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Buying players comes with varying degrees of danger for all NRL clubs. The bigger the pay packet, the bigger the expectation and the risk.
As usual, there has been plenty of player movement ahead of the coming season, so I’m posing the question – who will be the best buy of 2017 and why?
Defining the criteria for the “best buy” depends on your point of view. It could be a player’s value for money, their impact on their team’s performance in the coming season, or their long-term potential to deliver results for their new club.
Firstly, I’ll look at players who I see as low risk, with low salaries for the coming season, but who also have the potential to tick at least two of the three boxes I’ve mentioned.
Benji Marshall (Broncos), Dave Taylor (Canberra) and Jamal Idris (Tigers) all fit into this category. They might be able to a job for their teams in 2017. If they don’t, they haven’t had a significant impact on their club’s salary caps for either the short or long term.
Tony Williams (Cronulla) is also in the low-risk category, with the Sharks reportedly picking him up for a bargain price on a one-year deal. Jackson Hastings and Curtis Sironen (Manly) are others, assuming their two- year deals are on relatively low money.
Next, I’ll move to the medium-risk category, featuring players on more money and/or longer deals, like Kevin Proctor (Titans), Luke Keary (Roosters), Blake Green (Manly), Jamie Buhrer (Newcastle), Jarrod Wallace (Titans), Cameron McInnes (St George), Mitch Rein (Penrith), Josh Hoffman (Parramatta), Nene MacDonald (St George) and Akuila Uate (Manly).
The highly paid Robbie Farah (Souths) would also fall into this medium-risk category, given that the Tigers will be subsidising his salary.
Kieran Foran (Warriors) is another, assuming he gets the green light to fulfil his one-year deal.
Finally, there is the big money, high-risk category.
I’ll include Jarryd Hayne there. Even though he played in the back end of 2016, he was predominantly signed for 2017 and beyond. There’s no doubt he’ll continue to generate a lot of publicity and be marketing gold for the Titans, but will his on-field performances also reflect his pay cheque?
James Tamou also has a big salary and expectations for his 2017 performances with Penrith.
Who do you think will be the best buy of 2017? One of the players I’ve mentioned, or someone else?
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