Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\nIs Luke Metcalf the right signing? (Photo by Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Spending a lot of money doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s a good decision. <\/p>\n
You need to get players that are able to play above value. It\u2019s about creating some depth in all positions \u2014 outside back, hooker, halves.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re not trying to go from last to first right away. You\u2019re trying to create a professional NRL environment \u2014 whether that\u2019s training or competition for spots. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s one stepping stone to the next, and to rebuild you first need to create competition for spots and be strategic around how you spend your money. <\/p>\n
Sure, go out and get a big star like Koloamatangi. But you can\u2019t do that for all positions. <\/p>\n
Value for Metcalf would be $550,000-$600,000 but you\u2019ve gone and paid $900,000. There\u2019s a $350,000 player you could have had instead. <\/p>\n
Hypothetically they\u2019ve probably also paid $200,000 over what they should have for Drinkwater and $200,000 over what they should have for Koloamatangi.<\/p>\n
So all up that\u2019s a $750,000 player they could have signed. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m all for bunkering down and being decisive and going and getting who you want.<\/p>\n
I just don\u2019t think that Metcalf is that person.<\/p>\n
If they went and spent their money on Sam Walker, great. <\/p>\n
But the risk of investing that much money into a player like Metcalf who has had a significant amount of injuries and is playing in a team that\u2019s consistently had halves who have played well in their system?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s just a lot of question marks around that particular player. Too many if I was a Dragons fans. <\/p>\n
Wahs snub Metcalf, call on Martin | 00:45<\/p>\n
WHICH TEAMS COULD BENEFIT MOST IN ORIGIN?<\/p>\n
Of course, attention is also quickly turning to Wednesday\u2019s State of Origin opener \u2014 and more on that later.<\/p>\n
But first, I want to look at which NRL teams could be big risers during the Origin period. I\u2019ve found two in particular and the bad news for the rest of the competition is that they\u2019re already travelling well.<\/p>\n
The second-placed Warriors are in a position to win a couple of games and considering they get a Panthers team next week that could potentially be without their Origin stars, they could even push for the minor premiership. <\/p>\n
This is a team that has been there or thereabouts in the finals race in recent years, but they\u2019ve struggled to quite take that next step in September. For me, injuries will play a big role in just how far the Warriors can go this season. <\/p>\n
It feels like at the end of the year someone like Wayde Egan has battered and banged up.<\/p>\n
But this season he\u2019s been playing a bit of a different style and it has allowed him to stay relatively healthy outside of missing time with one head knock. Add in a healthy Mitch Barnett and this could be the year that the Warriors really make some noise in the finals.<\/p>\n
The same goes for the Cowboys, who are seventh but have a big chance during the Origin period with Jake Clifford, Heilum Luki and Murray Taulagi all overlooked.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re already playing a great style of footy that matches the new rules and could push for a top-four finish at the end of the year.<\/p>\n
‘Ridiculous’: Cleary slams criticism | 08:19<\/p>\n
WHAT I\u2019M WATCHING IN ORIGIN I <\/p>\n
Moving onto Origin, I\u2019m excited to see Nathan Cleary and Mitchell Moses play together again. Over the years, New South Wales has always had success that had really dominant halves. Whether it was Andrew Johns, Trent Barrett or even Braith Anasta, you really remember the champion halfbacks who have played for New South Wales. I think this is a really good opportunity for either Cleary or Moses to potentially add their names to that list. Then in Queensland, there is the intrigue surrounding their new halves pairing. What will Cam Munster and debutant Sam Walker look like? And is Walker the long-term option in the seven jumper, even when Tom Dearden is healthy? The added wrinkle of the new rules is one to watch too. The first game of the series is usually a low-scoring one, and it\u2019s played in Sydney on a pitch that is typically wet and dewy. In other words, it\u2019s not necessarily a field that has plenty of points scored on it. Despite that, everyone is saying that New South Wales has picked an attack-minded squad to match the new officiating, so it\u2019s going to be interesting to see whether that pays off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What an opportunity this is for the Bulldogs. Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[330733,15901,48257,254,64,63,689,7618,4600,330736,28814,330735,34150,12735,330734,2105,39271,5096,4436,330729,4592,28053,11738,244597,4617,4419,147876,33215,79836,10747,4466,10750,22326,1203,761,762,673,2613,158,677,4606,69375,330731,330726,330732,14224,21378,701,3509,330725,330730,219565,16205,4478,1085,85,330728,329654,330727,670,4477,776,4461],"class_list":["post-686497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-adam-driussi","tag-alex-mckinnon","tag-andrew-johns","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-cameron-ciraldo","tag-chanel-harris-tavita","tag-contractual-negotiations","tag-dean-ritchie","tag-dominant-halves","tag-duke-of-montrose","tag-finals-race","tag-game-pivots","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-halves-pairing","tag-head-knock","tag-heath-mason","tag-jack-madden","tag-jacob-preston","tag-jake-clifford","tag-jaxon-purdue","tag-kick-chase","tag-lachlan-galvin","tag-leo-thompson","tag-long-term-halfback","tag-lord-gould-of-brookwood","tag-luke-hanson","tag-luke-metcalf","tag-melbourne-storm","tag-mitch-barnett","tag-mitchell-moses","tag-nathan-cleary","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-south-wales","tag-new-zealand-warriors","tag-nrl","tag-oceania","tag-phillip-sami","tag-player-market","tag-podcast-appearances","tag-podcast-claim","tag-pointing-fingers","tag-points-scored","tag-quality-depth","tag-queensland","tag-question-marks","tag-real-identity","tag-right-signing","tag-roster-management","tag-rule-changes","tag-sam-walker","tag-scott-drinkwater","tag-sports","tag-sports-worlds","tag-squad-struggles","tag-success-work","tag-sydney","tag-tanah-boyd","tag-tom-dearden","tag-wayde-egan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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