After another bumper off-season of player movement, take a look below at who we think will have the biggest impact at their new club in 2019.
2. Angus Crichton
Angus Crichton has returned to his junior club in 2019, following a controversial switch from arch-rivals the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
A self-professed Roosters fan, Crichton has returned to the Eastern Suburbs following a successful four-season stint with the Rabbitohs since leaving school. In this time at Redfern Crichton cemented himself as one of the premier up and coming back-rowers in the game, culminating in three caps for NSW in 2018.
Still, only a young player having only recently celebrated his 23rd birthday, Crichton had a stellar 2018. Averaging an impressive 124.4 metres per game, 34 tackles per game, and also registering 39 offloads (7th in the NRL).
Having only made the switch from rugby union to rugby league after he graduated school, Crichton is still learning about his game and the game of rugby league each season. And if you want to learn about the game of rugby league, you'd be hard pressed to find two more astute minds to do so from than Trent Robinson and Cooper Cronk, the later of which Crichton will be outside of on the Roosters right edge in 2019.
Although it won't faze the classy and well-spoken Young Cherrypickers junior, look for another chapter to be added to the book of feuds come round 1 when the Crichton faces off against his former Rabbitohs teammates on the SCG.
Klemmer is a cat… he will make meters I give him that, but rarely wins a battle when it is taken to him
Fergo will smash up kick returns, quick ball plays to start sets in the best possible ways.
The rest of the team decides if he can finish sets with tries in the corner.
All five are great players. Good pickups.
I dont agree these are the 5 best recruits. These are the 5 best players changing clubs but outside of Ferguson i dont think these players are what their club needed.
E.g. cowboys already had a strong forward pack, did they really need McGuire??.
I think the top 5 recruits are Ferguson for reasons already mentioned.
Matterson, tigers havent had a quality 2nd rower since for years. He can really transforn that right edge, not only does he run great lines but also can create for the players around him.
Boyd, Gold Coast have been crying out for a quality big man. Hes early hit ups will take pressure of the likes of Wallace, James and Arrow by attracting more defenders so the others will be facing one and two man tackles rather than 3 and 4 man tackles the following play. This should lead to quicker play the balls which may well be the key to unlocking Ash Taylors talent.
Paulo, similar story to Boyd above. Whilst the likes of Alvaro, Mau and Brown arent big and strong enough to impact a defensive line themself, they could really benefit from following a player who can.
Norman, (possibly) hasnt had a decent pack to play behind before but will now that he is at St George. Gives St George the ball playing fullback (Widdop) theyve been wanting for sometime. But, questions about disrupting the team and keeping his ego in check (not being the dominant half he wants to be) need to be answered yet.
Now i dont expect these 5 to suddenly outperform the 5 in the article. For example Chrighton is in for a bigger year than Matterson, not only is he a better player but also in a stronger team but as i said these are not the best 5 players but the 5 who could be the most impactful at their new club.