Quote: Dave K. "Some questions on this
How much was Thompson on, I ask because he was highly rated at Vas who wanted to keep him, so I'd doubt he was on a low salary?
Why compare him to Pritchard (a player who took plenty of criticism)is that what we need to do with any Hull forward?
Why do you think no other SL clubs signed Thompson when he became available?
As for Fash, decent squad player but certainly wouldn't get in my strongest 17, I'd have a bench of Hadley, Paea, Bowden and Grffin or Carlos. Who would you drop for Fash?
I'd also have Masi in front of Fash.'"
I don't know, but he wasn't a top earner, the fact his departure made little to no impact in SC as mentioned by most on here would suggest that is accurate.
What has Thompson not signing for another club got to do with anything? I spoke about his endeavour relative to his salary at the time, he gave more Vfm than Pritchard yet it was Thompson getting slated far more often than Pritchard. The comparison is to show that players whom are seen as squad players often contribute as much and sometimes more than their big name counterparts and are just as valuable to the team. This insistence on buying/bringing in players from outside the club is why the youth system has failed to produce, why we have inexperienced back ups from that youth system and not a lot of cap to play with. Fash and the others are an integral part of the team but it's showing up now how relatively little game time/experience they've had.
You drop or loan out players like Fash, Lane etc and you knock their confidence, they develop slows comparative to when at the top level.
As it happens I'd rather have Fash in a full strength team than I would Matongo or Lane, I did say more often than nit but then injuries, the rest of the team and the opposition and indeed time of the year can have an impact on who plays and when. he's made 50% more tackle busts than Matongo has this year, so much for being too small! It's fairly moot anyway as there will always be injuries even before the season starts, the fact Radford has included Fash in most games before his injury (14 from a possible 17 league and cup games) shows you how he rates him, maybe you should have a word with Radford and tell him he's playing the wrong player??
As for the others, I'd have him in front of Griffin for a start off IF we are using a forward on the bench, the fact we have to consider Griffin on the bench shows how the squad is imbalanced, but then when/if Kelly goes after 2019 and Connor likely moving to 6 permanently would allow Griffin to play in the starting XIII at his best position, it certainly isn't as a utility forward, much as the nonsense about Yeaman being touted on here as a 2nd rower. Hadley is a starter isn't he (he's far better than Westerman) and Paea is inconsistent, can be great, can be average but then he is on a much bigger wage than the likes of Matongo, Fash, Lane, Turgut combined.
As I said, my point is that if we farm these kids out to replace them with players from outside the club they develop at a slower rate and get disenfranchised, in the backs they simply don't get a chance, in the forwards more so but yet again we've brought in Westerman to replace Watts, why, well it wasn't down to the pony regarding discipline, that's just a cover story but it highlights the fact that we needed to move to get someone because our kids just don't have the experience to step up to fill that gap.
I was hoping we didn't resign Westerman, Washbrook or Talanoa for next year and indeed I was in two minds as to let Kelly go too.