It's official; Moylan parts with the Panthers; set to join Cronulla in 2018

DCE seems to have been ostracised from the national and state teams.. I agreed he showed significant promise of living up to expectations this season, but feel there may be a underlying ego/attitude issue stunting his development. We will see how Bennett uses Bird. I can’t see Nikorima being a Broncos 1st choice halfback and Bird has previously publicly stated he wants to be a 6. So IMO Milford is halfback with Bird at 6. You could raise an argument for moving Boyd to 6 and Bird playing at 1 which would/could work. However, I can’t see Boyd being a better 6 than Bird or Bird being a better 1 than Boyd. I expect Bird would have been promised a genuine crack at 6 during the contract negotiations or he would have signed elsewhere.

I reckon your understating the impact Maloney had on Townsend.

Maloney has at least been key in big game wins (GF's/Origins) and certainly more consistent at club level. Moylan has shown signs of being a better player with more upside but not consistently & yet to prove himself in big games. There's also big questions marks about his state of mind. We don't know what exactly went down end of this season & therefore can only speculate on if & how quickly he can bounce back from whatever the real reasons were for his absences. It also seemed clear to me that Moylan wasn't bringing the best out of Cleary (for whatever reason). My guess is that, from a Penrith perspective, the deal is more about punting on Cleary than Maloney per se.

So Maloney gets an Aussie jumper from Mal, and will get one token game against Lebanon ! And he probably only got selected by Mal because Moylan was injured and they needed another NSW player to balance the politics. Moylan was Mal's back up fullback / 5/8 in the last 4 nations tournament when he got his one match against Scotland winning the man of the match award. As for your 5/8 & halves ratings , thanks for your opinion there. Probably agree with your 5/8 ratings, but for me, DCE would be rated well in front of Johnson, Taylor , Pearce & Hunt. As for your Jack Bird prediction, my opinion is that Bird is no chance of ever succeeding Thurston as the national number 6. He is a handy utility , probably better suited as a backrower, but who thinks he should be a halfback. Wayne will sort him out quick enough and use him as a utility as he pleases. I rate Bird just behind Mitch Aubusson & Tyronne Peachey as a utility player best suited to backrow or centre or to fill in a gap.

100% souvalis !

Pikel Porgan highlighting the skills of Michael Morgan? Hmmm, Morgs is that you?? :) You're right though, Morgan possibly get there or, as someone suggested above, if Jack Bird took a 5/8 role, he is certainly aggressive enough. Mind you Greg, you've probably highlighted the best 5/8s to ever play the game so that's a fair standard to reach.

Albo, Isaah Yeo can have a pay rise for the extra tackling, as long as he gives some of it back every time he puts in a grubber or throws a dummy and goes himself, when he has an unmarked winger out there on the left edge....

Michael Morgan would be a good example of what you're talking about. He hits hard in defence and is more than capable of running over the top of fools.

I'd love to see a 5/8 like Kenny, Fittler, Daley, Lyons or Lewis enter from left stage in the next few years. He would stick out like a sore thumb. Where are the 5/8's with all the skills and able to dominate physically like Daley and Lewis? Like Joey Johns , they could give opposition players a good old Smakko if they wanted to. Munster appears to be the closest thing but it's early days at the moment.

Maloney a mentor ? Who has he ever mentored ? He’s a juvenile..done jack for Townsend who Flanno won’t blink an eyelid in hooking for Pearce if he shows interest....where was that big game experience in the loss to the cowboys,well,in any game this year ? Flanno has done the right thing..I think the difference in talent is directly reflected in their new salaries...the final few minutes of the Canberra game where Moylan ripped them apart single handedly exemplifies what Moylan is capable of doing given the right environment...the only way Jimmy will win you a game is by kicking a sideline conversion... As a Sharks supporter,thank you deeply for last years contribution to the premiership,James and good luck in the mountains...but the Shire is definitely a more dangerous threat this year with the new personnel.

Big Mal sees enough in Maloney to give him a Kangeroos Jersey so how do you not see value? 3 Clubs, 3 Grand Finals and 2 Premieirships is some kind of resume. I Agree that Moylan has talent and potential in spades, but so far he’s no better than many other NRL rising stars who promise so much but are never able to reach the elite level. Maloney has done just that. Sure he’s short of the top tier of superstars, but he is a consistent toiler who has an uncanny knack of collecting premierships. IMO he’s in the top echelon of natural 5/8’s in the comp which sadly is a list chock full of Qld’ers. 1. Thurston 2. Morgan 3. Munster 4. Maloney 5. Corey Norman 6. Milford Incidentally, for the record - here is my top 6 halfbacks- note the best options that NSW have are now Panthers. 1. Cronk 2. Shaun Johnson 3. Cleary 4. Ash Taylor 5. Pearce 6. Hunt Honourable mentions go to Cherry Evans. Also I am predicting Bennett will play Milford at 7 and Jack Bird at 6. Jack Bird could easily succeed Thurston at 6 in the National side.

The Panthers are in year 7 of Gould's 5-year-plan but he definitely owes no explanation... too true Andrew.

Holmes Feki Leutele Dugan Gray Moylan Townsend (Pearce?) Not bad. Not bad at all. And that’s without going through the formidable pack

Yeah, Dugan if Pearce doesn't come to the sharks I guess.

Agreed. As a grand final winner, Maloney adds a lot more to the Panthers than he would at a lot of other clubs. I do n't rate him particularly highly otherwise, but big game experience among the playmakers is something the Panthers definitely lack.

Martin is nothing special he has no ball playing skills and no kicking game. Meanwhile Moylan got hyped up because of the story of being the late bloomer, grabbed out of NSW Cup out of desperation and he has turned into a capable NRL player. But he is flawed both on the field and off. With Maloney you know what you are going to get and if he can give them two good years, they can then hand over to Cleary , May and Edwards (all under 22 years of age at the moment and all have already been playing together for about 5 years) . To me, that is the better plan rather than the high risk Moylan. Gould owes no explanation in my opinion.

You have signed Dugan to play Fullback I would have thought !

Granted he isn’t coming off his best season, overall I think he brings a lot to the Panthers particularly big game mentality / experience. What can he teach Cleary, Maloney is a real pro and could be a great mentor for the young half, you probably wouldn’t categorise Moylan as a mentor of sorts. Maloney can help / teach Cleary in guiding a team around, game management and also goal kicking.

I just don't see the value of losing two young talented halves for a 31 year old coming off a poor season where he gave away the most penalties of any player and missed the most tackles of any half in the game ? What's he going to teach Cleary ? I hope Isaah Yeo has asked for a pay rise for the extra tackling he'll be required to do next season !

Good news,I was hoping he'd play fullback as he would make up for the loss of Barbara because he would also be good at creating tries. If cronulla have enough in their cap to get Pearce ,i reckon they'll have a very strong squad. Fingers crossed, but its still a very good side and the premiership window is still open .