Josh Dugan Told To Shop Himself Around - Not happy with the Dragons.

[Crush]

At the moment the problem is not with Dugan and Widdop. The problem is at 7 with McCrone, in the centres with Aitken and Lafai and on the right wing where Nightingale should be playing. Make improvements incrementally to those positions and the forwards workload would be reduced.

Forwards could follow their 'power game' with a lesser chance of being busted or burnt out. Our backs - exempt Dugan and Widdop - are playing below standard in both attack and defence.

Possm, just because we fell away in 2015 doesn't mean that it must happen in 2017. I think that we have great depth in our forwards and the power game can work all year if the defense stays strong. We just need 6,7 to be more consistent.

 

[MilanDragon]

All I can say is that we can't keep playing this way. We saw it in 2015 and so why repeat the mistake. Re-shuffle our backline to make it more effective and test candidates for 2018.

If we know that Widdop won't be here next year, play him at 7 because we have Hunt as 7 next year. Then give Mann and Field a go at 6 maybe 3 straight full games in a row with McCrone on the bench to cover.

If Dugan is staying as right centre, we need to identify a suitable fullback and a centre partner. So move Dugan to right centre and test Dufty and Field at fullback. Trial Milne, Aitken and Lafai at left centre.

If Nightingale is to retire, then we need to test right wingers from within. So give Dufty, Garrick and even Field on the right wing.

I'm pretty sure the above changes would mostly result in a positive effect on our back line. Having Dugan, Macdonald and Widdop in the backline with McCrone on the bench, I'm pretty sure things would only go better and we would be further down the track with the selection of our 2018 squad.

Your line of thinking is correct in many ways on this post.

However, Mcgregor has no incentive to think for 2018 which is fair enough, so why move Widdop to 7 and play the young guys at all?

At the moment I don't think Dufty or Field would be better than Dugan at FB, not to say they can't be in the future..but for McGregor (rightfully so) his focus should be purely on the results for 2017.

Also until our forwards and form start to die off then we can't assume it's a given we can't maintain this structure.

 

[possm]

You make a good case Milan Dragon however I've been around too long to take the view 'leave things alone, we are winning, wait till things go wrong'.

If the forwards are busted and burnt out we will lose and the likes of Mosoe, Leilua, McCarthy and others in reserve grade could not and would not substitute for De Belin, Vaughan, Thompson or Frizell. it would be game over.

Mary would have no hope of an extension and we would have little hope of making the finals or testing our players for 2018.

I'd say who ever is in charge of Mary, have a quiet word to make it happen.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

Gents , I was merely adding a bit of information to a previous question , so please , let's not get carried away here . There has been NOTHING mentioned in the media in regards to Mr. Lolohea coming our way . Other than the NRL's Lurker ( " keep this one under your hat " ) comment on Saturday .

Awesome news that we are getting Lolohea, cant wait, guy is a freak, thanks for the great news...

 

[Gareth67]

Awesome news that we are getting Lolohea, cant wait, guy is a freak, thanks for the great news...

And to think that I use to wonder , just how some of these rumours got started !

 

[Crush]

Awesome news that we are getting Lolohea, cant wait, guy is a freak, thanks for the great news...

Hang on, where is Jack Bird going to play if Lolohea is our new 5/8???

 

[Gareth67]

Hang on, where is Jack Bird going to play if Lolohea is our new 5/8???

More than likely next to Jarryd Hayne , but inside Kieran Foran .

 

[Crush]

More than likely next to Jared Hayne , but inside Kerrin Forrin .

I forgot about Hayne, so will Tedesco move to the wing or take Mann's 17 spot as the utility?

 

[SBD82]

2018 backline according to this thread;

1. Tedesco
2. Lolohea
3. Hayne
4. Dugan
5. McDonald
6. Foran
7. Hunt.

Not a bad backline.

 

[Gareth67]

I forgot about Hayne, so will Tedesco move to the wing or take Mann's 17 spot as the utility?

Who in the name of f@@k is this Tedesco character , I keep hearing about ? ?


SBD 82 , mate , you did forget about Jack ( the ) Bird . Otherwise as you say , it will a great 2018 backline .
I seriously starting to think that the time has come for a few of us , to throw away our Valium prescriptions . There are just too many side-effects associated with them .

 

[Crush]

2018 backline according to this thread;

1. Tedesco
2. Lolohea
3. Hayne
4. Dugan
5. McDonald
6. Foran
7. Hunt.

Not a bad backline.

Can you imagine?
Only problem would be too many strong headed leaders in that group, they would all be fighting.
Hayne "Im the man!"
Dugan "No Im the man!"
Hunt "Im the 6 million dollar man!!"

 

[Miller was a legend]

Can you imagine?
Only problem would be too many strong headed leaders in that group, they would all be fighting.
Hayne "Im the man!"
Dugan "No Im the man!"
Hunt "Im the 6 million dollar man!!"

McGregor "I like men"
Capital "Man I hate Widdop"

 

[SBD82]

Who in the name of f@@k is this Tedesco character , I keep hearing about ? ?


SBD 82 , mate , you did forget about Jack ( the ) Bird . Otherwise as you say , it will a great 2018 backline .
I seriously starting to think that the time has come for a few of us , to throw away our Valium prescriptions . There are just too many side-effects associated with them .

Shit. You're right.

I guess tedesco will be our first million dollar winger. No way bird is coming to play anything but fullback.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Widdop is a lemon and is gone! No offer from us or any other club.

Can I hold you to that?

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

With Dugan and Widdop performing as well as they are this year, imagine how good they would go next year with a genuine half in Ben Hunt steering the ship and taking a lot of pressure off them!

Exactly!

What 'Unpublished Critics' such as Capitol won't acknowledge is that other than inept coaching, Widdop has had to endure at least 10 (mainly makeshift) halfbacks while being at the club,

These factors alone will reek havoc on anyone's self confidence, and dare I say it, playing ability.

Next year represents the first time in over a decade that SGI will have an established, quality no. 7 in its lineup. Personally, I can't wait to see how Widdop partners up with Hunt, but I think , sadly, he will depart at season's end.