obst was always a player i rated,i couldnt understand the indifference to his signing.a lot of so called top class aussies have come over here and been half as impressive.

and he's been a good signing/improved us as a team straight from the off. Always been the type of player that doesn't have many(if any) bad games and looks to put a lot of effort into his game.

Does he still count as non fed even though he was here before 2008?

Why?

We have Lauaki, Fitz, and Phelps all likely to leave which will free 3 spots, Obst could play as back up hooker to Houghton.

I think he must not count on any quota / non fed due to the 2008 reason.
We have Moa, lauaki, o meley, fitz and phelps which fills it.

I did think though that once a player moves clubs, it no longer counted?

Obst is Quota but not Non-Fed as he was here before 2008. Sheldon posted the two lists earlier in the thread.

The exemption stays with a player for the rest of his career, regardless of how many times he changes club.

Lauaki is the opposite to Obst, he's non fed and non-quota. The Obst signing simply means we might not be able to replace both Lauaki and Fitzgibbon with quota players, ergo, has limited our options. Robbo's right on this.

I think we might lose Moa.

Obst only prevents us signing someone who is quota but not non-fed. So basically, Lovegrove.
He hardly limits our options, any Aussie signed now counts on both lists so even if we didn't have Obst we would still only be able to sign 3 due to O'Meley and (hopefully) Moa counting on our non fed list.
Robbo's not right on this.

(Hopefully) to O'meley aswell

He'll be here mate, don't worry.

Hope so

Surely if obst is a quota player then that is one of only 5 spaces we have so he stops us signing another quota player?

But he doesn't count on the non-fed list, which is where people always get confused as its quite rare. If we re-sign Moa he takes the other half of his space.
If we don't sign Moa or any other Non-fed player then technically Obst would stop us signing 4 Aussies or NZ. Don't see that as a bad thing though, tbh.

to be honest,if it comes a choice of having obst next year or someone like tim smith,id sooner have obst.

If I may reply to my learned friend.

Lovegrove isn't quota - he has a UK passport. Jake Webster would be a better example.

I count yours as...

Quota: O'Meley, Fitzgibbon, Phelps, Obst.

Non-fed: O'Meley, Fitzgibbon, Phelps, Lauaki, Moa.

You are short of non-fed spots, rather than quota spots, as things stand. Only if Lauaki and Moa both leave does Obst's presence limit your options in any significant way.

It's still true
Although the wins he's led you too over Crusaders, Quins and Bradford have no doubt turned you into champions elect

Why?..Obst has already justified a second year stint with us.A brilliant little player who is very quick and elusive and playing really well for us.Imo i would say he is already one of the better players at the club.

Obst is a grafter mate,with skill to match.Maybe you should watch him a little more often.

obst isn't brilliant

Maybe not to you but its a matter of opinion.Since he signed for us he has proved all the doubters wrong and is getting better week by week.We have not had a player like him for sometime, who can cover important roles in the team.At this moment in time Obst is worth is weight in gold for us.

Given the amount of times even MR admits he's led them a merry dance, i think he's probably sick of seeing him.

But he gives us exactly what we've needed for years now - genuine halfback cover. Imagine if he'd of been here last year. We could have finished 4th comfortably.

Robbo is right that it could potentially restrict us, i.e. if both Moa and Lauaki go and we don't recruit a non-quota non-fed. I said in my post that I think that's a possibility, as I think we might let Lauaki go and lose Moa. Your argument hinges on retaining at least one of those, we may not.

Obst may affect our recruitment options, he may not, I just happen to think that he's not even worth the risk.

I'm quite happy that we'll be using a quota spot on Obst. I'm also quite confident Moa will be staying.
So the only real difference it makes is whether we can sign 3 or 4 Aussies for next year? Even then if we sign anyone non-fed it becomes irrelevant. Hardly grounds to rubbish the signing is it? Considering the impact he has had in his start here.