Recruitment 2022 Warriors Recruitment Discussion

[AusWarriorsFan]

Statistically on the wing he’s pretty decent at making meters - averaging 150 the last few years with 2-3.5 tackle breaks a game. He’s also fast and a decent finisher, so once he comes back into a bit of form I think we’re not too bad with him and Montoya there.

Hes not been at his best for us, but to be fair, Artharrs who was on loan from Bris has been by far our best centre and hes injured, now Dallin Watene-Zelezniak gets Vailea who just loves jumping out of the line falling for a simple draw and pass by the 5/8th or 7 leaving Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 1vs3 so often. Id have played Aitken back in centre by now if he was available. Niukore and Walker should give coverage for that next year but imo we need to sign a semi decent centre who can tackle, like Arthers. Asi is a real real speed bump so Im not wanting him near centre, he has to be hidden at 6 as it is, he makes Kodi look amazing on defense. Much like Walsh do you trade 3 tries against for 2 TAs or tries? With Walsh yes, because he should keep improving. Not so sure about Assi.

 

[Burncity warrior]

There was talk about Nelson making a play for the ABs from the storm. Hed be my preference even if hes a union guy at heart. Either of them can be good, but both need firing up or they gentle giants.

Besides, getting Nelson to see the Warriors as a similarity to playing for the ABs might be a slightly hard sell hehe ;-p

If Klemer did 140m and 40 tackles every game, Id say sign him for $850k, but thats not the norm. Again, we seem to want to over invest in half baked forwards and not in class Spine and OB's and we are paying for it. No real 9 today, been average since Chitty busted a nut, our RG level centres are speed bumps (thank goodnees for pompey moving back in, but Vailea, good luck). Invest in the backs and a few class forwards, but dont skimp on the spine. George loves cheap and cheerful in the backs/spine but seems to get over ruled with the forwards.

I think the issue is we can't get out hands on decent spine players. Hughes, Manu, Hynes, B Smith all rejected us. I think they understand we are weak there. Nobody wants to come and why would they to be honest.. I think this is why they are now investing in the future with Volkman, Metcalf, Walsh instead and trying to at least toughen up our middle in the meantime.
Either way, if Lodge leaves they'll need to replace him. Klemmer would be ideal and NAS even better as you say. Nas would demand big money and rightly so.. A few guys have mentioned Barnett last night, awesome buy. Exactly the type of hard nosed player we need.

 

[AusWarriorsFan]

I think the issue is we can't get out hands on decent spine players. Hughes, Manu, Hynes, B Smith all rejected us. I think they understand we are weak there. Nobody wants to come and why would they to be honest.. I think this is why they are now investing in the future with Volkman, Metcalf, Walsh instead and trying to at least toughen up our middle in the meantime.
Either way, if Lodge leaves they'll need to replace him. Klemmer would be ideal and NAS even better as you say. Nas would demand big money and rightly so.. A few guys have mentioned Barnett last night, awesome buy. Exactly the type of hard nosed player we need.

True. I was refering more to our centres now. We need Pompey to have a quality NRL centre imo. Our wingers cant score without them.

I like our spine, but I didnt last year, but it is cheap and cheerful. If we can become top 4 or even 6, that also helps attract more players.

 

[Burncity warrior]

True. I was refering more to our centres now. We need Pompey to have a quality NRL centre imo. Our wingers cant score without them.

I like our spine, but I didnt last year, but it is cheap and cheerful. If we can become top 4 or even 6, that also helps attract more players.

Absolutely our centres are poor. For the life of me I don't understand why Aitken isn't put back there. Arthur's has been good but hardly setting the world on fire imo. Why they'd let Hiku go at 28 years old is beyond me too.. they really must see something in Vailea and Berry that we probably have no choice but to trust them there.. Walker is an option next year but he's hasn't played centre consistently in years. Maybe he wants to get back to being a starting centre and that's what we offered him?

We have no elite players in our spine, we have potentially elite players like Walsh but we need at least one big gun in our key positions to be a legit finals team..we have none.

 

[AusWarriorsFan]

they really must see something in Vailea and Berry that we probably have no choice but to trust them there..

Totally, once they play RG consistently again next year, Im sure Kosi, Vailea, Berry etc are potentially good players, its expecting a lot at this level.

I like Arthars, good defense, runs a fantastic line in the red zone (a lot of centres or runners dont run at or create the out stretched tackle).

 

[Greenlite]

I’d be happy with Pompey/Arthurs/Veilea next year, Berry as reserve

Vailea is already showing what he can do he will be a mini beast next year (he looks good in air too), Pompey isn’t quite Monty level improvement but he’s being solid as and finishing off tries

I think keeping Chanel Harris-Tavita will be beneficial for warriors but very uncertain about starting from next year from his POV, he’ll probably only start if Reece goes and Shaun Johnson retires 2024, then there will still be 850k+ to buy a gun fullback or half so that’s not a shoe in for him neither

 

[Greenlite]

After seeing today’s game clearly they need a new coach or defense coach because we’ve basically got all the players now and next year, they are playing with heart and try hard individually but it’s the coaches that need to manage the players into good mindset and game plan

 

[3rdstriker]

After seeing today’s game clearly they need a new coach or defense coach because we’ve basically got all the players now and next year, they are playing with heart and try hard individually but it’s the coaches that need to manage the players into good mindset and game plan

Spot on under a decent system we would perform, even under injuries the coaches would still get performance out of our limited depth without the massive capitulation.

 

[Tim burgess]

Spot on under a decent system we would perform, even under injuries the coaches would still get performance out of our limited depth without the massive capitulation.

That should come as players understand what it takes to play first grade.

 

[Swanny]

Does anyone know if Ratuva is injured or has he just been dropped by the Dolphins? Unfortunately he wasn’t making much impact so it seems unlikely he will be retained next year

 

[Dixpat]

What I dislike re Klemmer is his habit of backing into the tackle as it slows his PTB speed down

As a comparision in this round PTB speeds
Klemmer 3.68sec
Lodge 1.98 secs

 

[Cces]

What I dislike re Klemmer is his habit of backing into the tackle as it slows his PTB speed down

As a comparision in this round PTB speeds
Klemmer 3.68sec
Lodge 1.98 secs

That's incredibly fast from Lodge. The plus side to Klemmer over Lodge so far in 2022 is more PCMs, more minutes, more offloads (surprisingly), better tackle efficiency, less errors & less penalties.

 

[pompower]

Lodge's quick play the balls have also resulted in a number of errors this year. He has a terrible habit of planting the ball down before he's up.

 

[Since95]

Hes not been at his best for us, but to be fair, Artharrs who was on loan from Bris has been by far our best centre and hes injured, now Dallin Watene-Zelezniak gets Vailea who just loves jumping out of the line falling for a simple draw and pass by the 5/8th or 7 leaving Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 1vs3 so often. Id have played Aitken back in centre by now if he was available. Niukore and Walker should give coverage for that next year but imo we need to sign a semi decent centre who can tackle, like Arthers. Asi is a real real speed bump so Im not wanting him near centre, he has to be hidden at 6 as it is, he makes Kodi look amazing on defense. Much like Walsh do you trade 3 tries against for 2 TAs or tries? With Walsh yes, because he should keep improving. Not so sure about Assi.

I agree. Vailea is yet to develop trust in his inside and also that he cant get up and take no one. This is grade. You can do thatbin qcup because halves cant ice opportunities like that as often. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak just ends up exposed. Be thing he can do is stay connected to vailea.

If he doesnt it then looks like theres a disconnect inside and outside of vailea. And the long ball to the wing is slightly easier to cover than an centre with options inside and outside.

 

[rugged]

Lodge's quick play the balls have also resulted in a number of errors this year. He has a terrible habit of planting the ball down before he's up.

Always looks like he is a penalty or fumble waiting to happen but does result in very fast ptbs

 

[Noitall]

Thinking about the amount of money we must have in our cap, I wonder if we should have a shot at Matt Burton who has a player option for 2024 to replace Shaun Johnson. There’s talk of discontent for him at the bulldogs and though Volkman is highly regarded, he is a work in progress. There’s also Metcalf but we’re not going to know until we see him potentially with Chanel Harris-Tavita. Hopefully seeing Chanel Harris-Tavita in the coaches box yesterday indicates contract talks have gone well over the weekend. Burton is on $500k a season at the bulldogs and is a world class centre as well but halfback is where we may need someone proven after SJs contract. I think with him and a first class prop to replace Lodge we’ve got a great team. Them and perhaps another centre, though I’d like to see Asi play there and Vailea is progressing. Pompey the other centre all day long for me.

 

[pompower]

If Matt Burton is available he will be one of the most in-demand players in the comp unless he has an ungodly bad 2023. Gun player. Would love to see it but don't think we'd have a chance to be honest.

 

[Wrighty]

The Post Mortem will show this season was lost when we let Peta Hiku go under the assumption that Vailea and Berry were both going to be outstanding and manifest that level of play in 2022. Hence they were picked to start in round one. Now we have to either lie in the bed we made for ourselves and lose. Which is what we will probably do.
Or alternatively bring Dylan Walker here this year immediately to play centre.

 

[Defence]

The Post Mortem will show this season was lost when we let Peta Hiku go under the assumption that Vailea and Berry were both going to be outstanding and manifest that level of play in 2022. Hence they were picked to start in round one. Now we have to either lie in the bed we made for ourselves and lose. Which is what we will probably do.
Or alternatively bring Dylan Walker here this year immediately to play centre.

Or… we could’ve just been playing aitken there all along…

 

[Wrighty]

Or… we could’ve just been playing aitken there all along…

That too
Should have said that.
Perhaps he will be shifted back to centre now that Tohu Harris is back.
We need at least one experienced and seasoned centre either Aitken or Walker asap.