after thinking about it i wouldn't care if we signed Barba to be honest. We need something new simple as that. He played with Ennis for a few seasons at the dogs, inspired him there. Maybe he can help inspire him here.
FROM THE OTHER FORUM , makes sense to me.
regardless of this philosophy, the facts are, we need something in the halves for 2015.
This is where I would be buying Ben Barba and taking full freight of his Broncos contract.
My reasons for Barba are:
- He is still on his Bulldogs contract. Remember the Bulldogs made sure that he didn't sign for Brisbane for more money and only went for family reasons. So he would be on or around the 400-500k mark. Smart money.
- He is the best 5/8 to have played in the under 20's. Anyone who watched him in his time at the Dogs juniors could see this. His Dally M year was not all about kick returns and kick return meters, it was about support play and second phase play, which is what a 5/8 can do.
We have some great forwards who can off load and that is what Ben has made a career of.
He only moved to fullback so Des could accomodate him, and if I am honest, I thought he was starting to look comfortable again in the number 6 jumper.
- He is lived in the area. There is a small leg up if ever there was one.
I am serious when I suggest him. If it means Brown goes to the bench or NSW cup to learn to play half back, so be it.
One thing we lacked consistently in the halves is creativity and support play, and he is as off the cuff as it comes.
The only area that might be of concern is a long kicking game, but to be honest, we haven't had a good one for a while, even with Carney, and if we get him soon he can have an off season to hit the ball as sweet as he can.
The no dick heads policy can fly out the window, the majority of the board members are dick heads anyway.