Marki and others reckon Bellamy could grab any park footballer and make him a superstar...they gave up on Kasiano..enough said

Klem..
"I am putting what I believe is my family's best interests ahead of anything else... In business things happen"...
I might be able to get a job with the terrorcrap with that style of selective editing...

Why would Wally fldo the Broncs that favour?...
And I'm sure Lachy's manager (and the rest) are aware of the incentives the broncs via the thoroughbreds can offer...

Why would Wally fldo the Broncs that favour?...
And I'm sure Lachy's manager (and the rest) are aware of the incentives the broncs via the thoroughbreds can offer...

That's the part where I believe the NRL has failed the game miserably.....

The guy is openly admitting he has broken contract for more money. And instead of the NRL locking him out of the game for 2 years while the Knights pay him, they allow it and register his contract.
Disgrace from both him and the NRL

I feel less animosity to SBW who at least was kicked out of the league for the years his contract with us would have stood.

What I'm looking for in 2019 is evidence of a reset, that Pay is working toward a new and different playing style.

Football is a simple game, we have good depth in 2019 squad with a possibility for some young guys to step up.
Overall the pack has better depth than compared to 2018, but might have a slight loss of quality with Klem going.
In the halves we have Foran, Lewis, Cogger, and Wakeham.
And we have Meaney as a potential candidate for fullback.
Depending on how the young guys step up and how many games Foran plays, this might be the best spine for some time.
Our development squad players look good to me, so we have a fairly capable 34 man squad, with good options in most positions, perhaps missing a bit of experience and quality.

So I want to see signings of improvement, that we seem to be working toward and plan and a new playing style and that we have recruited the right players, my sense is that if we get all that, we might be a bit of a surprise packet in 2019.

If I had to sum up 2018, particularly the first half of the season, the team lacked quality, decision making and execution, at critical times, and we found a way to lose. That was mainly the halves, and the emergence of Lewis late in the season, fixed a lot of that.

Anyway, "Bring On The Madness".

I'm really excited... Fresh squad for the most part, and as Zef said plenty aggression in the pack... Not much was said of it last year, but we completely lost our bite with JGs leaving...
Much hinges on Forans fitness or lack of this year, I hope he can get thru the season, cos he gives us the greatest likelihood of finals.. If not I hope his fitness fails fast and we can settle quickly who will be The Prince's halves partner.

Marki a contract is not a certificate of ownership. It's an agreement between parties that can be amended, extended or terminated at any moment by the agreement of said parties.

Which has been done, to the agreement of all concerned parties.

The NRL has no place in it, none at all.

Stability and consistency in the spine positions is key.
Once Foran was ruled out for the season, we accepted it and played better.
This might come across badly, but MBYE was a cancer in our team. We often relied on him too much but he wasn't good enough to handle that role and it crucified us - constantly.

The way the reggies team played is much much better than how first team played. Forward did their job getting to the 20m opposition line but then played a secondary role inside it. Our first grade squad did the opposite for the last 5 years. Too much emphasis on forwards and not enough skill and trust in the backs. 

The emergence of Lewis, Smith and even Holland changed all that. It offered far more balance in attack especially in the opposition 20m. 

It's amazing how much insight you can get actually playing the game. So last week I played hooker for our team.
First time I've played it. But I did notice how slow my passing game was. By the time the first receiver got my pass he was hammered by the defense. Made zero meters. I remembered Lichaa playing style and did the double pump dummy which was even worse. Even I got smashed with the ball. 
I never realized how important that position was and how much control of the team you have from dummy half. 

Wrong.
A contract is between player and club and up to thr NRL to decide if they register it or not.
The NRL had a moral and integrity obligation when they chose to register Phlegms Knights contract.

Just like they stood their ground with Brett Stewart, Todd Carney, SBW, Barba and nearly that of Matt Lodge they had an opportunity to reject registering Phlegms contract on grounds of monetary gain.

It's obvious the NRL doesn't care if one team is disadvantaged at the expense of another. Hypocrisy is rife.

It's amazing how much insight you can get actually playing the game. So last week I played hooker for our team.
First time I've played it. But I did notice how slow my passing game was. By the time the first receiver got my pass he was hammered by the defense. Made zero meters. I remembered Lichaa playing style and did the double pump dummy which was even worse. Even I got smashed with the ball. 
I never realized how important that position was and how much control of the team you have from dummy half. 

Yep.
I think in the modern game, your hooker has to be instinctive and play whats in front of him rather than what he premediated 2 tackles ago....
That's Lichaa's problem. Same as Tolman. When they find themselves in a position to react and take opportunity, they are like deer in headlights and usually stuff things up.

Maybe if our halves elevate themselves to elite level they'll be able to mask the deficiencies of Lichaa. 
It wasn't the case from 2014-mid 2018 so both Ennis and Lichaa looked horrible. But I feel that with Lewis we have turned the corner and maybe we can overcome this final thorn

Marki................?

You're just making shit up.

The NRL has a "moral" and "integrity" obligation to not register Klems contract on the grounds of "monetary gain"

WTF is any of that supposed to mean? Tell me what is the crime of "monetary gain". And if there is a crime of "monetary gain" why are you using Stewart, Carney, SB, Barba and Lodge as examples when you know their issues weren't "monetary gain" at all? SB might go close but the issue there was there was no release granted from The Dogs. But the rest of them - what has alleged sexual assault, bubbling your own urine, snorting coke or assault and battery got to do with "monetary gain"?

Anyway.... back to reality. Klem asked for a release, the Dogs GRANTED that release - what part should The NRL have to play in that? You know, morally and with integrity and all that.

Mind you, I do know where you got some of it from.

You've seen in movies or TV shows or maybe read in the newspaper where someone has been charged or arrested for maybe "Selling illegal drugs for monetary gain" or running some scam for "monetary gain" and so got it in your head that it sounds all legit and you know what you're talking about if you say Klem's guilty of "monetary gain".

But it ain't so much the "monetary gain" part that got all those villains in trouble man, it was what the drugs and scams that were the real problem.

"Monetary gain" - you do that every day. So do most of us.

Life is not a movie, Marki.

When Ennis moved to the Sharks he played with dominant quality halves a much easier gig.

Lichaa was great in the lower grades, but his game has some limitations, he is mainly good at running the ball off a fast play the ball.
Currently in the NRL he seems to get lost at the end of his run and tries to linkup with support players and it never works.
If he is in the clear, I think he should dummy and try to break the tackle most of the time, we are better off playing off the back of the next play.
When he slows down and looks for support , for some reason his team mates look like total strangers, and we lose all momentum, in the end he is going too much across field and too slow, most of the time.

If he is ever going to come good, this is probably the year,

You have described the exact attributes of the player who I think will never change.
There has never been contrary evidence of it previously and IMO there never will.
But.....it will take Pay another year to figure it out.

I don't like this Marki. This.... this.... humbleness, this saying you were wrong, this... this....apology?

I don't like it at all Marki. Something's very f***in' wrong here. I can't help feel there's a joke I'm not part of or something

I don't like it

When Ennis moved to the Sharks he played with dominant quality halves a much easier gig.

Lichaa was great in the lower grades, but his game has some limitations, he is mainly good at running the ball off a fast play the ball.
Currently in the NRL he seems to get lost at the end of his run and tries to linkup with support players and it never works.
If he is in the clear, I think he should dummy and try to break the tackle most of the time, we are better off playing off the back of the next play.
When he slows down and looks for support , for some reason his team mates look like total strangers, and we lose all momentum, in the end he is going too much across field and too slow, most of the time.

If he is ever going to come good, this is probably the year,

I don't think we have an outstanding replacement this season.

Let's see how JMK/Lichaa progresses and perhaps hunt around for a really good young 9.

The way I see it is we had an assett with Klemmer's contract.  We got nothing for that assett.  Poor management by the club.  If I was a farmer with a water allocation ( an assett like Klemmers contract), I wouldn't just hand it back to avoid the ongoing cost.  I would sell it.  We should have said to Klemmer's manager "what are you offering for this assett".  He can then come up with money or players for our consideration.  Klem could play poorly if he chose.  If he does we can scuttle his rep career by sending him to park football.  This NRL contract circus needs to stop

Do you possibly think an experienced 9 would be better for us rather than good young un?

We need a dummy half to help our young forwards and halves (cant see Foran lasting unfortunately). If we don't get one,  Cogger to 9 if Foran lasts the season? He has the organising skills and directs plays. Is Cogger at 9 a real answer? Just trying to use our 29 to best advantage). 

Send Klem to park football, we don't get Napa and are playing with a 29 man NRL squad and we are still paying Klem's contract,at least some of the time.

I don't like the situation any more than you do, but it isn't poor management, smart management is working out what is achievable.
It is different to the SBW situation which we also got right, the difference is Klem was up front.

Other players watch how we treat our players in all situations, and make their decisions accordingly. Including whether or not they want to come to our club.

Where the NRL needs to tighten things up is stripping player managers accreditation if they organise illegal approaches to players.
It is very hard to police, player talk to other players, you can't stop people talking. 

Forget who is leaving, focus on who is coming, who we are developing and what we can do with the available players.

Once Klem made up his mind he was always going, in many jobs the day you decide to leave is always a great day.
It is a new chapter for him and also for us, we needed renewal. I would rather he stayed, but once he decided he was always going, full stop,