For anyone concerned about the spine, the club’s approach is sound.
I’m not saying the result will be, but they’ve approached it in a common sense way that should set them up for success.
They have 4 starting positions to fill in the spine, and the NRL approach that seems to work best for squad balance, is to have 3 spine members on a bit of coin, and 1 on less. We’re also at a point in time where you could argue that lock is a more integral position for teams than hooker.
They have one genuine, peak of their career rep star in Latrell, who is equally comfortable at 1 or 6.
You then have 2 senior, rep class players in Wighton and Walker. Yes they are in the twilight of their career. But they cover 6, 7 and at a stretch 1, have plenty of leadership and experience, and are still elite NRL players.
You then have 3-4 different varieties of next cab off the rank.
Dodd has 75 games of first team ESL experience, has played in a premiership winner and (I believe) has been in an amongst some rep train on squad environments. He’s a very good option for a young, non NRL experienced half. Did we overpay for him? We won’t know till he plays some NRL. Is he a sure thing? Nope. But we aren't all in on him either.
He’s complimented by a genuine top prospect in Jye Gray. Whether you see him as a 1, 6 or 7 is largely irrelevant. He’s a real deal prospect in the same league as a Stewart, Sanders, whoever. Time will tell whether he can transfer from prospect to fringe rep star, but the pedigree is there.
Then you have Mamouzelos. A local product who was identified early and has done a long and thorough apprenticeship. He’ll be up around 25 NRL games by next year, at age 24, with a handful for Greek international caps under his belt. Not a home run or sure thing (no one is), but a reasonable gamble. And unlike Ilias, he isn’t debuting on the back of no footy due to COVID the previous 2 years. The club know what they have in Pete and have made an informed call.
Added to this, it sounds like they’ll trade out the higher priced Ilias and bring in a player who is versatile between halves and hooker as a back up in Humphrey’s. Smart play. Always tough to decide between a weaker player with experience, or a prospect without any, but I think going the later and hoping for upside works here.
That ignores guys like Havili who can play some 9, and any of the light weight middles who might spend the offseason playing some 9 in case shit hits the fan.
Add to this the fact you have Murray, Duncan and Koloamatangi that all have an ability to ball play at first receiver from the pack.
It’s a reasonable approach with a few bases covered and we certainly aren't putting all our eggs in one basket.
While I believe we’re a worse spine with Cook gone. We may end up a better team depending on what they do elsewhere with the free’d up cash.
For anyone who wants to fill the squad with a certainty for every position, you’re gonna end up with average quality across the park like Parra, or no quality depth (which we’ve with suffered at times).
Squad building is a risk, and I don’t mind this calculated approach.