Official Kade Dykes

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I reckon if Kennedy doesn't work out, we give Ronnie a go at Fullback.

Some comparisons between the 2

Chiming into the backline - Have to give that one to Kennedy. Had plenty of experience and looks dangerous when he's on, good passing game.
Running the ball back - Ronnie for mine, and looks more likely to break the line.
Under the high ball - WK is ok, but Ronnie is better, has a great leap.
Big match experience - Ronnie is a test player now. Watch some of his games for NZ in the World Cup.
Passion - Ronnie by a country mile
Speed - I reckon Ronnie. Seems to have got faster in the last year or so, and scored some great runaway tries.
Defence - don't know and don't care what the stats might say, but lets just say that WK thinks that the NRL is a touch footy comp.

Hopefully WK has improved and worked on a few things in the off season, especially defence. Obviously we give him the first 5 or so games and see how he goes.
I have no doubt that Ronnie could learn to play FB quickly if required, and we have a few other guys in our squad that can play wing.
Pretty fair. IF WK didn't go well, would you then have him do an AJ and move to the wing?
 

BurgoShark

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Who's your next in line if Kennedy went down
Tracey ?
As I've said on previous pages, if it's a game or two - it's Tracey. If you lose WK for an extended period you look at the options, including Hiroti, a re-shuffle, or upgrading someone from the dev list.

Taukamo's injury is also another spanner in the works. Haven't seen him training so likely a while away.
 
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BurgoShark

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Yeah, not sure if it was ever clarified which it was. Dislocated shoulder he'd probably be back soon, pec could be end of this month, early next month I'd think.
It was a dislocated shoulder.

Just found an article from DT on 17 December that has him estimated returning round 8-9. Basically that puts him on the same timeline for availability as all of the dev list guys anyway (round 11).
 
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Was going to post this in the signings thread, but thought it was better to spread the discussion. Couldn't be bothered reformatting though so deal with it. Any additional insights are appreciated.

Kade Dykes

21 years old. Fullback or 5/8. Path currently blocked by Kennedy (signed till 2023) or Moylan (signed till 2024). Also had a brilliant year in cup last year and didn't look out of his depth at 6 or 1. I thought he was impressive in his couple of first grade games, and looked like he could have challenged for Kennedy's spot by the end of this year had he continued developing well. Unfortunately, he will miss the year with an ACL tear. This puts the club in a more challenging spot as there will be less data to decide whether he could be ready to be the heir to the 1 jersey in 2024. It is also likely that Kennedy will be looking for a longer term deal, so the club is in a tough spot on this one. Kade is signed through the end of 2024 too, so one option could be bringing him in through 5/8 in 2025, then transitioning him to replace Kennedy after a next deal if he lives up to the hype.

I think given his injury, the club has no choice but to re-sign Will. Hopefully for two years, maybe with a mutual option for a 3rd. Kade can transition in as injury cover/utility/five-eight over the next few years, and can likely be retained cheaply given he'll be coming of a significant injury.
 

bort

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If Kennedy plays decent/well this year I’d look at extending him two years. Shouldn’t be on so much we can’t drop him if Dykes is outperforming.
If we end up carrying Kennedy as a backup for one year while Dykes feels him breathing down his neck so be it

Alternately if the powers that be see him in the halves then you let him Trindall and Puru duke it out for the jersey behind Moylan. Like Kennedy (but with more ‘profile’) we could live with Moylan falling to backup for half a year if that happened.
 

BurgoShark

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Sometimes guys come out of nowhere too. It still dumbfounds me that at 21 turning 22 Kennedy had no contract. Any team in the NRL could have grabbed him for minimum wage.
 

bort

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Has Dykes a future at 6 as well?
Looks like he could do either, sharks staff would know more what their preference was.
Every chance it’s something like a couple years at fullback then moves into halves once he’s filled out and developed a bit
 
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Looks like he could do either, sharks staff would know more what their preference was.
Every chance it’s something like a couple years at fullback then moves into halves once he’s filled out and developed a bit
Yeah that’s how I his career going.

Absolute travesty he was injured and not able to develop this year. Was so keen to see him develop
 

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Kade has posted some more rehab videos on his insta.

Couldn't share but he's looking strong.
 
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