Newcastle Knights sign Canberra Raiders back James Schiller

[Billy Walker]

Hopefully we sign Cotirc on a heavily reduced contract. He isnt that SOO winger anymore

Cotric needs to be moved on. There are better options out there. If we cut him I doubt anyone is picking him up.

[Seiffert82]

Good cap management.

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This is a bizarre statement unless it’s tongue in cheek.

Not even remotely tongue in cheek.

I shouldn't have to tell anyone where a depth winger with major issues in defence fits into the salary cap priority list. Down the bottom.

Strange, Sanders, Smithies, Timoko, Savage and Stewart are great signings who will all be getting upgrades or coming in on good coin.

Keep the powder dry for a decent second rower thanks.

I think it's pretty average cap management if we end up re-signing Cotric which has been mentioned. Schiller would be cheaper and he is a better player with the ability to play multiple positions.

How do we know what the two offers were?

From what I know about Schiller, I'm also reasonably sure the lure of Newcastle itself would have been high on the list for him.

Anyway, he's made the decision. Who knows if the Raiders made a reasonable counter offer.

[Bluesbrother]

Good cap management.

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This is a bizarre statement unless it’s tongue in cheek.

Not even remotely tongue in cheek.

I shouldn't have to tell anyone where a depth winger with major issues in defence fits into the salary cap priority list. Down the bottom.

Strange, Sanders, Smithies, Timoko, Savage and Stewart are great signings who will all be getting upgrades or coming in on good coin.

Keep the powder dry for a decent second rower thanks.

I think it's pretty average cap management if we end up re-signing Cotric which has been mentioned. Schiller would be cheaper and he is a better player with the ability to play multiple positions.

How do we know what the two offers were?

From what I know about Schiller, I'm also reasonably sure the lure of Newcastle itself would have been high on the list for him.

Anyway, he's made the decision. Who knows if the Raiders made a reasonable counter offer.

We don't know. Pure speculation. However, even if they were the same price, I'd rather keep Schiller myself. All good though, not a big blow just don't like losing good players.

[reptar]

If only slavery wasn’t illegal, we could keep all the players.

[BadnMean]

If we have to lose one... it's a 3/4 who is sure he's a centre not a winger.

We have a couple of pretty good centres signed years ahead already- despite Schiller' talent.

And Schiller seems to want to play centre- and I agree with him from what I've seen and have posted so for some time.

You can sign more wingers. Or grow them. It's probably the last position I would worry about. We signed CNK completely unwanted, we grew Cotric straight outta school, Schiller came and began to shine... You can find a winger.

[reptar]

Wingers grow on trees.

[Colk]

If we have to lose one... it's a 3/4 who is sure he's a centre not a winger.

We have a couple of pretty good centres signed years ahead already- despite Schiller' talent.

And Schiller seems to want to play centre- and I agree with him from what I've seen and have posted so for some time.

You can sign more wingers. Or grow them. It's probably the last position I would worry about. We signed CNK completely unwanted, we grew Cotric straight outta school, Schiller came and began to shine... You can find a winger.

Agreed

[Colk]

Whilst I’m disappointed in Schiller leaving (he had pace which is a great asset) I’m pretty confident in Asomua

[gangrenous]

Disappointing. Like others I think the speed has been a huge asset and very enjoyable. Not looking forward to a return to standard programming…

Also a strong aerial threat, and a decent deft short kick on him too. I think he’ll go well. Best of luck to him.

[zim]

Good luck to him. He wasn't going to crack centre here and Dane Gagai is off contract this year. I guess Gagai probably heads north to finish up his career, or they tack another year on and Schiller plays wing for another year.
In my 17 while he's playing well.

[LimeGreenMachine]

From the reports Knights will offer Gags a 1 year contract and Schiller is happy to wait a year before claiming that centre spot. Gags may look for a longer contract elsewhere.
Timoko and Kris have a lock on our centres for years. I can understand Schiller's thoughts on the move.

[Dr Zaius]

A shame when he is hitting his straps, but good clubs focus on retaining key positions, not wingers.

[daley6]

Wingers grow on trees.

Need a new tree though , cause cotric and hoppa are from a slow growing tree. Rapa is from a cactus , tough and durable buts it aging.Asomua is still a seed needs more water. I Want a fast growing established tree until Asomua has sprouted

[RedRaider]

And props to the Knights, they would have seen him scoring tries for fun in Cup last year, at centre. Good signing for them

NSW Cup this year CM, he ran about 80 meters and beat 4 Knights players to the goal line. No Knight could catch him. I was at that match and it was a spectacular effort. I reckon he would have been on the Knights wish list from that moment. I wish him well and hope he continues to be picked in Raiders FG. We should always pick our best available 17 each week.

One thing that amazes me though is that the Knights have done all the negotiation and contract signing since we finished our game against the Titans after extra time played on Sunday night. Bull dung they waited until Round 6 was completed before negotiations began.

[Seiffert82]

If we have to lose one... it's a 3/4 who is sure he's a centre not a winger.

We have a couple of pretty good centres signed years ahead already- despite Schiller' talent.

And Schiller seems to want to play centre- and I agree with him from what I've seen and have posted so for some time.

You can sign more wingers. Or grow them. It's probably the last position I would worry about. We signed CNK completely unwanted, we grew Cotric straight outta school, Schiller came and began to shine... You can find a winger.

Agreed.

I guess that's nice for Schiller to get an opportunity to play in his preferred position. I see him as a winger myself. It's certainly a lot harder for him to exploit his biggest assets (speed and a pretty handy kicking game on the run) playing in the centres.

But yes, I can't really see him upending Kris or Timoko here.

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[The Nickman]

Wingers grow on trees.

Walking trees?

[Billy Walker]

Wingers grow on trees.

Matthew Wood?

[NoMan]

Wingers grow on trees.

Need a new tree though , cause cotric and hoppa are from a slow growing tree. Rapa is from a cactus , tough and durable buts it aging.Asomua is still a seed needs more water. I Want a fast growing established tree until Asomua has sprouted

Yeah, Wingers still cop a bad wrap I reckon. Especially in a team where they take half the hit ups.

Asomua isn’t far off and thankfully Savage has kicked on but the tree hasn’t produced much fruit since Rapana.

[Seiffert82]

Wingers grow on trees.

Matthew Wood?

That's pretty good. I'll pay that.

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[Seiffert82]

And props to the Knights, they would have seen him scoring tries for fun in Cup last year, at centre. Good signing for them

NSW Cup this year CM, he ran about 80 meters and beat 4 Knights players to the goal line. No Knight could catch him. I was at that match and it was a spectacular effort. I reckon he would have been on the Knights wish list from that moment. I wish him well and hope he continues to be picked in Raiders FG. We should always pick our best available 17 each week.

One thing that amazes me though is that the Knights have done all the negotiation and contract signing since we finished our game against the Titans after extra time played on Sunday night. Bull dung they waited until Round 6 was completed before negotiations began.

Red, he was off contract at the end of the year so was open to negotiation from November last year.

I believe the Round 6 thing is just for players who are off contract at the end of the season but have not yet played 5 NSW Cup games or are yet to make their NRL debut. The rule is there to stop clubs from poaching on-contract juniors.

The fishy thing about Fischer-Harris was that he wasn't off contract at the end of 2026, so should not have been negotiating with other clubs. Asking for a release and signing a contract within a couple of days is majorly dodgy, but the NRL will do nothing about it as the Panthers allowed him to walk.

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[reptar]

Wingers grow on trees.

Walking trees?

Yes, but with sodium benzoate to reduce spoilage.

[reptar]

Wingers grow on trees.

Matthew Wood?

Matthew would what?

[Seiffert82]

This revelation puts a new light on the Cotric extension plans. The club would certainly have known Schiller's intentions to find opportunities elsewhere.

If Sanders actually arrives this season he fills the final spot in our top 30 this year.

At the end of the year we have lost Schiller and still have Cotric, Hola, Mooney, Rapana, Whitehead and Woolford off contract (while both Papa and Puru have options to extend).

Asomua's 2025 contract reportedly automatically slots him into the top 30 next year, and basically into Schiller's spot. That's almost certainly why we didn't push hard to retain Schiller.

The club clearly wants to keep Mooney and now Cotric, and there's every chance we keep Rapa.

That leaves Hola, Whitehead and Woolford in question. Whitehead almost certainly goes for the club to bring in a new second rower. The other two spots allow us to recruit or retain a few other juniors.



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[BJ]

Is Schiller Jack Hetherington’s cousin? I presume so. Maybe another Knights reason.

[bonehead]

Is Schiller Jack Hetherington’s cousin? I presume so. Maybe another Knights reason.

yes he is

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[creevy]

I like Schiller for try scoring ability but scores 2 tries let's in 2 tries.
Maybe he will improve that aspect in his game with time but wouldn't be confident in him defensively as a centre

[Neeeegz]

He doesn't trust his inside man, needs to fix that and slide

[Seiffert82]

If that's the case it's somewhat ironic if he wants to play centre. I'd be concerned in defence if I was the winger player outside him.

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[El_Capitano]

Although this hurts…
We don’t spend money on wingers


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[woppadingo]

Rapana, Whitehead and Woolford might be gone by the end of this year.

[Finchy]

Although this hurts…
We don’t spend money on wingers


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Unless you have a salary sombrero like the Roosters, who forked out $500k for Dom Young

[BadnMean]

There was a time we offered Cotric the today equivalent of 500k (a touch more) in the old cap.

And a time we probably had Rapa on close to that during his peak years as arguably the best winger in the game.

But agree, Schiller not the guy to spend big on right now, especially if he’s not happy on the wing.

I’d be monitoring Cotric for signs of improvement but we probably go pick up an outside back end of season just like we got in Schiller and Elijah Anderson- both pretty talented guys. One for injured forever and one looks like he’ll make FG career. But we didn’t spend big to get either, they were floating loose out there.

Asomua May just be Hoppa with a touch more speed, which would be ok with Chevy and Savage also back 3 and our current centres average (timoko) and quick (Kris) pacewise.

[Nations_Capital]

Sad to see him move on. Seems everyone's catching the Lomax flu lately. Maybe we can just rename Winger to 'Flanker' or something to get rid of the stank.

[BadnMean]

Sad to see him move on. Seems everyone's catching the Lomax flu lately. Maybe we can just rename Winger to 'Flanker' or something to get rid of the stank.

Apparently centres are till slightly higher paid than wingers on average. I wouldn't be surprised to see parity or even a reversal over the next 5 years as the wingers role continues to evolve and the game catches up- kick targets more important with short drop outs, yardage work like a forward now + corner finishing skills and speed.

[Finchy]

Gus Gould always says when a player/manager is marketing themselves, it's always as a "centre/fullback" and never as a winger, even if that's where they play. Must be $$$ related.