It's not written by James Smailes..

Contract extension for Agar

It's a stupid question to ask though isn't it? It's like me ringing agar up and asking him a complex question about my tax return and then claiming he's somehow deficient because he doesn't know the answer. People always come up with that question in the belief that it somehow proves that the club can do no more in their player search. If I were in the situation where I was signing players on behalf of a SL club then I'd be able to answer it but as I'm not, I can't

What I would be doing is looking for 2 half backs in their early 20's who show some promise, who have a low propensity to injuries to date, and who will sign for the club for 3 years. People make this big thing about how hard it is to sign half backs yet pretty much every other club in SL sign them. crusaders even managed to find 3 in a few months with no cash.

The real issue here is that we have a chief exec who has no real knowledge of the game or contacts in the world of RL, and a coach who seems to have no contacts either.

Couldn't agree more. Witt would sort our kicking game (or lack of) no end. Exactly what we need. Trouble is we need him now.

If we could get Witt and a scrum half with a football brain alongside him for 2012 I'd be happy.

Has your ice cream van broken down?

The old 'could you do any better?' line and the halfbacks are like rocking horse one are two of my biggest bugbears.

Makes it very easy and convenient to mock/slate/belittle the club's efforts and tee up a slagging off of whoever we sign though, doesn't it, if you predict failure but are unable/unwilling to provide some credible candidates. I've had a go here, I know nothing about the NRL and don't pretend to, but some basic research shows the following are the only first choice SL HBs off contract
We're shackled by the poor decisions to sign Long and Horne, taking up a big wedge of the cap. This won't have helped. I know it's a monster of our own making, but we are where we are. With Obst on a 2 year deal, I'd hope we go for one marquee signing and one younger player, plus hopefully Williams will come through.


Don't disagree.

GARETH FECKING MOORE!!!!

You don't need to have an inside knowledge to condemn FC's signings, you just have to compare FC's performance to that of other clubs. And besides how many people over here had heard of Hanbury or Blake Green before they were signed? You've admitted yourself we don't have the contacts to find those kinds of players, it's not that they don't exist.

Brett Seymour would be a good addition at half.
Matt Bowen
Brent Kite
Ben Roberts

Neither are good enough to be a top four staring scrum half.

You're really missing the point. We don't have credible suggestions on who to sign because it isn't our job to know who is available. If you were responsible for recruitment, if it was part of your role, if you were paid to do it, then you'd make it your business to know and would have access to agents and other influential people in the game. As it is, your an accountant and don't have the time or access to the information to know who is available and who is a realistic target.I've never even heard of half the players who come over from oz and don't follow the NRL at all, so how can I come up with this credible list of yours?

You can post that I should be coming up with this mythical list as many times as you want but it really proves diddly squat. What does prove our recruitment deficiencies is that pretty much every other club in SL has managed to sign half backs in the last 2 or 3 years so they are available if you have the contacts.

Of those you listed I'd take pryce and witt if they could prove their fitness, wanted to come to the club, would sign for the right length of time and were at the right price, but neither of us have access to that information so we can't really make any kind of judgement.

The notion that I can't criticise recruitment without coming up with a list of alternatives is something I'd expect my kids to come up with to try and win a playground argument

I'd be amazed if you'd seen enough of either of them to be able to make that judgement, but I take your point. Fact remains that they'd be a damn site better use of our resources than Sean Long.