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2020 ... the passion returns!

latemail

Juniors
Messages
440
You could have Jesus Christ coaching us
The fact of the matter is we don’t have the cattle to be a force
 

redandwhite4evr

Juniors
Messages
1,816
You could have Jesus Christ coaching us
The fact of the matter is we don’t have the cattle to be a force

Tend to agree latemail- I would rate only Lomax and to a lesser extent Saab as backline certainties to nail down starting positions in any of the top 4 sides from last year.
 

Slippery Morris

First Grade
Messages
7,395
It is really hard to get excited about next season and I really hope I am wrong but to make quite a few changes and not the obvious ones really is disheartening as nothing will be different.

Team selections on the day and attitude of the players is what cost Saints and the main person in charge of that is still there so why expect anything different. The coaches pets will still get picked no matter how bad they perform and players injured and on one leg will get first preference over a fit player depending on their status. I cannot see that changing. Oh and support staff will also still get thrown under the bus for their failures as well. And this has not only been over 1 year.
 

Dragsters

First Grade
Messages
5,331
It is really hard to get excited about next season and I really hope I am wrong but to make quite a few changes and not the obvious ones really is disheartening as nothing will be different.

Team selections on the day and attitude of the players is what cost Saints and the main person in charge of that is still there so why expect anything different. The coaches pets will still get picked no matter how bad they perform and players injured and on one leg will get first preference over a fit player depending on their status. I cannot see that changing. Oh and support staff will also still get thrown under the bus for their failures as well. And this has not only been over 1 year.

With McGregor finally under some kind of external pressure, these are the kinds of things I think may change this season.

What mostly concerns me are the less tangible, more intelligent aspects of coaching such as tactics and game plans etc. that I'm not convinced he is capable of improving having watched him closely for far too long...
 

Dragonslayer

First Grade
Messages
7,679
With McGregor finally under some kind of external pressure, these are the kinds of things I think may change this season.

What mostly concerns me are the less tangible, more intelligent aspects of coaching such as tactics and game plans etc. that I'm not convinced he is capable of improving having watched him closely for far too long...

Imo, if he continues doing what he has been doing, he will be doing it somewhere else sooner than later.
Timeframe uncertain, but maybe they have asked him to paint the bus, especially, underneath.
 

BLM01

First Grade
Messages
8,944
With McGregor finally under some kind of external pressure, these are the kinds of things I think may change this season.

What mostly concerns me are the less tangible, more intelligent aspects of coaching such as tactics and game plans etc. that I'm not convinced he is capable of improving having watched him closely for far too long...
Rest assured and convince yourself....you are on the money.!!
Mary is not capable in regards to tactics and game plans....that has been proven beyond reasonable doubt :mad:
 

Old Kogarah Boy 1

First Grade
Messages
5,415
You could have Jesus Christ coaching us
The fact of the matter is we don’t have the cattle to be a force

You are indeed correctb in your thoughts but would you consider that a quality coach can take bring the best out of a player / team?

Keep in mind Tim Sheens in 2005.
We had a team of stars ( 5 or 6 Origin players ) ........ with Brown as coach.
Tim had some good players, possibly a star team and one very good player, Benji Marshall,
In truth, l don't believe they were equal to us.
In practice, the difference in coaching nous proved to be the real difference.

At present, we could have the very best players Melbourne have had over the past decade but under Mary, we would not win a premiership.

I'm certain of that.

However, l truly think our 2020 team could make top 4, with say, Flannagan.
Mary ?
Bottom third at best.
Nothing surer.
I'd bet my left testicle on it.
 

Old Kogarah Boy 1

First Grade
Messages
5,415
With McGregor finally under some kind of external pressure, these are the kinds of things I think may change this season.

What mostly concerns me are the less tangible, more intelligent aspects of coaching such as tactics and game plans etc. that I'm not convinced he is capable of improving having watched him closely for far too long...

Correct ............... He's not.
You know it, we all know it ............ time will prove it, yet again.
 

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
dragons_1nh_7464.jpg


DRAGONS


Dragons try meditation in bid to improve mental toughness
Author
Brad Walter NRL.com Senior Reporter
Timestamp
Fri 13 Dec 2019, 02:01 PM
walterbrad-head.png

St George Illawarra players have turned to kelee meditation practised by surfing champions Mick Fanning and Stephanie Gilmore to help improve the team's mental toughness.

The Dragons finished 15th after a disastrous 2019 campaign marred by a huge injury toll and the uncertainty over the future of star forward Jack de Belin but players admit there can be no excuses next season.

An end-of-season review resulted in eight changes to the coaching and training staff, including the appointment of 2016 Cronulla premiership-winning mentor Shane Flanagan as an assistant to Paul McGregor.

Flanagan is due to officially start with the Dragons next week after completing a 12-month NRL-imposed ban, which precludes him from taking on a head coaching role for a further two years.

The Dragons have also engaged Gerard Murphy of Leadership by Design to aid a clearer focus in culture and leadership and mind and performance coach Matt Griggs.

Murphy has worked with the likes of West Ham, the Great Britain Olympic team, England rugby league and rugby union sides and AFL clubs Geelong, Richmond and Port Adelaide, while Griggs has been involved with world champion surfers Mick Fanning, Tyler Wright and Stephanie Gilmore.



Five key matchups of the Dragons' 2020 draw

A former professional surfer, Griggs teaches a five-point holistic high performance model, and is also facilitating lessons on Kelee meditation for St George Illawarra players.

Griggs uses meditation to inspire greater self-awareness and detachment of mental limitations that steal energy and compromise performance.

Dragons centre Tim Lafai said mental lapses during games had cost the team dearly last season and was an area they were working to improve.

"I think we will be doing a lot of work on that, not just the physical side of things but the mental side of things on and off the field, through workshops and culture groups and things like that," Lafai said.

"You can see already just the maturity of the young boys, they are really eager and the older blokes are leading by example."

With the likes of Tyson Frizell, Paul Vaughan, Ben Hunt, Corey Norman, Tariq and Korbin Sims, Cameron McInnes and James Graham in their squad, the Dragons have been widely criticised for their performances last season.

In many games, they either started well and fell away and came from behind in the second half but lacked consistency over 80 minutes and across the season.

"That is a question we were all asking ourselves," Lafai said.

"We have got the squad and the depth so it is just a matter of fixing the things that we need to bring out the best in each player because individually we have got some great players.

"I think a lot of it in those games was to do with our mentality and our toughness.

"You could see in a lot of our games we would start poorly and then in the second half we would start so well – there is just a gap there and I think it has just got to do with our mental approach and just the toughness of staying in those games."


https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/12/13/dragons-try-meditation-in-bid-to-improve-mental-toughness/
 
Messages
2,866
dragons_1nh_7464.jpg


DRAGONS


Dragons try meditation in bid to improve mental toughness
Author
Brad Walter NRL.com Senior Reporter
Timestamp
Fri 13 Dec 2019, 02:01 PM
walterbrad-head.png

St George Illawarra players have turned to kelee meditation practised by surfing champions Mick Fanning and Stephanie Gilmore to help improve the team's mental toughness.

The Dragons finished 15th after a disastrous 2019 campaign marred by a huge injury toll and the uncertainty over the future of star forward Jack de Belin but players admit there can be no excuses next season.

An end-of-season review resulted in eight changes to the coaching and training staff, including the appointment of 2016 Cronulla premiership-winning mentor Shane Flanagan as an assistant to Paul McGregor.

Flanagan is due to officially start with the Dragons next week after completing a 12-month NRL-imposed ban, which precludes him from taking on a head coaching role for a further two years.

The Dragons have also engaged Gerard Murphy of Leadership by Design to aid a clearer focus in culture and leadership and mind and performance coach Matt Griggs.

Murphy has worked with the likes of West Ham, the Great Britain Olympic team, England rugby league and rugby union sides and AFL clubs Geelong, Richmond and Port Adelaide, while Griggs has been involved with world champion surfers Mick Fanning, Tyler Wright and Stephanie Gilmore.



Five key matchups of the Dragons' 2020 draw

A former professional surfer, Griggs teaches a five-point holistic high performance model, and is also facilitating lessons on Kelee meditation for St George Illawarra players.

Griggs uses meditation to inspire greater self-awareness and detachment of mental limitations that steal energy and compromise performance.

Dragons centre Tim Lafai said mental lapses during games had cost the team dearly last season and was an area they were working to improve.

"I think we will be doing a lot of work on that, not just the physical side of things but the mental side of things on and off the field, through workshops and culture groups and things like that," Lafai said.

"You can see already just the maturity of the young boys, they are really eager and the older blokes are leading by example."

With the likes of Tyson Frizell, Paul Vaughan, Ben Hunt, Corey Norman, Tariq and Korbin Sims, Cameron McInnes and James Graham in their squad, the Dragons have been widely criticised for their performances last season.

In many games, they either started well and fell away and came from behind in the second half but lacked consistency over 80 minutes and across the season.

"That is a question we were all asking ourselves," Lafai said.

"We have got the squad and the depth so it is just a matter of fixing the things that we need to bring out the best in each player because individually we have got some great players.

"I think a lot of it in those games was to do with our mentality and our toughness.

"You could see in a lot of our games we would start poorly and then in the second half we would start so well – there is just a gap there and I think it has just got to do with our mental approach and just the toughness of staying in those games."


https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/12/13/dragons-try-meditation-in-bid-to-improve-mental-toughness/
Reeks of desperation...
Lord have mercy!
 
Messages
281
It is really hard to get excited about next season and I really hope I am wrong but to make quite a few changes and not the obvious ones really is disheartening as nothing will be different.

Team selections on the day and attitude of the players is what cost Saints and the main person in charge of that is still there so why expect anything different. The coaches pets will still get picked no matter how bad they perform and players injured and on one leg will get first preference over a fit player depending on their status. I cannot see that changing. Oh and support staff will also still get thrown under the bus for their failures as well. And this has not only been over 1 year.
What stood out to me last year was that the forwards were not making enough ground and when the backs got involved they were often on the back foot. Admittedly Tariq Sims was playing injured and De Belin was missing and there were limitations in the backline but the forwards were not doing their job apart from McInnes...
 

Forbes Creek Dragons

First Grade
Messages
5,078
What stood out to me last year was that the forwards were not making enough ground and when the backs got involved they were often on the back foot. Admittedly Tariq Sims was playing injured and De Belin was missing and there were limitations in the backline but the forwards were not doing their job apart from McInnes...
If Jack is back it will help to no end, Merrin will help too at least he won't be a target in D like Leilua. We really need Norman to take control of the kicking next year. We haven't had a really great long kicker since Soward, who can kick 40-20s and turn the other team around all night. Widdop is pretty good but he was injured for more or less 2 years and he's not Soward good. Its a lot easier for the forwards when they aren't pinned in our half all game or defending the whole time. In saying that the halves need space to get the good kicks away.
 

Dea

Juniors
Messages
2,171
I want it to be different but... While ever McGregor remains in charge I lack belief for our future to be anything but bleak. Predicting a bottom 4 finish cause we have not bought anybody of note to boost our playing ranks and the lead decision maker on all things tactical has a history of failure.
 

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