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If I was to become CEO of the Sea Eagles today and had some sway over player retention, the following players would be looking for a new club -

Christian Tuipulotu - Not first grade standard
Brad Parker - Can tackle, but offers zero with the ball
Morgan Harper - see last year's Melbourne Semi Final or this year's game at shark Park
Jason Saab - Ineffectual bringing the ball back
Foran - I know, going anyway, but has played one season too many
DCE - Has dished up absolute rubbish since Origin. Overpaid and overrated
Olakau'atu - In my opinion way overrated. Never produces against big teams
Taupau - Going anyway, but rubbish
Croker - Pedestrian. Stifles the whole attack
Sipley - Plodder
 
Agree with you on the list here. Nailed it with your description on all of them.

I'm not sold on Schuster yet either. I'd rather we find a tried and tested half, instead of banking on a 'hopeful' for next season. I know that a lot of people on here rate him pretty high but I haven't seen anything.

The other disappointment for me has been Olakau'atu this year. Another with potential that just doesn't use his talents. These two guys have really regressed lately
 
If I was to become CEO of the Sea Eagles today and had some sway over player retention, the following players would be looking for a new club -

Christian Tuipulotu - Not first grade standard
Brad Parker - Can tackle, but offers zero with the ball
Morgan Harper - see last year's Melbourne Semi Final or this year's game at shark Park
Jason Saab - Ineffectual bringing the ball back
Foran - I know, going anyway, but has played one season too many
DCE - Has dished up absolute rubbish since Origin. Overpaid and overrated
Olakau'atu - In my opinion way overrated. Never produces against big teams
Taupau - Going anyway, but rubbish
Croker - Pedestrian. Stifles the whole attack
Sipley - Plodder
I'd personally keep Saab and Olakau'tau from this list. Assuming the Rainbowgate stuff can be put in the past.

Saab had a tough start to the year but improved his game considerably before he got injured. That tells me he listens and wants to get better.

Olakau'atu is one of the most damaging young players in the game. He has mailed it in like the rest of the team the last few weeks which is disappointing. But no way i'm letting him go at this stage.

The rest of the players you have mentioned i'm not bothered if they go.
 
I'd personally keep Saab and Olakau'tau from this list. Assuming the Rainbowgate stuff can be put in the past.

Saab had a tough start to the year but improved his game considerably before he got injured. That tells me he listens and wants to get better.

Olakau'atu is one of the most damaging young players in the game. He has mailed it in like the rest of the team the last few weeks which is disappointing. But no way i'm letting him go at this stage.

The rest of the players you have mentioned i'm not bothered if they go.
I would keep Parks and Croker. I know they both have their limitations but for me Parks takes a lot of tough runs at the back, runs great decoy lines and attacking lines. His defence is also pretty solid. He also bleeds maroon and white. We need players like that at the moment. And Croker is also all heart. He and Jake do most of the defensive work in the middle. Again, we need players like that in the Club at the moment. I wish they were better but until we have better, I'd hold onto them.
 
If I was to become CEO of the Sea Eagles today and had some sway over player retention, the following players would be looking for a new club -

Christian Tuipulotu - Not first grade standard
Brad Parker - Can tackle, but offers zero with the ball
Morgan Harper - see last year's Melbourne Semi Final or this year's game at shark Park
Jason Saab - Ineffectual bringing the ball back
Foran - I know, going anyway, but has played one season too many
DCE - Has dished up absolute rubbish since Origin. Overpaid and overrated
Olakau'atu - In my opinion way overrated. Never produces against big teams
Taupau - Going anyway, but rubbish
Croker - Pedestrian. Stifles the whole attack
Sipley - Plodder
Well that leaves you with 7 players!

Good luck !

Just sayin’
 
I would keep Parks and Croker. I know they both have their limitations but for me Parks takes a lot of tough runs at the back, runs great decoy lines and attacking lines. His defence is also pretty solid. He also bleeds maroon and white. We need players like that at the moment. And Croker is also all heart. He and Jake do most of the defensive work in the middle. Again, we need players like that in the Club at the moment. I wish they were better but until we have better, I'd hold onto them.
Yep if we just talking depth players then those guys are really good clubmen worth holding onto.
 
If I was to become CEO of the Sea Eagles today and had some sway over player retention, the following players would be looking for a new club -

Christian Tuipulotu - Not first grade standard
Brad Parker - Can tackle, but offers zero with the ball
Morgan Harper - see last year's Melbourne Semi Final or this year's game at shark Park
Jason Saab - Ineffectual bringing the ball back
Foran - I know, going anyway, but has played one season too many
DCE - Has dished up absolute rubbish since Origin. Overpaid and overrated
Olakau'atu - In my opinion way overrated. Never produces against big teams
Taupau - Going anyway, but rubbish
Croker - Pedestrian. Stifles the whole attack
Sipley - Plodder
Well thank fk your not the CEO then.
So we get rid of these players and have to pay freight to do so, that's the easy part, who are you realistically going to sign to replace them, keeping in mind you will have a lot less $$$ to do so thanks to said freight charges
 
Here is my assessment of our Top 30

Josh Aloiai - can play tough when his mind is on the job. Too worried about representing the Boycott 10 the last half of the year. Second half of the year.. poor! Hopefully gets his mind back on the job orr goorne next year
Morgan Boyle - plodder - goorne
Ethan Bullemor - suspect a fringe first grader - might surprise... but think goorne for 2024
Daly Cherry-Evans - overpaid and hopeless as a game manager and woeful if the forwards are not dominating. Can be super when things are going right. Still think the Dolphins should have signed him and we let him go up there. Hopefully they have one last bite to try and get him.
Lachlan Croker - tough as teak. Would love his defence with Fainu's attack but.... where do you find that hooker. Keep him - we need heart and soul players
Andrew Davey - heart and soul player we should be keeping
Kurt De Luis - plodder - goorne
Viliame Fifita - no comment - haven't seen enough of him obviously
Kieran Foran - should be keeping this half not the other
Reuben Garrick - hopefully he stays - quality winger and all effort
Morgan Harper - fringe first grader - good for backup
Sean Keppie - too many errors, penalties, clocks of in defence. We will keep him and hopefully he gets it because he does have a lot of possible upside. But based on this year alone goorne
Tolutau Koula - might be a gun... might be. Jury still out - terrible games back end of the year
Karl Lawton - keep good 14 and good backup hooker
Haumole Olakau'atu - has all the talent in the world... but refuses to run onto the ball hard and that side of the defense with DCE is diabolical. Just maybe we have overrated him
Brad Parker - all effort - retain - nothing in attack but if we can get the rest of our attack going we don't need him scoring tries
Taniela Paseka - all the potential in the world. Keep him for one more year and hope he eventually delivers. The guess though is that he wont live up to the talent.
Jason Saab - hopefully muscles up in the off season.. loses a yard of pace but adds some toughness.. keep for another year
Josh Schuster - woeful year. Wont be surprised if he asks for a release. Really under the microscope for 2023. The DCE/Schuster pairing really is scary... and not in a good way.
Toafofoa Sipley - plodder - goorne
Martin Taupau - one of our better forwards and that sums up how we are going... but goorne.
Ben Trbojevic - not up to NRL standard - goorne
Jake Trbojevic - heart and soul of the club
Tom Trbojevic - lost without him
Kelma Tuilagi* - jury is out... but doesn't look a great signing at this stage. Can we get a refund?
Christian Tuipulotu - had first year end of season fade. Terrible second half. Hopefully comes back in 2023 super charged because his battery has been flat
Alec Tu'itavake - jury out obviously
Dylan Walker - great 14 - all effort - but error prone and prone to brain explosion. Still would have kept him.
Kaeo Weekes - think he is super talented. Might end up beating Schuster for the number 6 job.
 
Here is my assessment of our Top 30

Josh Aloiai - can play tough when his mind is on the job. Too worried about representing the Boycott 10 the last half of the year. Second half of the year.. poor! Hopefully gets his mind back on the job orr goorne next year
Morgan Boyle - plodder - goorne
Ethan Bullemor - suspect a fringe first grader - might surprise... but think goorne for 2024
Daly Cherry-Evans - overpaid and hopeless as a game manager and woeful if the forwards are not dominating. Can be super when things are going right. Still think the Dolphins should have signed him and we let him go up there. Hopefully they have one last bite to try and get him.
Lachlan Croker - tough as teak. Would love his defence with Fainu's attack but.... where do you find that hooker. Keep him - we need heart and soul players
Andrew Davey - heart and soul player we should be keeping
Kurt De Luis - plodder - goorne
Viliame Fifita - no comment - haven't seen enough of him obviously
Kieran Foran - should be keeping this half not the other
Reuben Garrick - hopefully he stays - quality winger and all effort
Morgan Harper - fringe first grader - good for backup
Sean Keppie - too many errors, penalties, clocks of in defence. We will keep him and hopefully he gets it because he does have a lot of possible upside. But based on this year alone goorne
Tolutau Koula - might be a gun... might be. Jury still out - terrible games back end of the year
Karl Lawton - keep good 14 and good backup hooker
Haumole Olakau'atu - has all the talent in the world... but refuses to run onto the ball hard and that side of the defense with DCE is diabolical. Just maybe we have overrated him
Brad Parker - all effort - retain - nothing in attack but if we can get the rest of our attack going we don't need him scoring tries
Taniela Paseka - all the potential in the world. Keep him for one more year and hope he eventually delivers. The guess though is that he wont live up to the talent.
Jason Saab - hopefully muscles up in the off season.. loses a yard of pace but adds some toughness.. keep for another year
Josh Schuster - woeful year. Wont be surprised if he asks for a release. Really under the microscope for 2023. The DCE/Schuster pairing really is scary... and not in a good way.
Toafofoa Sipley - plodder - goorne
Martin Taupau - one of our better forwards and that sums up how we are going... but goorne.
Ben Trbojevic - not up to NRL standard - goorne
Jake Trbojevic - heart and soul of the club
Tom Trbojevic - lost without him
Kelma Tuilagi* - jury is out... but doesn't look a great signing at this stage. Can we get a refund?
Christian Tuipulotu - had first year end of season fade. Terrible second half. Hopefully comes back in 2023 super charged because his battery has been flat
Alec Tu'itavake - jury out obviously
Dylan Walker - great 14 - all effort - but error prone and prone to brain explosion. Still would have kept him.
Kaeo Weekes - think he is super talented. Might end up beating Schuster for the number 6 job.
Great summary BT and largely agree with all your summations .
I hope Schu stays ,I know we will regret it if he leaves e.g Hynes, Queen Gutho , Ramien ,Tom Wright , JWH, not picking up Sam Burgess when we had the chance etc etc
I think we also have to remember that most players take time to develop and sometimes we are too quick to call an end to their career to get rid of them or not work hard to keep them .Look at tigers with Moses ,Tedesco (maybe not the best example but you get my drift) etc Manly with Hynes Tom Wright and Gutho as mentioned above.
I do think we need a massive re-invigoration in the coaching ranks ,not so much Des but those around him esp in the fitness department and defence ,I think Des needs to be given 2023 with a new support team to prove whether or not he is still up to it ( i think he is )
DCE is a great 1/2 but is over paid and has been for along time ,I have asked multiple times what he has re signed for and did that effect his current deal .You would like to think that his new deal was contingent on him taking a hit in the final year of the current deal
Injuries have cruelled us no doubt ,I can barely mentioned rainbow gate it makes me so angry that as a club we could make such an own goal so easily ,when it could have been so easily avoided .
The Fainu saga was a real kick in the teeth, and I suppose we still have to wait till October for the appeal to be granted ,just a total cluster ....
Penn needs to step up in terms of $$ into the football side of things and in regards to Blacktown
Des needs to give the youth a go ( I will counter that with the Hopate example in 2020 when everyone on ST's was calling for Hopate Jnr to be playing when it turns out he clearly wasn't up to it at that time ,and Des probably knew that before he ran on) So you have to trust Des that he has more of an idea than us who is ready and who is not.
We need to find a 9 to drag those big fowards onto the ball and hitting the line at pace ,I love Croker but we need more ,maybe young Gordon steps up ( i remember he looked good in the trial this year ?) or Roache or maybe Lawton can re invent himself and obliviously we need another Prop
Anyways I think we have the nucleus of a top 4/8 squad with little tweaking and a few less crucial injuries with the Trojvevics being essential to our success (the younger one is not yet up to 1st grade standard and especially in the back line )
Im not as negative as some on here and certainly hold hope not fear for the future
Again thanks for the realistic assessment, and Go Manly !!
 
Great summary BT and largely agree with all your summations .
I hope Schu stays ,I know we will regret it if he leaves e.g Hynes, Queen Gutho , Ramien ,Tom Wright , JWH, not picking up Sam Burgess when we had the chance etc etc
I think we also have to remember that most players take time to develop and sometimes we are too quick to call an end to their career to get rid of them or not work hard to keep them .Look at tigers with Moses ,Tedesco (maybe not the best example but you get my drift) etc Manly with Hynes Tom Wright and Gutho as mentioned above.
I do think we need a massive re-invigoration in the coaching ranks ,not so much Des but those around him esp in the fitness department and defence ,I think Des needs to be given 2023 with a new support team to prove whether or not he is still up to it ( i think he is )
DCE is a great 1/2 but is over paid and has been for along time ,I have asked multiple times what he has re signed for and did that effect his current deal .You would like to think that his new deal was contingent on him taking a hit in the final year of the current deal
Injuries have cruelled us no doubt ,I can barely mentioned rainbow gate it makes me so angry that as a club we could make such an own goal so easily ,when it could have been so easily avoided .
The Fainu saga was a real kick in the teeth, and I suppose we still have to wait till October for the appeal to be granted ,just a total cluster ....
Penn needs to step up in terms of $$ into the football side of things and in regards to Blacktown
Des needs to give the youth a go ( I will counter that with the Hopate example in 2020 when everyone on ST's was calling for Hopate Jnr to be playing when it turns out he clearly wasn't up to it at that time ,and Des probably knew that before he ran on) So you have to trust Des that he has more of an idea than us who is ready and who is not.
We need to find a 9 to drag those big fowards onto the ball and hitting the line at pace ,I love Croker but we need more ,maybe young Gordon steps up ( i remember he looked good in the trial this year ?) or Roache or maybe Lawton can re invent himself and obliviously we need another Prop
Anyways I think we have the nucleus of a top 4/8 squad with little tweaking and a few less crucial injuries with the Trojvevics being essential to our success (the younger one is not yet up to 1st grade standard and especially in the back line )
Im not as negative as some on here and certainly hold hope not fear for the future
Again thanks for the realistic assessment, and Go Manly !!
Great reply. I also believe even with all the fringe type players - we had a side to be in the 8 without Turbo. That however relied on everyone having a dig and playing great footy. Sadly the Boycott 10 totally derailed us which coincided then in the poor form of Aloiai, Haumole, Tippytoes and DCE while Koula was also questionable over much of the last 5 weeks. If we had these five playing well, add in Walker, Davey, Foran, Croker, a fit Jake, Parker, a fit Garrick, Marty that is certainly the basis of a top 8 side. When those 5 named above nosedived in form... we were goorne. The Dragons and Roosters games certainly killed us. The Dragons effort was a gutless and heartless effort if ever I have seen one. Anyway - it is in the forwards and our right side defence where serious improvement is required. We need two good props to be signed,,, we badly need a back up 5/8 if the DCE/Schuster combo bombs (maybe Weekes is that man), we need a workhorse backrower, somehow an attacking centre (no idea how), an attacking hooker would be great but they are not out there so we can forget that and a great young half - we can forget that, and we need a great 14! We will see if they offload a heap of players in the offseason.. we certainly need a roster overhaul before we need new coaches. I certainly would be putting the cleaners through the plodders in the pack.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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