Places like the Gold Coast & Cairns especially and the backpacker trail right up the coast aren't coming back until international tourists come back. I was told recently by a friend of my son's who has restaurants & pubs on the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, that the sunny coast was ok but his establishments in Brisbane are stuffed without overseas tourists and students

Lots of people who live in Brisbane, like eating out and drinking.
There are probably a few areas where the trade is mostly tourists.
Maybe household budgets are tight,

Port Douglas has lots of shops and restaurants just for the tourists, they are struggling big time.

A lot of tge sunshine coast trade is locals and people from Brisbane 

That's the point that was being made about the Sunshine Coast.  If you go to Cairns,Port Douglas or the Gold Coast virtually every second person is from overseas.  The point is that until we get overseas tourism and students we are only fiddling around the edges

The difference is that while we arent having overseas tourists, we also as tourists cant go overseas so we will want to holiday local.

Basically Aussies will replace the overseas tourists. 

The winners here are the small nsw towns in between the major coastal of Byron, Coffs, Port Mac and Forster. With people scrambling for accommodation and travel being vehicle dominated,  they are starting to look at these other smaller towns knowing they can get a cheaper deal and just do day trips to the major centers anyway

The problem is the imbalance between outgoing and incoming expenditures. This is what we will struggle to address.  Maybe there should be one of the famous road maps politicians are always on about to address this.

Reimus Smith gone  the most likely Panther to go is probably Brent Naden. Would he be an adequate replacement? Not sure about adding older guys like Whare & Mansour to a rebuild.

Naden would be a good replacement for Smith.

Both are good in attack, but need to work on defence.

Very true re defence. I'm sure TB would have had a replacement in mind when letting Smith go

Leinu, Burton and Naden rumour on the kennel. Would be perfect for us. 

I would say Naden is an improvement. 
He seems faster and can actually break the line. 
Smith, for all his size, couldnt break the line. His height and leap was good for a 6th tackle bomb but if we are resorting to those types of hail Mary plays, it means we are struggling to create tries in the first 5 tackles. 

Getting rid of Tolman is one of the biggest plus signs this club has had for years. 

I'm really looking forward to next season now.
TB has put wheels in motion to transform the club and I like it. 

I'm hoping the guys get a good off season and hit the new season full of enthusiasm. If we can jag some early wins it will breathe new life to the team and club.

So am I. I’m not expecting too much, but it would be nice to watch the boys score some points. 

All the confirmed recruits and potential recruits listed by Mick O have talent and are in an age bracket perfect for development.  Plenty of opportunity to top up in 22.  Should be a pleasant ride coming up.

Let’s hope we get them all. It was just a rumour on the kennel so I gave my doubts. But perfect signings. Especially the prop. 

P1sshead Buzz reporting Latrell to sign 3yr extension worth 2.5m

That’ll mean they’ll have Cook, Reynolds, Walker, Burgess, Murray & now Latrell on huge $$$$..... there can be no way they’d be able to fit JAC!

As good a winger as he is, do we really need him? We already have Meaney and I reckon Barrett could really improve him in that position.

It will be called good cap management and we will all be expected to believe it.

On last year's form we could have cloned JAC 3 times over and it would not have made much difference. Meaney has shown he has speed and is good under a high ball...many of us...I would dare to say most believe he was not given a fair go...at fullback.....but the chopping and changing and erratic team selections were sure to hurt the confidence of many. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Yeah but Dane Gagai is on negative salary so it offsets it all.....

Beautifully said.
You cant question a prolific try scorer who has been best in his position for many years. He is a winner. I like winners. This team needs winners. He won't cost an arm and leg. He probably still wont be in the top 3 paid players - yet he will likely be best value.

Not discarding him. There is no guarantee Averillo will be a success at fullback and there will still be opportunities on the wing.....

But if you have a chance to get ome of the best wingers in the comp, one that has excelled in big games, you bloody well take it.

You really think we had a chance? Bulldogs were at best a smokescreen. 

Averillo is a very good player, still lots of improvement in him.

The Fox is worth the chase, but we apparently offered Smith in exchange, JAC didn't sign on the Storm took Smith anyway. So the club definitely had a shot at the Fox.

Looks to me like JAC is after very big dollars on his next contract. Before paying that, we need to see what our current squad and others can offer in 21. I think that we are still in the mix, along with every other Sydney club.

1st day back in training for the boys..... 40*+ degree heat today

T Baz..... rip into them please 

Does anyone know what the status of Aaron Schoupp is? Nothing on him. 

The one thing the club needs to spend some $$$ on is their bloody media department..... more information/interviews etc across the grades would be a start

I'd rather they did video sessions today.

I see no benefit in putting players under unnecessary stress in this heat so far out from round 1. 

Half our problems are theory.

C’mon Doc... Fwit Dessy & Pay over saturated many of these guys with bloody video sessions/GPS/I Pads/Grids etc.... let’s not forget that useless skills coach Pay used as well

They all need to be kicked in the head & told this is what being a 1st grade player is all about, catching, passing, kicking, tackling, post contact hit ups etc..... that’s got to be done on the field

Video sessions aren’t going to help much. The team needs to run the structures with the spine. Put the blueprint in place now. Get the spine talking preferably screaming at the rest of the team the whole session. Give young Flange the head call and get him used to taking charge.