2024 Squad List

[Number of the Beath]

Blame Flanagan as it was he that said he wanted no one but Hunt as his half and captain. I now wonder whether we have made a big mistake allowing this bloke to take the reins of our beloved club.

Call me suspicious, paranoid or whatever you like but I have this nagging feeling that Flanagan will be the last nail in the coffin for the Red V.
It will take a lot more than Solvol to wash the smell of Peptides, Scumnulla and Fox Sports off him enough to make him palatable to me.
And if his worthless progeny signs with us, that will just be confirmation.

 

[OneEyedDragon]

Call me suspicious, paranoid or whatever you like but I have this nagging feeling that Flanagan will be the last nail in the coffin for the Red V.
It will take a lot more than Solvol to wash the smell of Peptides, Scumnulla and Fox Sports off him enough to make him palatable to me.
And if his worthless progeny signs with us, that will just be confirmation.

You are suspicious, paranoid or whatever you like.

If Flanagan doesn't work, then I have no clue as to what an achievable solution is to dragging this club out of the dismal depths to which they have sunk.

 

[st.phil]

He has been as good as Feagai this year

Lol , seriously?

 

[Parko1310]

You are suspicious, paranoid or whatever you like.

If Flanagan doesn't work, then I have no clue as to what an achievable solution is to dragging this club out of the dismal depths to which they have sunk.

The issue is the board, GM, etc will not put in place what the coach needs or wants. He is going to have to work with a lot of limitations because of these idiots.

 

[thebigredv]

Like to see Corey Oates considered to replace Feagai on the wing. He reportedly wants out. We can pay a little more than the Broncos.

 

[RedVee_8]

Call me suspicious, paranoid or whatever you like but I have this nagging feeling that Flanagan will be the last nail in the coffin for the Red V.
It will take a lot more than Solvol to wash the smell of Peptides, Scumnulla and Fox Sports off him enough to make him palatable to me.
And if his worthless progeny signs with us, that will just be confirmation.

I wouldn’t call his son useless. A more than decent backup 9, emergency half.

What he is not is an elite halfback.

 

[RedVee_8]

The issue is the board, GM, etc will not put in place what the coach needs or wants. He is going to have to work with a lot of limitations because of these idiots.

According to that fan forum the club is now in a financial position to put correct staffing and other resources into place.
Whether that happens or not will be the key.

 

[Dragon David]

You are suspicious, paranoid or whatever you like.

If Flanagan doesn't work, then I have no clue as to what an achievable solution is to dragging this club out of the dismal depths to which they have sunk.

For the life of me (which needs something good to keep the spark alight) I thought that the purpose of ridding the club of Hook was to get the bloomin' club heading in the right direction and becoming a top 8 then to top 4 squad in a reasonable time and getting everything, without breaking any rules of course, that we can in terms of coaches, players etc.

Unless there have been some serious deals negotiated on some top notch players to come to us, we won't be doing much next year. Flanagan might just have to coach what we have less those who are fortunate to find another club with the only signing to date of Sele - wow!

I am positive that the people who are running this club don't have any idea or are still not caring what happens. Everything is a total joke run by useless clowns.

I might be jumping to conclusions and I hope so and therefore I will wait to see what happens in the next 6 months God willing.

 

[possm]

You are suspicious, paranoid or whatever you like.

If Flanagan doesn't work, then I have no clue as to what an achievable solution is to dragging this club out of the dismal depths to which they have sunk.

My view is that Flannagan will work out well however, the Dragons will then face one of their usual major problems.

Craig Young will pressure the Board for a return to the BOD and for Dean Young to be appointed Hea Coach; that is after all the hard work has been done to get the Dragons up into the top 4.

 

[St Tangles]

Lol , seriously?

Yes seriously
1 good game doesn't make a season
He has been dreadful for the cash he is on
You mustn't have watched much of him this year all my dogs mates believe his money would be best spent elsewhere

 

[Parko1310]

According to that fan forum the club is now in a financial position to put correct staffing and other resources into place.
Whether that happens or not will be the key.

They already aren't even giving Flanno complete control of the footy department. Guarantee he wanted Ennis in pathways, he won't get him because their mate Ian Millward needs the job. Haran should be moved on, I doubt Flanno wants him either, but he won't be. Haran himself admits he didn't know anything about rugby league until about 15 years ago, he's now the general manager of a first grade rugby league team. Flanno doesn't even know the extent of the issue yet I don't think. Over time, they'll continue overwriting him and won't give him what he wants and needs to succeed, and little by little they'll frustrate him. This board and GM just have to go

 

[BLM01]

The issue is the board, GM, etc will not put in place what the coach needs or wants. He is going to have to work with a lot of limitations because of these idiots.

That is contrary what I heard. When Flanno officially comes in he will run and have the say for the football dept staffing. Hope that is true.

 

[Parko1310]

I wouldn’t call his son useless. A more than decent backup 9, emergency half.

What he is not is an elite halfback.

Agreed I think he's fine IF he is used as a backup and is mostly playing reserves. Unfortunately I think we might be seeing too much of him in the NRL

 

[Parko1310]

That is contrary what I heard. When Flanno officially comes in he will run and have the say for the football dept staffing. Hope that is true.

Whereabouts did you hear this?

 

[BLM01]

Whereabouts did you hear this?

Through group 7 sources close to the club

 

[Parko1310]

Through group 7 sources close to the club

Let's hope that's correct and not just talk from the club then. The board don't exactly have high integrity, and flat out lying isn't at all past them. It's also one thing to talk, and another to actually let go of the immense ego they have and let someone else with an idea run the show. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[BLM01]

Let's hope that's correct and not just talk from the club then. The board don't exactly have high integrity, and flat out lying isn't at all past them. It's also one thing to talk, and another to actually let go of the immense ego they have and let someone else with an idea run the show. I'll believe it when I see it.

Agree but Flanno is a lot stronger coaching character than our past 3 coaches

 

[be55]

I made a smart-arse comment, during yesterday’s game thread, regarding Ben Hunt.

Here’s what I truly think about our halfback…

I will never criticize his effort during games, although I don’t know if that applies to the early days of his contract with the club. He certainly seems to have been throwing himself into the team cause for the last few years.

In our current team he is obviously the dominant playmaker that we look to base our game around. No doubt if we had a stronger pack of forwards, that could create more momentum through the middle, he would benefit from that greatly. But in my opinion, it doesn’t change the fact that he will always be a hooker that masquerades as a halfback. There’s a reason why he shines at origin level and that’s because he’s playing his natural position.

He needs it to be kept simple. Defend strong, direct the play, line speed and kick pressure, kick from dummy half and lead by example. The more you complicate things, the more it detracts from his game. And there’s no more complicated position on the field than halfback. Like I said, he can come up with the big play that makes him look good, but if you look at his game as a whole, he falls down in so many key areas that you want from a halfback.

Look at the elite halfbacks of the competition, past and present. They look in control, they look to be planning two and three tackles ahead, they are composed and inevitably make the right call at the right time, and when you need them they stand up. When an opportunity arises they want the ball in their hands. I’ve seen enough of Ben Hunt to say that those attributes aren’t part of his game.

Personally, I’ve had a gutful of the crabbing across field and hitting an edge backrower with a hospital pass. I’ve seen enough of him getting tackled on the last, with the ball, for a turnover. I’ve seen enough of him, when it’s time, just passing the ball and looking for someone else to create something. Seeing him, on the last, just pass the ball to a flat footed forward leaves me more than frustrated.

Good halfbacks see where the play is headed for the next few plays and plan accordingly. I don’t think that, even when Ben gets the ball, he has a clue what he’s going to do with it next. It’s just all off the cuff. If your dominate player plays like that, how is the rest of the team supposed to plan for what’s coming? For example, when he puts a kick into the in-goal and nobody’s chasing, it’s probably because players around him have no idea whether he is going to run, pass, kick, or a mixture of all three.

Truth be told, I wouldn’t have been too concerned if Hunt had left, we had looked at signing an organizing half on lesser money, and with the saved money went hard in the player market for some high-quality forwards and speed and size in the backs, and look to improve our play on the field so that we eventually become a more attractive proposition for free agents in the future.

The way I see it, with the real probability that we are going to have to pay massive overs to attract quality talent for the foreseeable future, and having so much money locked up in Hunt’s contract, I think it makes our road to recovery an even longer prospect than what it appears to be already.

All in all, it’s my guess we’ll see much of the same from Ben next year. That being, Ben failing at being an elite half, while collecting the pay cheque of one.

Just my opinion…

 

[justadragon]

Let's hope that's correct and not just talk from the club then. The board don't exactly have high integrity, and flat out lying isn't at all past them. It's also one thing to talk, and another to actually let go of the immense ego they have and let someone else with an idea run the show. I'll believe it when I see it.

Dont forget Parko that Flanno has been at the club before in different roles so he would have seen the issues first hand going on with mary and hook. Now the only thing I can hope for is that he genuinely can stand up to the BOD, but also this is his last chance at it I reckon, he wont get another HC gig if this goes sour. If he has just taken this gig just to get back into coaching and just rolls over to club decisions, it will be his neck very quickly. Whilst he wasnt my first choice it was Hasler, i dont believe its his character to roll over, just my opinion.

 

[JubileeJeffro]

Yes seriously

1 good game doesn't make a season
He has been dreadful for the cash he is on
You mustn't have watched much of him this year all my dogs mates believe his money would be best spent elsewhere

Nope, don’t watch much of the dogs. He can finish though and has plenty of speed..something we dearly lack.. we probably have the slowest backline in the comp. Handles state of origin ok…