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I know I probably won't win too many friends over this, but we are seeing a rapid dismantling of a great side in Melbourne Storm.

Can anyone give me a valid reason as to why Jeremy Smith was allowed to walk? I mean, with King, Aubusson, Newton, Cross, Tagataese, Folau and Kaufusi gone or going, how do we let a gun like him go, FFS??

I would let plenty of others go before him (insert Hoffman's name here) It can't all be down to the
salary cap. Too few at Storrm are on too muchme thinks.

When is this exodus about to end? All we seem to be coming to us are fringe playing journeymen,the likes of Manua and McDougall or "last chancees" like Arana Taumata.

Where are the big names, guys?? Where's King and Newton to re-sign headlines???

It's cyclical.

We'll probably have a tougher run next year and the year after.  A decent RL team has to have solid players in the 1, 6, 7 and 9 roles, and workhorses elsewhere.  We'll have that, with very high quality in our 1. 7 and 9 (and a decent 6 in Taumata on a last chance) plus GI in the centres, so we'll probably still be in the finals in 09 and 10, but it will not be nearly as special as the last few years (unless we win of course!).

The other players for the next few years will be young guns or (cue Hoffman) fringe first graders.  As soon as the older players stop performing (or once they sign elsewhere) they need to be disposed of and younger guys need to be bloodied and then built up through the magic of Bellamy.  Give it a few years and we'll have another squad of absolute first rate 20-22 year old players and a few more years to live on another high note.

You can't hold together a team of internationals and superstars forever, and even if you do, it has to end somewhere.  We don't want to see geriatrics playing footy because in 2006-08 or 2006-09 they were excellent players.  There are dozens of young guns with potential, and we need to blood them en masse every few years, ideally when the almost-has-beens start demanding too much money or look like they are about to.

I have said this for the last  couple of years.... Melbourne Storm  are their own worst enemy....we bought our Premiership, in 1999, earnt in  2007, the p[layer we breed ownly breathe well in Melbourne, the Sydney air doen't suit their lungs

Hoffman has had a quiet year this year, but he has been awesome the last couple.  He's a gun.  I am sad to lose Jezza, but we have so many rep players, that something has to give.  With Smith being 28 or whatever he is too, invested in the young forwards coming through, like Tolman and Proctor

mrpc wrote: It's cyclical.

We'll probably have a tougher run next year and the year after.  A decent RL team has to have solid players in the 1, 6, 7 and 9 roles, and workhorses elsewhere.  We'll have that, with very high quality in our 1. 7 and 9 (and a decent 6 in Taumata on a last chance) plus GI in the centres, so we'll probably still be in the finals in 09 and 10, but it will not be nearly as special as the last few years (unless we win of course!).

The other players for the next few years will be young guns or (cue Hoffman) fringe first graders.  As soon as the older players stop performing (or once they sign elsewhere) they need to be disposed of and younger guys need to be bloodied and then built up through the magic of Bellamy.  Give it a few years and we'll have another squad of absolute first rate 20-22 year old players and a few more years to live on another high note.

You can't hold together a team of internationals and superstars forever, and even if you do, it has to end somewhere.  We don't want to see geriatrics playing footy because in 2006-08 or 2006-09 they were excellent players.  There are dozens of young guns with potential, and we need to blood them en masse every few years, ideally when the almost-has-beens start demanding too much money or look like they are about to.

I know all of this more than anyone, I am an Essendon supporter. I know salary caps bite deep, but FFS, why can;t we hold on to our top shelf middle rung players like Jeremy Smith. He can't be on that much. Give him some more $$, give him more game time. He's up to it. Why weren't Storm is the question I want answered.

Kettles wrote:

mrpc wrote: It's cyclical.

We'll probably have a tougher run next year and the year after.  A decent RL team has to have solid players in the 1, 6, 7 and 9 roles, and workhorses elsewhere.  We'll have that, with very high quality in our 1. 7 and 9 (and a decent 6 in Taumata on a last chance) plus GI in the centres, so we'll probably still be in the finals in 09 and 10, but it will not be nearly as special as the last few years (unless we win of course!).

The other players for the next few years will be young guns or (cue Hoffman) fringe first graders.  As soon as the older players stop performing (or once they sign elsewhere) they need to be disposed of and younger guys need to be bloodied and then built up through the magic of Bellamy.  Give it a few years and we'll have another squad of absolute first rate 20-22 year old players and a few more years to live on another high note.

You can't hold together a team of internationals and superstars forever, and even if you do, it has to end somewhere.  We don't want to see geriatrics playing footy because in 2006-08 or 2006-09 they were excellent players.  There are dozens of young guns with potential, and we need to blood them en masse every few years, ideally when the almost-has-beens start demanding too much money or look like they are about to.

I know all of this more than anyone, I am an Essendon supporter. I know salary caps bite deep, but FFS, why can;t we hold on to our top shelf middle rung players like Jeremy Smith. He can't be on that much. Give him some more $$, give him more game time. He's up to it. Why weren't Storm is the question I want answered.

obviously the club knows that to be sucessfull u need a great 9,7,6 and 1 and we have all of them but they arent cheap. we can cover for jezza no worries, hes a great player and fires up really well but we went thru this with kingy and we covered for him really well. so what im saying is that the club has signing priorities and a 2nd rower who starts on the bench a majority of the time isnt up at the top.

The only thing against Smith is he's 28. But for me, he is in his prime.
I've never been a big wrap for Kaufusi until this year.

Both are starring, both are going.

Where we cop all sorts of criticism from other team's supporters for not having Melbourne-bred players, we are now farewelling Smith.

So, White next?

Grr.

Kettles wrote:Where we cop all sorts of criticism from other team's supporters for not having Melbourne-bred players, we are now farewelling Smith.

Who gives a rodents rectum about the criticism we cop from other teams supporters? They don't consider Jezza a Melbourne bred product because he's a Kiwi and only played three years of juniors in the VRL. Much like they don't consider any of our Queensland contingent as being Storm juniors even though Brisbane Norths had been our feeder club and a heap of players have all been developed through the Storm system, eg Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, etc.

Until Storm get a player that was born in Melbourne and never played for a non-Victorian team then we will continue to cop this criticism, and the moment we do get such a player in our ranks they will shift their criticism, suddenly it will be "you only have one Melbourne player after all these years" or some other rubbish.

Where we cop all sorts of criticism from other team's supporters for not having Melbourne-bred players, we are now farewelling Smith.

What can you say 

How about......................
Melbourne has taken lots of raw juniors - Sydney problem players - etc & turned 'just a couple' into stars - top flight players - dependable players
Sydney has - erm  Taken back those players that Storm trained & turned around,which allows their sanctimonious fans to claim "Melbourne has no home grown players"

Kettles wrote: I know I probably won't win too many friends over this, but we are seeing a rapid dismantling of a great side in Melbourne Storm.

Can anyone give me a valid reason as to why Jeremy Smith was allowed to walk? I mean, with King, Aubusson, Newton, Cross, Tagataese, Folau and Kaufusi gone or going, how do we let a gun like him go, FFS??

I would let plenty of others go before him (insert Hoffman's name here) It can't all be down to the
salary cap. Too few at Storrm are on too muchme thinks.

When is this exodus about to end? All we seem to be coming to us are fringe playing journeymen,the likes of Manua and McDougall or "last chancees" like Arana Taumata.

Where are the big names, guys?? Where's King and Newton to re-sign headlines???

This is the nature of the salary cap unfortuantely.  I can understand your despair at losing players that you would like to keep at the club but I think given the mechanisms of the salary cap, Storm Management and the players should be commended for the job they have done in keeping the core of the list together.  Nearly every player at the club has taken below market rates to keep the team together.  The amount of talent that we still have at the club if you worked it out to what they could get on the open market would be by far the highest in the NRL.

The valid reason as to why Jermey Smith was allowed to walk is that he could earn substantially more money away from the Storm.  As Storm has done with the entire playing list they offered below market rates to try to keep him.  Jezz was a late starter to first grade and as such his first few years pay levels were on a low base.  At 28 years of age and a young family it was no longer about playing for a successful team at a reduced rate but rather about maximising his earning potential in what could very well be his last contract.  With this being the motivating factor the Storm could not compete and he left with their blessing.

Each year as we move forward now, keeping the current playing list together is going to be harder and harder.  The key to me is to keep the core players here and continue to add to it by having a very good development network, something that the Storm have been very good at.  The door closes for Smith but opens for Proctor, the door closes for Crocker but opens for Tolman etc.    I think the club should be applauded as many other teams in the competition have far bigger issues in the level of talent within their salary cap for what they are paying.