More Starling Noise

Manly’s chase of Tom Starling has hit a stumbling block.

The reports are they don’t have the cap space to sign him. Presumably because they’re trying to pay Tom Trbojevic a million plus to be the world’s greatest sometimes. I don’t blame them. I’d make that deal. How ’bout you Utivich, you make that deal? Damn good deal.

But it has put them in a bind for trying to get their hooker of choice to town. And it’s meant that we’ve started to enter the public negotiation of player swap. You see, Manly need to get rid of someone to sign Tom (well, actually, Toms), so names are magically appearing in the media as ‘available’. So far these have included Jake Simpkins and Luke Brooks, and are pitched on the basis of letting Starling go now, rather than at the end of 2027.

You can tell that these ideas didn’t come from Canberra. The reason the Raiders are likely to lose Tommy is because they have too much young talent coming through, specifically at hooker. Simpkins, 24, doesn’t have the upside of anyone at the Raiders, and would presumably be a less-good solution to cover the gap between now and talent like Malachi Smith, Shaun Packer, Mitch Brophy (in the top 30 for 2028) and Luke Cannon coming through.

I mean it makes perfect sense. Anytime you have too many hookers the only solution is to trade your hooker for another hooker. That way you’ll have the right amount of hookers (just ask Hugh Grant yuk yuk yuk). The Raiders could simply keep Tommy for 2027, giving them a full twelve months to get the kids ready, in full knowledge that Owen Pattie is going to play the majority of the minutes anyway. You’d hope the Milk had learned their lesson from the Jayden Brailey situation; don’t solve a depth problem by creating a development obstacle.

Brooks is even funnier. A left side half? Sure, we’ve got two. Adding a third to the pile would be a fun way to solve the question of ‘which Ethan plays left?’ Luke! You know, maybe Stick would go for it. I know the fantasy footy fans would love trying to squeeze four halves into the lineup. We’d be ready for multiball when a broadcaster pitches it to Vlando too.

This leaves aside the relative merits of the players. Simpkins is a defence oriented nine who’s been stuck behind a converted half for minutes in first grade. I thought he had a bit of potential when he was at the Tigers, but if Brandon Wakeham is keeping you out of first grade, I’m not certain I want you eating the minutes of my NSW Cup rakes just for the privilege of losing Tom Starling.

Brooks isn’t as bad as many claim, more a victim of not meeting excessive expectations. Manly were better with him in the halves with Jamal Fogarty than Joey Walsh, and I think the question they should be asking is Walsh or Fogarty, not Brooks or Walsh. But that’s a harder question, and one that requires them to consider their investment in Fogarty as potentially a mistake.

But here’s the crux of the problem with this pitch for Manly. Canberra have one need, and it’s beef. The Sea-Eagles have even less of that than the Raiders. If Tommy is going to go on a player swap, there’s going to be little in value coming back the other way for the Milk.

That of course doesn’t mean Starling is staying. The reporting suggested that he’s been given the negotiate and leave early if he can find a good deal. I doubt it’s that simple. When they’re in the middle of negotiations, Canberra often give players permission to go into the market to see their value (see Timoko, Matthew, and Smithies, Morgan). Perhaps Manly is the most interested side, and Tommy’s management wants that potential deal to seem real, so the Raiders up their offer, or let him go.

But it does suggest Starling is open to departing, and once you get there it often feels like the boulder is rolling downhill. We’ve identified the pull factors before.

Again, it’s too early to be talking about all this mess, noting that we’ll likely find out in the coming days that Hudson Young is also heading to market to get some fat stacks. Shit, the Raiders have a final tonight (*Shania Twain horns* Let’s go girls). But that’s the deal with negotiations. They bounce back and forth in search of a resolution. This is another bounce, another ricochet of noise across the rugby league courtyard. It’ll resolve soon enough, and maybe we’ll have another new hooker.

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