Let's not get too ahead of ourselves.

[Red V for life]

One game does not a season make, but it does make for a pretty good bl00dy week ahead and I'm looking forward to our next game...and not just because the footy is back on, but the Dragons are playing footy.

Never like losing, but if they rock up week in week out with the attitude and intent like yesterday, I'll be pretty darn content.

 

[ALSGI]

Woke up this morning and checked the results. It wasn't a dream at all, it really hapened. f**k me.
Double checked and watched the game again.
It's really true.
All posts so far are spot on, praise where it's due, and a lot of praise is due. Congrats to the Mighty Dragons.
Makes me even more nervous to see what team turns up next week.
Not getting ahead of my self but the $100 I put on them @ $81 is looking a tad better, just 30 odd games to go.

 

[TheOnlyTeam]

Want to see them play like that away from Kogarah.

 

[OzDragon]

Before people get on my back about being cynical hear me out. Today was a phenomenal win, there is absolutely no doubt about that. The boys showed a desire than I haven't seen since 2010, we played an attractive style of football and there were too many standouts to even name. You can tell a lot of work has gone into this new style of play and that's really f**king exciting.

We all have every right to be pumped about this victory. I'm pumped, everyone is pumped. But I think there will come a time very soon where we'll need to ease up and come back down to Earth. It will be fantastic to see the boys play like this every week, but i'm already seeing people saying we should re-sign McGregor, that Lafai is already back to his best and deserved his selection, that McCrone is a quality halfback, basically that anyone who has ever said anything negative about the club should apologise and that the egg is on their face... because of one big win. We were great today but Penrith were absolutely terrible as well. They handed us that victory and we took it with both hands and then some. The real test will come against more disciplined teams who will start to clue onto our new style. Consistency is key, backing up with performances like this week in week out.
I just don't want to see our fans do what they are so good at doing, and that is completely changing their tone about something after one game, whether good or bad. Because god forbid, if we have a really bad loss next week (which I sincerely hope we don't) there will be a massive crash and all the optimism we gained from this game will be shut down. All of a sudden Widdop will be shit again, McGregor will be a shocking coach, Vaughan will be a reserve grader and Lafai will still be shit.

The optimism is awesome, I genuinely am excited for this season now, but let's remember a few harsh realities as well. It's going to take a lot more than one win for certain members of this club to redeem themselves.

Screw that.

2017 PREMIERS BABY!! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

[Dragon Revival]

I would go as far to say that this pack has the potential to be better than 2010 however the backline falls far short but may improve. Finally we have a pack that will hold its own. The backs are work in progress. I saw little to gloat about in the backs in the Cutters but Johns, Masters, and Willis in the under 20's looked very promising. Parramatta are good in the halves and that is where we must hold them which should be possible.

 

[BennyV]

Has anyone actually suggested that we extend, re-sign or even consider McGregor for another year?

 

[FlameThrower]

Great result for the team. Agreed we should not get ahead of ourselves, and for the team to do this week in week out, will be a tough ask. We have a shocking away record in last few years, so we need to get that sorted. We also had of late been very poor at Kogarah against the Panthers including being held to Zero ...so this is great result. We used to own the Warriors as well, but threw away that winning streak last year as well....
Anyway, unless someone can win 40 nil in the remaining games this weekend, we will be on top of the ladder!!!

 

[FlameThrower]

Has anyone actually suggested that we extend, re-sign or even consider McGregor for another year?

No way....what has been going on for last 2 years, and this is 1 game with a win. Let's see where we are not only in 6 rounds, but midsession. You do recall in 2015 he started with 6 wins in a row......all built on 'D'....the attack would come and it never did....

 

[Coffs dragon]

Has anyone actually suggested that we extend, re-sign or even consider McGregor for another year?

No fun going off early when you need the job done. Premature contract extension is not the way to go, I.e Steve Price

 

[hazzbeen]

When your 1 , 7, and 9 all play well you are a chance of winning . Great all round and finally we have MONGREL .......

 

[SBD82]

Has anyone actually suggested that we extend, re-sign or even consider McGregor for another year?

I did. But I didn't think anyone could have possibly missed my sarcasm.

 

[thebigredv]

Dragons did everything to convert the situation into points and a solid victory but Panthers were very awful.

Last year we would have found a way to bring the Panthers back into it.

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

Well, l'm not getting ahead of myself with this win but l am enjoying our time in the sun ............. honey, pass the tanning butter will you and when you finish cutting the grass, can you get me another beer please?
I said, please!

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Has anyone actually suggested that we extend, re-sign or even consider McGregor for another year?

Believe it or not they have. I've seen it quite a bit on facebook. People are actually completely prepared to let go of the last 18 months because of this win haha.

 

[possm]

After giving this some thought overnight, I can see the possibility of the player leadership group meeting with Mary and strongly suggesting that:

Contracts are on the line.
What we have done in the past has not worked.
Here is what we believe will work.
How about giving it a go this week.

Bingo, we have a big win and are on our way to being competitive in 2017.

 

[getsmarty]

After giving this some thought overnight, I can see the possibility of the player leadership group meeting with Mary and strongly suggesting that:

Contracts are on the line.
What we have done in the past has not worked.
Here is what we believe will work.
How about giving it a go this week.

Bingo, we have a big win and are on our way to being competitive in 2017.

Yep..I have a sneaking suspicion that what we saw yesterday was not Mary's handiwork based on what we have seen in the past 2 years. Other coaches must be having input or maybe Mary lost his tactic sheet on the way to the game and just told the boys to have a dig. Either way, Fantastic result and well done.

 

[TheFrog]

McGregor has always been able to motivate the Dragons on certain occasions, but not week in week out. I notice Sportsbet has not moved on the Dragons (it has moved slightly on the Panthers). This is because the Dragons have done this before only to then fall in a heap.

The Dragons flogged the eventual premiers last year at the same ground but the following week were thrashed by the 15th team. They went with the Storm all the way before getting smashed the next game. They had consecutive wins over decent sides in rounds 3 and 4 before losing 36-0 in Townsville.

The Dragons play the Eels next weekend. If the forwards are as motivated and energetic as yesterday they'll go very close to winning it. We will see if the corner has been turned in conditions possibly less to their liking. The Dragons love a heavy track which they certainly had yesterday. It nullifies faster opponents. Maybe the coach has convinced the team that he is the man they want moving forward. He does seem to have motivational skills, its just that they don't always work, only on special occasions.

 

[possm]

I don't know about that. I remember in 2015 when the Dragons lost their first two games and were down by a lot in their 3rd round against the Raiders. With a compressed defensive pattern and a big emphasis on defence, we went on to win a large number of games in a row, including the game against the Raiders.

Success was measured in the wins each week however, injuries took there toll and the lack of quality player depth saw the Dragons loose a large number of games in a row. We were knocked out in the first week of the finals.

So my point is that yes. our forwards should lay a good platform for our backs to do their work however, the responsibility for obtaining a win should be shared equally. A forwards power game week in week out will eventually burn out our forwards resulting in some heavy losses later in the season.

Our game plan should not be a one trick pony.

 

[Old Timer]

Possm
If our halves and hooker control the game properly you should be able to avoid this scenario of killing your forwards with too big a workload.
Melbourne predicate their entire season on a forward power game combined with judicious use of the backs and a strong kicking game.
My greatest concern would be that on yesterdays form 3 of our forwards could potentially play their way into SOO contention and that would hurt us for sure.

 

[BennyV]

Believe it or not they have. I've seen it quite a bit on facebook. People are actually completely prepared to let go of the last 18 months because of this win haha.

People are idiots!

Mary found a game plan that worked yesterday- at Kogarah, in the rain, against that team. His issue will be adapting that game plan when smarter opposition begin to combat it. And consistency.

And most of all, his low bar for success the culture it brings. Despite the good win, his bat is winning 50% and it's not good enough.