Nightingale its time.

[RufusRex]

Also it shows widdop is the most error prone five eight.

Should be a good ISP team with Widdop and Nighty lol

Well .. if nighty was leading the comp in terms of points scored and tries created his position may be a little safer. For widdop the positives column definitely overcomes the negatives .. Nightingale doesn't even have a positives column anymore.

 

[ouryears]

Dragons player Zac Lomax highlights on U tube below

 

[RufusRex]

the kid can play ..

He is bigger, stronger faster than nighty .. obviously doesn't have the experience but that is something he is not going to debut with at any time.

one thing out of his last game in the reggies that was good was he made 150 metres, 60 of those post contact.


Taking a step back from the vitriol and sarcasm, he is a bloke that is ready for a debut ... at 8-1 up we are not going to have a safer time to do it either. The bunnies are down to 4th string wingers given their injuries .. it is as good a time as any even to allow Nighty to have a rest weekend.

he may fail and then we have nightingale who can come back in the following week .. but the risk to reward equation is massive in the positive direction.

 

[ALSGI]

To be on a par with us (number of tries) they in fact needed to score 1 more try not 33.33333333% more tries.
No matter how many times you apply 33.3% repeeta to 3 you will never get 4.
You are asking the ref to award you a try when you come up short you must subscribe to "you know who's" theory that if the field was shorter we would have scored more tries.
You are applying a % mark up to a number without making the allowance that you come up short of the whole number you need to achieve.

We won, we got 100% of the two points.

 

[Frank Facer]

Well yes it's true, our right side STILL needs a lot of work; it has for a few years now. Probably under coach staff orders, it adopts a compressed defensive structure most of the time. Frizell, Aitken and Nightingale seem to not be able to shut down a raid and once a fast winger has the ball in his hands, there is no way any of those 3 players are going to catch him.

To me Aitken has fastly improved this season however, when trying to sut down a raid, he still comes up with air rather than a tackle. He has been doing this for quite a while and for this reason alone, I doubt he will be picked for SOO. I think he would be most suitable playing Mann's current role off the bench. He is strong, has a good step and can bust through tackles. He would cause havoc running at opposition forwards when coming on for De Belin.

Given that Aitken does not often pass the ball, has speed and is strong in attack he may prove to be a better winger than centre.

Nightingale is past his time. Anything he is doing on the field could be done better by Aitken, or Lomax. It's time to blood Lomax and time to let Nightingale go back the ISP to assist in the development of our young backs.

I agree with your post Possum. I also think Aitken would be better than Mann on the bench. He is a powerful runner, who is better suited to the forwards than Mann. Aitken played most of his juniors in the forwards, while I see Mann as a back. Aitken could be dangerous coming off the bench running at tired forwards or coming on playing centre if there was an injury to a back (moving Mann from centre to cover the injured back). I think Aitken could be a powerful winger, but he may be suspect under the high ball.

 

[Frank Facer]

It is time to say Nighty Night to Nightingale.

 

[gitano]

Lol Franky with the dead horse routine again.

Meanwhile, no chance of any of that happening. At all.

 

[gitano]

It is time to say Nighty Night to Nightingale.

Probably not far wrong with this. He was excellent against the roosters and does a lot that doesn't get noticed.
I believe a lack of understanding from fans comes from overly dumbed down commentary on the game. Most fans truly don't watch the same game those in key positions do.

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Can't believe the calls for Flo to go this week, yet he was one of our best players in the mighty Anzac Day match against the Chooks.
Every Champion has an off week....even the great JT, but never right them off!

I get the sentiment about Nightingale after Sunday but the reality is that Bellamy was always going to target our right side defence.
Ado Carr is a freak and that was his 4th double in a row so whatever he did to Nightingale, he's been doing to his opposite number consistently.
I also think that even though we knew they were coming, we had not answers tactically.
Without making excuses for Nightingale, Aitkin and even Frizell were also shown up big time.
Nightingale was phenomenal on Anzac Day and you can be sure he will always give 100%.
If he is really such a weak link then why doesn't the coach drop him?
I am not sure that a "faster" younger wing option would have fared much better on Sunday.
It is also obvious that his try scoring opportunities have dried up with Aitkin on his inside.
On the other hand McDonald is benefitting from Lafai's improved form.
I will always support Nightingale but when he gets tapped on the shoulder, it will be a decision that I can accept.
I still hope he has the last say and has a fairytale finish to the season.

 

[Crush]

I get the sentiment about Nightingale after Sunday but the reality is that Bellamy was always going to target our right side defence.
Ado Carr is a freak and that was his 4th double in a row so whatever he did to Nightingale, he's been doing to his opposite number consistently.
I also think that even though we knew they were coming, we had not answers tactically.
Without making excuses for Nightingale, Aitkin and even Frizell were also shown up big time.
Nightingale was phenomenal on Anzac Day and you can be sure he will always give 100%.
If he is really such a weak link then why doesn't the coach drop him?
I am not sure that a "faster" younger wing option would have fared much better on Sunday.
It is also obvious that his try scoring opportunities have dried up with Aitkin on his inside.
On the other hand McDonald is benefitting from Lafai's improved form.
I will always support Nightingale but when he gets tapped on the shoulder, it will be a decision that I can accept.
I still hope he has the last say and has a fairytale finish to the season.

"If he is really such a weak link then why doesn't the coach drop him?"
Huh? Its McGregor mate! He doesn't drop anyone let alone a club legend. He picked Lafai for 16 weeks in a row in 2016 when he was a slow piece of shit. He picked McCrone week in week out. Picked Benji week in week out. These guys were in horrible form.
I love nighty and don't necessarily think he should be dropped but using Mary not dropping him as a defense for his form isn't going to strengthen your argument.

 

[Frank Facer]

"If he is really such a weak link then why doesn't the coach drop him?"
Huh? Its McGregor mate! He doesn't drop anyone let alone a club legend. He picked Lafai for 16 weeks in a row in 2016 when he was a slow piece of shit. He picked McCrone week in week out. Picked Benji week in week out. These guys were in horrible form.
I love nighty and don't necessarily think he should be dropped but using Mary not dropping him as a defense for his form isn't going to strengthen your argument.

Well said. lol

 

[Old Timer]

"If he is really such a weak link then why doesn't the coach drop him?"
Huh? Its McGregor mate! He doesn't drop anyone let alone a club legend. He picked Lafai for 16 weeks in a row in 2016 when he was a slow piece of shit. He picked McCrone week in week out. Picked Benji week in week out. These guys were in horrible form.
I love nighty and don't necessarily think he should be dropped but using Mary not dropping him as a defense for his form isn't going to strengthen your argument.

100% correct and when he finally did drop Benji he brought him back into 1st grade for a farewell appearance so he doesn't have any credentials for making hard decisions and then makes what I consider bizarre decisions re the younger players i.e. on the bench not playing, on the bench and barely playing, on the bench and make no mistakes then dropped.

 

[KiamaSaint]

Flo to bench, Mann to wing.

 

[Gareth67]

During the Origin series the Dragons WILL be needing his experience as Mary has already stated that the Red V blue's players shall be replaced with our young blood . Lomax , Sele , Host and Reece among others will be put into the top grade and will naturally require a calming influence at times .

 

[KiamaSaint]

In fairness to Flo, one of the tries was Frizzel fault.

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

"If he is really such a weak link then why doesn't the coach drop him?"
Huh? Its McGregor mate! He doesn't drop anyone let alone a club legend. He picked Lafai for 16 weeks in a row in 2016 when he was a slow piece of shit. He picked McCrone week in week out. Picked Benji week in week out. These guys were in horrible form.
I love nighty and don't necessarily think he should be dropped but using Mary not dropping him as a defense for his form isn't going to strengthen your argument.

It's not a form issue if you acknowledge his Anzac Day performance.
He either belongs in the team or he doesn't.
Who makes that decision?
If we had lost on Sunday would McGregor drop him because Ado Carr ran in 3 (arguably 4) tries down his side?
You are right about previous selection traits so this year we have a different halfback, different FB
and a new forward leader.
So if Dugan had stayed - Dufty would not have got a look in even though the has already scored 8 tries and has proven to be a natural and talented attacking player.
If Packer had stayed - we would not have signed a subsidized Graham.
The half back situation was an obvious and necessary swap over.
I think Hunt has provided a lot more composure when we have the ball.
The back five with the exception of Nightingale, have improved from last year.
And players like Sims, McInnes and JDB have taken their game to another level.
Put all that together and it explains the position on the ladder.
I believe that Mann will no longer be considered a wing option and whoever is in reserve grade (Lomax, Herbert?) are still not demanding selection.
So Nighty stays where he is until there is a better option.
If McGregor is true to form, there is not chance of him getting dropped anyway.
But I have a feeling that Nightingale is not finished yet and still has something to offer in 2018.

 

[2010]

Nighty deserves to go out with another premiership.

 

[RedVDragon]

Stop blaming Mary. Inside of Gypsy is Aiken and Tyson. Agree Carr has cut many defense. We out scored the storm and we won. The net result we are now the benchmark of the comp.

 

[SBD82]

I am going to have to put you on ignore soon, just like SBD already is.

Ha.

Last time I called someone vasilevsky and they said they'd put me on ignore it was Sigurd.

What an interesting coincidence.

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Stop blaming Mary. Inside of Gypsy is Aiken and Tyson. Agree Carr has cut many defense. We out scored the storm and we won. The net result we are now the benchmark of the comp.

I am assuming you aimed that comment at me.
I am not "blaming" McGregor.
Just pointing out that seeing as there is a groundswell of sentiment wanting to drop Nightingale, McGregor is the only one that has the power to do it.
I am happy to persevere with Nightingale.
Totally agree that Aitkin in particular, is a liability in defence.
Yet he is being talked up as a SOO prospect.
so no ones to blame but we agree that our right side defence is shaky. Right?