Burton and Flanno are good young halves. But they certainly are not what we need currently. We need experience at halfback and hooker. We desperately need to go on another signing spree when we landed Kimorley, Ennis and Hannant

And who's the experienced half you'd like us to sign?

Hannant...you are kidding mate...ticker the size of Michael Jennings' steroidal nuts..wimped out very quickly.

Hannant was good while he was here...
Left for whatever behind the scene reasons but won a premiership with Cows, so certainly had the ability. 

Not many around but I would certainly be making a play for Benji at the right price, if the Flano deal doesnt come to fruition. 

But if we get Flano or Burton, i dont think we need to worry too much. We are a rebuild and it will likely take 2-3 years to get back to finals footy anyway.

If we are impatient and want finals next year or 2022 then I agree with Micko and we need to get our hands on an experienced game managing half or hooker or both.

Okay...please recount all the great games he played for us...his highlights reel would be like Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard

David Riccio just tweeted that Hetherington has signed a 3yr deal with Dogs. 

Experienced half or half experienced that's the conundrum.

Both tick the box of being the kind of half we currently need, an organiser.

Young Averillo and Wakeham can make plays,  but don't currently know how to steer a team.
Lewis is a good kicker and defender, but his passing needs a lot more work.

Foran never has been an organiser.

Green and Townsend tick the box, injury has wiped out Green. There are very few experienced quality halves that are available unless we import a Pom.

Hooker what I am looking for is a specalist, some one who has played hooker all of their career.

IMO hooker, half and fullback are specalist positions and ideally the player plays most of their career 14-21 in those positions.

Ages 14-18 are critical in player development, kids seem to soak up quality coaching like a sponge at those ages. Age 14 isn't too late to learn a new position age 21 probably is...

Cronk is an exception, there are always exceptions, but many more failed experiments.

JMK is improving and is a reasonable plan B, Katoa has some useful attributes and is more of a natural hooker.
Hooker and half aren't positions where 2nd best gives the team a chance, most weeks you need a quality specalist with years of experience in that position.

One more experienced or steady player with the young tyros is a good mix.

Perhaps Lewis, Wakeham and Averillo step up and surprise us in 21, if that happens, it is luck, not planning.

Official. 2 years.

Is Hetherington any relation to the great Jason Hetherington? 

Brett...

Pearce or Benji if available. Unfortunately there is no hooker with experience available, that would be a much better seeing as we have so many young halves. 

I thought Hannant was great for us. Easily most meters of any forward, didn’t he top the meters gained most weeks in the NRL. Also Dally M prop of the year? 

Perhaps my memories are tainted by the way he left us...2009 was a year we could have won...Kimmorley bravely coming back from a broken cheekbone and the General being flattened in the semi against Parramatta...alas a year that never was...

Unfortunately a lot of our better players get homesick for the $$$$$$ on offer at other clubs.

That’s why we need to offer more ‘under the table’ money to stop it from happening. 

We might joke about it but that's probably the only way we can get on level playing field with other clubs who no doubt do it......

Yes, the first year of Hannant was outstanding, his runs consistently made a lot of ground. However, in his 2nd year he was just making up the numbers, his wife wanted them back to QLD, he wanted out of his contract etc & never reproduced anything close to the same form of his first year. I don't know if he was actually released from a 3rd year or just forced to finish his 2nd year because the club couldn't get a replacement. Someone else might know.

We need a few fairy godmothers.  In some ways, once the club reaches a level of income, they are more valuable than sponsors.  Their money basically increases the salary cap.  That is your advantage over those working within the standard cap.

I hope we actually do get Flannigan, he has had a year with the rorters so he has already served some form of apprenticeship. Even if we don't snag Burton a decent spine would be 1. Meaney 6. Flannigan 7. Averillo and 9. JMK. If they put Lewis at lock he has a good left foot kick to give us options and Flannigan is also a goal kicker. Hoppa has been good for us but is getting toward that use by date and DWZ unfortunately has not lived up to his potential and if the Dogs offloaded one or both to free up cap space then we are not being too disadvantaged. It's sad but unfortunately that's how I see it.

If we can’t get Burton next year we certainly need to sign Benji. He would be a good pickup for us and offer some points which we desperately need. 

MickO, as I said earlier, I don't mind Meaney at FB. He is good under the high ball, has a bit of pace about him and easily chimes into the backline. The only thing he needs to do is put his body on the line when required.

Very much agree on your last line.
DWZ offered that bit of x-factor that we sadly lack but since his move to the wing has been nullified. 

Meany reminds me of a poor mans Luke Patten.
Avo reminds me of a poor mans Bill Salter. 

You are missing the brains part... . 
We need a leader in the backs that has footy brains and can impart it on the other backs and we need another player in the forwards (ideally hooker) who has footy brains.

There is a genuine lack of footy nous in our team and I dont know who in our roster can provide it. 

Ben Ikin made a hypotheticsl comment on NRL 360 the other day about whether the panel thought Titans getting Cam Smith would make them a top 4 proposition or not? 

At first I thought No Way. But in retrospect, I think it does. Smith as focal point will transform the players around him and most of all relieve the pressure on Ash Taylor, Fogerty and AJBrimson. 

I think Ikin could be right. And I think we need a Cam Smith to get us on right track

My thoughts are similar. We need another option at 9

The Panthers want to keep Burton, we will not easily get him for 21, even 22 is no certainty.

Say we sign Burton for 22 and Flano is going great, we can always move Averillo to fullback.

I can never work out what to do with Lewis, however he may turn the corner and demand selection in the halves.
Otherwise he may make a good centre or lock, in  both cases leg speed is important and he was to work on that.
So passing and running need work wherever he plays, kicking game and defence are assets.

Wakeham has all of the raw ingredients, but he needs to adjust to the NRL and make an impact, I'm happy if he has to earn an opportunity, competition for places and depth is handy.

DWZ and Hoppa I am less patient, they are older experienced players probably on more money.
Hoppa needs to play centre and DWZ centre/wing, and they need to perform.
Both are capable and Hoppa is almost certain to deliver, DWZ needs a much better season tan 20, but I think he knows that and again should deliver.

Poor team selections, played some of our team out of form in 20, being out of contention early and just not having the cattle or the coach were a factor. Overall our team is a bit better than it appeared to be in 20.