Cokey wrote:
I have to say that I'm not at the worrying stage yet. I'm also aware that we're in phase 2 of a transition period in our 5 year plan. Players will come and go, so I think we need to put our trust in our recruitment whoever comes in, and when it's announced at an appropriate time, we can then adjudicate whether we approve of those players.
Recruitment will become a lot easier when we don't have to sign players from other clubs on first team contracts, specifically to play for the reserves. Likes of Jones, Gannon, Baxter, Nisbet and possibly Brand and Wilde all players unlikely to ever play for the first team again, and taking up more cap space than if those squad places were taken by players to come through the ranks. Hopefully we can start to see that happen a bit by the end of Lam Snr's new contract.
But I am concerned about next year's recruitment. If Lam goes, we will have to find someone else to give a non-overseas marquee contract to, and no idea who that will be. And while we have some graft left in the pack, we lose a lot of quality in Asiata, O'Donnell and Amone.
