Dragons Re-Sign Dufty

[st.phil]

His height rules him out for the wing...FB or halves, hope to see him get a shot next year.

 

[blacksafake]

My username does say it all... Show some respect to the man in charge who will be here for years to come[/QUOTE]
We're doomed then.

 

[Saint-Fez]

Kurt Mann struggled with week-in-week-out rugby league at Melbourne when he was playing at 83kgs, he had to take weeks off 1st grade. Greg Inglis had to move into the halves because fullback was too physically demanding. Matt Dufty is listed at 80kgs but i don't doubt that he is probably around 78kgs. He needs to get bigger to be effective playing a whole 26 rounds. He could definitely play out the year though.

Examples from 50 (or even 15) years ago don't matter as players have gotten bigger, tougher and the game is more physically grueling.

Dufty has to put on 5kgs before 2017 if he plans on playing the whole season.

SOURCE: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...e/news-story/0308c1d1b17b3cd97160e134c76cba36

GI was moved from fullback cause he was too big, knee's can't handle all that running, kurt mann played up in the line...... both different situations to Dufty. By next season he should be the exact same size as Coote.... is already taller than Barber.

Power = Strength x SPEED.....Dufty has plenty of speed and he couldn't have played much better in Holden cup, you can only play whats in front of you and Dufty has dominated that competition..... obviously there is going to be an adjustment to the physicality of 1st grade, but he has shown more than enough to give him a shot.

Thought of him supporting Mose/Packer/frizz/JDB up the middle is tantalising, as is his ball playing ability out the back. Teddy's speed on the ball is what creates indecision in the defensive line on 2nd man plays, forces them to make an early decision..... with Dufty's speed/ball skills I can see him having a similar influence.

 

[Minh]

I hope he kills it when given an opportunity. FG is an unknown factor for all players including top line lower grades players, you either have it or you dont. Give the kid a shot soon and we may have something special under our nose.

 

[dragonssamy61]

Over rated, will be lucky to play cutters, should have cut him loose

Hey fwit why dont you and the real one f**k off

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

Mary should have some guts and give this kid a shot soon. There is nothing to lose and who knows what might come of it although he is small so was Matt Bowen and to a lesser extent Billy Slater....

Minh one of the best fullbacks to ever grace the game was one Les Johns that played for Canterbury...very small but boy he could play.....just ask any of the old brigade that saw him...

 

[Dragon Revival]

Clive Churchill was not that big nor was Billy
Smith or Steve Morris. I feel that Dufty is a special talent and will show his wares very soon. If he is around 80 kg he should be okay. The other clubs would not have been sniffing around if he was not a player with potential.

 

[j0nesy]

This is the best news we've had in a while. Great signing, now give him a go.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Hi Minh

FB has always been a position that attracted little guys.

Clive Churchill, Bob Batty, Eric Simms, Les Johns, even Golden Boots Barnes and Changa were not very big and many FB's played at between 12 -13 stone (75 - 85 kgs)

A big man back then was still a very big man Provan, Huddart, Ryan, Kearney, Mossop, Day, O'Neil, Beetson, Watson to name just a few.

I met Keith Barnes at Balmain league's in the late 80's. He was quite big then.

 

[BennyV]

Anyone pointing to players from era prior to about 2005 and comparing sizes to Dufty are kidding themselves. All players nowadays are much, much bigger. They are bulking up delux. The top wingers and centres are closer to 100kgs, players have to be durable. The only comparisons I'd make are to Slater, Barba and Coote and they've still got a bit of size on Dufty. He will need to put a couple of kgs on, which shouldn't be difficult; the trick will be making sure him doing that doesn't affect his agility and evasiveness (like it did with Dugan). He seems durable enough, which is good. Technique will be a big thing.

All signs point to making sure we have a decent conditioning coach and skills coaches as he comes through.

 

[Dragsters]

Exactly BV.

I think this balance of adding size while not deminishing agility is one of the great challenges facing players and the clubs conditioning teams in today's game.

The best examples of players that have got this wrong lately include Dugan (as stated) and Inglis.

Take a look at some video of these guys from just a couple of years back and they look like agile and evasive, natural athletes compared to now.

Dugan when he first started with us looks totally different and plays totally different and is far less effective.

Inglis with Melbourne vs rabbits the same.

Both clubs are getting far less value for money as a result.

 

[emu62]

Exactly BV.

I think this balance of adding size while not deminishing agility is one of the great challenges facing players and the clubs conditioning teams in today's game.

The best examples of players that have got this wrong lately include Dugan (as stated) and Inglis.

Take a look at some video of these guys from just a couple of years back and they look like agile and evasive, natural athletes compared to now.

Dugan when he first started with us looks totally different and plays totally different and is far less effective.

Inglis with Melbourne vs rabbits the same.

Both clubs are getting far less value for money as a result.

Totally agree.Ben Barba is another example. Brisbane got him stuck into the weights
didn't seem to do him much good.Also seem to think in the old days when players didnt all look like Schwarzeneger that there was far less injuries than today

 

[Old Timer]

Anyone pointing to players from era prior to about 2005 and comparing sizes to Dufty are kidding themselves. All players nowadays are much, much bigger. They are bulking up delux. The top wingers and centres are closer to 100kgs, players have to be durable. The only comparisons I'd make are to Slater, Barba and Coote and they've still got a bit of size on Dufty. He will need to put a couple of kgs on, which shouldn't be difficult; the trick will be making sure him doing that doesn't affect his agility and evasiveness (like it did with Dugan). He seems durable enough, which is good. Technique will be a big thing.

All signs point to making sure we have a decent conditioning coach and skills coaches as he comes through.

Benny V
The post was purely pointing out there have always been small full backs and for that matter wingers and there is a place for them in the game and people should stop making the excuse "he's too small".

It is true that players toady are a different shape, bulked up etc but there were also plenty of very big backs back then too.

Johhny Graves, John Greaves, Brian Graham, Brian James, Michael Cleary, Eddie Lumsden, Bruce Pollard, Chicka Moore, Terry Fahey, Eric Grothe, John Ribot, Olsen Filipaina to name but a few let alone some of the big Pommy backs and forwards.

People like Bousted, Docking, Taylor, Peachey competed at the very highest of levels and were only tiny and to top off the discussion nobody has beaten the late great Ken Irvine's try scoring record and he was very small indeed playing against giants.

 

[TheRev]

Saints have a rly bad track record lately of turning players into human beefcakes, Aitken, Dugan & Mata'utai are standouts to me, they all lost agility, to the point where Matautai & Dugan were no longer breaking tackles like they used too.. Matautai used to have a lovely light step, and it just dissapeared as he got bigger.

I dunno what they will do with Dufty, obviously not every player will balloon up, but they have to take it easy on players that do, im sure it prevents injury but it also neutralises their talent.

 

[Smurf]

He is our future !
Dufty
Milne
Mann
Atkins
Fritz
Etc

Oh and a coach !