Raiders player signing speculation 2021

[afgtnk]

It’s safe to say we just don’t play a style of game that utilises a conventional ball playing fullback.
We would probably see more from a Jack in the box that trails our forwards through the ruck given our propensity to play more in the middle.
It’s probably the only downside to CNK’s game - his lack of ‘off the mark’ speed to play that role.
Either way, I just don’t see us making a play for a fullback anytime soon...not while our game plan isn’t centred around the conventional ball playing fullback.

I don't think that's the case tbh, rather we don't have the player currently in the position to play that style of game. We try to or have tried to, and certainly did when Jack was in the position. There are numerous moments within our matches where the situation is screaming out for one.

Anyways, though the response to a mere mentioning of CNK is now predictable, my point was mainly to make an observation regarding what Sticky said pre-match. Reading between the lines, he doesn't seem to be content.

But Jack wasn’t cutting it at Fullback, hence the change.
We opted for a more defensive mindset across the park (shifted Austin) and the result is this grind fest play style we see every week.

Did that happen by design, or through necessity and chance?

I seem to recall we offered a very generous contract to Austin, just like we did to Boyd and Paulo - two guys who were large contributors to our lazy middle defence. There's every chance Austin would still be here if simply didn't value himself as high he did, and consequently I don't think Jack moves either. We moved Jack/recruited CNK only because we needed to cover the position, as it was late in the year as I recall and hence difficult to recruit.

Boyd and Paulo were allowed to walk after they decided to test the market. Whether by design or luck it was the right move.
Jack was moved from fullback to play in the halves (where Ricky has always claimed his best position) and the club sourced CNK through Cappy’s connections during his time at the Warriors.
At the end of the day the team is structured to play through the middle and rely heavily on adlib work of our hooker and halves and less on a ball playing fullback off a pass out the back.
I can’t see that changing because it’s clear as day we are heavily invested in having potent middle rotation and depth.

I think there's a bit of a difference to claiming we let them walk, and making them offers that can't match other clubs. We went deep into negotiations with them, but Paulo got offered around $700k from the Eels. Boyd $600k from the Titans. It was a business decision for us, not football based.

Like I said, we tried hard to re-sign Austin and threw good money at him but failed, even after his ordinary 2016/17/18. We still wanted him, he didn't want us. Although this may have happened to him some stage, he did not suffer the same fate as guys like McCrone, Sezer, FPN, and Tilse, who were dumped mid-contract. We didn't punt the guy.

Can't agree with the point about not being structured to play with a ball playing fullback either because we play more up the guts. I think every team is, and we are absolutely no different. The two aren't mutually exclusive - playing up the middle should give you more opportunities out wide. Like I said, in any given match of ours there are a number of situations that screams for the injection of a fullback as a second receiver. Hell, I can give you a number of clear examples in the match that just passed - we simply don't have one with that skillset.

[GreenMachine]

Ok on Boyd and Paulo I’ll agree to disagree....my memory of the time was that Ricky wasn’t busting the books to keep them given where the game was heading.

Austin’s defence was 100% a problem for us and I’m certain that played a part in the club letting him leave for a better offer....Wighton was always Ricks first option in the halves.

On the football style side I’m with you on the notion we need to play with a little more flair in attack... we have it in us...our team is very skilful but seems to play within itself when it comes to attack.

But for me, that doesn’t imply we need a ball playing fullback. We can achieve the balance with the squad we have, but think Ricky defaults to the defensive grind first on game day and we only ever see us open up in attack when we are chasing a large deficit.

It’s almost as if Ricky was scarred by the season where we missed the 8 despite having the second best attack in the competition.

[julian87]

A quick scan of starting fullbacks this year. I don’t think Isaako, Will Kennedy or Daine Laurie would be on too much. Dogs have a bunch of possible fullbacks with Meaney, Allen and DWZ. No idea what those guys are being paid.

Moylan, MBye, DWZ and Isucko would all be on more imo. All signed to play fullback initially.

[Neeeegz]

Agnfk.
Do you want a ball playing fullback or do you want one that can diffuse bombs and save trys and break the line ?
I know what I'd prefer. And your dribble makes no sense.

....... I want both.

You do know that's possible, right? And not unattainable?

So you want to tear the roster apart and base it around a fullback ? Yeah right..

[MrPosh]

A quick scan of starting fullbacks this year. I don’t think Isaako, Will Kennedy or Daine Laurie would be on too much. Dogs have a bunch of possible fullbacks with Meaney, Allen and DWZ. No idea what those guys are being paid.

I'm not certain, but I'm sure I read that DWZ is on $900k.

Which is insane.

[gangrenous]

This argument from alphabet is **** nonsense. Every time.

Why can’t we just buy in a unicorn who is good at everything and is willing to play for a third of what said unicorn would be worth on the market?

Gee, I wonder...

CNK is a huge part of why the team’s defence improved dramatically from 2018 to 2019. Wonder what are the line drop out stats from 2017/2018 versus 2019/2020? Who cares if Wighton could be a link in a few plays when the team leaked like a sieve?

While CNK has been fullback we’ve had 2.1 years of looking like a top 4 team compared to the prior 2 years of looking like a bottom eight side. Is that all CNK? Of course not, but he is a part of a BALANCED side. Can he improve? Sure, everybody can work on something and the strategy can also change to leverage his strengths.

Is the answer to deathride CNK and wish for a unicorn to appear from nowhere? Or to purchase one like Papenhuyzen for 1M/year and screw the team balance. No it’s not, so can we stop with this Bull in every second **** thread alphabet.

[Northern Raider]

A quick scan of starting fullbacks this year. I don’t think Isaako, Will Kennedy or Daine Laurie would be on too much. Dogs have a bunch of possible fullbacks with Meaney, Allen and DWZ. No idea what those guys are being paid.

I'm not certain, but I'm sure I read that DWZ is on $900k.

Which is insane.

Google search suggests $800k (unconfirmed). Dogs re-signed him end of 2019. Surely they didn't up his contract given he sucks at fullback. Then again it is the Dogs.

[Botman]

Is the answer to deathride CNK and wish for a unicorn to appear from nowhere? Or to purchase one like Papenhuyzen for 1M/year and screw the team balance. No it’s not, so can we stop with this Bull in every second **** thread alphabet.

Just on this, i think that's equally Bull.
I dont think you'd need to screw the team balance at all to find 1m a year for a superstar can do it all fullback

Assuming firstly that CNK leaves and there is no freight, and for the sake of this exercise we'll assume the Warriors offer him 500k a year to replace RTS and that's substantially more money and both club and player agree to dissolve the contract and move on.

So our starting point is 350k (from memory that was his upgrade i think, happy to be corrected as my memory isnt great) and an open fullback spot.

How do you find the other money.
Let's start with the easy ones...

1. Lui, Havilii, Rapana, Soliolia and Sam Williams are all off contract at the end of 2021. I would humbly submit regardless of what happened at fullback, this should be the end of the line for those guys. Collectively, i think you could conservatively state there is 1m of salary in those players. Probably more, that would be 200k each, but lets stay conservative. Because other contracts wont stay static either, they'll rise and account for the difference here

2. You keep Frawley, Aekins, Cook and HSS on the same money they're on now (with HSS hurt and out for the year, that seems reasonable, and none of the others will have anyone banging down their door)

So you have now 1.35m and 6 positions to fill. (CNK and the 5 players we're letting walk)
So how do you replace them?

Lui is replaced by Ata Mariota/Caleb Esrea on a minimum deal.
Sia is replaced by Darby Medlyn on a minimum deal.
Havilii is replaced by Adrian Trevilyan on a minimum deal.
Williams is replaced by Brad Schneider on minimum deal
Rapana is replaced by Xavier Savage/Albert Hopoate on a minimum deal

I think a min deal is 110k, so you're paying 550k for those 5 guys. I think a team like ours still has a TON of veteran contracts and not only could handle this injection of youth, but actually probably needs it a bit. These are all guys i think the club will want to have in our system and continue to develop

You're now left with 800k and the fullback spot to fill.

But with those 5 moves, none of which i think would be unexpected, in fact right now that's exactly what i'd do irrespective of the fullback spot, and really only the Rapana move actually IMO hurts the top 17 (though we'll see how his form is at the end of the year), you're almost there

My point is not that we should do this, or the club will do this.
But if the club feels getting a stud, can do it all unicorn at fullback and assuming they can land that bird (which is not a given either) then making moves to do that is absolutely possible without impacting the balance of the squad and frankly, not impacting the depth all that much either.

[Botman]

The next move to get to 1mil if that's what you think you'd need to get the unicorn fullback is tougher. It probably involves someone retiring a little early like a Croker or Hodgson or Whitehead... maybe it is moving Sutton and replacing him with the next Dunamis Lui? It would again hurt our team, but what impact would that unicorn fullback then have on the team? That's the question

The idea that it's simply not possible without destroying the team is not true. The question is for me simply this:
Is there a player good enough and obtainable that improves the premiership chances enough to make those moves?

If you told me we have to make those 5 moves and let Sutton go for Pap or Teddy... I'd do it 100/100 times. Do i think that player actually exists in the market? Probably not.

[simo]

Is the answer to deathride CNK and wish for a unicorn to appear from nowhere? Or to purchase one like Papenhuyzen for 1M/year and screw the team balance. No it’s not, so can we stop with this Bull in every second **** thread alphabet.

Just on this, i think that's equally Bull.
I dont think you'd need to screw the team balance at all to find 1m a year for a superstar can do it all fullback

Assuming firstly that CNK leaves and there is no freight, and for the sake of this exercise we'll assume the Warriors offer him 500k a year to replace RTS and that's substantially more money and both club and player agree to dissolve the contract and move on.

So our starting point is 350k (from memory that was his upgrade i think, happy to be corrected as my memory isnt great) and an open fullback spot.

How do you find the other money.
Let's start with the easy ones...

1. Lui, Havilii, Rapana, Soliolia and Sam Williams are all off contract at the end of 2021. I would humbly submit regardless of what happened at fullback, this should be the end of the line for those guys. Collectively, i think you could conservatively state there is 1m of salary in those players. Probably more, that would be 200k each, but lets stay conservative. Because other contracts wont stay static either, they'll rise and account for the difference here

2. You keep Frawley, Aekins, Cook and HSS on the same money they're on now (with HSS hurt and out for the year, that seems reasonable, and none of the others will have anyone banging down their door)

So you have now 1.35m and 6 positions to fill. (CNK and the 5 players we're letting walk)
So how do you replace them?

Lui is replaced by Ata Mariota/Caleb Esrea on a minimum deal.
Sia is replaced by Darby Medlyn on a minimum deal.
Havilii is replaced by Adrian Trevilyan on a minimum deal.
Williams is replaced by Brad Schneider on minimum deal
Rapana is replaced by Xavier Savage/Albert Hopoate on a minimum deal

I think a min deal is 110k, so you're paying 550k for those 5 guys. I think a team like ours still has a TON of veteran contracts and not only could handle this injection of youth, but actually probably needs it a bit. These are all guys i think the club will want to have in our system and continue to develop

You're now left with 800k and the fullback spot to fill.

But with those 5 moves, none of which i think would be unexpected, in fact right now that's exactly what i'd do irrespective of the fullback spot, and really only the Rapana move actually IMO hurts the top 17 (though we'll see how his form is at the end of the year), you're almost there

My point is not that we should do this, or the club will do this.
But if the club feels getting a stud, can do it all unicorn at fullback and assuming they can land that bird (which is not a given either) then making moves to do that is absolutely possible without impacting the balance of the squad and frankly, not impacting the depth all that much either.

at 350k id be inclined to try and retain cnk as a winger if we were to get a papi class fb. further, papi kicks goals too so the question could be asked if we are a better team with papi 1 cnk 3 or cnk 1 croker 3

[Botman]

at 350k id be inclined to try and retain cnk as a winger if we were to get a papi class fb. further, papi kicks goals too so the question could be asked if we are a better team with papi 1 cnk 3 or cnk 1 croker 3

Absolutely. If you expand this exercise, there is a lot of different ways to go about it. Let your mind take you where you want. My feelings on Croker and where he stands in the club and with the coach are clear. But there is a reality out there where he has another injury plagued season and he gets to the end of this year and he and the club agree to part ways either via ESL or retirement. Not likely imo, probably more likely at the end of 2022 imo, but possible/

My point is really was
a. that was a super fun exercise to do in my head, that's the type of thing i love thinking about and going through.
But mostly
b. It's is absolutely possible if the club thinks a superstar fullback takes us to the next level

[gangrenous]

Without getting into the minutiae because I can’t be stuffed today, a lot of that sounds good in theory but doesn’t work in practice.

The rest of the team is not static, as time progresses those other players need upgrades etc. Those players you bring in on minimum if they perform at the level you need, can’t stay on minimum beyond a year. This proposal is a short term paper fix.

The team strategy and structure is around increased strength and depth in the forwards and that money comes from somewhere. At the moment at mid 300s CNK is greater value for the team than Paps is at 1M. As much as I admire Paps and wish he was a Raider.

How many clubs have bought their way to success through acquiring million dollar players? How many clubs have shelled out that money and seen the opposite?

[Botman]

Without getting into the minutiae because I can’t be stuffed today, a lot of that sounds good in theory but doesn’t work in practice.

The rest of the team is not static, as time progresses those other players need upgrades etc. Those players you bring in on minimum if they perform at the level you need, can’t stay on minimum beyond a year. This proposal is a short term paper fix.

The figures used were conservative for this very reason, as stated in the post. I think i actually used that "not static" phrasing myself.

As for the players being brought in, unless we suffered a gigantic injury crisis, they wouldn't play FG at all. They'd be developing in NSW Cup. So i dont accept at all that we'd have to be upgrading them in 12 months time. We're not out here trying to upgrade Semi Valemei...
If we had some huge injury crisis and these guys played and we're looking at upgrades because they were good, you figure that out as you go. That's the nature of it. As for other players getting upgrades, yes, that's the sacrifice you might have to make... is to say to players "sorry, we'd like to upgrade you but we just brought in this guy for X money and we dont have room to upgrade you" and what happens there, who knows?
You might have to ride out some player contract issues until get guys like Croker, hodgson, Whitehead retiring, or maybe Papalii taking up a retirement deal in QLD in 2 years time. This is all very fluid and things change quickly.

No one said it was simple. Or easy. Or that it wouldn't involve some sacrifice.
But it could be done, not just in theory but in practice. And we wouldn't need to strip the team down to the studs or upset the balance to do it.

If you want to dismiss it out of hand because you dont think its worth it. That's fine. But to say it simply cant be done is, to quote a great man "**** nonsense"

[FuiFui BradBrad]

Is the answer to deathride CNK and wish for a unicorn to appear from nowhere? Or to purchase one like Papenhuyzen for 1M/year and screw the team balance. No it’s not, so can we stop with this Bull in every second **** thread alphabet.

Just on this, i think that's equally Bull.
I dont think you'd need to screw the team balance at all to find 1m a year for a superstar can do it all fullback

Assuming firstly that CNK leaves and there is no freight, and for the sake of this exercise we'll assume the Warriors offer him 500k a year to replace RTS and that's substantially more money and both club and player agree to dissolve the contract and move on.

So our starting point is 350k (from memory that was his upgrade i think, happy to be corrected as my memory isnt great) and an open fullback spot.

How do you find the other money.
Let's start with the easy ones...

1. Lui, Havilii, Rapana, Soliolia and Sam Williams are all off contract at the end of 2021. I would humbly submit regardless of what happened at fullback, this should be the end of the line for those guys. Collectively, i think you could conservatively state there is 1m of salary in those players. Probably more, that would be 200k each, but lets stay conservative. Because other contracts wont stay static either, they'll rise and account for the difference here

2. You keep Frawley, Aekins, Cook and HSS on the same money they're on now (with HSS hurt and out for the year, that seems reasonable, and none of the others will have anyone banging down their door)

So you have now 1.35m and 6 positions to fill. (CNK and the 5 players we're letting walk)
So how do you replace them?

Lui is replaced by Ata Mariota/Caleb Esrea on a minimum deal.
Sia is replaced by Darby Medlyn on a minimum deal.
Havilii is replaced by Adrian Trevilyan on a minimum deal.
Williams is replaced by Brad Schneider on minimum deal
Rapana is replaced by Xavier Savage/Albert Hopoate on a minimum deal

I think a min deal is 110k, so you're paying 550k for those 5 guys. I think a team like ours still has a TON of veteran contracts and not only could handle this injection of youth, but actually probably needs it a bit. These are all guys i think the club will want to have in our system and continue to develop

You're now left with 800k and the fullback spot to fill.

But with those 5 moves, none of which i think would be unexpected, in fact right now that's exactly what i'd do irrespective of the fullback spot, and really only the Rapana move actually IMO hurts the top 17 (though we'll see how his form is at the end of the year), you're almost there

My point is not that we should do this, or the club will do this.
But if the club feels getting a stud, can do it all unicorn at fullback and assuming they can land that bird (which is not a given either) then making moves to do that is absolutely possible without impacting the balance of the squad and frankly, not impacting the depth all that much either.

I like where your heads at. Aren’t there cap exemptions for juniors also? If yes, you could potentially have some extra cash to play with there also

[zim]

What's our definition of unicorn? Is Anthony Milford playing well at fullback considered a unicorn?
I'd imagine these days you could get him a lot cheaper.

[Botman]

What's our definition of unicorn? Is Anthony Milford playing well at fullback considered a unicorn?
I'd imagine these days you could get him a lot cheaper.

Sadly, not anymore

[gangrenous]

As for the players being brought in, unless we suffered a gigantic injury crisis, they wouldn't play FG at all. They'd be developing in NSW Cup. So i dont accept at all that we'd have to be upgrading them in 12 months time. We're not out here trying to upgrade Semi Valemei...

Hold up, didn’t you switch out 4 players still seeing regular first grade time? Who is replacing them that doesn’t need upgrading for performing in first grade?

If you want to dismiss it out of hand because you dont think its worth it. That's fine. But to say it simply cant be done is, to quote a great man "**** nonsense"

What kind of argument is this?! I’m not saying you can’t find 1M to pay a player. I’m saying in doing so you can’t have as balanced a team. Now even those out there who aren’t math whizzes should be able to see that when you have 650k extra to spread across the other players you’ll have a more balanced team in terms of skill/value.

Of course the whole argument is then about whether it’s worth it or not. So, how many times has purchasing a player at the top of the player market worked out?

[Botman]

As for the players being brought in, unless we suffered a gigantic injury crisis, they wouldn't play FG at all. They'd be developing in NSW Cup. So i dont accept at all that we'd have to be upgrading them in 12 months time. We're not out here trying to upgrade Semi Valemei...

Hold up, didn’t you switch out 4 players still seeing regular first grade time? Who is replacing them that doesn’t need upgrading for performing in first grade?

They're playing regular fg whilst guys like Guler, Hors, CHN and Starling are playing regular NSW cup. They are the guys who will replace them. Quite adequately too id suggest, all but Hors on deals inked in the last 8 months, so no reason to think we'd have to rush to upgrade them, certainly not after 12 months.
That's the point of the exercise, we are incredibly deep, so deep in fact we have half a dozen FG quality players not able to make it into the line up, we can sacrifice some of that depth to obtain a superstar if we so desire it.

Go and look at Squad 2 posted above, i would argue our top 19 is stronger in that squad than the 19 in squad 1... the 19-30 is what is weakened. That's the sacrifice

Of course the whole argument is then about whether it’s worth it or not. So, how many times has purchasing a player at the top of the player market worked out?

I dont know how often it's worked over all, i suspect it works not very often for bad teams but there is a very interesting recent case study that i think rings a little true.
The roosters hang around the title race for 5 years (one injury plagued season excluded) and couldnt get over the hump. They made two key moves that took them over the top and was the primary force in delivering back to back premierships. Keary and Tedesco.

I dont think you have to squint too hard to see the potential parallels between what they did, and our club moving on from Sezer to upgrade with George Williams being a similar move to the Roosters moving from Pearce to Keary, and then a hypothetical move from CNK to a superstar being similar to Gordon -> Tedesco

Not to say it will yield the same results, but again, its worth thinking about imo

[afgtnk]

Not really worth giving you an in-depth respond, gangreauydjrm. It's a continuation of your agenda laden crap that sees you completely lose any ability to debate something rationally.

Pretty clear that you won't be satisfied until any mere mention of CNK that could be even slightly construed as criticism is surpressed on this forum. Congratulations - you're sending him the same way as Jarrod Croker. Calling a potential replacement of his a unicorn (i.e. it supposedly doesn't exist) is the cherry on this cake of yours.

We should never stop looking at upgrading the squad - ESPECIALLY in the the most important positions. Believe it or not, I'm pretty **** sure this coach of ours feels the exact same way.

[gangrenous]

Interesting example choice Botman. The club that was eliminated by Raiders last year.

Alphabet - The coach may well be thinking about always upgrading and who he should potentially replace CNK with. It’s fine to raise that as a thought (albeit one that’s pretty misguided in my opinion). I only give you grief because you feel the need to raise it every day in every thread.

[afgtnk]

Thing is I'm definitely not raising it every day and in every thread. Not even close. You're just trying to make out like I am, or perceive that I am being you're highly sensitive about it.

A claim like that is part of a simple agenda to surpress any negative talk about him, by making it seem like the criticism directed towards him is excessive and therefore must be deemed crazy.

[gangrenous]

Here’s the thing. I only respond when you’re having another crack at CNK. The number of posts I make back to you about this is capped at equal to the number you make.

So you’ve got to ask yourself, if it’s annoying you when I do that - just how often are you posting it?

[afgtnk]

Why are you feeling the need to defend him every single time you think he's being criticised? What's it to you - are you being paid, or are you perhaps related to him?

The player related criticism I dish out isn't solely concentrated on CNK - if you follow my musings on this forum, you'll clearly realise this. Any criticism I give is not personal - I simply want the best team, that's going to give us the best shot of winning a premiership. At the moment in the key spine position of fullback I don't see CNK as a part of that, and I think many others are in the same boat. I felt the coach took a clear shot at him publicly, hence why I brought it up again.

If you simply debated the topic openly without bringing weird sentiment or attachment into it, like saying a CNK replacement is a unicorn, or just let people have their say and left it at that (like what most people tend to do), chances are I wouldn't be calling you out as having a massive agenda here.

[gangrenous]

I have no agenda here. I disclose that I have no familial relationship to CNK, nor do I have any financial investments in him. I have never met CNK in my life. The extent of it is I like him as a player and what he brings to the team.

If you had your say and moved on I would respond once or ignore you. But you pollute many threads with your obsessions and I get fed up with it, so here we are.

[afgtnk]

I'm quite literally gonna follow you around the forums now and call you out anytime you try to suppress anyone saying something the tiniest bit critical of the guy. Give you a taste.

Watch my post count **** skyrocket bitches.

[gangrenous]

Knock yourself out

[Botman]

Interesting example choice Botman. The club that was eliminated by Raiders last year.

Wait, you’re not actually **** serious about that are you?
No you can’t be. No one, not even you could be **** seriously spouting that

Fairgoitall

[Seiffert82]

Of course the whole argument is then about whether it’s worth it or not. So, how many times has purchasing a player at the top of the player market worked out?

I dont know how often it's worked over all, i suspect it works not very often for bad teams but there is a very interesting recent case study that i think rings a little true.
The roosters hang around the title race for 5 years (one injury plagued season excluded) and couldnt get over the hump. They made two key moves that took them over the top and was the primary force in delivering back to back premierships. Keary and Tedesco.

I dont think you have to squint too hard to see the potential parallels between what they did, and our club moving on from Sezer to upgrade with George Williams being a similar move to the Roosters moving from Pearce to Keary, and then a hypothetical move from CNK to a superstar being similar to Gordon -> Tedesco

Not to say it will yield the same results, but again, its worth thinking about imo

The idea of buying a player like Papenhuyzen this high is risky. I also think it's a moot point because I can't imagine Melbourne letting him go if he wants to stay. With JAC on his way out, both Papenhuyzen and Munster are vital cogs in an otherwise very structured attack.

In saying that, we are fortunate to have a very good fullback on relative peanuts. If we could afford to recruit an elite fullback, CNK could easily give us what Rapana does on the wing (when Rapa calls it a day), without breaking the bank.

I have no idea how our forward cap is structured, but if losing the likes of Rapana, Soliola, Lui and maybe Hors miraculously gave us room to recruit a great fullback you'd obviously consider it given our glut of middles.

However, I think our spine is good enough to win the comp as is, so I personally wouldn't consider cutting other key pieces to take a punt on Paps staying fit. Would you lose Wighton, Hodgo or Williams to do it? Maybe Hodgo given our squad... but I don't think Stuart would even entertain it.

[Botman]

No, you don’t weaken one vital spine position spot to upgrade another
It would have to come at the expense of other spots
The reason to do the move is you think a stud fullback with Wighton, Williams and Hodgson is so good that it can overcome the sacrifices you made to get the stud fullback

[afgtnk]

CNK's wage plus any two of Rapana, Sia, or Lui would give you a solid 700k - at least.

[Seiffert82]

But nobody knows if those funds have already been allocated to retain other players.

In any case, a club would need $800k+ to lure Papenhuyzen away. Melbourne might be able to retain him for $700k.

[afgtnk]

Papenhuyzen isn't attainable IMO. Dufty is - he'll definitely be cheaper. Off contract and already showing quick signs of improvement in his weak areas under Griffin. I think being in better side and under a better coach will really finish off the development that he wasn't getting under McGregor.

[Raiders666]

I reckon Nicho Hynes is a good prospect...Maybe not better than Charnze though??

[simo]

Wow this took a weird turn. We are talking the merits of replacing cnk with papi and you throw in buying dufty as if its a similarly good option. I wouldnt trade cnk for dufty if he came on half of what cnk is on! In a field of bad opinions, this ones a stand out

[afgtnk]

Would help perhaps if you actually watched Dufty play and kinda understood the game, before commenting.