Yep, good post mate and I agree with you.
Dugan is a very good player, but certainly not the elite player some on this forum make out. I'd love to have him in the team at the right price, but not at the expense of losing others. For instance if we kept Duges and lost Lafai and Packer, would we be a better team? Or could we cover Duges with Nighty, Field or Mann at FB, keep Lafai and Packer and still be very good? I vote the latter.
I have mentioned previously, the 2 weeks he was out our attack looked much more potent, 35 points against Manly, 28 in 1 half against the Cows. he comes back against the Chooks, and we're back to being clunky. No coincidence there. He just stifles the attack from FB. Great individual player, but he can't ignite an attack.
And to be brutally honest, paying close to $1m for a non creative spine player is madness.