The ugly contradiction in Newcastle's fairy tale

My guess is Hodkinson will go to Manly with Newcastle paying around 75% of his salary for 2018 and Cogger to be released for him to go to the Bulldogs.

Hope its Hodgkinson

Fact is now they have Pearce one or maybe two of lamb,cogger or hodgkinson will have to go. Newcastle knew this when they signed Pearce so this is nothing new in rugby league off season. My bet is cogger to dog's and hodgkinson back to manly.

KV while your talking about Newcastle’s case, promising players and poaching of the clubs young players - tell me about Ponga. Promising young player the Cowboys were nurturing when bingo, out of the blue Newcastle offers a huge amount of money solely on promise that you can't blame the young bloke for grabbing with both hands. Swings and roundabouts mate. The increase in the cap was designed to give the players some more money and they deserve all they can get but loyalty is thrown out the window and club culture will suffer as a consequence. Do you really think Hunt wanted to leave the Broncos or Pearce the Roosters. Newcastle as a club have to be vary careful in the manner they treat their young guns in regard to all your imports. Titans have gone down this very same track and ended up a train disaster. Interesting to see new coach Garth has made a statement he is going to work in his own backyard with local product. Comes down to creating culture and importing a multitude of players won't cut the mustard as they have found out. That said I wish Browny and the supporters all the best for 2018, if any coach deserves a bit of luck it’s NB.

The older fellas brought in will be gone in a couple of years to be replaced by a younger fella's in our junior ranks. Many played first grade too early or are still too young to be in first grade, What you're seeing is just a small part of the rebuild.There 's outstanding juniors coming through the ranks but as with any club you cant rely on just local juniors. History is littered with young guys of great promise that failed to take the leap into professional sport or in particular Newcastle's case, a history of having our best young juniors poached by wealthy clubs such as the Roosters.

That's the thing RandyM , although the Raiders have produced some good juniors since the golden spell, they aren't anywhere near the once in a few generational batch from that spell. Part of being a champion is having your head screwed on properly as well. It's debatable if Manly would be as successful with Hayne as Snake. Talent wise it is likely but I'm of the opinion that Snake was the key to that team with his try scoring nous and his out and out confidence which I believe spread thru the team. A friend of mine had a word to Snake before they beat the Storm 40 nil and he said that he was incredibly confident about winning. Looking at the team they were up against that is a rare level of self belief. I believe if Snake had a better run with injuries and bad luck he would be regarded as one of the best players ever. He's not alone on that score though.

Sure they have bought a lot of youth an experience in for next year. Bottom line is can Nathan Brown make it work. Any improvement will be called a success but if they don't make the 8 he has to come under scrutiny. Every one talks it up but let's wait and see.

I'd say the plan is for Lamb to be Pearce's understudy for 4 years then take control of his team. Kind of like a quarterback red shirting his first few seasons.

Spot on mate. The experienced players have been brought to the Knights to drive the youngsters development.

You need good management and a good coach as well to get the best out of the talented juniors. The Raiders did produce Todd Carney, Josh Dugan, Campese, Jarod Croker in the last 10 years but some poor coaching and team culture meant they either didn't stay or couldn't play in a winning team. Pretty sure Manly would have been just as successful with Hayne instead of Brett Stewart, no disrespect to stewart who I was a big fan of.

To be fair has there ever been a report where new players are training poorly and struggling to fit in?

True Bleak, I was rushing a bit and I do know that Sterling isn't a junior. Fact is his Parra team were loaded with juniors and like the Raiders , Brisbane , Newcastle these juniors were a massive factor in the titles they won Ella , Kenny , Grothe , Price etc were crucial in the titles as were Daley , Stuart , Mullins and the rest at the Raiders.

For all of Parra's local juniors who turned out to be superstars you selected Sterlo? Born in Toowoomba & raised in Wagga? What do you classify as a junior? A player brought to the club before senior football? The last Parra "juniors" to hold up the cup as captain were Jamie Lyon & Andrew Ryan LOL. Every great club era has balanced itself with imports to fill the void. I can't think of a single club in the modern era that won multiple titles with a majority of locals including Parra, Raiders, Broncos, Manly etc etc.

Rustle Crow starred in a Fairy Tale a few years back.

Just be careful if you spot Rustle Crow russelling about in the bushes, it never ends well.

NSS, I thought ''Legend'' was the most over used word (in the NRL, cricket, soccer...)?

TB and Beastie, Exactly right gents, if the local players are good enough, they'll get their chance. What Brown has done is get some experience and an on-field leader, which has created more depth, which they desperately needed. Over a long season, most of the squad will get opportunities. It wasn't so long ago that Brown couldn't land ''the one big name''. Now the has, it was what he, the team and the town needed. Still think they may be a few games short of the eight in 2018, but they'll be a lot more consistent and competitive.

Greg, who's Russell? Surely not Ian Russell or Russell Gartner, too old. Maybe you need to rustle up some new cattle for the Knights.

I understand your point, but who are they displacing? If they are ordinary players, surely as a Newcastle fan you'd prefer they bring in a little outside nous. Heighington is a great buy because he's only got 1 or 2 years left, so anyone he displaces in the 17 knows that with some patience, they can get that spot back. My only quibble is Brock Lamb - he looks the goods, so if he is pushed off to reserve grade for Pearce and Watson, some other savvy club might swoop on him, and that would be a shame to see him playing for another team. I do wonder what Brownie's plans are for him. He appeared to be a long-term 7 for the Knights, but they've brought in an established 7, and another young gun who seems perfect for 6.

Fairytale - the most over used word in RL