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Sack Griffin

SaintPauli

Juniors
Messages
1,179
We were not competitive at all today. The Only tries inpired by our juniors came through besides a brief effort by Paul Vaughn.

Our pack is soft and nowhere near our 2018 team that made the semis.

Hook has a large job.
 
Messages
15,386
FFS time for some of you to wake up and realise the facts

Griffin is not responsible for the signing or retention of Hunt, Norman, Merrin, Williame, Fuimaono, Sims who are all bog average

He inherits Duffy with lots of faults and poor defence, Kerr with potential but lots of faults, Vaughan who has been in decline.

He is not responsible for losing Frizzell or Host and probably not Mc Innes either and somehow you expect him to fix it all in the space of 3 trials when he has a bunch rookies at best.

The problem is in your expectations and the fact you yourselves have overestimated the actual ability of our side for a good number of years.

None of our so called best / seasoned players are playing good consistent footy and the team have been experiencing a heavy fitness workload this season thus far.

So stop bleating and let’s see what we actually look like after the first 6 games.

The point is well made, but until Hook (or another good coach) gets a decent tenure, all you can expect is blood rushing to the head and exotic recruitment gambles. Israel springs to mind. Hook is under enormous pressure to deliver and he won’t have the time say Madge has to build the foundations and then see what happens. When Madge is eventually sacked, at least he could say he had a good opportunity. Not so with Hook with the 16 months he has left or something. It’s a brutal contract.

All that said, I rate your side a better than you. If Hook can fix their heads, blokes like Hunt can be the best in the game. AM should make a positive contribution, Bird was legend once and tbh it’s better in the long term that Cam is gone. His continued presence in the squad would be a untenable socially. He’s not with the program except his own.

I’m hoping Mary pops up to help celebrate the centenary. He probably won’t because he’s still upset I guess.
 
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Wizardman

First Grade
Messages
8,504
I rate Folau....but signing him would not make a big difference towards your fortunes in 2021. Definitely, your sides biggest strength are your centres and wingers. You guys need to put every possible salary cap dollar towards getting the best pack...it is terrible and has been for the last year or so.
 

thebigredv

First Grade
Messages
5,207
All that said, I rate your side a better than you. If Hook can fix their heads, blokes like Hunt can be the best in the game. AM should make a positive contribution, Bird was legend once and tbh it’s better in the long term that Cam is gone. His continued presence in the squad would be a untenable socially. He’s not with the program except his own.

If Hook can fix these blokes' heads then he deserves to be made an Immortal.

Appreciate your positivity but can simply not see them turning it around enough to be semi competitive against decent teams. That will require a good year of recruitment and nurturing the likes of Feagaii, Sullivan and Ramsey.

Currently, our key backs would all admit they have deficiencies ( eg dufty defence, Lomax and rava handling errors, hunt mentality, Norman is a myth) in their game and are left to drag the rest of the team forward.

As for the forwards, they have continuously been trampled over in recent times. Where we once we had jdb, a rampaging Sims and a surging vaughan they now for a good while seem like older deadwood amongst others who are 'green' but just not advancing. How long do we have to wait for the likes of Kerr, Lawrie and Ford to really stamp their authority in first grade? That whole excuse is wearing thin. Maybe Hook can do something there but it's one heck of a job.

I just hope Griffin tore into our forwards last night. There was nothing there that was praiseworthy. McGregor would be playing golf with them but we need a coach to give them a reality check and move them to the reserves.

Rebuilding is to be expected but the buzz around a new season has been toned out by another very cat like performance.
 
Messages
15,386
If Hook can fix these blokes' heads then he deserves to be made an Immortal.

Appreciate your positivity but can simply not see them turning it around enough to be semi competitive against decent teams. That will require a good year of recruitment and nurturing the likes of Feagaii, Sullivan and Ramsey.

Currently, our key backs would all admit they have deficiencies ( eg dufty defence, Lomax and rava handling errors, hunt mentality, Norman is a myth) in their game and are left to drag the rest of the team forward.

As for the forwards, they have continuously been trampled over in recent times. Where we once we had jdb, a rampaging Sims and a surging vaughan they now for a good while seem like older deadwood amongst others who are 'green' but just not advancing. How long do we have to wait for the likes of Kerr, Lawrie and Ford to really stamp their authority in first grade? That whole excuse is wearing thin. Maybe Hook can do something there but it's one heck of a job.

I just hope Griffin tore into our forwards last night. There was nothing there that was praiseworthy. McGregor would be playing golf with them but we need a coach to give them a reality check and move them to the reserves.

Rebuilding is to be expected but the buzz around a new season has been toned out by another very cat like performance.

I agree in the main, but Hook knows he doesn’t have much time to make an impact. He’s turned up in a bad mood and swung plenty of axe.

My expectation is that he will drive the players into the ground if he has to.

Unlike McIssacLukemarqueesigning he will be held to account.

It’s been interesting to see Millward deliver for Hook with the Cam expulsion and AM. May actually be getting some of his mojo back.

Still very early days in the post Mary revival, there’s some promising signs.

I’d be taking heart from the whinging about Hook at the Panthers, especially the remarks from Gus Gould who failed to recognise the clear conflict of interest he had when he did the review upon invitation of Mary.

And I doubt Hook would have lost that gf.
 
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Messages
15,386
It would be almost a herculean effort to clear the 'old mate' attitude that has been implanted in most of our players heads for 7 yrs and try to fix it in 4 months.
Unfortunately, time and patience are not our friends.

Yes.

This is probably a discussion you guys should have been having 3 or 4 years ago.

Not as much natural magic around now. Every small benefit is a matter of life and death these days.

But the pulse still beats strong. You’re still here, loyal as all f**k and the red v and Scarlett still means something.
 
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2010Dragons

Bench
Messages
3,929
Same shit defence difference year.
Our edge defence on both side of the field is our weakest link.
We need someone like Beau Scott style player on the edges protecting number 6 and 7.

We bombed a few tries last night, with poor finishing. Which can be fixed with more game time.
But the defence was heartless rabble. Line speed is too slow, Players don’t know how to shift left or right. They don’t trust each other’s defence capabilities.
Just watch the chooks or storm. Now that’s how you defend.
 

Mjab

Juniors
Messages
967
It will take time to see improvement

Titans only looked better in the back third season

some players will be cleaned out after a few rounds I am sure who are not performing

trials are just warm ups and allow coaches to see what they have and I think this will be fine tuned in coming months

hopefully blood and stick with juniors in back half year
 
Messages
15,386
I've got some cheap razor blades if any of you f**kers are interested.

You know Hook doesn't give a shit about trials?

Not sure about the razors but...the rest appears true Socky.

He’d put his grandma on the park if he thought she’d be better for the run.

His win/loss ratio still overcomes any serious questions for the moment.

You should have kept him on. Someone should have told Gus that he can’t win a grand final if he’s not coaching.

Win, lose or draw I think he’s just what sgi needs. He’s unafraid. They need that after years of board neglect, appalling management and years and years of excuses to fans and members.

Everything has to be on the table and every official at sgi has to be “in harms way” ( ie job) to get them back in the game.
 
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soc123_au

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
18,451
Not sure about the razors but...the rest appears true Socky.

He’d put his grandma on the park if he thought she’d be better for the run.

His win/loss ratio still overcomes any serious questions for the moment.

You should have kept him on. Someone should have told Gus that he can’t win a grand final if he’s not coaching.

Win, lose or draw I think he’s just what sgi needs. He’s unafraid.
You seem to rate him more than I do. I agree that he is a good fit for the Dragons right now though. Simple run hard, tackle hard game plans & the nurturing of the junior base is a positive improvement on the Price/Mary era. He could be found out a bit now he doesn't have Gus recruiting. We will see in the coming months how it pans out.
 
Messages
15,386
You seem to rate him more than I do. I agree that he is a good fit for the Dragons right now though. Simple run hard, tackle hard game plans & the nurturing of the junior base is a positive improvement on the Price/Mary era. He could be found out a bit now he doesn't have Gus recruiting. We will see in the coming months how it pans out.

Fair enough, but they’ve gone full commando with him and I think they did the right thing.

Plus they don’t have brilliant young marquee you guys are pumping out at the moment.
 

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
It will take time to see improvement

Titans only looked better in the back third season

some players will be cleaned out after a few rounds I am sure who are not performing

trials are just warm ups and allow coaches to see what they have and I think this will be fine tuned in coming months

hopefully blood and stick with juniors in back half year

Add to this they hold the ball and the scoreline is different....how many times did Souths punish our lost possession...
 
Messages
15,386
It would be almost a herculean effort to clear the 'old mate' attitude that has been implanted in most of our players heads for 7 yrs and try to fix it in 4 months.
Unfortunately, time and patience are not our friends.

If it’s a bad start, I can just see the legacy media flogging him senseless in the press etc without any reference to the challenges he faced.

The same group of cowards that flogged him senseless when Gould and co sacked him.

But he’s got powerful friends and I was pleased when he stood up to Gus.

Let McInness slip and grabbed AM for his leadership.

He’s his own man. The players can run off the board and cry all they want!

He’s the antithesis of Mary. No aesthetic patterned footprints, just his grubby boot up peoples backsides!

Don’t forget, all the loafers and non-performers over the last two years ( except cam) were in the press praising Mary and begging that he be retained.
 
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Messages
1,451
Yes.

This is probably a discussion you guys should have been having 3 or 4 years ago.

But the pulse still beats strong. You’re still here, loyal as all f**k and the red v and Scarlett still means something.

In what way is the Red V still here?! We have one St George junior in the joint. Two perfectly good home-grown back-rowers ( Leilua and Host) were allowed to leave, when it's an area we lack strong players and Dufty has yet to be offered a deal beyond this year to my knowledge. To me, that stinks.

Another thing at stinks is our recruitment and development. Not only do not replace outstanding contributors (Hornby, Soward, Cooper, Weyman) our local product (from either catchment) never seems to get the right guidance and so they never become more than 2nd/3rd tier players. Jackson Ford is a classic example. He was tremendous in CC. Once he gets into the "elite"squad he has completely stalled. I heard a story that we once chose Tony Caine over Danny Buderus. Either Buds had a bad day on the day he trialled for us or we are just plain stupid.
 

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