Josh Dugan - "I'm a world class player"

[Nice Beaver]

Indeed.

Who says you have to play the game like everybody else? Build the team around the players strengths. If The Dugan can't pass then don't put him in a position where he has too.

Which rules out fullback in its modern day form.

A fullback who has no ball playing ability should be paid what the Dragons are proposing.

Teams work out their salary cap very much like Money Ball these days. Attribute points for various skills and stats that players in respective positions SHOULD possess.

So if a fullback is graded based on try assists, line break assists etc these days, rather than the old benchmarks of simply returning the ball etc then if he lacks in all desired aspects, he should have his salary decreased accordingly.

So if you say don't put him where he is required to pass, then fullback is out. And that is what the Dragon's have said all along.

The bloke believes his own hype.

 

[Life's Good]

This. Saints progression this year has been off a pack of marauding forwards and Widdop. Whilst the Duges rates the Duges massively and the Duges believes the Duges is worth 1 mill a season, Saints should be tying up their fwds and blokes like Aitken before throwing the kitchen sink at the Duges.

Aitken - you can have him. Plenty of heart but weak defensively.

 

[sensesmaybenumbed]

If Dugan plays 'NRL' consistently he is a world class player . . . it is what it is

Oh, piss off Woodsy....

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Trying to claim you're worth overs due to being a gun fullback doesn't work so well when full half the sides in the comp (if not more) have gun fullbacks. There's a talent glut in the position.

 

[MKCS]

My girlfriend is a big Dragons fan so I've attended about 5 of their games this year and Dugan has consistently been good if not great for them. Your average Dragons fan loves him and doesn't want him to leave.

I'm not sure I'd consider him a world class player because in reality only Thurston, Cronk, Smith, Inglis, Hayne (When in form) and a couple others deserve that label but he's definitely a very very good player and I think he should spend at least another couple years at 1 for the Dragons before being moved to the centres.

If the Dragons can afford it a spine featuring Dugan, Widdop, Hunt and McInness in 2018 is a potential grand final winning combination.

 

[grouch]

My girlfriend is a big Dragons fan so I've attended about 5 of their games this year and Dugan has consistently been good if not great for them. Your average Dragons fan loves him and doesn't want him to leave.

I'm not sure I'd consider him a world class player because in reality only Thurston, Cronk, Smith, Inglis, Hayne (When in form) and a couple others deserve that label but he's definitely a very very good player and I think he should spend at least another couple years at 1 for the Dragons before being moved to the centres.

If the Dragons can afford it a spine featuring Dugan, Widdop, Hunt and McInness in 2018 is a potential grand final winning combination.

Those players are not just world-class, they are in the All-Time class. I think the stickler in this conversation is the definition of "world class". Dugan is under the impression, rather fairly, that playing at international level = world class. I think that's reasonably accurate. A Kangaroos jersey is worth something.

Certainly more accurate than saying someone like Mitch Rein is a rep level player, because he's played in Country v City.

 

[big hit!]

He's not the best going around, not nearly as skilful as Boyd, Teddy, etc but I think he's in the top 5 fullbacks.
But I don't know how this contract sh*t is going to be sorted if the club can't even work out if they want him as a FB or a centre. On another matter, it's a shame that Duges hasn't yet referred to himself in the third person to the media during any of this yet.

should this even be an issue for illawarra? there are 16 teams in the comp and they have one of the best 5 fullbacks in the game at their club.

play him at centre

 

[Fufu Andronez]

Sounds to me like the Dragons are trying to pull a fast one on him.

Saying that he is a "centre" so they can pay him as one and then once he has signed on for cheap they will keep him in his rightful position as fullback. There is not one player at that club who is a better fullback than him and he knows it.

 

[SBD82]

His attack good, defense a bit lazy. Can be fixed with a change of attitude because I've seen him make great 1 on 1 tackles

His defense isn't lazy, it's his decision making that lets him down.

That's the big worry. If it was just motivational it's relatively easy to change. Much harder to make someone smart.

 

[Clifferd]

His defense isn't lazy, it's his decision making that lets him down.

That's the big worry. If it was just motivational it's relatively easy to change. Much harder to make someone smart.

I actually think being coached into makin defensive decisions is quite easy. Seen it done before

Now if he had no tackling capability at all well then that would be a big worry

 

[SBD82]

I actually think being coached into makin defensive decisions is quite easy. Seen it done before

Now if he had no tackling capability at all well then that would be a big worry

Being coached into it should be easy, but he's got a pretty solid number of first grade games under his belt and it's still not happening.

Could be a coaching problem, could be the player, but whatever it is, he should be much better by this stage of his career.

 

[Radical Rat]

I'm no Dugan fan, but it's ridiculous the Dragons are offering him a contract and justifying it as "centre money". Aside from a little spell last year there, he plays every f*cking game at fullback!

 

[Clifferd]

Being coached into it should be easy, but he's got a pretty solid number of first grade games under his belt and it's still not happening.

Could be a coaching problem, could be the player, but whatever it is, he should be much better by this stage of his career.

Can't admit I've focused on his defensive lapses before

But I can use yours well and truly Luke Brooks as an example, absolute turnstile and defensive liability pre Cleary. Now with Cleary he seems a lot more defensively smarter and stats prove the last month he has leaked less missed tackles and less tries

Weird McGregor can't coach aitken properly being a former international centre and all

 

[Ace-STi]

How many centres are offered 850k a season?

 

[Life's Good]

Weird McGregor can't coach aitken properly being a former international centre and all

This is where our problem lies.

 

[Mr Angry]

Was misquoted

"Made of glass".

Stained glass at that.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

2017s buzzword: fullback money

 

[Perth Red]

lol at "professional" RL players playing out their contract negotiations through news ltd.

 

[Nice Beaver]

lol at "professional" RL players playing out their contract negotiations through news ltd.

Look who you are dealing with here....

 

[POPEYE]

Oh, piss off Woodsy....

Crikey, you know how to insult a bloke