As I was looking through the news last week I saw one piece of information that intrigued me. It said that Stuart Musialik, former Newcastle and Sydney player, two time A-League champion, was off-contract and struggling to find a club, either in the A-League or overseas (link).
Musialik was not retained by Sydney last year – he, nor the team, didn’t have a great season. At the end of the season, he was offered a contract extension with the club, (link) but it was withdrawn after he demanded more money. He played 22 games last year, and even captained the team on occasions (link). Since being released he has been training alone in Newcastle, hoping to find a contract somewhere.
"A-League clubs are either fully loaded or only have a minimum-wage spot left for an under-20 player," Musialik told the Newcastle Herald yesterday. "I have a couple of people putting feelers out for me overseas, but there is nothing concrete in the pipeline.” Well Stuart, I know one A-League club that hasn’t filled its roster too much – in fact at last count we only had 14! Do you fancy a year or two over here in Wellington?
I can only presume Ricki has looked into this possibility – but for me it’s a no brainer. The guy has played Olympic level footy for Australia, and played (and won) two grand finals. He captained Sydney at times last year. Surely he’s worth bringing over. The only thing I presume holding Ricki back is the fact he’s a central midfielder, possibly the only position on the field where we have a bit of depth (Muscat, Brown, Lia). But if all three are playing week-in week-out, like last year, another central midfielder will need to be signed up.
Ricki has said he wants to sign a goalkeeper, striker, and attacking midfielder, as well as the mandatory three under-23 players (fullback, central defender, and midfielder) to fill out the twenty player squad (link). Ok, so Musialik doesn’t fit into these categories. But last year, when guys like Danny Vukovic and Nick Ward were made available, we snapped them up, even if we had those positions (relatively) covered. Maybe this is one of those instances. In any cases, bringing in another quality and experienced A-League player can hardly hurt.
A decent signing like this would also help bring more stability around the perception of the club. The media seems to have gone a bit quiet on the demise of Terry Serepisos recently, and my personal policy on this is a mixture of positive thinking and no smoke (for a while at least) equals no fire. I honestly don’t know how much impact this uncertainty has had on the club’s recruitment, but with another ten weeks of the preseason remaining, it is my personal view that there is still absolutely no rush to finalise the squad, even if other teams have.
Showing posts with label Signings/Contracts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Signings/Contracts. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
The Numbers - Nathan Friend
Today has been a big day for the NRL, with the Wayne Bennett signing up to coach the Newcastle Knights, Jamal Idris signing with the Gold Coast Titans, and Lance Hohaia confirming he will leave the Warriors after ten years of service. Yesterday, however, it was a Warriors signing that was in the news: The Titan’s hooker, Nathan Friend for the next two NRL seasons, with an option for a third. As soon as I heard this I thought this was a pretty exciting signing. Friend is one of the most consistent players in the whole competition, and is renowned for his tough defence and solid passing games. He has always seemed like an absolutely key part of the Gold Coast team. As a result, I thought I would do a bit of breakdown of some key stats concerning his importance to the Titans.
Friend was a foundation member of the Gold Coast Titans when they entered the NRL in 2007. In 2009 he was named their player of the year. Since their inception, they have played 105 games. Friend has played an incredible 97 (93%!) of those. In one of the most physical competitions on the planet, that is ridiculous durability. Four of the eight games he has missed have been at the start of this season – he has only come back from a shoulder injury. The fact he has played such a high proportion means it is hard to use statistics to investigate just how effective he has been to the Titan’s cause. Such has been his impact however, that it is possible to do just that.
In their four and a bit year history, the Titans have only won once without Nathan Friend; that was this year, two rounds ago, when they scraped a golden point 23-22 win over the Canberra Raiders. They have lost all other six games where he has been absent. The Titan’s win percentage is 53.61% when Friend plays, compared to the 50.9% win rate over their history. Obviously these aren’t vastly different – the sheer proportion of matches that Friend has played a part means they are unlikely to be. Still, the fact they have won only once, and that was against a struggling Canberra team, is interesting enough.
Points scored and conceded when Friend does and doesn’t play is more telling; although the same issue with the proportion of games he’s played is obviously still a hindrance. The numbers are still interesting. When Friend plays for the Titans, the stats are almost even: 20.3 points per game (ppg) for, and 21.7 ppg against. For those eight games where he hasn’t been on the park, the Titans averaged just 11.6 ppg, while conceding 30.1 ppg. Those are some fairly substantial figures, and are definitely worth noting. Obviously with a larger sample size these stats would most likely even up (unless of course he really is that effective...).
Friend’s individual statistics offers a bit of insight into what appears to be the Titans inability to both win and defend without him. Most people know of him as a tough tackling player. The fact is last season he had more tackles in the NRL (1120) than anyone, compared to the league average was 264. But it wasn’t all defence: he also had more touches on the ball than any other player – 3001. Without arguably the most involved player in the competition, maybe it’s not so hard to see how the Titans have struggled without him, on the few occasions he has been missing.
So the question has to be, what numbers can we expect when Nathan Friend suits up for the Warriors in 2012? Every teams set up is different so it’s impossible to know exactly what impact he will have, and what his stats might look like. The Warriors already have one of the most consistent tacklers in the NRL in Micheal Luck. So what will happen when both are on the same side? Will anyone else in the team have to make a tackle? Hopefully his ability to stay fit will stay with him and he can play a major role in the side.
All in all, I think this is a very tidy piece of business for the Warriors. His numbers at the Gold Coast Titans are very impressive, and I look forward to seeing what he can produce over here in 2012.
Friend was a foundation member of the Gold Coast Titans when they entered the NRL in 2007. In 2009 he was named their player of the year. Since their inception, they have played 105 games. Friend has played an incredible 97 (93%!) of those. In one of the most physical competitions on the planet, that is ridiculous durability. Four of the eight games he has missed have been at the start of this season – he has only come back from a shoulder injury. The fact he has played such a high proportion means it is hard to use statistics to investigate just how effective he has been to the Titan’s cause. Such has been his impact however, that it is possible to do just that.
In their four and a bit year history, the Titans have only won once without Nathan Friend; that was this year, two rounds ago, when they scraped a golden point 23-22 win over the Canberra Raiders. They have lost all other six games where he has been absent. The Titan’s win percentage is 53.61% when Friend plays, compared to the 50.9% win rate over their history. Obviously these aren’t vastly different – the sheer proportion of matches that Friend has played a part means they are unlikely to be. Still, the fact they have won only once, and that was against a struggling Canberra team, is interesting enough.
Points scored and conceded when Friend does and doesn’t play is more telling; although the same issue with the proportion of games he’s played is obviously still a hindrance. The numbers are still interesting. When Friend plays for the Titans, the stats are almost even: 20.3 points per game (ppg) for, and 21.7 ppg against. For those eight games where he hasn’t been on the park, the Titans averaged just 11.6 ppg, while conceding 30.1 ppg. Those are some fairly substantial figures, and are definitely worth noting. Obviously with a larger sample size these stats would most likely even up (unless of course he really is that effective...).
Friend’s individual statistics offers a bit of insight into what appears to be the Titans inability to both win and defend without him. Most people know of him as a tough tackling player. The fact is last season he had more tackles in the NRL (1120) than anyone, compared to the league average was 264. But it wasn’t all defence: he also had more touches on the ball than any other player – 3001. Without arguably the most involved player in the competition, maybe it’s not so hard to see how the Titans have struggled without him, on the few occasions he has been missing.
So the question has to be, what numbers can we expect when Nathan Friend suits up for the Warriors in 2012? Every teams set up is different so it’s impossible to know exactly what impact he will have, and what his stats might look like. The Warriors already have one of the most consistent tacklers in the NRL in Micheal Luck. So what will happen when both are on the same side? Will anyone else in the team have to make a tackle? Hopefully his ability to stay fit will stay with him and he can play a major role in the side.
All in all, I think this is a very tidy piece of business for the Warriors. His numbers at the Gold Coast Titans are very impressive, and I look forward to seeing what he can produce over here in 2012.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
It's On Like Dylan-Kong
So the general consensus seems to be that Dylan Macallister is a donkey. I would tend to agree. However there seems to be some thought out there that he shouldn’t be re-signed by the Phoenix, that we could do better, and that there are thousands of strikers out there that we could get for similar money, who would do a much better job.
For that reason we need him to stay. He has scored consistently for two months now (6 in 10), and with Rojas and Ward on the flanks, the formation fits him well. He is not pretty to watch, and he does manage to miss some absolute donkey-like sitters (both tonight and last week against Perth). But, and while this is a tenuous comparison, Ruud van Nistelrooy, the great Dutch striker, is hardly beautiful to watch on the ball. Now Dylan doesn’t belong in the same galaxy as Ruud, but the point remains that you don’t have to look like Lionel Messi, or dare I say, Marco Rojas, on the ball to be an effective weapon.
Next season we will have Ifill back from injury, Greenacre, Pavlovic, plus anyone else we manage to pick up. Smeltz has been linked but he’ll stay on the Gold Coast if they can afford him. Killen could be a possibility. Any other options would probably be someone from the English lower divisions or maybe a South or Central American. Even with the success of some (see Ifill, Solorzano etc.) there have been some real duds come to the A-League (Deane, Jardel and others). So there is no guarantee of a glut of goals. If the Phoenix end up banking on an aging Greenacre and a raw Pavlovic to support Ifill we are going nowhere. But a Macallister, from the start of the season going like he has been going, could be really useful.
I can imagine we sign one striker in the off season, as well as re-signing Macallister. We would have a lot of different options for that front three, with Ifill, Macallister, this new striker, Greenacre, Pavlovic, Bertos, Daniel, Ward and Rojas (provided they also re-sign with the club). There is a lot of variation there, and with guys mostly having played this season together, maybe they can gel and become a potent attacking team.
For that reason we need him to stay. He has scored consistently for two months now (6 in 10), and with Rojas and Ward on the flanks, the formation fits him well. He is not pretty to watch, and he does manage to miss some absolute donkey-like sitters (both tonight and last week against Perth). But, and while this is a tenuous comparison, Ruud van Nistelrooy, the great Dutch striker, is hardly beautiful to watch on the ball. Now Dylan doesn’t belong in the same galaxy as Ruud, but the point remains that you don’t have to look like Lionel Messi, or dare I say, Marco Rojas, on the ball to be an effective weapon.
Next season we will have Ifill back from injury, Greenacre, Pavlovic, plus anyone else we manage to pick up. Smeltz has been linked but he’ll stay on the Gold Coast if they can afford him. Killen could be a possibility. Any other options would probably be someone from the English lower divisions or maybe a South or Central American. Even with the success of some (see Ifill, Solorzano etc.) there have been some real duds come to the A-League (Deane, Jardel and others). So there is no guarantee of a glut of goals. If the Phoenix end up banking on an aging Greenacre and a raw Pavlovic to support Ifill we are going nowhere. But a Macallister, from the start of the season going like he has been going, could be really useful.
I can imagine we sign one striker in the off season, as well as re-signing Macallister. We would have a lot of different options for that front three, with Ifill, Macallister, this new striker, Greenacre, Pavlovic, Bertos, Daniel, Ward and Rojas (provided they also re-sign with the club). There is a lot of variation there, and with guys mostly having played this season together, maybe they can gel and become a potent attacking team.
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