Dene Halatau and Bronson Harrison !!

Should the Cowboys management, Parr etc. look and purchase these 2 guys from the Wests Tigers after the June 30 anti-tampering dead-line ??

IMO, we would be crazy not too - but what do people think ??????

Halatau could be used as a back-up Centre for Hed and Bear or even slot straight into the No.4 if Bowman was to move into the Row or Lock position as has been mentioned many times.

Harrison could be secured to cover for our end of year foward loses and play off the bench alongside guys such as Faiumu and Lowe.

I might be a bit off the mark, but I think that be relatively cheap to pick-up and could be of valuable use to the Cowboys in Season 2006 - they're both quality, young Kiwi talent who under Graham Murray could excel into something special !!

[elyod138]

I reckon we shouldn't because IMO our young talent playing in the young guns are just as good if not better than these two.

[Mr AppleSauce]

Both quality players...

Would be good buys at the right price.

Harrison probably more so than Halatau but both are rising stars in the NRL.

[nqboy]

I don't rate Halatau at all and I reckons there's been some fairly creative writing and wishful thinking describing his talents. Harrison I don't know much about but he seems to be rated by a few. I'd doubt if you'd get either cheaply - Halatau's a test player and Harrison's part of a boom batch of youngsters the Tigers have been bringing through and won't be keen to let slip through their fingers.

By all means have a look at him and if we can get him for the right price and he suits our needs, fine. Forget Halatau.

And Benno, what's your obsession with these two?

I just think we're crazy not to look at these 2 - I just rate them both as quality footy players - hardly an obsession, just trying to air my views of ways I beleive we can take the Cowboys further with players of the future !!

[stubbsie]

Halatau is overated imo. Although harrison would be a good signing.

[beave]

we are flat out retaining the blokes we got and you want to go sign up some nevilles from the tigers??? we have sargent, jensen, southern, luck, sheppard, Jlo, Myles, and a host of young guns off contract, at seasons end, how are we going to keep these lads if we are throwing cash at players from other clubs.

[nqboy]

I just think we're crazy not to look at these 2 - I just rate them both as quality footy players - hardly an obsession, just trying to air my views of ways I beleive we can take the Cowboys further with players of the future !!
Three threads by one person on the same topic? Not an obsession?

[TonyP]

Can't see why a guy would want to leave a team where he's part of the starting side, to be a "back up" for our centres!

As far as spending money to off set our forward
"losses", how about we spend the money to retain our current players and MINIMISE our forward losses???

I'd rather keep Luck then sign Harrison :thumbright:

Three threads by one person on the same topic? Not an obsession?[/quote]

Look a little closer to home nqboy - how many threads are there on individual Cowboys players ( particuarly Matty and Rauhihi ) - we don't think that's obsessive because we go for the Cowboys. Just because I mention players from other clubs who I beleive would be worth consideration, doesn't mean I'm any sader than those who continually speculate about the playing future of Bowen ( 2-3 weeks ago ) and Rauhihi !!

I'm all for bringing through North Queensland local talent and it's what the Cowboys Management have prided themselves on, over the last few Seasons, with guys like Matt Bowen, BB, Lowe, Luck, Tybo and Bowman along while ago, but when you look at players that have come from other clubs ) to play for the Cowboys, and had a huge impact on the club, it's quite extensive.............
* Glenn Morrison ( Norths )
* Paul Rauhihi ( Bulldogs )
* Johnathan Thurston ( Bulldogs )
* Matt Sing ( Roosters )
* Julian O'Neill ( Rabbitohs )
* Kevin Campion ( Warriors )
* Justin Smith ( Rabbitohs )
* Luke O'Donnell (Wests Tigers )
* Steve Southern ( Dragons )
* Carl Webb ( Broncos )
* Rod Jensen ( Raiders )

Now................ is anybody prepared to say that they would of rarther not seen these players purchased by the Cowboys or did we have some home-grown talent to protect ahead of these club legends ????????

[beave]

my god you can be painful benno, when we signed all these players you mentioned, who did they replace from the team??? players who were

A) at the end of their careers
B) Crap
C) or we didn't want.

(excluding mucky, we should have kept him)

now the players we have coming off contract are not only in the prime of their careers, they are excellent players and we want them to stay, totally the opposite to the situation that theses above mentioned players and why they came up here. I pose this question to you benno, who would you like to see leave the cowboys so as to free up some money to sign these tigers players????

I don't WANT to see anyone leave beave, but I think it would be unrealistic to think that both Ra and Sarge will remain at the Cowboys. That in itself free's up money to examine the player market after the June 30 dead-line, so if you can get in quick enough, then you obviously start looking for quality, value for money players, on the market - and I beleive both Halatau and Harrison fit the bill in that respect.

Beave, I hope guys like Peter Jones, Kyle Warren, Tim Maddison, Mark Shipway and Robert Relf - aren't in your B ) Crap category !!

[imported_dscottflanders]

Ok Ok boys, I am going to throw my 2 cents worth in here.

WE HAVE THE BEST ADMIINISTRATION TEAM IN THE LEAGUE! Thats my first big statement. And God Bless these guys, ....... they certainly know what they are doing.

All that Know Dennis Keefe, know he is a businessman, cut and dry and he has worked wonders with this club and because of that good business sense we are were we are today. Now in saying that, that business sense told him to retain the services of Muzza and Billy J and of course Parry. On top of that he has also managed to retain the services of some of the best players going round at the moment. So ..... he would have already crunched the numbers & I think you will find that Beave is right on this one, there wouldn't be much of that 3.25m allocation left.

What we seem to be forgetting here is there are players that are still on preliminary contracts, meaning they are playing in first grade on a very low retainers + match payments. (Shock ....Oh gosh you say .... that couldn't be so) .... well you better beleive it, I can guarantee you there is.

Obviously, they need to be looked after first. Their contracts need to be upgraded this year starting June 05.

First on the agenda would have been to resign Matty. Matty is a huge aset to the club and he would have cost them quite a bit out of their cap. This is why they dealt with Matty first. Now in doing this (depending on negotiations), they would then know how much they had to allocate between the rest of the players due for upgrades. Now that Matty has signed, I think you will find they are working on upgrading the others.
You will also probably find that in order to upgrade the others, you would need to let a few go to free up some more money. So I think you will see some of our players talking once the June deadline arrives. (If my estimate calculations are right -possibly up to 4). REMEMBER: Mattys new money would be coming out of next years cap, so his new contract would already be taking up some of the "possibly leaving" players present salary.

I also think that there is no way Dennis would not leave any money in the kitty at all, (he is a businessman after all) but I can gurantee that money would be for players that need upgrades or maybe 1 or 2 low paid potential juniors.

I just think you will find that with the players that we have there would be no money for any other big names in this squad.

They waited and bided their time and saved their pennies and it all came to fruition.

After saying all that ..... if Dene Halatau and Bronson Harrison just love the game of football so much and the prospect of living in the tropical north (gods country) .....................and of course they are willing to play for a pie and a beer ............... give Dennis a call, I am sure he can fit them in somewhere! :occasion5:

[Thommo]

I wouldn't be surprised to see more than just 3 or 4 get sent packing this year............As for Harrison well I think he is a better player than Luck and will get even better as time goes by and as much as I would like to see him playing along side Webb and LOD I don't believe it will eventuate.

I think the Cowboys Management definately know what they are doing, late last year onwards is proof to that, but when it comes to retaining home grown talent I don't believe for a second that they would keep them based on that......If a player is not up to standard then they won't keep them just because they are "Home Grown "...well atleast not anymore.

And Benno let's just wait and see what Parr and Co do and not dwell on what individual forum members who just happen to believe that " They no everything " think. There are way too many on here...........!!!!

[lukem88]

Well can we sign Brett Howland as well?

He is a great player with a trenmendous amount of speed and would certainly add plenty of depth to our three quarter ranks. I guess we could get rid of Sweeney for him, no offence to Sweeney.

I think everybody's got a soft spot for Brett Howland - let's have a look at his stats :

* Debut = For Cronulla Sharks v.s Warriors at Toyota in 1997
* Age = 29 next month D.O.B = 13/6/1976
* Weight = 76kg - I weight about 20kg's more than him !!
* Height = 180cm

I think Brett's a frindge 1st grade player for the Panthers who is there to earn a decent wage and cover for 1st grade regular's around SOO time and injuries in their potent back-line.

I'd say he's probably 4 years to old for the Cowboys to look at - and by playing Wing and Fullback - the Cowboys wouldn't touch him over who we already have in those positions, with a 10-foot bargepole........... Sorry Luke, I know he's won of your favourite players !!