What's new
By:
Advanced search…
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

The Rumours Thread

G

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
TheRev said:
Edit: Gabriel is the player swap for Tracey.. both good players, thats why we were never in the hunt for an early release.. unless they wanted Max Feagai.

Means the dogs are still stuck with RFM, hes the one Gus will be still looking to move on, he has 2 yrs remaining on huge coin.. they offload him and they have their AFB offer.
Click to expand...

No one will pay full freight for RFM.... as you stated, offered to many clubs including us.
 
P

Parko1310

Juniors
Messages
1,221
We really do not have options at fullback at all. Lomax is a centre plain and simple. Flanagan is quoted saying he wants a fullback, the club missed out on Tracey. They can peddle out the narrative they didn't really want or need him but it's bullshit. Flanno is quoted saying if not Manu, then Tracey is who I want. They accepted long ago they're not getting Manu which means they wanted Tracey.

Flanno originally said he wants 5-6 new signings for 2024 alone. It's now turned into "happy with the squad I've got" and "2-3 signings". Of course he's not happy with the squad, it is by far the worst squad in the competition. There is quite literally zero depth at fullback, five-eighth, halfback and hooker. The depth is very thin in the forward pack too. All over the park really. One injury, and we are pretty well screwed. I get this view of signing players for 2025, but clubs are making moves to fit our targets into their clubs' cap. If we don't get those players, which I have major doubts about, we are in a lot of trouble.
 
G

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
Parko1310 said:
We really do not have options at fullback at all. Lomax is a centre plain and simple. Flanagan is quoted saying he wants a fullback, the club missed out on Tracey. They can peddle out the narrative they didn't really want or need him but it's bullshit. Flanno is quoted saying if not Manu, then Tracey is who I want. They accepted long ago they're not getting Manu which means they wanted Tracey.

Flanno originally said he wants 5-6 new signings for 2024 alone. It's now turned into "happy with the squad I've got" and "2-3 signings". Of course he's not happy with the squad, it is by far the worst squad in the competition. There is quite literally zero depth at fullback, five-eighth, halfback and hooker. The depth is very thin in the forward pack too. All over the park really. One injury, and we are pretty well screwed. I get this view of signing players for 2025, but clubs are making moves to fit our targets into their clubs' cap. If we don't get those players, which I have major doubts about, we are in a lot of trouble.
Click to expand...
They can peddle out the narrative they didn't really want or need him but it's bullshit.

Sorry but this statement is not correct...where has the club ever made this statement ???

1/ We tried to offload a number of players...no takers... ( not much flanno can do about that )

2/ 2025 is the year we are looking at bringing in some marquee signings...

Why sign players on multiple year contracts for the sake of it ????

Better targets available for 25 ...
 
Last edited:
Dragon David

Dragon David

First Grade
Messages
7,853
justadragon said:
I'm surprised he accepted a 1 year deal, must have said a lot about what other clubs were offering or not. Anyway we should be happy I suppose its a signing.
Click to expand...
I wonder what the Panthers offered Tom. He was rumoured to have been linked to Penrith as well as us. It sort of shows that we must have offered a bit more cash than the Panthers because both would have gone for a year's contract if he decided to come to us for such a short time.
 
Old Timer

Old Timer

Coach
Messages
17,045
Now 31 and has had 59 1st grade appearances over 11 seasons which one of the following must be correct.
1. Injury prone and missed a lot of games but is now fully fit and carrying no injuries.
2. Played behind better players his entire career and had to wait for several others to be injured or on SOO / Test duties.
3. Has not realised his full potential and needs Flanno to do what Bellamy couldn't do.
4. He is here merely for his work ethic and strong culture will turn around our fortunes in 1 year aka know as The Jammer Effect.
5. He's Flanno's Moose.
 
P

Parko1310

Juniors
Messages
1,221
getsmarty said:
They can peddle out the narrative they didn't really want or need him but it's bullshit.

Sorry but this statement is not correct...where has the club ever made this statement ???

1/ We tried to offload a number of players...no takers... ( not much flanno can do about that )

2/ 2025 is the year we are looking at bringing in some marquee signings...

Why sign players on multiple year contracts for the sake of it ????

Better targets available for 25 ...
Click to expand...
I agree, my concern is not 2024 but 2025. And that concern is centred around: what if we don't land our targets for 2025? What then? Dearden, AFB, Luki, etc. I fully support bringing all of these players to the club because I think they are the right personnel. But we know Gus and Laundy cheat the cap and are a huge chance of beating us to AFB who should be priority number one. Dearden is pretty likely to stay at the Cowboys, Flanno quoted saying "if he decides he wants to test the market" then we'll want to chat to him.

In regard to Tracey, Flanagan is quoted saying if he can't get Manu, then he's looking at Tracey. I think Tracey would have been a good squad member to have not only for 2024, but 2025 too. Some have been saying they think the club has gone cold on Tracey from comments being made in various media outlets by Flanagan. Of course there won't be an official statement from the club stating they never wanted Tracey or anything like that. But that narrative is being subtly pushed from what I can tell. Anyway, would have been happy to put him on a multi-year deal. He can play everywhere, and he can play it well. He is no more guaranteed a spot at the dogs than he is at the Dragons going forward, so this signing could have been done in my view.

I've been saying it for a while now, my concern is not 2024 at all because I'm in complete agreement that we shouldn't tie up players on multi-year deals for the sake of it. But all of this stuff is being pushed out about who we're after for 2025. A lot of supporters aren't stopping to think what's next if we don't get these guys because there aren't that many players available who fit into what we need as well as say Tom Dearden, AFB and Luki for example. There are certainly better targets, but there's no guarantee those targets will be Dragons come 2025.
 
Slippery Morris

Slippery Morris

First Grade
Messages
7,559
be55 said:
Remember when Gould said, to anybody that would listen that, his main aim was to build the club from within...
Click to expand...
And people honestly believe that Gould was the man that built Penrith...lol. Clearly or should I say Cleary he isn't based on what he has done prior to the Panthers job and now Bulldogs. Ivan Cleary (the tired one) did it all. Gould wanted him gone, brought in Hook, board goes behind Gould's back to bring back Ivan and Gould is turfed. Penrith win 3 comps. Yet Gould is the brains apparently. He is the best salesman is all I can say. He is on big dollars at the Dogs and so far the team has spent a lot of cash and gone backwards. Gould did not even bring in the correct Assistant coach. Webster is clearly far better than Cirraldo. Then again what would Gould know about coaches, sacked a current 3 peat Grand Final coach for Hook.

When the Centre of Excellence is done, is Flanno going to get all the credit because apparently Gould set that up which I am sure the club would have planned for before his time.

Anyway, Saints have a similar set up in terms of juniors to the Panthers and the Dogs clearly don't with all these players coming in like a transit lounge. Gould wants a 5-7 year plan which by then there would have been 100 NRL players come and gone whilst Flanno will hopefully have Saints up to a good standard in 2 years. All he needs to to make better use of the juniors like Cleary has done at Penrith and not worry about looking over the fence and pinching other teams juniors like the Dogs.
 
H

hook hook

Juniors
Messages
96
Old Timer said:
Now 31 and has had 59 1st grade appearances over 11 seasons which one of the following must be correct.
1. Injury prone and missed a lot of games but is now fully fit and carrying no injuries.
2. Played behind better players his entire career and had to wait for several others to be injured or on SOO / Test duties.
3. Has not realised his full potential and needs Flanno to do what Bellamy couldn't do.
4. He is here merely for his work ethic and strong culture will turn around our fortunes in 1 year aka know as The Jammer Effect.
5. He's Flanno's Moose.
Click to expand...
4.
 
G

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
Parko1310 said:
I agree, my concern is not 2024 but 2025. And that concern is centred around: what if we don't land our targets for 2025? What then? Dearden, AFB, Luki, etc. I fully support bringing all of these players to the club because I think they are the right personnel. But we know Gus and Laundy cheat the cap and are a huge chance of beating us to AFB who should be priority number one. Dearden is pretty likely to stay at the Cowboys, Flanno quoted saying "if he decides he wants to test the market" then we'll want to chat to him.

In regard to Tracey, Flanagan is quoted saying if he can't get Manu, then he's looking at Tracey. I think Tracey would have been a good squad member to have not only for 2024, but 2025 too. Some have been saying they think the club has gone cold on Tracey from comments being made in various media outlets by Flanagan. Of course there won't be an official statement from the club stating they never wanted Tracey or anything like that. But that narrative is being subtly pushed from what I can tell. Anyway, would have been happy to put him on a multi-year deal. He can play everywhere, and he can play it well. He is no more guaranteed a spot at the dogs than he is at the Dragons going forward, so this signing could have been done in my view.

I've been saying it for a while now, my concern is not 2024 at all because I'm in complete agreement that we shouldn't tie up players on multi-year deals for the sake of it. But all of this stuff is being pushed out about who we're after for 2025. A lot of supporters aren't stopping to think what's next if we don't get these guys because there aren't that many players available who fit into what we need as well as say Tom Dearden, AFB and Luki for example. There are certainly better targets, but there's no guarantee those targets will be Dragons come 2025.
Click to expand...

Correct... and until then we Wait...
 
TheRev

TheRev

First Grade
Messages
8,689
Tracey was literally the perfect fit for 2024.. capable fullback, covered centre and potentially other positions.. genuine 1st grader looking for a permanent spot.. and he goes to the damn bulldogs where maybe he was promised the 1st shot at fullback over Taafe or Chichton.. and he probably has even worked with flanno at some point.. was too perfect..

And yes agree if we dont nail 1 or 2 of these marquee signings for 2025.. its going to be a long rebuild..

That said it all comes back to how we perform early 2024.. if the NRL community can see that Flanno has turned around Team 16 considerably.. he will have a much easier time recruiting.. and then maybe we get marquees for 2026.. but things might not go to plan.. it might even be 3-4 key injuries and not Flannos fault.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Top