Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Dec 19, 2021 8:51 am  

With regards French it may be worth looking into a swap loan deal with a Sydney club, so French can stay there as long as he needs to and we also get a player.

For instance, Jai Field can play fullback, Hardaker is injured is he? So maybe looking for a temporary loan of a centre and loan French to that Sydney club and then once French is ready to come over then we swap.

Maybe someone like William Kei from Wests, with the Madge connection he comes over on a month to month loan agreement whilst French is loaned to Wests to train and rehab with.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Dec 19, 2021 4:36 pm  

post wrote:

With regards French it may be worth looking into a swap loan deal with a Sydney club, so French can stay there as long as he needs to and we also get a player.

For instance, Jai Field can play fullback, Hardaker is injured is he? So maybe looking for a temporary loan of a centre and loan French to that Sydney club and then once French is ready to come over then we swap.

Maybe someone like William Kei from Wests, with the Madge connection he comes over on a month to month loan agreement whilst French is loaned to Wests to train and rehab with.

That’s not a bad idea at all although I do think that Peet and the rest of the coaching team will be keen to see where the squad needs strengthening following a number of competitive games.

We are all perhaps making assumptions about our strengths at the moment (myself included) but these can quickly become undone once the season starts.

I can’t see us rushing to find some kind of replacement at the moment and the advantage could be in waiting, on paper it’s looking like a strong squad so hopefully no need to rush into anything.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Dec 19, 2021 8:54 pm  

I really want to see how Hanley goes at fullback. I've seen him play at #1, #4, #5, #6 and #13 at junior, scholarship and academy grades.


At academy level he was better than Welsby and a really good organiser at #1

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Dec 19, 2021 10:13 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

I really want to see how Hanley goes at fullback. I've seen him play at #1, #4, #5, #6 and #13 at junior, scholarship and academy grades.


At academy level he was better than Welsby and a really good organiser at #1

I agree.

He’s been written off by some however he is still a very good prospect I’m my opinion. The key is a run of games and getting his confidence up as I think that took a knock.

It can’t be easy carrying that name as a legacy and I think it’s had an effect on expectations.

Another player who could have a career defining season in ‘22 I feel.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Dec 19, 2021 10:34 pm  

jonh wrote:

I agree.

He’s been written off by some however he is still a very good prospect I’m my opinion. The key is a run of games and getting his confidence up as I think that took a knock.

It can’t be easy carrying that name as a legacy and I think it’s had an effect on expectations.

Another player who could have a career defining season in ‘22 I feel.

Weird one really. IMO a lot of people closed their eyes to his performances at the start of the year and just said he was great because they wanted him to be, regardless of how he was actually performing. Later on in the aeason when he got back into the side on the odd occasion I think he went better. I think it's fair to assume we'll be without French and Hardaker on 2023 so I would be trying to see whether Hanley or Field is capable of taking the 1 jersey for then by giving them some opportunities at FB this season. On the wing I think Halsall should be ahead.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Dec 21, 2021 9:02 am  

Grimmy wrote:

Weird one really. IMO a lot of people closed their eyes to his performances at the start of the year and just said he was great because they wanted him to be, regardless of how he was actually performing. Later on in the aeason when he got back into the side on the odd occasion I think he went better. I think it's fair to assume we'll be without French and Hardaker on 2023 so I would be trying to see whether Hanley or Field is capable of taking the 1 jersey for then by giving them some opportunities at FB this season. On the wing I think Halsall should be ahead.

i was recently chatting to one of my mates who had a son playing at the same age group as Hanley, so he has seen quite a lot of him over the years

he was pretty confident he would come good as he rates him as one of the best young players he has seen over several years. We all know that being good at juniors doesnt necessarily translate to being a good senior, but i agree that he seems to have been written off far too quickly by some, I suppose his name doesnt help him either, with so much expectation placed on him because of what his dad could do

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Dec 21, 2021 9:28 am  

The pieman wrote:

i was recently chatting to one of my mates who had a son playing at the same age group as Hanley, so he has seen quite a lot of him over the years

he was pretty confident he would come good as he rates him as one of the best young players he has seen over several years. We all know that being good at juniors doesnt necessarily translate to being a good senior, but i agree that he seems to have been written off far too quickly by some, I suppose his name doesnt help him either, with so much expectation placed on him because of what his dad could do

Hanley should not be written off for a number of reason:
1 - he is very young still
2 - has he had much experience in the academy recently? (Covid)
3 - doesn’t have much first team experience
4 - mostly played out of position didn’t he? (Wing rather than FB)
5 - he was playing in an already depleted / young / poor form team (mostly right?)

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Dec 21, 2021 10:03 am  

The pieman wrote:

i agree that he seems to have been written off far too quickly by some

More like the opposite IMO, at the start of the season people just seemed to be saying he had a great game regardless of how he performed. I think after he lost his spot and returned for the odd game expectations seemed to become more realistic. He's probably in a better position this season where there might be a bit less focus on him and he'll have that first team experience. There's no doubting his attacking talent, just needs to cut down the errors in his own half/early in the tackle count.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Dec 21, 2021 10:11 am  

I might be wrong but I think I remember Hanley only playing fullback once in 2021 against Huddersfield and he played pretty well.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Dec 21, 2021 3:31 pm  

We are being linked with Kyle Flannigan in the Australian media as a replacement for French.

Given the current situation with French I would have be totally against it.

Cust, Flannigan with Field/Hardaker at 1 could be a very good combination.

Ideally French comes back but you have to take into account his personal situation in Australia.