Widdop at fullback

[Old Timer]

Yeah it would be nice. I think there was a thread this time last year about sacking Mary even if we won the comp and a few said they'd get rid of him even with the premiership win.
It's all silly talk anyway. Everyone in here just wants the team to do well. If they start winning the sack mary noise will go away.

Can't quite agree with your synopsis and not sure "everyone in here" will either.
Firstly it all depends on what your definition of "well" is?
Some aren't interested in "just wants the team to do well" and actually want a premiership.
The sack Mary noise will only go away if a premiership is realised as ultimately that is the job that he is charged with doing.
If he can't do it then best we get someone who can.
Winning a few games or hovering around 8th might sustain some people but it certainly won't sustain "everyone".
As my dear old dad used to say
"Cream rises to the top but unfortunately so do turds so make sure you can pick the difference".
Will we be flushed with success or will we just need to flush the coach come on season 2018 lets see what we've got?

 

[Saints Forever]

Can't quite agree with your synopsis and not sure "everyone in here" will either.
Firstly it all depends on what your definition of "well" is?
Some aren't interested in "just wants the team to do well" and actually want a premiership.
The sack Mary noise will only go away if a premiership is realised as ultimately that is the job that he is charged with doing.
If he can't do it then best we get someone who can.
Winning a few games or hovering around 8th might sustain some people but it certainly won't sustain "everyone".
As my dear old dad used to say
"Cream rises to the top but unfortunately so do turds so make sure you can pick the difference".
Will we be flushed with success or will we just need to flush the coach come on season 2018 lets see what we've got?

I was an advocate some time ago of the Widdop to Full back scenario.

No longer believe this is the best option for the team.

Team needs a Hunt/Widdop halves combination.

Dufty deserves a start at Full back with Mann next cab off the rank.

Mann is presently a better defender than Dufty, and is a more mature footballer.

Dufty however has the capacity to be mercurial. Simply put I think Dufty has a higher ceiling than Mann.

 

[Crush]

Can't quite agree with your synopsis and not sure "everyone in here" will either.
Firstly it all depends on what your definition of "well" is?
Some aren't interested in "just wants the team to do well" and actually want a premiership.
The sack Mary noise will only go away if a premiership is realised as ultimately that is the job that he is charged with doing.
If he can't do it then best we get someone who can.
Winning a few games or hovering around 8th might sustain some people but it certainly won't sustain "everyone".
As my dear old dad used to say
"Cream rises to the top but unfortunately so do turds so make sure you can pick the difference".
Will we be flushed with success or will we just need to flush the coach come on season 2018 lets see what we've got?

Well if there are people in here that don't want the team to do well then I'm not sure why they are here. My comment that everyone in here just wants the team to do well must be true surely? And by well I mean challenging for the premiership most years. Like say the storm, roosters, cowboys, broncos. Its NRL so winning comps won't happen every year but I think if we are in the top 4 most years then the noise will go away regarding the coach.
All the noise about sacking the coach is understandable given we have made the 8 once in 6 years although I am not one to dwell on the negatives personally.
I think this year we will have a good year and then we can discuss football on the forum not just derail every thread ranting about sacking the coach.
I hope so anyway, it gets kinda boring and repetitive.

 

[Saints Forever]

Can't quite agree with your synopsis and not sure "everyone in here" will either.
Firstly it all depends on what your definition of "well" is?
Some aren't interested in "just wants the team to do well" and actually want a premiership.
The sack Mary noise will only go away if a premiership is realised as ultimately that is the job that he is charged with doing.
If he can't do it then best we get someone who can.
Winning a few games or hovering around 8th might sustain some people but it certainly won't sustain "everyone".
As my dear old dad used to say
"Cream rises to the top but unfortunately so do turds so make sure you can pick the difference".
Will we be flushed with success or will we just need to flush the coach come on season 2018 lets see what we've got?

Agree with OT, the club should aspire to more than "do well" whatever that means.

We have a very good forward pack and a pair of class halves that should be able to make our ordinary back line look dangerous.

The club should aspire to win the premiership and settle for a top 4 finish. We have the cattle.

The missing link is a group of first classes coaches.

 

[Crush]

Agree with OT, the club should aspire to more than "do well" whatever that means.

We have a very good forward pack and a pair of class halves that should be able to make our ordinary back line look dangerous.

The club should aspire to win the premiership and settle for a top 4 finish. We have the cattle.

The missing link is a group of first classes coaches.

To make the top 4 you have to win a lot of games in the regular season. I would say if we are winning games and making the top 4 the "Sack McGregor" thread would be pretty quiet on the forum and we would be talking more about the players and game itself.

 

[TruSaint]

Can't quite agree with your synopsis and not sure "everyone in here" will either.
Firstly it all depends on what your definition of "well" is?
Some aren't interested in "just wants the team to do well" and actually want a premiership.
The sack Mary noise will only go away if a premiership is realised as ultimately that is the job that he is charged with doing.
If he can't do it then best we get someone who can.
Winning a few games or hovering around 8th might sustain some people but it certainly won't sustain "everyone".
As my dear old dad used to say
"Cream rises to the top but unfortunately so do turds so make sure you can pick the difference".
Will we be flushed with success or will we just need to flush the coach come on season 2018 lets see what we've got?

OT, get off your angry pills. ( joking ).

Mary is with us for 2 years... We don't sack coaches nowadays.

The squad for me is well balanced, missing only 1-2 strike backs ( maybe that comes out of left field via juniors ). Not sure..

A top 8 ( scraping into 7/8th ) for me is a failure. I hope they achieve a top 4 spot, but even with a top pack and 2 international halves in am not that confident. Our coach is the measure here. As you say. I hope he has adapted / learnt / whatever, as one more year of mediocrity with the talent we have would be a farce.

 

[TruSaint]

To make the top 4 you have to win a lot of games in the regular season. I would say if we are winning games and making the top 4 the "Sack McGregor" thread would be pretty quiet on the forum and we would be talking more about the players and game itself.

Mate, if we make the top 4, i would be stoked.
I just dont want to hear excuses come round 20 ( not aimed at you , but the old but we won the first 8 games tec etc ) .

 

[Old Timer]

Well if there are people in here that don't want the team to do well then I'm not sure why they are here. My comment that everyone in here just wants the team to do well must be true surely? And by well I mean challenging for the premiership most years. Like say the storm, roosters, cowboys, broncos. Its NRL so winning comps won't happen every year but I think if we are in the top 4 most years then the noise will go away regarding the coach.
All the noise about sacking the coach is understandable given we have made the 8 once in 6 years although I am not one to dwell on the negatives personally.
I think this year we will have a good year and then we can discuss football on the forum not just derail every thread ranting about sacking the coach.
I hope so anyway, it gets kinda boring and repetitive.

Crush
We haven't been a legitimate contender for any period other than when Bennett was here.
Post Bennett we have been abysmal and have gone with lemons for coaches.
We have sacrificed the fans and the players whilst absolute rookies were allowed to do their apprenticeships.
If we had of been doing well then maybe this conversation would be a little different however we have been doing very poorly and have only been willing to make small incremental changes which is just not enough to get our team competing against the professional clubs.
Simply put these are the facts so now some people are willing to wait even longer whilst we become competitive which is exactly what we should have been right now.
The conversation is boring and repetitive for the simple reason we keep doing the same old thing where as at other clubs at least they wield the axe and roll the dice and give their fans something positive to look forward to.

 

[possm]

Agree with OT, the club should aspire to more than "do well" whatever that means.

We have a very good forward pack and a pair of class halves that should be able to make our ordinary back line look dangerous.

The club should aspire to win the premiership and settle for a top 4 finish. We have the cattle.

The missing link is a group of first classes coaches.

The problem is that we should not be a one dimensional team solely relying on our forwards. This 'power plan' proved to be successful over several games but then faded mainly because of fatigue. A mix which would inject a speedy well drilled backline to take advantage of the roll-on created by our forwards would be a more effective plan that provides the longevity needed to maintain momentum deep into the final series.

 

[Crush]

Crush
We haven't been a legitimate contender for any period other than when Bennett was here.
Post Bennett we have been abysmal and have gone with lemons for coaches.
We have sacrificed the fans and the players whilst absolute rookies were allowed to do their apprenticeships.
If we had of been doing well then maybe this conversation would be a little different however we have been doing very poorly and have only been willing to make small incremental changes which is just not enough to get our team competing against the professional clubs.
Simply put these are the facts so now some people are willing to wait even longer whilst we become competitive which is exactly what we should have been right now.
The conversation is boring and repetitive for the simple reason we keep doing the same old thing where as at other clubs at least they wield the axe and roll the dice and give their fans something positive to look forward to.

Yes I see all of that and understand why it is how is it is currently but do you see my point that if we start being really competitive and making the top 4 regularly then the constant talk of sack the coach will cease or at least quieten down?
My original comment that you couldn't quite agree with was "if we do well the noise goes away" There is an "if" in there you know. We may very well not do well and this will all continue but I was just responding to Franc Facer who said people would still be calling for the coaches head if we won the comp.
I don't think so. Only a fool would want a coach sacked directly after he won them a comp.

 

[grouch]

Funny, because the real Frank Facer did just that, with Norm Tipping - and then won 10 more. If only we had someone in our administration with the tiniest percentage of the vision of Facer. Instead, we criticise and discredit available premiership winning coaches and praise our deadshit loser as a "supercoach".

Sack the deadshit coach

 

[BennyV]

Well if there are people in here that don't want the team to do well then I'm not sure why they are here. My comment that everyone in here just wants the team to do well must be true surely? And by well I mean challenging for the premiership most years. Like say the storm, roosters, cowboys, broncos. Its NRL so winning comps won't happen every year but I think if we are in the top 4 most years then the noise will go away regarding the coach.
All the noise about sacking the coach is understandable given we have made the 8 once in 6 years although I am not one to dwell on the negatives personally.
I think this year we will have a good year and then we can discuss football on the forum not just derail every thread ranting about sacking the coach.
I hope so anyway, it gets kinda boring and repetitive.

Mary has been head coach for 3.5 years, and was attacking coach for 1.5 years prior to that, and out of those 5 years, we have been truly competitive a total of 0 years. So there is no 'regularly making the top 4' because there has been so much failure beforehand.

A more likely scenario to your final sentences is that the coach gets sacked for continued poor performances and then we can discuss football on the forum not just derail every thread ranting about sacking the coach.

Until then...SACK MARY!!!

 

[Crush]

And here we are again......

 

[grouch]

Mary has been head coach for 3.5 years, and was attacking coach for 1.5 years prior to that, and out of those 5 years, we have been truly competitive a total of 0 years. So there is no 'regularly making the top 4' because there has been so much failure beforehand.

Let's not forget his glittering tenure as coach of the Cutters in the NSW Cup, where he managed to miss the top 8 in a comp of 13 teams

 

[Old Timer]

Yes I see all of that and understand why it is how is it is currently but do you see my point that if we start being really competitive and making the top 4 regularly then the constant talk of sack the coach will cease or at least quieten down?
My original comment that you couldn't quite agree with was "if we do well the noise goes away" There is an "if" in there you know. We may very well not do well and this will all continue but I was just responding to Franc Facer who said people would still be calling for the coaches head if we won the comp.
I don't think so. Only a fool would want a coach sacked directly after he won them a comp.

Crush
Hope springs eternal for you where I see every day as a reality check
I am not willing to hope we do well xftrr such a lacklustre period I demand we do well
The undeniable facts show in the end we haven’t done well in any way shape or form since Mc Fookknuckle has been associated with coaching.
In your world when is enough, enough and when is it time to pull up stumps?
Because he has 2 years left you are willing to hope it turns out ok whereas others have passed judgement, call if for what it is and have no stomach for further time wasting.
The bum needs to be sacked as he is simply not up to it.
PS: What makes you think “if” is any possibility?

 

[Crush]

Crush
Hope springs eternal for you where I see every day as a reality check
I am not willing to hope we do well xftrr such a lacklustre period I demand we do well
The undeniable facts show in the end we haven’t done well in any way shape or form since Mc Fookknuckle has been associated with coaching.
In your world when is enough, enough and when is it time to pull up stumps?
Because he has 2 years left you are willing to hope it turns out ok whereas others have passed judgement, call if for what it is and have no stomach for further time wasting.
The bum needs to be sacked as he is simply not up to it.
PS: What makes you think “if” is any possibility?

I think "if" is a possibility because of Hunt. I feel like we have been desperately looking for a halfback for the last 5 years. I also think Widdop will be a dominant player with Hunt there now. So its kind of like a double up. We will go from having 1 decent half that struggled with pressure to having 2 great halves.
I think it will make a massive difference.
I'm sure you are shaking your head reading that but you asked the question so I answered honestly.
Cheers.

 

[possm]

And here we are again......

Look Crush, I really don't understand your love for Mary as coach. I believe you are out of step with most members on here and indeed with most Dragons fans.

Having said that, it is true that if Mary was sacked and a top Head Coach employed, this forum would most likely give up the 'sack the coach' call.

 

[Frank Facer]

Look Crush, I really don't understand your love for Mary as coach. I believe you are out of step with most members on here and indeed with most Dragons fans.

Having sais that, it is true that if Mary was sacked and a top Head Coach employed, this forum would most likely give up the 'sack the coach' call.

Crush has stated numerous times that he is not a fan of Mary. I am not a fan either. We both think that Hunt will make a massive difference this year. What Crush is saying is that every thread doesn't have to turn into we have a sh*t coach thread or our coaching staff are going to ruin a young players career etc

 

[Seoul Dragon]

Back to the thread topic, I don't want Widdop at fullback.

After watching this team linger as a tier 2-3 team for a number of years due in part to some key position deficiencies why would you split a Widdop/Hunt pairing that potentially could (should) be one of the top 3 halves pairs in 2018 and provide the structure for the team to build on what looks to be a top pack of forwards.

I am eager to see the go forward, game management, kicking game these 2 should bring...

Let's sort out fullback as a separate issue~~

 

[2010]

Widdop was the 5/8 of the year last season. He will have Hunt this season.
Game Set and Match. Widdop stays where he will be best suited