a great pick up


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Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2018

Posted: January 1, 2019, 11:43 am
by Ruben Daley
greeneyed wrote: January 1, 2019, 10:10 am The Rabbitohs fans seem quite happy to let Johnston go, rather than have him play fullback. Craig Norenbergs on Twitter is suggesting the Raiders are looking to a fullback at a western Sydney club for 2019.

Image
I follow this guy but don’t know how good his mail is. How much stock can we put in this?

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 12:41 pm
by greeneyed
He was the Sky News head of sport and the the ABC radio head of sport. Now in New Zealand. Came from Canberra originally.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 12:43 pm
by julian87
Edwards is another player I don’t really rate at all haha. Would definitely improve our squad to have him and Wighton in it rather than Wighton and Williams though.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 1:42 pm
by Sid
I’d still be surprised if Raiders don’t sign another clubs 2nd choice fullback with Wighton moving to halves. There’s only 16 first choice fullback spots available in the competition so players would break contract if it meant elevating them to fullback position at another club. The good thing about it would be that it’ll improve the current squad, the bad thing is that being another clubs 2nd choice fullback, they won’t be a very good one, so I can’t see it being enough to take Raiders to strong premiership contenders


Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 1:50 pm
by Brew
I just bumped into Don Furner at David Jones in Sydney.
Hopefully he is down here shopping for players too!


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Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 1:54 pm
by Sid
I haven’t seen much of Edwards so I’m not sure what he’s like, but given how well DWZ played for NZ at fullback recently it’d make sense

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 2:00 pm
by greeneyed
Edwards was pretty much a gun through the back half of 2017 and in early 2018, until his injury. I'd be rapt if we could sign him. Not so much Alex Johnston, he's a winger.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 2:07 pm
by Sid
What’s Edwards pros and cons in terms of

Defence
Ball playing
Taking the hard metres from early hit ups
Speed
Error rate
Kicking game


Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 2:25 pm
by Ruben Daley
greeneyed wrote: January 1, 2019, 12:41 pm He was the Sky News head of sport and the the ABC radio head of sport. Now in New Zealand. Came from Canberra originally.
Thanks. Sounds better than most guys whose inside tips I get disproportionately excited about.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 2:29 pm
by -PJ-
If the plan is to play Jack Wighton at #6 I'm giving Dylan Edwards 2 thumbs..👍👍

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 2:32 pm
by greeneyed
Dylan Edwards bio and stats:

A classy fullback capable of making the tough demands of rugby league look effortless. Edwards started in the Panthers SG Ball Cup team and progressed through the ranks to the NRL after winning a Premiership with the NYC team in 2015. He made his first grade debut in 2016 on the wing and cemented his position in the side a year later at fullback. His excellent season saw him named co-winner of the 2017 Ben Alexander Rookie of the Year Award.

https://www.nrl.com/players/nrl-premier ... n-edwards/

Average fantasy league points in 2017: 44.4
2018: 41.6


You can play around with the more detailed 2018 stats for fullbacks here: https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... isAvg=true

The trouble is, there aren't many games so they're probably not the best sample. But in short, he makes lots of running metres, line breaks and tackle breaks. Try and line break assists not up there with the leaders. Tackle efficiency (79 per cent) not that great but try causes not that high (0.5 per match).

Compared to Wighton, you'll get more running, tackle breaks, line breaks etc, but not as much ball playing and defence not quite as good. But the bottom line, is he's a top young prospect and more than proven he can handle NRL.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 2:35 pm
by Ruben Daley
Sid wrote: January 1, 2019, 1:42 pm The good thing about it would be that it’ll improve the current squad, the bad thing is that being another clubs 2nd choice fullback, they won’t be a very good one, so I can’t see it being enough to take Raiders to strong premiership contenders
That’s not for certain. Pretty sure Clinton Schifcofske came to us because he was Parra’s second choice. I’d sell my granny to have peak Clinton sign with us right now.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 2:45 pm
by Coastalraider
Dylan Edwards at fullback would be a win. I just have doubts about Jack at 6 - he has the ball skills, as we saw last year (finally stopped throwing cut outs to row 9) but his kicking game is atrocious, and his game smarts are seriously lacking. Will strengthen us defensively, but I can’t help to think that his shortfalls will place excess pressure on Sezer, which he has not handled well in the past.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 2:46 pm
by Green eyed Mick
Edwards would be a very good choice if he is on the market.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 2:49 pm
by RTW
Sid wrote:I’d still be surprised if Raiders don’t sign another clubs 2nd choice fullback with Wighton moving to halves. There’s only 16 first choice fullback spots available in the competition so players would break contract if it meant elevating them to fullback position at another club. The good thing about it would be that it’ll improve the current squad, the bad thing is that being another clubs 2nd choice fullback, they won’t be a very good one, so I can’t see it being enough to take Raiders to strong premiership contenders
If you go with youth it isn’t always the case for example Ponga was the cowboys second choice fullback when he signed for the knights. Now obviously Ponga is a rare talent but without putting much thought into it some options (I don’t know the contract status of any of these players but they can be broken these days):

Isaako from Broncos
Ryan Papenhuyzen or Drinkwater from the storm.
Edwards of Aiken’s from the Panthers.
Allan from the Bunnies.




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Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 2:58 pm
by Sid
Ruben Daley wrote:
Sid wrote: January 1, 2019, 1:42 pm The good thing about it would be that it’ll improve the current squad, the bad thing is that being another clubs 2nd choice fullback, they won’t be a very good one, so I can’t see it being enough to take Raiders to strong premiership contenders
That’s not for certain. Pretty sure Clinton Schifcofske came to us because he was Parra’s second choice. I’d sell my granny to have peak Clinton sign with us right now.
Ah yeah, Brett Hodgson was kept and Parra were minor premiers in 2001

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 3:06 pm
by Ruben Daley
Sid wrote: January 1, 2019, 2:58 pm
Ruben Daley wrote:
Sid wrote: January 1, 2019, 1:42 pm The good thing about it would be that it’ll improve the current squad, the bad thing is that being another clubs 2nd choice fullback, they won’t be a very good one, so I can’t see it being enough to take Raiders to strong premiership contenders
That’s not for certain. Pretty sure Clinton Schifcofske came to us because he was Parra’s second choice. I’d sell my granny to have peak Clinton sign with us right now.
Ah yeah, Brett Hodgson was kept and Parra were minor premiers in 2001
Yeah but Schicofske turned out to be the best fullback we’ve had over the last twenty years. He doesn’t even have to be better than Hodgson (which I reckon he was), just a second option at one club who turned out to be a great first option at another.

RTW’s point about Ponga also backs this up.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 3:31 pm
by Wiki Special
I like Edwards and think he is an outstanding prospect. Would be on board with chasing him. Not keen on Dufty or Johnston however.

If Edwards wasn't a realistic target I really hope we are keeping an eye on Drinkwater at the Storm.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 3:39 pm
by greeneyed
Drinkwater has just been re-signed to end 2021 though. They have him slated as Slater's replacement. Our chance with him is gone.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 3:48 pm
by Wiki Special
greeneyed wrote: January 1, 2019, 3:39 pm Drinkwater has just been re-signed to end 2021 though. They have him slated as Slater's replacement. Our chance with him is gone.
Thanks for the update, I missed that one. He was always gonna be a long shot anyway. I just thought with Munster recently saying he wanted to play fullback that may make him a slim chance.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2018

Posted: January 1, 2019, 4:10 pm
by Matt
edwahu wrote: January 1, 2019, 10:18 am
greeneyed wrote: January 1, 2019, 10:10 am The Rabbitohs fans seem quite happy to let Johnston go, rather than have him play fullback. Craig Norenbergs on Twitter is suggesting the Raiders are looking to a fullback at a western Sydney club for 2019.

Image
He seems to confirm its Dylan Edwards. I'd be happiest with him signing ahead of Johnston and Dufty.
Dufty is very very fast. Fast enough that he can make something out of nothing, but its 1 trick. No ball skills really. Not great working out of his own end, as he is small.

Johnston is fast, and a great finisher, which is why he is a great winger. He has a little bit of ball playing. He is a little lazy and small working out of his own end. A good case of a winger trying to be a FB IMO.

Edwards is a tackle busting ball running type. Very much in the mould of a Cotric or Rapana. Ive really liked what ive seen of him in FG. But, he is coming off a couple of bad injuries- shoulder and knee?

Of the 3, i much prefer Edwards. He is the more robust player, despite the injuries, and defensively stronger. HOWEVER, all 3 are ball runners more than ball players, and with Wightons likely shift to 6, i feel we could be a ball player short.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 4:12 pm
by Matt
Sid wrote: January 1, 2019, 1:54 pm I haven’t seen much of Edwards so I’m not sure what he’s like, but given how well DWZ played for NZ at fullback recently it’d make sense
They have young Aekins too. Not to mention Philips and MWZ. The latter 2 being wingers capable of filling DWZs shoes out wide.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 4:32 pm
by Matt
Coastalraider wrote: January 1, 2019, 2:45 pm Dylan Edwards at fullback would be a win. I just have doubts about Jack at 6 - he has the ball skills, as we saw last year (finally stopped throwing cut outs to row 9) but his kicking game is atrocious, and his game smarts are seriously lacking.
I too am dubious of whether he is up to it. However, his pass selection last yr was very good.

Weirdly, I think this might actually help with your next problem.

Coastalraider wrote: January 1, 2019, 2:45 pm Will strengthen us defensively, but I can’t help to think that his shortfalls will place excess pressure on Sezer, which he has not handled well in the past.
You might remember Sezer and Austin going to Ricky before our run about getting more ball and more influence; you know, the whole too many chieftains not enough indians bit. They did it last yr too. Well, i suspect Wighton doesnt have the same ego or confidence that Austin had, and as such, Hodgo and Sezer will be running the show. I think this actually works out better in this regard.

Im hoping this would also lead to a more traditional 1st and 2nd receiver situation, with both halves going to both sidesof the field. However, i can see Wighton being parked on the left edge exclusively, where he had most of his success at FB.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 4:36 pm
by Matt
RTW wrote: January 1, 2019, 2:49 pm
Sid wrote:I’d still be surprised if Raiders don’t sign another clubs 2nd choice fullback with Wighton moving to halves. There’s only 16 first choice fullback spots available in the competition so players would break contract if it meant elevating them to fullback position at another club. The good thing about it would be that it’ll improve the current squad, the bad thing is that being another clubs 2nd choice fullback, they won’t be a very good one, so I can’t see it being enough to take Raiders to strong premiership contenders
If you go with youth it isn’t always the case for example Ponga was the cowboys second choice fullback when he signed for the knights. Now obviously Ponga is a rare talent but without putting much thought into it some options (I don’t know the contract status of any of these players but they can be broken these days):

Isaako from Broncos
Ryan Papenhuyzen or Drinkwater from the storm.
Edwards of Aiken’s from the Panthers.
Allan from the Bunnies.




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Either Penny FB would be good TBH

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 5:20 pm
by edwahu
Considering his form at the end of last year I'd take DWZ over Edwards as well, but taking the player that held DWZ out barring injury is a good plan B.

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 5:39 pm
by Matt
edwahu wrote: January 1, 2019, 5:20 pm Considering his form at the end of last year I'd take DWZ over Edwards as well, but taking the player that held DWZ out barring injury is a good plan B.
Indeed

Re: Raiders player signing speculation 2019

Posted: January 1, 2019, 5:57 pm
by T_R
greeneyed wrote:Drinkwater has just been re-signed to end 2021 though. They have him slated as Slater's replacement. Our chance with him is gone.
I dont get the Drinkwater thing. I saw him live a couple of times last year. He's very quick in attack, but some of his defence was absolutely scandalous.