Gards
Jaws
You can't be completely risk adverse with your cap management though or you end up with a squad full of Robsons
All signings (particularly big money ones) involve an element of risk but there is a calculated smart risk and risk out of desperation
If for instance it takes a 4 year deal to get Paulo here and he gives us 2 excellent seasons , a good 3rd season do we really care if his 4th season is average or injury riddled if he was helping us win games for 3 years instead of a competitor ?
Was giving Fifita a contract extension @ $800k + per year after helping us win a GF and being one of the best forwards in the game unreasonable? I don't think so. We wouldn't have done that if we had the crystal ball of him struggling with injury a few seasons down the road.
Barba was a risk which didn't end well but it worked out beautifully for us in 2016 and ultimately gave us what we were aiming for.
Players who arn't at the end of their careers want longer term contracts and you can understand why
It's a good example in the context of the Bulldogs who did reportedly sign Woods on $800k a year - that was the wrong type of forward to throw that level of coin at but it was the desperate dogs. Woods can be good but isn't dynamic or a match winner.
We only brought him on board cause he was significantly discounted thanks to the dogs covering alot of the salary the first few seasons for us otherwise for $800k you would want Woods not missing a tackle or dropping a ball all season and making 150m+ game in game out to justify the coin.
Dogs had the right idea trying to lure a player like Fifita from our club to theirs though
