The Actual 18th Team: Perth Bears

[Disco]

Yeah if you are happy to watch reserve grade standard.

Disagree.

Here is a hypothetical team that could be put together from NRL off contract in 2025-2026 players without significantly weakening any other team (no more than 1 player per NRL club) as well as Rugby and Super league guys.

Not saying this team makes the 8 but they compete.

Also....obvs this is hypothetical but it just demonstrates what could be done in terms of the player pool.

1.Manu
2.Tesi Nui
3.Cobbo
4.Laybutt
5.Talau
6.Te Maire Martin
7.Bevan French/Brodie Croft/Mikey Lewis
8.Liam Henry
9.Da Silva
10.Junior N'semba (we should sign this guy)
11.Kai Pearce Paul
12.Lane
13.Steep

14.Nikorima
15.Pahulu
16.Mooney
17.Talaki

 

[The '47ers]

The $10m worth of NRL talent playing reserve grade — and why they all got dropped

The $10m worth of NRL talent playing reserve grade — and why they all got dropped

www.foxsports.com.au

 

[Brookie1973]

Disagree.

Here is a hypothetical team that could be put together from NRL off contract in 2025-2026 players without significantly weakening any other team (no more than 1 player per NRL club) as well as Rugby and Super league guys.

Not saying this team makes the 8 but they compete.

Also....obvs this is hypothetical but it just demonstrates what could be done in terms of the player pool.

1.Manu
2.Tesi Nui
3.Cobbo
4.Laybutt
5.Talau
6.Te Maire Martin
7.Bevan French/Brodie Croft/Mikey Lewis
8.Liam Henry
9.Da Silva
10.Junior N'semba (we should sign this guy)
11.Kai Pearce Paul
12.Lane
13.Steep

14.Nikorima
15.Pahulu
16.Mooney
17.Talaki

No offence, but if that team plays for the bears the franchise will go down the gurgler pretty quickly. The new team needs to be successful from day one. They are going to need a much better roster than that. I know you’re not saying this is a potential bears side, but I think the lack of quality talent will be an issue. And we then have png coming in, and presumably they will need some non local talent to compete.

 

[Disco]

The $10m worth of NRL talent playing reserve grade — and why they all got dropped

The $10m worth of NRL talent playing reserve grade — and why they all got dropped

www.foxsports.com.au

Highlights my point beautifully.

Plenty of talent around

 

[Disco]

No offence, but if that team plays for the bears the franchise will go down the gurgler pretty quickly. The new team needs to be successful from day one. They are going to need a much better roster than that. I know you’re not saying this is a potential bears side, but I think the lack of quality talent will be an issue. And we then have png coming in, and presumably they will need some non local talent to compete.

No offence taken and as you say it is a hypothetical team and a start up team would definitely go more leaders and experience.

It is also a team made on the premise of not significantly weakening the other NRL clubs....not something the Bears will actually care about.

That said in 18 months time I think you'd have a very different opinion of especially that pack.

I'd love N'semba, Henry, Da Silva, Steep and even Mooney and Pahulu

 

[Woodsie]

Horrible decision we don't have enough players now yet we are blindly adding two teams. Some crap players going to get massive money. Vlandys has lost me in the press conference talking about sharing players with the western force wow that will do me.

Mate, I'm 73 years old .... and I have been hearing that complete bulldust about not enough players for 73 of those years ... and yet every year at least 30 new players debut ... and at least 10 of those are tagged future super stars of the game,

 

[Hertera]

Disagree.

Here is a hypothetical team that could be put together from NRL off contract in 2025-2026 players without significantly weakening any other team (no more than 1 player per NRL club) as well as Rugby and Super league guys.

Not saying this team makes the 8 but they compete.

Also....obvs this is hypothetical but it just demonstrates what could be done in terms of the player pool.

1.Manu
2.Tesi Nui
3.Cobbo
4.Laybutt
5.Talau
6.Te Maire Martin
7.Bevan French/Brodie Croft/Mikey Lewis
8.Liam Henry
9.Da Silva
10.Junior N'semba (we should sign this guy)
11.Kai Pearce Paul
12.Lane
13.Steep

14.Nikorima
15.Pahulu
16.Mooney
17.Talaki

You can name all the players you want but they come from other teams who are already struggling. The standard of the nrl has been poor this season. Clubs (including us) have very little depth and adding two new teams for no other reason than tv is a poor choice imo.

If we were desperate to add a new team it should have been a second team from NZ as they have a heap of players not some old dud Sydney team

 

[Waz13]

Geez, the oxygen on the plane flight over must have been compromised resulting in this, how can I say this without being rude, "novel code-sharing idea".

I am aware in the Vatican City, many Catholics are waiting to see white smoke show emerge from the Sistine Chapel chimney, however, some of that "white smoke" may also be coming out of NRL HQ after reading that article.

It has all the hallmarks of an idea concocted by Kramer and Newman, and they had some funny ideas

“I know it all seems pretty glamorous, but it’s business as usual here at Kramerica”

 

[Disco]

You can name all the players you want but they come from other teams who are already struggling. The standard of the nrl has been poor this season. Clubs (including us) have very little depth and adding two new teams for no other reason than tv is a poor choice imo.

If we were desperate to add a new team it should have been a second team from NZ as they have a heap of players not some old dud Sydney team

I named players from 14 different clubs, are they all struggling??

 

[Brookie1973]

Mate, I'm 73 years old .... and I have been hearing that complete bulldust about not enough players for 73 of those years ... and yet every year at least 30 new players debut ... and at least 10 of those are tagged future super stars of the game,

Can someone let Manly recruitment know.

 

[Wombat Junior]

My thought is the teams and the coaches that already struggle and complain about travel in certain periods of the season, then I thought I'd take a look at the flight time from NZ to Perth knowing they would have the longest flight and its 7 and a half hours, geez that's going to take a toll. Still pretty long flights for even the other states and also the Perth team themselves.