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2024 Squad, Signings and Rumours Thread

H

Hail Sezer

Moderator
Hello Gents. '24 is just around the corner, time for a new SS&R thread.

Will keep this front page roster breakdown updated.

2024 Squad:

Top 30

Fullback:
AJ Brimson
Jayden Campbell
Keano Kini

Wing:
Phil Sami
Lofi Khan-Pereira
Ken Maumalo
Tony Francis

Centre:
Brian Kelly
Jojo Fifita
Aaron Schoupp
Harley Smith-Shields

Halves:
Kieran Foran
Tanah Boyd
Tom Weaver

Hooker:
Sam Verrills
Chris Randall

Middles:
Tino Fa'asuamaleaui
Moeaki Fotuaika
Keenan Palasia
Jamin Joliffe
Isaac Liu
Erin Clark
Iszac Fa'asuamaleaui
Josiah Pahulu

Back Row:
David Fifita
Beau Fermor
Klese Haas
Joe Stimson
Jacob Alick
Ryan Foran

Total confirmed: 30/30

2024 NRL Development Players (full-time with NRL, eligible for selection after round 11):
Jaylan De Groot (OB)
Seth Nikotemo (Backrower)
Oskar Bryant (Hooker)
Arama Hau (edge/middle)
Ben Liyou (middle)
Ryder Williams (half)

Off Contract end of 2024:
Isacc Liu, Joe Stimson, Kieran Foran, Klese Haas, Tom Weaver
 
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I coulda sworn we had weaver until the end of 2025 but I can’t find the news to back it so I guess we are gonna give him a new extension and hopefully no poachers come sniffing
 
Thanks HS. Is that last spot in the 30 for Liyou or does Des have someone else in mind?

And yes, Tokes. Very keen that we sign Weaver up ASAP.
 
Read somewhere that Maumalo has been given permission to leave. Can’t imagine that he will be here come Rnd 1. Wondering if Shoupp is still interested in Parramatta. I know that they just secured Morgan Harper but if he was still interested I’d be interested in Waqa Blake
 
NZFan said:
Read somewhere that Maumalo has been given permission to leave. Can’t imagine that he will be here come Rnd 1. Wondering if Shoupp is still interested in Parramatta. I know that they just secured Morgan Harper but if he was still interested I’d be interested in Waqa Blake
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Yep, Maumalo was told as such pretty much the week Des took over.

Think there will be 1 or 2 moved on of the current 30 over the next few months

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MaroonTitan said:
Thanks HS. Is that last spot in the 30 for Liyou or does Des have someone else in mind?

And yes, Tokes. Very keen that we sign Weaver up ASAP.
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I know they originally said both Liyou and Foran would be top 30 in ‘24, but I think Liyou has been restructured onto a Dev contract. Awaiting confirmation.

They can keep that spot open for a while yet. Think they’ll just see what becomes available
 
The football managers dream would be get R. Foran to 'improve his craft' over in the superleague, harsh and unfair maybe but every spot proves to be more valuable season after season. Imagine this year(2023) if we just had 1 more average NRL middle/2nd rower we could of called on.
 
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Hey Hungry, that's a good idea. Considering Arama Hau's opportunity with Featherstone Rovers, why couldn't we shake off the Burleigh ballsup and turn it into a positive with an English sister club where some of our better emerging players head over for a season in England. No lost cap space or roster places while getting some experience against men.
 
The only issue is convincing guys to uproot to the other side of the world for only a year but it would be good to have such an agreement with a Super League club.

Hopefully we can convince a few Super League clubs to take Schoupp, Clark and Maumalo off our hands and we see what shakes free from other NRL systems over the summer.
 
Further to my previous post of Klese, here is this article which suggests he is gone for 2025. I would suggest he ends up at the Broncos.

Haas set to hit open market as Titans face salary cap crunch

Payne Haas' younger brother Klese is set to hit the open market as he searches for a new home from the start of the 2025 NRL season.

It was rumoured at one point last year that Klese could have been the biggest reason for Payne to consider a change of clubs, but the Origin forward eventually re-signed with the Broncos on a million-dollar or more per season deal to commit at Red Hill long-term.

Klese is now set to be the next Haas hitting the open market according to a Daily Telegraph report, with the youngster unable to secure an upgrade at the Titans thanks to the considerable cash they have already put into their forward pack.

Both Tino Fa'asuamaleaui and David Fifita used their contract out clauses linked to Justin Holbrook's departure last year to sign long-term, big-money deals with the Titans. Fa'asuamaleaui in particular is set to be a Titan for life, while Fifita is going nowhere for at least the next four years.

In terms of opportunity and money, that is bad news for the younger Haas, who turned 21 during the opening weekend of the 2023 NRL season and has impressed with his on-field ability.

Off-contract at the end of 2024, Haas is able to hit the open market from November 1 to lock up a new deal for 2025, and it now appears almost certain he won't re-sign with the Titans. The Gold Coast, who have a number of other players across their squad locked up on long-term deals, are also looking to splash cash for a big-name halfback in the coming seasons.

Haas could yet find his way to the Broncos alongside brother Payne, with the club's only forward signing for next year being Fletcher Baker. Brisbane's salary cap is stretched, but a signing like Haas could provide value for money and speak volumes to their commitment for big brother Payne.

Plenty of other clubs could yet come to the party in pursuit of the young forward, although his appetite to stray away from the south east corner of Queensland is unclear.

Haas played 15 first-grade games for the Titans in 2023, taking his career tally to 17, with three tries, 11 offloads and a 94 per cent tackle efficiency during 2023.
 
Roll on '24!, if Patrick Herbert didn't shatter whatever was left of my already broken heart in 2021 i'd be hugely optimistic about all the ridiculously raw talent on the squad being managed by Des Hasler of all coaches... but there are some pretty glaring issues with this squad;

- Definitely too short. Lose Maumalo in the outside backs and the average height is 182cm there, not even 6' tall. Essentially no big metres coming out of our end, or crossfield threat, not to mention 3 of those outside backs are fullbacks, and 2 or them imo were unplayable at least on one side of the field in 2023, so very dire outside backs situation, if the squad stays as is then i'm going to be praying every night that Tony Francis has a monster leap as far as his development goes, because I just don't think Lofi is the answer.

- Probably too inexperienced. The average age of this roster is 23, and if you exclude Foran + Liu the average games played is 55. It's entirely possible a bunch of these guys truly hit their prime years at 23 together, the stars collide and we take of in 2024, but more often than not the successful teams have the best balance of experience and youth and frankly the guys that are experienced on this roster outside of Foran+Liu are still early in their careers or won't feature in the 17 much. I get the sense the Titans really banked on being an uber-development side by signing a bevy of young talent to top 30 deals but the dip from 'Legit Origin starter Dally M team of the year talent' to 'young talent that should really be playing Q-Cup if we want to be contenders' is pretty unnerving, i've harped on about him before but what on earth has Ryan Foran actually done to get a top 30 deal? along with Haas who I think is probably another half-season away, Stimson who is now a 13/10 if he is going to be playable at this point in his career, and Foran who is like 18, geez we are going to be royally f~d if either of Fermor or Fifita miss any sort of time. Jacob Alick joins Tony Francis in my nightly prayers unless we can pick up a Ben Murdoch-Masila type that can come off the bench or spot-start for us.

- Still no idea how we are going to fit JC, Brimson, Foran, Boyd into 3 positions. If we move Foz to 7 and Boyd to 14 then our already small bench gets smaller unless we want to have the legend himself Chris Randall playing in Black & White hoops. Move AJ to 4 and then he plays in an unfamiliar position next to Lofi, while also playing undersized in a position we desperately need some carries from (see point 1).

- Post new-contract year Brian Kelly. If BK has even a mediocre year we'll basically have the worst centre rotation in the league unless Jojo has a jump.

Super blackpilled post I get it, happy to eat crow at some stage, particularly with my Brimson to centre and Klese Haas takes. the brightside is Des Hasler is an other-worldly hire whose experience may nulify point 2, the middles are super nutty, and the stupid amount of raw talent should (I hope) get us to the bottom of the 8 in most outcomes I think, provided we are healthy ofcourse.
 
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I think our best chance is grab the Raiders spot at the end but I don’t have much expectation, the squad is too familiar and the errors too ingrained.
 
Titanic said:
I think our best chance is grab the Raiders spot at the end but I don’t have much expectation, the squad is too familiar and the errors too ingrained.
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It really does depend on what Des and the ever extending coaching staff can fix up with the squad regarding defense and errors. I think the squad being familiar is a good thing to an extent. I'd rather the boys start building something amongst each other for the future rather than the line up changing every 2 years as it has for the past 17 odd years. Create combos that'll last, etc.
 
The wrestling tent is a good start we have a top 8 pack on paper with guys like Tino mo and Dave but I feel like we are easily the worst team in the comp when it comes to defence and wrestle and winning or losing the ruck battle
 
Looking at that squad, there’s no way we will keep all 3 of AJ, JC, & Kini. Wings will be Sami and Lofi. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Kelly earned his centre spot in the latter half of the season. Jojo takes the other. Foran will partner either Boyd or Weaver.
No spare spots.
 
Wonder if we would consider loaning Kini to another club in need of a fullback to let him develop while his pathway is blocked here.
 
Boonarga said:
Looking at that squad, there’s no way we will keep all 3 of AJ, JC, & Kini. Wings will be Sami and Lofi. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Kelly earned his centre spot in the latter half of the season. Jojo takes the other. Foran will partner either Boyd or Weaver.
No spare spots.
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Not trying to bag AJ, but I feel JC and Kini will have a better attitude towards training compared to him when it comes to that FB spot. Reason being that they know how good AJ is, and I worry that AJ will get complacent thinking he 'owns' the spot.
 
They'll exhaust every positional option to get all three of AJ, JC and Keano on the field before there's any consideration to let any of them go anywhere I'd say. Going to be the most interesting storyline of the pre-season.

Keano's going to get to that point in the not too distant future where he's developed as best he can in Qcup and needs to be playing NRL to take his game further. Same point JC was at in '22. It's typical of halves/fullbacks/hookers where their game can only develop so far in reserve grade because of what NRL level demands of the position.

On that note, and if they can't find a spot for Keano, the loan option is a fair shout tbh @NZF. I'd struggle seeing any of our up and comers at another club out of fear of injury/them wanting to stay there/the club not developing them in the right environment but I can definitely see the rationale and how it benefits both sides.
 
I really think that they need to determine how they will fit all 3 in the team and let them train in those positions during the off season which needs to take into account how they would line up in 2025 with the likely not playing on of Foz.

I think how they have managed JC has been terrible with playing in all sorts of positions, (1,3, 6, 7 and 14) which has not assisted in his development noting that he will be 24 next year. I just hope they do not do the same with Kini who has tremendous potential.

They need to have a plan for all 3 and stick with it.
 
I don't see the rush with any of it at all. AJs health is a lingering issue, JC apparently wants a crack at the 6 eventually and Kini still needs to get a bit stronger and bigger to deal with constant NRL and to just have a bit more impact on the game which will be sooner then later, None of them want to leave either so it's a problem we're making up right now.

Jimmy did say that AJ moving to right centre was a sign of what's going to happen in the future so I'm guessing he's going to get a crack there and we'll see how it goes before any big decisions.

The size of our backs doesn't concern me as much if we can actually defend well enough to keep them away from letting the opposition get an attacking kick constantly. A majority of this squad have been coached by Brennan or Holbrook, Not exactly the best minds in the game. I'm expecting to see a lot of the young guys come back with a fair bit more size on them as well + with a completely new mindset around defence.
 
This is for 2025

Dearden, 22, has already played for Queensland and wants to test his value on the open market after opting against signing a $2 million three-year offer tabled by his club in August.
 
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