XGinga
Oceanic Whitetip Shark
No thanks to either of those. Only Dragons forward I would take is Blake Lawrie and maybe Billy burns but neither fix our issues. Billy burns would be good depth to have.
Official Connor Tracey
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Gards
Jaws
Oh **** some hack journo has asked the Sharks to release an important in form good value depth player from our roster, better do what he says or he will write mean things about us
Who the **** these knobs think they are to dictate to us how we operate
I like Connor and wanna see him happy but end of the day he signed a contract to play for us and hasn't been quite good enough to lock down a starting spot in the centres over the big boulder with bad defense we play there. I'm pretty sure Connor was originally ear marked for centre by Fitz when his contract was extended
There is too much upside and potential in our wings and regular fullback roles for him to take one of those positions and Ramien has been playing great in the other centre position.
The value he would bring as a benchy/utility is debatable.
It makes him very good depth so the club would basically be saying to 'do the right thing' we are willing to part with good depth in our roster and take a punt on someone else (likely far less experienced) filling that role.
It compromises our squad as you need depth to get through a season.
While I never really rated Connor as a FG fullback there is no doubt he came in when Kennedy got injured and did a pretty good job of it. Without Tracey filling that FB role for us (as a depth player) I doubt we even make the finals as we would have probs dropped another game or 2.
Who the **** these knobs think they are to dictate to us how we operate
I like Connor and wanna see him happy but end of the day he signed a contract to play for us and hasn't been quite good enough to lock down a starting spot in the centres over the big boulder with bad defense we play there. I'm pretty sure Connor was originally ear marked for centre by Fitz when his contract was extended
There is too much upside and potential in our wings and regular fullback roles for him to take one of those positions and Ramien has been playing great in the other centre position.
The value he would bring as a benchy/utility is debatable.
It makes him very good depth so the club would basically be saying to 'do the right thing' we are willing to part with good depth in our roster and take a punt on someone else (likely far less experienced) filling that role.
It compromises our squad as you need depth to get through a season.
While I never really rated Connor as a FG fullback there is no doubt he came in when Kennedy got injured and did a pretty good job of it. Without Tracey filling that FB role for us (as a depth player) I doubt we even make the finals as we would have probs dropped another game or 2.
Sharkfox
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Burns is off contract now, i like Lawrie but he's locked up til 2026
HaroldBishop
Megalodon
Yeah but CT is under contract as well.
People suggesting Lawrie would be good for us is actually a good argument to just hold onto our current guys IMO.
Lawrie has gone pretty well the last couple seasons (ages 25 and 26) and really don't remember thinking much of him before that?
Maybe someone else happens to have paid more attention but just looked like a big plod who'd be lucky to make most teams bench for first few years, as far as I can recall. He wasn't very memorable. This was his 7th season in NRL.
Last two seasons also represent games 79 to 102 and 103 to 125, a period (around the 100 game mark) we commonly see players make a bit of a jump.
To look at our forwards...
Brit 111 games, jump taken - 5 seasons NRL
Williams 99 games, jump taken - 5* seasons NRL
BHU 99 games and some consistency away from a jump - 6* seasons of NRL
Oregon 90 games, jump... loading - 5* seasons NRL
Rudolf 81 games, lacks consistency, injury a factor - 4 seasons
Wilton 62 games, areas he needs to work on still - 3* seasons
Hunt 56 games, doesn't consistently impact NRL games - 4* seasons
*I've subtracted one if they played 5 or less games in first season, BHU I arguably could have subtracted 2 (1 game in each of first two seasons)
With some injury luck BHU, Oregon and Rudolf are all primed to be more solid on the field for us next season.
Wilton and Hunt probably another season away from their 'veteran' standard (which doesn't have to be their ceiling either).
(I know we find it hard to believe about Oregon, he was definitely very underwhelming this year I won't argue that - hoping Fitz investment pays off)
Lawrie has gone pretty well the last couple seasons (ages 25 and 26) and really don't remember thinking much of him before that?
Maybe someone else happens to have paid more attention but just looked like a big plod who'd be lucky to make most teams bench for first few years, as far as I can recall. He wasn't very memorable. This was his 7th season in NRL.
Last two seasons also represent games 79 to 102 and 103 to 125, a period (around the 100 game mark) we commonly see players make a bit of a jump.
To look at our forwards...
Brit 111 games, jump taken - 5 seasons NRL
Williams 99 games, jump taken - 5* seasons NRL
BHU 99 games and some consistency away from a jump - 6* seasons of NRL
Oregon 90 games, jump... loading - 5* seasons NRL
Rudolf 81 games, lacks consistency, injury a factor - 4 seasons
Wilton 62 games, areas he needs to work on still - 3* seasons
Hunt 56 games, doesn't consistently impact NRL games - 4* seasons
*I've subtracted one if they played 5 or less games in first season, BHU I arguably could have subtracted 2 (1 game in each of first two seasons)
With some injury luck BHU, Oregon and Rudolf are all primed to be more solid on the field for us next season.
Wilton and Hunt probably another season away from their 'veteran' standard (which doesn't have to be their ceiling either).
(I know we find it hard to believe about Oregon, he was definitely very underwhelming this year I won't argue that - hoping Fitz investment pays off)
Sharkfox
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Only for next year, so are the molo bros is why i suggested either of them out of the 2024 off contract dragons players, straight swap.
The Punisher
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Offer them Tracey in exchange for Ben Hunt and they can pay the difference in Hunts wages
GF78
Hammerhead
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Blake Lawrie is the madman we could do with we can only dream.
BurgoShark
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I think Lawrie was noticeable before that. He is fairly heavily involved and I think is one of the guys who ends up with a lot of "off the ball" stats similar to Toby.
On Oregon, remember that age is also a factor. He started early and has played plenty of games, but he's still young by NRL prop standards. Imo age matters most for middles.
I haven’t somehow forgotten that
But also he’s 24 now, back end of next season 25… with a late bday maybe he belongs in the the Wilton Hunt group but he’s not young forever
Not to say a player has to follow these exact timelines but he won’t have young as an excuse after next couple seasons
Super Impose
Great White
While we all want what’s best for Connor - letting him look around for 2025 is the right move .
He is a valued and required player for 2024 so he should stay put for next year ..
He is a valued and required player for 2024 so he should stay put for next year ..
BlackWhiteBlue
Jaws
BurgoShark
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No - what I mean is that age matter more for Kaufusi than it does for Wilton. There are physiological reasons why bigger guys take longer.
He could be a plodder forever, but I just mean that he shouldn't be put on the same timeline as Wilton or Nikora.
Sevshark
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I think the Club would be happy to let him go this year but they're not just giving him a release for nothing in return, especially with no real value left on the open market for 24.
25 we can afford to do it with 13 roster spots already open and plenty of Cap for recruitment.
Players often start to impact the NRL more from 100 games onwards was never meant to be an exact science.
If you wanna model a version that accounts for position and age I’m sure I’ll read it.
Age might matter more for Kaufusi but experience in the NRL should account for something - either way I think the age excuse loses a lot of its value if he hasn’t improved in next couple years. Maybe he gets to 26 and we say ‘he’s still not that old for a middle, he can still make a jump from here’ but that’ll make for a pretty boring couple of years of him.
Brit at the top of the list and just a year older than Wilton and Oregon - younger than most of the other middles - supports the fact edge players can establish themselves a bit younger
BurgoShark
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Might have to take on an apprentice for that.
Yeah agreed.
Closer to 2 years.
Nikora is December 97. The other two are August and September 99.
Fair
Billy Burns was playing very, very well at the back end of the season. I’d take him straight away for Tracey. He’s an edge right? We need more of those.
If Tracey was really trying to force his way out we could do worse