The Donaldson signing is a bit of a concern for me. I would like to see Pasitoa & Burey to bedeveloped into our 10s. They seem to offer the skill set that we need out there, and the gel of the 9-10-12 has been really good.
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I am excited about both potential new signings.
Will Harris at 22 years old, 107 kg and 1.54 metres is a big bodied forward that we need.
Ben Donaldson is a decent sized flyhalf and at 24 and at 1.84 metres will make a much better option alternating and / or complimenting Pasitoa than Burey as I think he may have a much higher ceiling. Importantly I think their may be a wallaby top up involved which helps our player spend. ( and better buy than an ageing JOC)
Yeah, we started the season with no big, balrunning #8 and we finish with isi and Harris.I think people also expected that out of Michael wells and that clearly isn't his go.I think Harris and nasairani fight it out for 8, with some pretty exciting options in backup.
Totally agree Tazzie.
Donaldson is only 3cm shorter than Beauden Barrett and offers a real point of difference to the other options.
Will Harris is actually 1.94 m which makes him a lineout option (along with Felix, Jeremy, Isi and Jackson) building good back row depth.
''Under Rugby Australia’s new contracting model, a group of around 40 top players are contracted directly by RA but the deals still require the state to pay the first $200,000 of the salary, and to agree to a preferred position nominated by RA.''
Apart from the signings this is the part that interested me most. I was pretty skeptical about the mutterings of egalitarianism coming out of Moore Park from when the latest Mosman Junta purged Clyne & Co. - and they desperately needed content for Stan. We will probably never know what dastardly deals were stitched up to enable the warehousing of talent "over there" (yes,yes we know the most players originate "there") but perhaps this $200,000 spend per player may facilitate some type of actual working salary cap. It doesn't solve everything as can be seen in the AFL & NRL - they still contain "haves & have nots". A lot of it comes down to who has the savvy operators in the front office & Football Dept. But it might just give us a better shot.
P.S. I still remember the dastardly deals that kept the Rabble afloat and sunk us. So the jury is not in just yet.
Isi is only signed for this year, right? I have a feeling if he doesn't get any love from Eddie he'll go overseas. If he stays, and Rahboni is given a contract, no need for Harris.
According to All.Rugby:
Occupied positions by Harry on start team :
Winger : 56 times ( Right Wing 65%, Left Wing 28% )
Center : 4 times ( Outside Centre 7% )
Looking at the article it's Harry Potter saying that he wants to play a bit more at 13.
https://www.theroar.com.au/2023/06/0...-super-return/