Your club's transfer performance rating: Part 1

Are you serious on your claim? The signing of Benji is one of the few times you can say that the Broncos paid market value for any player. 100k is all anyone was willing to pay for him - not one other club was interested in him at 300k, let alone the 600k. But don't let the facts get in the way of your ill-informed opinion in this instance.

There are layers to potential; there's a difference between a new to first grade player who has a good game or two, and a player with a season or so of experience who is showing what you'd expect a good player to show at that stage of their development. If the young players are developing well and the club has good systems in place, then the club can have success backing their coaching; many recent premiership winning sides have had several players who started the season with under 30 games of NRL experience. As for Souths; Farah could be anything from a genius signing to an abysmal one, and the only thing proven about Rochow is his injury history. With regard to the young blokes; stack of upside there, but half of them wouldn't expect to see first grade this year and in the long run some of them probably won't pan out. I can't make sense of Patrick's ratings, but for mine I'd say they get whatever the par score is; it's hard to give them a good score when they had to boot two premiership players -- even if it was done with good reason.

He was at a club where the coach was picking a utility player and a winger over a representative hooker - fair to say that coach may not be the best judge of talent or needs for a team. Cherrington is fine and has potential.

Well, Alex, I agree with you to a certain point but re-signing players on POTENTIAL development to actual on-field performance is something completely different. He hasn't done Souths as yet I bet he only gives Souths a 2 or 3 THIS IS my preemptive Strike! Souths have also re-signed the better players and let go of the ROT like Auva'a, Carter, Grevswhinge, Keary and Brown AND signed proven performers like Farah and Rochow. Plus added future stars Jennings, Burns,Greinke and Fuimaono. Cameron Murray the current NSW U18s captain went from Souths S.G. Ball to U20s to Norths, ALL in 6 months. Expect this kid to be Souths Captain when Greg Inglis retires, he is that good. PLUS Re-Signed: Jason Clark (2018), Damien Cook (2019), Jack Gosiewski (2017), Hymel Hunt (2018), Greg Inglis (2020), Zane Musgrove (2020), Adam Reynolds (2021), Cody Walker (2019) All proven performers. Gosiewski made his debut in 2016 and looked really good for the future. So Patrick Sills, what do you think about that? http://www.theroar.com.au/author/pjs17/

Another bit of evidence that the Broncos have the NRL in their pocket regarding Contracts and TPAs. A player like Marshall is being registered with one club for $600k then signing for the Broncos on ONLY $100k plus TPAs to make up the shortfall. This is corruption on the part of the NRL. It should NEVER happen. The same as Roberts, Boyd and many others. Boyd, is the Australian Fullback is only listed down as $400k? Ben Hunt and Sam Thaiday, are also down at $400k BOTH are Origin and/or Australian Reps HOW can this be correct?

Cameron McInnes also had "Plenty of talent" Cam was the Junior Kangaroos Hooker and also CAPTAIN. I watched Cam come through the grades from the U14s. I always go out to Redfern Oval and watch the Junior Reps play. I always thought and I had high hopes that he would be a fantastic player for Souths but what I think happened to him was he was thrown into the deep end in 2014 when Issac Luke either got injured and/or lost his discipline. Cam never ever had a chance to develop in Reserve Grade and I think that burnt him out a tad. Last season Cam had a golden opportunity to cement his spot at Souths, Madge promised him the first 8 weeks of selection but unfortunately, he was way too slow for first grade. I must admit that I have seen very little of Cherrington so for his sake I do hope he makes it but to be coming off the bench at the lowly Tigers is one thing. To Start at hooker for the defending Premiers is something completely different. Playing Reserve Grade then stepping up to playing in First Grade is somewhat like a 3rd Kyu Brown belt fighting against a Second Dan Black belt. No Contest!

Turner is a pretty good recruit for the Raiders too. Better than the blokes they're losing anyway.

To be fair the Raiders were more interested in retention than recruitment as they wanted to secure their existing squad. If you wanted to give a score for retention they would get a 9 out of 10 as they had to let go Paul Vaughan and Brenko Lee to keep their core of first graders. A lot of this scoring on recruitment by different clubs is a bit meaningless if you are happy with your squad. The only team to really recruit well in my opinion were the Titans with Proctor, Sarginson and Wallace.

You'd think retirees count but in that case Parker would be brisbanes biggest loss and Jarrod Mullens hamstrings would be newcastles.

Sometimes it's more about how the clubs retain their existing roster and coach their players, I don't think anyone in recent history has won a premiership without developing their existing players. The Broncos are a perfect example here, you say they need front rowers but Pangai Jr, Arrow, Dodds, Ofahengaue, and Ese'ese are all potentially good enough to get the job done, and if three of those five develop into good first graders this year the Broncos middle third problems are pretty much solved. Plus Thaiday is actually becoming more suited to playing in the middle with the changes to the interchange -- he gets more quick play the balls, and he naturally fits with the interchanges there (not many teams want a second rower who doesn't routinely play 70 consecutive minutes at this point).

WOW, the Broncos and Dogs best signings are ONLY Wingers. the Dogs need a decent halfback the Broncos need Front Rowers. putting Thaiday up front is a waste of talent The Raiders is an unknown from England. The Sharks is a 3rd rate hooker who wouldn't make many other teams TOP 25. HARDLY INSPIRATIONAL!

He's no good

David Mead is a huge signing for the Broncos, should be a handy addition in the backline. I'd go as far to say that Tautau Moga will be their possible star signing, he has plenty of potential, whether he can use it we will wait and see. Jarrod Wallace certainly a massive loss likewise Corey Parker and Carlin Anderson. As far as re-signings go, I'd say Tevita Pangai might be bigger than Gillett, he possesses so much talent and the Broncos have done well to lock him away, albeit for two years. Turner seems to be the only notable signing for the Raiders other than Dunamis Lui. In terms of losses, I feel Sam Williams is probably their biggest loss. I felt he was quite handy as a bench utility. In terms of re-signings both they have so much talent for the future - Bateman, Cotric, Hodgson, Priest and Whitehead. Bulldogs have only signed backline players so for that reasons their best signing is a toss-up between Brenko Lee and Richie Kennar, time will tell who does better. As for their breakout star, I'd say either Josh Cleeland or Rhyse Martin, both possess plenty of talent and have seen success in the QCup. Tim Browne a massive loss but Rona and Perrett will certainly impact the backline. I agree re Jackson being their most important re-signing, future Bulldogs and NSW captain. The Sharks will get plenty out of Cherrington and Latimore, especially the former who will fill in the empty hooking spot. Ennis is a bigger loss than Barba for mine, I agree that Bukuya is the biggest re-signing, considering he is the only of the six players with renewed contract who is on their books for two years. Possible Star: Tony Williams, if he can find form, he will prove a menace off the bench for Cronulla. Great article Paddy, I'm looking forward to Part 2.

Broncos losing Wallace is no loss. They would've been better off trying to pick up a front rower rather than Mead. Definitely some pace in the Broncos backline though!

Cory Parker is the Broncos biggest loss, don't rate Wallace he's just a big body with not much talent.

Some very generous ratings here. I guess you're just trying to be diplomatic. Anyway considering the calibre of players each of these teams has lost I'd give the following ratings: Broncos 2 (Benji Marshall? Please), Raiders 4, Dogs 3 and Sharks 4. I don't think any of these teams deserve a pass mark over this. They have all done poor to mediocre business in the transfer market when one considers what they have lost.

Given the loss of those 3 and the gain of Benji and Mead, you gotta wonder how Broncos defence is going to be like in 2017.

A lot of the Broncos seemed to have flushed their lines in 2016. I think they may have thought that the 2015 GF was theirs, and its still playing on them.

No way do the Broncos get a seven. Yeah great, we signed David Mead, but we need forwards, not more backs. Our fowrad pack is lacking massively, as it was the season just gone.

I always liked Reed but I would have to say Mead in, Reed out is a win. Reed was tough but slow. Mead is lightning fast and play fullback if needed. Agree about the loss of Parker and Wallace.