bonaire wrote:But adding another average Joe if he is coming on say a 2year deal doesnt help at all in the next recruitment cycle.We are now overloaded with additions on 2/3 year contracts and several of those would have to be offloaded end of 2025 season if we are to add some necessary real quality and pace especially at centre,and add some depth in second row and front row
Just dont see the logic or strategy because unless we offload or pay off players then we are left with virtually the same squad we have in 2025 playing in 2026
Quote:If the club has money to spend then save it and find one or two top quality players who can provide some excitement on the field get fans interested again and start pushing into the top four
Whilst I get where you are coming from with Cross, I do think you are being a little blind to our current situation.
If we remain a bottom-four side, then our chances of acquiring 'top quality players' becomes doubly difficult, as we found with Lachlan Lam. The chances are anyone of decent standard will most likely have a more tempting offer put to them from someone else.
Our only recourse in that scenario is to put more money on the table to sway a deal our way, but in its self can cause problems further down the line. We need to push ourselves further up the ladder, to at least mid-table respectability, in order to make ourselves a more enticing prospect for high quality players to want to come here to then help push us onto top four challenges.
Due to the fact that we have contrived to dig ourselves into an almighty pit over a number of years, we are not going to able to get where we all want to be in one single leap, it's not going to happen that way I'm afraid. If we are to be challengers once more, then it will almost certainly have to be done in stages, from bottom-four to mid-four to challengers and (hopefully) winners. And we will have to shop accordingly in order to reach our initial, albeit modest, goals first, of at least looking like a club with intentions to succeed once more.
I don't think Cross is a perfect signing, if it comes to pass, but he would improve a weakness in the current squad to a degree and in turn hopefully help push us in the right direction. The key question for me with Cross would be length of contract. Two years maximum would be best, but if he holds out for a three year deal then Myler/Cartwright have to weigh up their options, would that hamper future recruitment to an unacceptable degree? These are the type of decisions Myler and Cartwright have to get right if we are to be successful once more.
Because of the last five years, we really are a long way back from where we would all like to be. This is going to take some time to fix the mess we have got into. Making some signings that on the surface appear to be underwhelming is a situation we are probably going to have to accept for at least a further year. We need to make ourselves an attractive proposition to potential quality targets in order to achieve our longer term goals.
It's not ideal, but it is the harsh reality of where we are right now and there is no getting away from the fact that it is a long road ahead of us and we have to plan accordingly. I'm sure every single black & white would love to be watching a top-two side by 2026 but it is extremely unlikely to happen in that short space of time. I'm afraid that's just the way it is right now, but we live in hope, we always do!!