Re: Shopping list for 2025 : Tue Jun 25, 2024 8:03 am
Irregs#16 wrote:
I think Balmforth will stay, and Morgan Smith will leave. If we sign Rimbu, and with Hodgson highly rated we will have 4 good, young hookers across the first team and the reserves. Balmforth can play 13 too
I hope you're right on the bit in bold, nothing against Smith but if we had the choice to only keep one of the two, Balmforth is the clear choice for me. A lot is and has been made about his deficiencies but his positives far out number the negatives and let's be honest he's not the only player to not have been at the ptb is he, at one point over the past couple of seasons it seemed to be a regular occurrence.
Personally I would say Balmforth is worth tying down for a couple of years based on the investment in him so far in our system and the potential he has, some of which we've seen in the last 2 games, otherwise the investment is wasted and to the benefit of another club. I don't think its a coincidence he has been an instrumental part of the last 2 games either and will only get better the more games he plays at this level. Realistically with the season gone there is no better time than to give him games to help progress his development, he is a smart player who isn't one dimensional as he can scoot/run, pass and kick to create opportunities and that is what we have truly lacked since Heremaia left and we resorted to playing Danny for 80 min for too many seasons.
