NRL transfers

[Tim]

Rumours are that the Warriors have all but signed Steve Price for a HUGE salary..like 3 times the amount he is earning at the Bulldogs.
Apparently it is the same with Wiki but it's likely he'll end up going to England.
Laui'iti freed up alot of money for the Warriors one thinks...although the Warriors are only 1 of 2 privately owned clubs & Eric Watson is certainly not short of cash.

The Warriors released Vince Mellars yesterday & he is expected to play for Cronulla in 2 weeks.

 

[Simon]

Monaghan is apparently meeting with Manly and the roosters this week, prices offered are Raiders 250k, roosters 240k and manly 270k. seems as though hes going to stay in canberra.

with brisbane getting hodges michael de vere is being shipped off to hull, im for one very annoyed, de vere is our goalkicker, one of our best backs and in return we get an over rated and over paid hack in justin hodges.

as tim said price is expected to sign with the warriors later in the week, bulldogs have also given jamie feeney permission to negotiate with other clubs, he may end up in far NQ.

Storm foward David Kidwell is also expected to sign with the Raiders on wednesday or thursday, hey have all but given up on wiki, they $250k a year they have offered him is well short what wigan are apparently offering....

 

[Andre]

Personally, I don't think Price will leave the Dogs.

Anyway, Souths have signed Shannon Hegarty and are supposed to be signing that Irish usperstar Brain Carney soon, as well as another British half whose name escapes me. Shaun McRae will be announced as coach on Monday. Apparently Joe Williams is under Manly's eye, but if I were Souths I would re-sign this kid ASAP.

Kidwell is the Melbourne dude, I think he might stay put though... Tahu will probably stay in Newcastle but Manly and Union are options. Johnathon Thurston to NQ, while Mellars signed with the Sharks today for the next year and a half.

 

[Simon]

the money price is being offered its gonna be impossible to turn down, apparently his family will be going to suss out the area next week after origin and the round of nrl.

kidwell is almost a certainty to go, as i said before hes going to canberra to "sign" the contract this week....

id be surprised if Tahu stays, im surprised he hasnt already signed with manly....

Williams is over rated, being from wagga people down here have massive wraps on him, IMO hes been the best of a bad bunch, manly have mick monaghan whos a lot better player than young joe....

 

[Tim]

The Warriors definately need some guys with mental toughness in the forward pack. Wiki & Price would solve that..but it would leave the Warriors close to the salary cap.

Although Lau'ititi apparently freed up around $350 000 dollars and really only P.J Marsh & Stacey Jones are on big-time contracts at the Warriors. Apparently the Warriors are looking to blood some of their youth players in the back-line like Jerome Ropati & Marcus Perenara.

I heard last season that 160 players from the Bartercard Cup & club scene in NZ signed for overseas clubs..there is a huge amount of talent in the country but the Warriors don't seem to be finding it outside of Auckland. How did they miss Benji Marshall, Sonny Bill Williams etc?

 

[Andre]

To be fair to Warriors officials, Marshall went to school in Australia (somewhere in Queensland I think) so he wounldn't really have been under their noses. Sonny Bill played junior origin for NSW last year and he's been taled about as a potential superstar at Canterbury for at least 2 years now..

Basically, the Warriors need a combination of discipline and mongrel in their pack, Price offers the discipline but with Wiki rumoured to be headed elsewhere they will need Villasanti to become the player he was last year.

Glenn Morrison is in talks with Souths also.

 

[Craig]

To be fair to Warriors officials, Marshall went to school in Australia (somewhere in Queensland I think)

Keebra Park High on the Gold Coast.

I hope David Kidwell doesn't leave, we need him!

Ben MacDougall is off contract, but the way he has been playing, he will be likely to be offered a new contract. Same applies for Alex Chan.

Danny Williams will probably be re-signed. Parramatta can have Andrew McFadden back, and we can say goodbye to Rodney Howe.

If Kidwell leaves, Hill should move to lock (his best position) and Geyer to 5/8.

The Roosters wantto sign Amos Roberts, I would be shocked if Penrith do not come with a very good offer.

 

[age_master]

Price is still likley to stay with the dogs, but apparently if he leaves El Masri and Anasta are both also likley to leave...

 

[Craig]

El Mazri won't be short of offers IMO.

 

[Tim]

Marshall didn't leave NZ until he was 15 though..although I believe he didn't actually play league until he got to Australia so therefore nobody would have known about his talent in NZ.

I read yesterday that the Canterbury (NZ) Bulls have lost almost all of their 2003 championship winning squad to teams in the UK & Australia.

 

[Tim]

I don't think Penrith can offer anything better because they're close to the salary cap. Roberts is only on $80 000 at Penrith & the Roosters are potentially offering him around $150 000 or a bit more.

 

[Simon]

yeh roberts wont be at penrith next year, the roosters have restrained from making him a formal offer as they are still in talks with joel monaghan, but they arent likely to get him.

and craig as for melbourne, kidwell is almost a cert to join the green machiene, howe would be lucky if he can attract a club, retirement is about his only option, the info i have is that chan as resigned already, apart from that i dunno.....

el masri will prolly stay with the dogs, hes fielding offers from souths and the french RL at the moment.

 

[lord_of_darkness]

If we get Price and Wiki that will be damn good by the admin.. hmm and hopefully we should try and vagana soon too, he will do a lot of good for the warriors.. although that i cant see hapenning anytime soon

 

[Tim]

You'd be right because he's signed up at Cronulla for a while & I don't think we really need him anyway.

www.stuff.co.nz reports this morning that the Warriors may possibly cut P.J Marsh from the roster because his neck injury doesn't look like improving.
Mark Tookey already left yesterday for Castleford so there's no doubt the Warriors are clearing out the cupboard for some new arrivals.
Matt Jobson is rumoured to be cut also & Henry Fa'afili is almost certain to go to the UK.

The Warriors have also cut Justin Murphy, Danny Sullivan & Paul Dezolt this season & Jerry Seu Seu is heading to Wigan at the end of the year.

 

[Simon]

PJ Marsh could retire, its a shame cause he was a fantastic player, warriors will not get vagana back anytime soon, athough i can see him getting uunhappy at cronulla cause they never pass him the ball!

 

[Craig]

Well David Kidwell has decided to stay in Melbourne for the next three seasons.

Darren Lockyer is going to sign a 'ife-time' deal at Brisbane soon.

I would be surprised if no NRL club didn't make an offer for Mick de Vere. He is a fine goal kicker and an execellent centre, winger. In fact he is the leading points scorer in 2004.

 

[Simon]

de vere is refusing to play for another NRL club, he actually still has another year to go on his contract but hes always wanted to play in england and apparently he thinks now is the best time and brisbane arent going to stand in his way leaving... unfortunately.

i am really surprised Kidwell has signed a new deal with melbourne, escpically seeing as though he was supposed to be in canberra this week talking to them, maybe the storm put in a higher offer, his form of late has been very good.....

 

[Tim]

Kidwell has played himself into the NZ test team for later in the year I believe. It'll be interesting to see whether Daniel Anderson selects any of the new stars like Williams, Marshall etc.

 

[Craig]

de vere is refusing to play for another NRL club, he actually still has another year to go on his contract but hes always wanted to play in england and apparently he thinks now is the best time and brisbane arent going to stand in his way leaving... unfortunately.

Even then why would he go to a sub standard club like Hull?

Leeds or St Helens would be better choices.

 

[Simon]

hull are the team that interested, word has it is that he wont be short of offers from other teams though