Recruitment and Retention for 2028

[257Matt]

Yeah he's def not a marquee forward but if we need a serviceable mid range forward he would work nicely

Does anyone know what the plan is with Zac Garton? I'm not too familiar w his game but the internet seems to think he's a second rower but he's very much locked out of playing first grade in the second row for us at the moment with Finefuiaki, Lemuelu and Pouniu all there too unless Lemuelu isn't re-signed and/or Finefuiaki moves to the middle like Koloamatagi did for Souths

Garton is a second rower but could transition to front row if he continues to grow.

Lavender is a centre or second row.

Dickson is top 30 next year and he's a lock.

 

[257Matt]

Surely Knowles will move to prop.

Ray Stone as well and Kodi and Isaako are already gone. Unless they signed Hammer for about 1.7 mil a year, you'd think we have some cap space coming up. Just so 2 257Matt understands the Dogs aren't poaching Donoghue or anyone else we want to keep.

5/8 is one position the Bulldogs don't need work on they just don't play the best 5/8 they have there.

The problem is that it's easy to say players leave money must be free but players do get significant upgrades as they were on unders previously and George Williams cost double to what Nikorima was on this year.

Dolphins issue is the next contract cycle with 4 of their 5 best & most important current players (this includes Herbie) all hitting the market. Katoa, Donoghoe and M Plath are in for massive pay days and a call needs to be made on extending JMK beyond 2028 or find a younger replacement that's close to JMK's class or look at former Dolphins players like Graham, J Plath or B Marsh who are plying their trades elsewhere. Currently in the system below JMK there's Fineanganofo, Wynyard and J Marsh.

 

[mr_c]

Katoa, Donoghoe and Plath hit the next contract cycle all 3 are due to massive pay days. Both Katoa and Donoghoe been on massive unders to what their market value is right now. Both Donoghoe and Plath on top of getting a massive pay day will also want position assurance something neither has received in the last 12 months. So much of the future cap will be to the retention of them 3.

Pouniu will also be in that contract cycle he will no longer be the rookie payment player.

Depends when and where the 20th team comes into the competition as this changes the market again.

your dreamin if yiu think phins are going go all out no way they worth any more than 5/600k

 

[mr_c]

5/8 is one position the Bulldogs don't need work on they just don't play the best 5/8 they have there.

The problem is that it's easy to say players leave money must be free but players do get significant upgrades as they were on unders previously and George Williams cost double to what Nikorima was on this year.

Dolphins issue is the next contract cycle with 4 of their 5 best & most important current players (this includes Herbie) all hitting the market. Katoa, Donoghoe and M Plath are in for massive pay days and a call needs to be made on extending JMK beyond 2028 or find a younger replacement that's close to JMK's class or look at former Dolphins players like Graham, J Plath or B Marsh who are plying their trades elsewhere. Currently in the system below JMK there's Fineanganofo, Wynyard and J Marsh.

lol kodi , at most his club has been average / inconsistent prior to been here , kodi goes missing to much lmao know way is kodi worth 900k yes williams is but ffs his record speaks for itself whats kodis cv look like ? at a time couldnt even get permant spot in kiwis ( and kodi came dolphins on overs and went to another club on overs funny that )

 

[SwoopAE]

Moeaki Fotuaika i would bet you could get him n crocker at same time n still have some thom's money left ( mo works well with woolf n he seems to target guys hes had in past or in tongan squad)​

As an ex Titans fan who has watched every one of their games for his entire career

NO NO NO DO NOT DO THIS I CANNOT EMPHASISE HOW IMPORTANT IT IS NOT TO SIGN FOTUAIKA

Fotuaika is substantially worse and more washed than Flegler, he is an absolute disaster and a shell of the former origin player he used to be. We would be better off retaining Knowles by a wide margin and I am not a fan of Knowles at all, I am not kidding, at least his ask would be less money. Fotuaika is absolutely terrible now, he is sloppy, loses the contact every time and gives away nonstop cheap penalties. He is one of the worst value players on the entire Titans roster, and the Titans are terrible.

I would not want him taking up a top 30 roster spot if he was on min wage let alone what he'd be asking for

Yes he's only about to turn 27 but he is performing like a 33 year old forward now. His body is clearly shot and he has regressed to a shell of the player he used to be. I can only imagine how washed up he will be when he is actually 30+

Re Kodi vs Williams it's worth noting Kodi would have wanted an upgrade to sign so he would not have been half the price of Williams and while he played great for us in 2026, his 2026 was an outlier in his favour when you consider his career as a whole. There is absolutely no chance he would have extended with us for less than 600-700k at a minimum and realistically probably would have wanted the same 800k Williams is on.

Regardless of whether Williams works out as a player for us or not, Kodi would not have been substantially cheaper, i'm sure he's on similar money to Williams at the Dragons.

 

[Liverbird with Phins up]

You talk a lot of sense there Swoop

 

[midlands hobo]

no way will they covert someone into a prop they need a full time prop

Over the last few seasons i've notice that there is a move to smaller mobile props who can do longer stints. I wouldn't be suprised if next year we run 'hybrid' props it may be a few years off but the future is guys like Cotter.

 

[SwoopAE]

Cotter isn't having the impact he was a couple years ago but I get what you mean by players like him

Donoghoe is going great in the middle and while he isn't small, Plath's mobility and effort basically makes him a bigger/better version of Cotter

Having one big forward like Tino or Haas is still nice but you can't have a whole pack of huge forwards, you need some mobility too

 

[midlands hobo]

the 6 again has done away with the big 20 min prop. Guys like Nelson are now for the history books. Haas is a freak who can do 80 mins probably a once in a generation player.

Is there any way of finding the leagues total average weight over each of the last 10 years?