Do we expect that salary to be invested in a major signing I wonder?

Neymar would be proud !

Porterbelly wrote:

sligsup wrote:

connachta wrote:

sea_point wrote:

clanman wrote: I stand by my mid-table assessment of the team the next few years, all I will say is if Lowe and Fardy had signed for Connacht we'd be whooping for joy. I guess even with all the departures of high paid players we must have been in such a deficit that we couldn't afford one marquee signing. on a related subject how many NIQ spots will we have available this October?

Mid Table in our Group would be a decent achievement, we'd need more luck with injuries than last season that's for sure...

Butler I'd class as a marquee signing, certainly when you look back four or five seasons back when we only signed decent NPC calibre players maybe with a couple of Super Rugby caps in his age profile.

Yeah he doesn't have full International Caps, but he's 26 and five solid Super Rugby seasons at the strongest Aussie franchise (Twice SR Champions/Four Times Runners Up) in the bank...

Interestingly John O'Sullivan's article in today's IT online also lists Denis Coulson as one of our signings...

INS AND OUTS IRISH PROVINCES FOR 2017-2018

Connacht
INS: Gavin Thornbury (Wanganui), James Mitchell (Sale Sharks), Jarrad Butler (Brumbies), Peter McCabe (Munster), Denis Coulson (Grenoble), Cormac Brennan (academy), Conor McKeon (academy), Pat O’Toole (academy).

OUTS: John Cooney (Ulster), Danny Qualter (Nottingham), Lewis Stevenson (Bangor), Josh Rowland (Irish Sevens), Ben Marshall (retired), Rory Moloney (released), Shane O’Leary (released), Rory Parata (released), Nepia Fox-Matamua (released), Ronan Loughney (released), Danie Poolman (released), Ivan Soroka (released), Marnitz Boshoff (released).

The list shows the balence between ins and outs isn't made, even with 2 players left out beause of ChallengeCup.
I definitely think Boshoff, as a once-capped-Springbok freed bigger money than just the one for covering Butler wage

We always have had a marquee signing for 5 years, Mils, Craig Clarke, Parks, Manitz, Bundee,
I'm not hopeless Keane brings one guy... Except if we're saving money for the new stand

I heard that Boschoff was the highest paid player before Bundee got his contract extension, how accurate that is I am totally unsure.

Accurate. ***k a season

That nice money for 178 minutes of Rugby. €****.** per minute

sligsup wrote:

connachta wrote:

sea_point wrote:

clanman wrote: I stand by my mid-table assessment of the team the next few years, all I will say is if Lowe and Fardy had signed for Connacht we'd be whooping for joy. I guess even with all the departures of high paid players we must have been in such a deficit that we couldn't afford one marquee signing. on a related subject how many NIQ spots will we have available this October?

Mid Table in our Group would be a decent achievement, we'd need more luck with injuries than last season that's for sure...

Butler I'd class as a marquee signing, certainly when you look back four or five seasons back when we only signed decent NPC calibre players maybe with a couple of Super Rugby caps in his age profile.

Yeah he doesn't have full International Caps, but he's 26 and five solid Super Rugby seasons at the strongest Aussie franchise (Twice SR Champions/Four Times Runners Up) in the bank...

Interestingly John O'Sullivan's article in today's IT online also lists Denis Coulson as one of our signings...

INS AND OUTS IRISH PROVINCES FOR 2017-2018

Connacht
INS: Gavin Thornbury (Wanganui), James Mitchell (Sale Sharks), Jarrad Butler (Brumbies), Peter McCabe (Munster), Denis Coulson (Grenoble), Cormac Brennan (academy), Conor McKeon (academy), Pat O’Toole (academy).

OUTS: John Cooney (Ulster), Danny Qualter (Nottingham), Lewis Stevenson (Bangor), Josh Rowland (Irish Sevens), Ben Marshall (retired), Rory Moloney (released), Shane O’Leary (released), Rory Parata (released), Nepia Fox-Matamua (released), Ronan Loughney (released), Danie Poolman (released), Ivan Soroka (released), Marnitz Boshoff (released).

The list shows the balence between ins and outs isn't made, even with 2 players left out beause of ChallengeCup.
I definitely think Boshoff, as a once-capped-Springbok freed bigger money than just the one for covering Butler wage

We always have had a marquee signing for 5 years, Mils, Craig Clarke, Parks, Manitz, Bundee,
I'm not hopeless Keane brings one guy... Except if we're saving money for the new stand

I heard that Boschoff was the highest paid player before Bundee got his contract extension, how accurate that is I am totally unsure.

Accurate. ***k a season

If the players are good enough the highest paid players in rugby tend to be outhalfs and tightheads. So it's easy to see how Boschoff a capped international would be on a high wage

connachta wrote:

sea_point wrote:

clanman wrote: I stand by my mid-table assessment of the team the next few years, all I will say is if Lowe and Fardy had signed for Connacht we'd be whooping for joy. I guess even with all the departures of high paid players we must have been in such a deficit that we couldn't afford one marquee signing. on a related subject how many NIQ spots will we have available this October?

Mid Table in our Group would be a decent achievement, we'd need more luck with injuries than last season that's for sure...

Butler I'd class as a marquee signing, certainly when you look back four or five seasons back when we only signed decent NPC calibre players maybe with a couple of Super Rugby caps in his age profile.

Yeah he doesn't have full International Caps, but he's 26 and five solid Super Rugby seasons at the strongest Aussie franchise (Twice SR Champions/Four Times Runners Up) in the bank...

Interestingly John O'Sullivan's article in today's IT online also lists Denis Coulson as one of our signings...

INS AND OUTS IRISH PROVINCES FOR 2017-2018

Connacht
INS: Gavin Thornbury (Wanganui), James Mitchell (Sale Sharks), Jarrad Butler (Brumbies), Peter McCabe (Munster), Denis Coulson (Grenoble), Cormac Brennan (academy), Conor McKeon (academy), Pat O’Toole (academy).

OUTS: John Cooney (Ulster), Danny Qualter (Nottingham), Lewis Stevenson (Bangor), Josh Rowland (Irish Sevens), Ben Marshall (retired), Rory Moloney (released), Shane O’Leary (released), Rory Parata (released), Nepia Fox-Matamua (released), Ronan Loughney (released), Danie Poolman (released), Ivan Soroka (released), Marnitz Boshoff (released).

The list shows the balence between ins and outs isn't made, even with 2 players left out beause of ChallengeCup.
I definitely think Boshoff, as a once-capped-Springbok freed bigger money than just the one for covering Butler wage

We always have had a marquee signing for 5 years, Mils, Craig Clarke, Parks, Manitz, Bundee,
I'm not hopeless Keane brings one guy... Except if we're saving money for the new stand

I heard that Boschoff was the highest paid player before Bundee got his contract extension, how accurate that is I am totally unsure.

sea_point wrote:

clanman wrote: I stand by my mid-table assessment of the team the next few years, all I will say is if Lowe and Fardy had signed for Connacht we'd be whooping for joy. I guess even with all the departures of high paid players we must have been in such a deficit that we couldn't afford one marquee signing. on a related subject how many NIQ spots will we have available this October?

Mid Table in our Group would be a decent achievement, we'd need more luck with injuries than last season that's for sure...

Butler I'd class as a marquee signing, certainly when you look back four or five seasons back when we only signed decent NPC calibre players maybe with a couple of Super Rugby caps in his age profile.

Yeah he doesn't have full International Caps, but he's 26 and five solid Super Rugby seasons at the strongest Aussie franchise (Twice SR Champions/Four Times Runners Up) in the bank...

Interestingly John O'Sullivan's article in today's IT online also lists Denis Coulson as one of our signings...

INS AND OUTS IRISH PROVINCES FOR 2017-2018

Connacht
INS: Gavin Thornbury (Wanganui), James Mitchell (Sale Sharks), Jarrad Butler (Brumbies), Peter McCabe (Munster), Denis Coulson (Grenoble), Cormac Brennan (academy), Conor McKeon (academy), Pat O’Toole (academy).

OUTS: John Cooney (Ulster), Danny Qualter (Nottingham), Lewis Stevenson (Bangor), Josh Rowland (Irish Sevens), Ben Marshall (retired), Rory Moloney (released), Shane O’Leary (released), Rory Parata (released), Nepia Fox-Matamua (released), Ronan Loughney (released), Danie Poolman (released), Ivan Soroka (released), Marnitz Boshoff (released).

The list shows the balence between ins and outs isn't made, even with 2 players left out beause of ChallengeCup.
I definitely think Boshoff, as a once-capped-Springbok freed bigger money than just the one for covering Butler wage

We always have had a marquee signing for 5 years, Mils, Craig Clarke, Parks, Manitz, Bundee,
I'm not hopeless Keane brings one guy... Except if we're saving money for the new stand

clanman wrote: I stand by my mid-table assessment of the team the next few years, all I will say is if Lowe and Fardy had signed for Connacht we'd be whooping for joy. I guess even with all the departures of high paid players we must have been in such a deficit that we couldn't afford one marquee signing. on a related subject how many NIQ spots will we have available this October?

Mid Table in our Group would be a decent achievement, we'd need more luck with injuries than last season that's for sure...

Butler I'd class as a marquee signing, certainly when you look back four or five seasons back when we only signed decent NPC calibre players maybe with a couple of Super Rugby caps in his age profile.

Yeah he doesn't have full International Caps, but he's 26 and five solid Super Rugby seasons at the strongest Aussie franchise (Twice SR Champions/Four Times Runners Up) in the bank...

Interestingly John O'Sullivan's article in today's IT online also lists Denis Coulson as one of our signings...

INS AND OUTS IRISH PROVINCES FOR 2017-2018

Connacht
INS: Gavin Thornbury (Wanganui), James Mitchell (Sale Sharks), Jarrad Butler (Brumbies), Peter McCabe (Munster), Denis Coulson (Grenoble), Cormac Brennan (academy), Conor McKeon (academy), Pat O’Toole (academy).

OUTS: John Cooney (Ulster), Danny Qualter (Nottingham), Lewis Stevenson (Bangor), Josh Rowland (Irish Sevens), Ben Marshall (retired), Rory Moloney (released), Shane O’Leary (released), Rory Parata (released), Nepia Fox-Matamua (released), Ronan Loughney (released), Danie Poolman (released), Ivan Soroka (released), Marnitz Boshoff (released).

clanman wrote: I guess even with all the departures of high paid players we must have been in such a deficit that we couldn't afford one marquee signing?

Exactly what high paid players have you in mind. Other than Boshoff, all the other players let go were junior ranking players. I would maybe agree that it has cost Connacht a lot to retain the services of certain players which may have restricted the budget for new signings. Would you not agree that is a fairer reflection of the current situation

I stand by my mid-table assessment of the team the next few years, all I will say is if Lowe and Fardy had signed for Connacht we'd be whooping for joy. I guess even with all the departures of high paid players we must have been in such a deficit that we couldn't afford one marquee signing. on a related subject how many NIQ spots will we have available this October?

clanman wrote: I'm completely underwhelmed by the signings for next year, it seems a long time since we had a marquee signing, I mean 3 years ago we had Aki,Muldowney and McCartney all of whom we new would bring a massive amount to the province, took a short while for Muldowney to settle in but fans at Exeter knew how good he was\is. All I asked for was one Marquee signing and maybe decent journeyman pro, instead we get a lot of average signings. sorry but we won't be challenging for the play-offs again any time soon

I'm OK actually, we've retained a lot of our best players for a change which will help the new coaching team.
Outside of Cooney & Neeps, none of the lads that left were getting decent amounts of game-time. (Happily have kept both named though)...
Muldowney was a bit part/bench player at Exeter, he came to us because he was dropping down the queue there and he landed on his feet with a style of play and a role that suited his game. It's been the making of him.

Thonrbury is an excellent prospect, Kiwi's don't throw out plaudits about overseas players easily and he was rated....

Jarrad Butler is as good as we can afford, think it's a like for like swap with Neeps, hopefully with fewer injury risks.

If Deegan's Rugby is as good as his art, we'll be ok... www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/insideartexpress/2014/andrew_deegan/
I do like players to have serous interest outside Rugby, particularly creative positions.

Yeah, would I like for us to be in a position to go sign a big name Super Rugby player. Absolutely.
Reality is we generate a lot less money than the other provinces, and we don't have a sugar daddy...

Westie85 wrote:

clanman wrote: I'm completely underwhelmed by the signings for next year, it seems a long time since we had a marquee signing, I mean 3 years ago we had Aki,Muldowney and McCartney all of whom we new would bring a massive amount to the province, took a short while for Muldowney to settle in but fans at Exeter knew how good he was\is. All I asked for was one Marquee signing and maybe decent journeyman pro, instead we get a lot of average signings. sorry but we won't be challenging for the play-offs again any time soon

There's more to developing a winning team than just signings. A good coach will improve the players that are there. We have retained a lot more key players in the past few years then we have ever done in the past. We still have Aki, McCartney, players continually improving like Buckley Finlay, Dillane TOH to name just a few.

Also we 're only competing against 6 other teams now for a play off place not 11. Absolutely no reason why we won't be challenging for play-off spots this season never mind any time soon.

Not entirely true. We are competing against the teams in the other conference for points, so we can get into the play-offs in our own conference.

I think finishing in the play-off positions would be a massive achievement.

clanman wrote: I'm completely underwhelmed by the signings for next year, it seems a long time since we had a marquee signing, I mean 3 years ago we had Aki,Muldowney and McCartney all of whom we new would bring a massive amount to the province, took a short while for Muldowney to settle in but fans at Exeter knew how good he was\is. All I asked for was one Marquee signing and maybe decent journeyman pro, instead we get a lot of average signings. sorry but we won't be challenging for the play-offs again any time soon

There's more to developing a winning team than just signings. A good coach will improve the players that are there. We have retained a lot more key players in the past few years then we have ever done in the past. We still have Aki, McCartney, players continually improving like Buckley Finlay, Dillane TOH to name just a few.

Also we 're only competing against 6 other teams now for a play off place not 11. Absolutely no reason why we won't be challenging for play-off spots this season never mind any time soon.

I'm completely underwhelmed by the signings for next year, it seems a long time since we had a marquee signing, I mean 3 years ago we had Aki,Muldowney and McCartney all of whom we new would bring a massive amount to the province, took a short while for Muldowney to settle in but fans at Exeter knew how good he was\is. All I asked for was one Marquee signing and maybe decent journeyman pro, instead we get a lot of average signings. sorry but we won't be challenging for the play-offs again any time soon

I don't think I've ever seen them sign a project player without clearly announcing it as a 3 year deal. If I had to guess I'd actually say this is a 1+1 like Ili and Carey, it could be 2 but I think 3 is unlikely.

I'd imagine it's a 3 yr deal. I'm glad we have somebody.