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Matt Dufty

nontime111

Juniors
Messages
1,623
If we are leading by a small margin, Dufty won't get on the field.
hell get plenty of time on the field this year and hopefully field will get a bit also, hes backed himself to stay with us I think itll all come true for him also field, they are both two of my favourite all out attacking guns for us that weve had for many years I think theyll both be stars
 

Old Timer

Coach
Messages
16,914
hell get plenty of time on the field this year and hopefully field will get a bit also, hes backed himself to stay with us I think itll all come true for him also field, they are both two of my favourite all out attacking guns for us that weve had for many years I think theyll both be stars
If not you can do the end of season nudie run with mickeylane & john moz
 

ouryears

Bench
Messages
3,195
hell get plenty of time on the field this year and hopefully field will get a bit also, hes backed himself to stay with us I think itll all come true for him also field, they are both two of my favourite all out attacking guns for us that weve had for many years I think theyll both be stars
I agree nontime, and by the way, give me Matt Dufty over G Widdop as fullback any day of the week.

Widdop is slow and pedestrian, predictable..... easy for the defence to nail versus Duftys explosive and play what’s in front of him style.
 

possm

Coach
Messages
15,587
hell get plenty of time on the field this year and hopefully field will get a bit also, hes backed himself to stay with us I think itll all come true for him also field, they are both two of my favourite all out attacking guns for us that weve had for many years I think theyll both be stars

I'd say it would be more likely he will get plenty of time on the field next season IF he proves to be reliable in defence and confident in taking the high ball. One more off-season and his body frame should be fully developed and strong enough to give him the confidence he needs.

After Widdop moves on, Field will be the next cab off the rank holding both Norman and Dufty to account in 2020 - that is of course if he stays with the Saints.
 

nontime111

Juniors
Messages
1,623
I'd say it would be more likely he will get plenty of time on the field next season IF he proves to be reliable in defence and confident in taking the high ball. One more off-season and his body frame should be fully developed and strong enough to give him the confidence he needs.

After Widdop moves on, Field will be the next cab off the rank holding both Norman and Dufty to account in 2020 - that is of course if he stays with the Saints.
I damn well hope he does! as soon as he came on the field in the Knights trial everyone clicked! So fast too, hell set up a lot of tries with his pace alone and hes a pretty decent ball player also, at the moment I like him more at 5/8 than Norman! total wildcard excitement machine with the pace weve been missing and just gung ho all out attack blitz of old
 

nontime111

Juniors
Messages
1,623
I agree nontime, and by the way, give me Matt Dufty over G Widdop as fullback any day of the week.

Widdop is slow and pedestrian, predictable..... easy for the defence to nail versus Duftys explosive and play what’s in front of him style.
I concur, Im pretty conservative these days with my team picking but I love Dufty far more then Widdop for that reason, Its just sad that the BIG names have had the dough spent on them so they cant justify not having em on the field! I bet if D Waite was around hed have a place for both Field and Dufter THIS year! how good would that be! for us fans to watch at least...old school!
 

possm

Coach
Messages
15,587
hell get plenty of time on the field this year and hopefully field will get a bit also, hes backed himself to stay with us I think itll all come true for him also field, they are both two of my favourite all out attacking guns for us that weve had for many years I think theyll both be stars

The only safe place at the moment for either Dufty or Field to play is on a wing. They would need to strictly adhere to an instruction to come inside when fielding the ball near touch and to find the ground when fielding the ball near their line.

When coming out of their red zone, they should take the ball on the open side two passes wide in order to take advantage of broken play and tired edge forwards.
 

nontime111

Juniors
Messages
1,623
y
The only safe place at the moment for either Dufty or Field to play is on a wing. They would need to strictly adhere to an instruction to come inside when fielding the ball near touch and to find the ground when fielding the ball near their line.

When coming out of their red zone, they should take the ball on the open side two passes wide in order to take advantage of broken play and tired edge forwards.
yes, Ive thought a lot about this idea the last few days
maybe in order to get BOTH of them on the field but to minimis having 2 small wingers on there all the time possibly we could do something like this

widdop
field
lomax
lafai
pearson/ravi
norman
hunt

with dufter on the bench
 

possm

Coach
Messages
15,587
y

yes, Ive thought a lot about this idea the last few days
maybe in order to get BOTH of them on the field but to minimis having 2 small wingers on there all the time possibly we could do something like this

widdop
field
lomax
lafai
pearson/ravi
norman
hunt

with dufter on the bench

I was thinking more along the lines of playing both Dufty and Field and seeing how it goes. If our big wingers are killing it in CC, then replace them with the big guys.

I'm sure a close eye will be kept on Widdop's shoulder and Norman's fitness and so in 2019 a Dufty to fullback and Field to five-eighth would be the only other positions that may become available for these two players. I think size would prevent both of these players playing in the centres.


 

ground zero

Juniors
Messages
296
should the Dragons just bite the bullet an sell widdup for a transfer fee straight away to the superleaugue. then Dufty goes back to fullback . Jai field on the bench, an Reece Robson on the bench also. with lomax also in the team. seems like we will lose some top juniors so Widdup can play 1 more season. use widdops money to sign all these juniors up long term.
 

Dragons 09

Juniors
Messages
1,760
should the Dragons just bite the bullet an sell widdup for a transfer fee straight away to the superleaugue. then Dufty goes back to fullback . Jai field on the bench, an Reece Robson on the bench also. with lomax also in the team. seems like we will lose some top juniors so Widdup can play 1 more season. use widdops money to sign all these juniors up long term.

Will be interesting to see how others view this suggestion.

Can't be bothered giving a detailed explanation at the moment, but for me it is a big yes. In fact, the minute we secured Norman i think the club should have moved him on and used the money to secure our current prospects and recruit for our deficiencies. And i am a fan of Widdop's football ability so it's not about his performances, its about "club first".
 

Frank Facer

First Grade
Messages
5,069
should the Dragons just bite the bullet an sell widdup for a transfer fee straight away to the superleaugue. then Dufty goes back to fullback . Jai field on the bench, an Reece Robson on the bench also. with lomax also in the team. seems like we will lose some top juniors so Widdup can play 1 more season. use widdops money to sign all these juniors up long term.
If we could offload Widdop for a good price this year, I think he is on around 900K a season, it would have been in our best interest to offload him. I would play him left centre if I was coach, with Lomax being our other centre. I think he would be better than Lafai, and he wouldn't be holding any youngsters back. I would be hoping the Marsters is good enough to take the left centre spot next year and would even give him a run there if we got and injury to a centre. I would have been trying to offload, Widdop, Aitken and Lafai before this season started.
 

Old Timer

Coach
Messages
16,914
Marvellous how there are all these "move Widdop on" notions which is solely bought about by buying Norman, who has done exactly what?
Showed a couple of glimpses of "off the cough genius" and an ability to not make the tangible difference in a teams performance over a year.
If we are chasing a premiership then IMO we have a far better chance of doing that with Widdop in the 6 jumper.
Norman has not even come close to Widdop's performances over the past few years, yet people want him to get the gig.
How we love to pin our hopes on new boys who have a bit of press hype about them.
If we were to lose Widdop and Norman crashed and burned (quite possible although coach will stick no matter what) where to then for the season?
 

Frank Facer

First Grade
Messages
5,069
Marvellous how there are all these "move Widdop on" notions which is solely bought about by buying Norman, who has done exactly what?
Showed a couple of glimpses of "off the cough genius" and an ability to not make the tangible difference in a teams performance over a year.
If we are chasing a premiership then IMO we have a far better chance of doing that with Widdop in the 6 jumper.
Norman has not even come close to Widdop's performances over the past few years, yet people want him to get the gig.
How we love to pin our hopes on new boys who have a bit of press hype about them.
If we were to lose Widdop and Norman crashed and burned (quite possible although coach will stick no matter what) where to then for the season?
Norman is a superior game manager than Widdop. Norman will be able to take on the dominate playmaker role and let Hunt play what's in front of him. Widdop's best position is 5/8, but we did well to sign Norman while we could. I would not have wanted us to be trying to sign a top line halfback or 5/8 for next season. There are none that I know of who are off contract at the end of this season and Easts will be in the market for one, so that would have made our task that much harder to sign a topline half or 5/8. Norman's best position is halfback. Now that we have Norman in our squad, we effectively have 3 halves, so we have to find another position for one of them. We are also probably better off getting our long term halves pairing playing this year. Widdop is on 900K or 950K a season. If he isn't playing 5/8, then he won't be worth that kind of money. If we could have offloaded him for that price we could have spent the money on a good centre or winger, if one became available. Widdop is hot and cold. He looks good when the team is on the front foot, but he was playing that poorly in 2016 and or 2017 that many of us wanted him gone and replaced.
 

Saint_JimmyG

First Grade
Messages
5,067
Norman is a superior game manager than Widdop. Norman will be able to take on the dominate playmaker role and let Hunt play what's in front of him. Widdop's best position is 5/8, but we did well to sign Norman while we could. I would not have wanted us to be trying to sign a top line halfback or 5/8 for next season. There are none that I know of who are off contract at the end of this season and Easts will be in the market for one, so that would have made our task that much harder to sign a topline half or 5/8. Norman's best position is halfback. Now that we have Norman in our squad, we effectively have 3 halves, so we have to find another position for one of them. We are also probably better off getting our long term halves pairing playing this year. Widdop is on 900K or 950K a season. If he isn't playing 5/8, then he won't be worth that kind of money. If we could have offloaded him for that price we could have spent the money on a good centre or winger, if one became available. Widdop is hot and cold. He looks good when the team is on the front foot, but he was playing that poorly in 2016 and or 2017 that many of us wanted him gone and replaced.

Norman isn’t hot and cold too?
 

Saint_JimmyG

First Grade
Messages
5,067
Marvellous how there are all these "move Widdop on" notions which is solely bought about by buying Norman, who has done exactly what?
Showed a couple of glimpses of "off the cough genius" and an ability to not make the tangible difference in a teams performance over a year.
If we are chasing a premiership then IMO we have a far better chance of doing that with Widdop in the 6 jumper.
Norman has not even come close to Widdop's performances over the past few years, yet people want him to get the gig.
How we love to pin our hopes on new boys who have a bit of press hype about them.
If we were to lose Widdop and Norman crashed and burned (quite possible although coach will stick no matter what) where to then for the season?

Spot on, OT.

The amount of adulation for a player (Norman) who is the epitome of inconsistency is mind blowing.

He is several rungs below Widdop’s capabilities, and this will be noticed by all and sundry shortly.
 

Frank Facer

First Grade
Messages
5,069
Spot on, OT.

The amount of adulation for a player (Norman) who is the epitome of inconsistency is mind blowing.

He is several rungs below Widdop’s capabilities, and this will be noticed by all and sundry shortly.
Spot on, OT.

Norman and Widdop are different players with different strengths. Normans greatest strength is his playmaking and game managing ability. He is also very good at going to the line and putting a runner through a hole. We have lacked that for a long time. Widdop's greatest strength is his running game and taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves.

When Norman was playing halfback for Parra, he was touted as Cronk's future replacement in the Qld team. He also got his 900K contract then and we were also in the market for him. He was one of the form players in the competition. Norman and Widdop would actually make a very good halves pairing.
 

Frank Facer

First Grade
Messages
5,069
My response to Jimmy didn't format correctly, so I re did it here

Norman and Widdop are different players with different strengths. Normans greatest strength is his playmaking and game managing ability. He is also very good at going to the line and putting a runner through a hole. We have lacked that for a long time. Widdop's greatest strength is his running game and taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves.

When Norman was playing halfback for Parra, he was touted as Cronk's future replacement in the Qld team. He also got his 900K contract then and we were also in the market for him. He was one of the form players in the competition. Norman and Widdop would actually make a very good halves pairing.
 
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