RED V DRAGON IN LAS VEGAS 2026

[Gareth67]

I will say if we don’t start converting that effort into wins, all that effort will start going down the drain. We need that win on Sunday

The wins will come once the team is more stabilised - both defence and attack when our halves have developed stronger combinations- and of course with a smattering of those big name stars ( which other teams have an abundance off ) are added to the Dragon’s roster .

 

[sammymills]

Bottom Line: Whilst your tactical concerns about speed and predictability are valid, the board's recent three-year extension for Flanagan and the CEO's public "building year" stance make a mid-season sacking highly unlikely, even if the team starts 3-6.
While the "ruthless" fans want the immediate destination (winning), I prefer to remain the "hopeful" fan focused on the direction.

I do not view this as accepting mediocrity but a realistic outlook

P.S. 1963 - A great year to be born

please don’t post chat gpt responses

 

[Hound of Dracula]

please don’t post chat gpt responses

It was way too early for my brain, and I quite often utilise AI, especially at work when communicating 'difficult' news to customers. (I'm not very tactful)

I just typed my thoughts in and asked to make it a logical argument.

Oh well - I'm busted!

 

[since77]

Well said...... on the attacking, it is pretty hard to attack when you only have 6 play the balls in the opposition red zone. We spent the whole game coming out of our corners. This is because Atkins kept making sure we had no momentum. Highlighted by the 3 controversial penalties we gave away whilst in possession.

I'm loving watching the media clowns "have grave concerns" about our attack but creaming their pants over the Bulldogs every play of the game whilst ignoring that the game ended up 2 tries each.

 

[since77]

We been rebuilding for ages.
Under a new coach we are supposed to see inprovemrnt but we are still in the bottom 8.

Fair dinkum you're a sad sack. Have you ever posted anything postive? Right now on another thread you're already declaring its season over after the game against Parra.
I get there's a lot to be annoyed about since 2012 and I've done plenty of criticisng of the club in that time but I saw a lot to like against a team most are predicting to challenge for a GF this season while they're predicting us to be fighting for the spoon. It's taking a long time to turn around the damage done since 2012 but anyone who can't see that the club is actually turning things around (albeit slower than any of us would like) is just being miserable for the sake of it. Any fan who saw more negatives than postives in that game from the Dragons should give themselves an uppercut.

 

[jeffdragon]

Fair dinkum you're a sad sack. Have you ever posted anything postive? Right now on another thread you're already declaring its season over after the game against Parra.
I get there's a lot to be annoyed about since 2012 and I've done plenty of criticisng of the club in that time but I saw a lot to like against a team most are predicting to challenge for a GF this season while they're predicting us to be fighting for the spoon. It's taking a long time to turn around the damage done since 2012 but anyone who can't see that the club is actually turning things around (albeit slower than any of us would like) is just being miserable for the sake of it. Any fan who saw more negatives than postives in that game from the Dragons should give themselves an uppercut.

Yes I have bern positive.
They need to turn it around on the field.
by winning.
After all the team is judged on results.

 

[great.scott]

Fair dinkum you're a sad sack. Have you ever posted anything postive? Right now on another thread you're already declaring its season over after the game against Parra.
I get there's a lot to be annoyed about since 2012 and I've done plenty of criticisng of the club in that time but I saw a lot to like against a team most are predicting to challenge for a GF this season while they're predicting us to be fighting for the spoon. It's taking a long time to turn around the damage done since 2012 but anyone who can't see that the club is actually turning things around (albeit slower than any of us would like) is just being miserable for the sake of it. Any fan who saw more negatives than postives in that game from the Dragons should give themselves an uppercut.

I agree there were a lot of positives. Unfortunately I do agree with some prominent commentator whose name eludes me that what we need is an X factor in the backline. We were quite boring with tactics. - one man hit ups then kick and hope for an error. Some more bite in the backline and some expansive play would have been nice. Just think need more spark.

 

[True_Believer]

I agree there were a lot of positives. Unfortunately I do agree with some prominent commentator whose name eludes me that what we need is an X factor in the backline. We were quite boring with tactics. - one man hit ups then kick and hope for an error. Some more bite in the backline and some expansive play would have been nice. Just think need more spark.

Couple of points:

- One of the players (can't remember who) suggested they'd worked on a plan in both attack and defence to counter the Dogs. Potentially the boring style of play was due to that game plan
- In the Bennett years, it was always stated that we needed to get the defence right first and the attack would come. I'm guessing the same applies here.

Having said that, I don't disagree that we need a more dynamic player or 2 in the spine. I think we need to replace Gutho at 1. I'm also willing to wait for Reed to be ready to come into the halves.

 

[maestro1]

I agree there were a lot of positives. Unfortunately I do agree with some prominent commentator whose name eludes me that what we need is an X factor in the backline. We were quite boring with tactics. - one man hit ups then kick and hope for an error. Some more bite in the backline and some expansive play would have been nice. Just think need more spark.

You do realise that we only had the ball in coming out of our corners and the smart way to come out of those spots is the way we did. Expansive play coming out of your corners leads to mistakes and then defending your line again.

 

[Old Timer]

We were blessed that we played them in Vegas.

That field is circa 8m narrower with tiny in-goals so that nullified good kicking games and greatly enhanced our chances to defend better for longer.

Our real test is about to come when we play on a full sized field against quick sides with good kicking games.

My fear is we will still look like the slow cumbersome sides of 2024/5 with no strike capability that merely grinds out a couple of wins.

 

[blue bags]

We use the rort to drive our season.flanno and co to galvanise this group and want revenge every week get into the semis and forget about being ripped off

The onus is on the Ball carria
too keep possession
ball security

 

[Rob-Dragon]

We were blessed that we played them in Vegas.

That field is circa 8m narrower with tiny in-goals so that nullified good kicking games and greatly enhanced our chances to defend better for longer.

Our real test is about to come when we play on a full sized field against quick sides with good kicking games.

My fear is we will still look like the slow cumbersome sides of 2024/5 with no strike capability that merely grinds out a couple of wins.

Old Timer (from another old timer) your concern is my concern. As the late, great Bob Fulton used to say "You can't coach speed. You can buy it, but you can't coach it". We are so slow and cumbersome and I'm starting to think that Flanno is trapped in a 2016 time warp. The game, with 6-agains, has become so fast. You need speed. As much as Sloan does my head in; he's got speed in buckets. Until and unless we recruit/promote some speed....well we are an old jalopy....going up the hill at 34mph. God help us when we play the Bronco's...Walsh and Mann coming at us in waves. A teams fastest player should not be their 34 year old hooker. Come on!

 

[Victoire]

For the life of me I am not sure what our admiration/pride of efforts like yesterday are going to do for us. We as fans, should be demanding RESULTS.

And what is demanding RESULTS going to do for us lol. Except make you a bit miserable and kind of a buzzkill.

Being a "fan" of any sports team is an inherently stupid and illogical thing - why make it more stressful and painful than it needs to be by being RUTHLESS? No team can win every game every year, not the Panthers, and not even the Saints of the glory days that so many within this forum seem to hark back to. The world in 2026 is, to put it succinctly, rather f*cked in innumerable ways right now. So how about just: let people enjoy things. Perfectly fine to extract some joy and pride from that Vegas game regardless of the RESULT. Joy comes from within.

There was a man in a little fishing boat out on the harbour, having a nice time fishing in his old red v. He looked up and noticed a much bigger yacht, that was heading straight towards him. WTF is this shit, he thought to himself. Surely they're going to see me and move. The yacht kept coming. To hell with this guy, he said, I aint moving. I'm ruthless. I was here first and demand he moves. The yacht kept coming. Now the man got angry. He stood up, yelling obscenities and waving his arms. The yacht didn't deviate. At the last moment, the man flicked on the outboard and gave it just enough juice to get out of the way safely. As the yacht went by, he looked in and noticed: it was completely empty.

 

[John moz]

Just when you need speed our x factor this year could have been Cody Ramsey. Why Dragons would you let him go after he was captain of the nsw side and had a huge full season .

 

[Number of the Beath]

Just when you need speed our x factor this year could have been Cody Ramsey. Why Dragons would you let him go after he was captain of the nsw side and had a huge full season .

Maybe cos Saints weren't prepared to put his health in jeopardy by playing him in the NRL whereas the Rorters don't care?

 

[Dragsters]

I'm not sure if this has already been posted but I thought it was worth considering...

Dragons debacle ignites captain's challenge debate

Are the players getting it wrong?

www.zerotackle.com

 

[Slippery Morris]

Like it

The onus is on the Ball carria
too keep possession
ball security

Like it was for Suli apparently when he got knocked out and Dogs got the ball. Different rules for different teams. How was Suli a Loose carry when he clearly got knocked out and sent to HIA when he let go of the ball. Up until then he had a full grip.

 

[This Year?]

I'm not sure if this has already been posted but I thought it was worth considering...

Dragons debacle ignites captain's challenge debate

Are the players getting it wrong?

www.zerotackle.com

Dan Nicholls is trolling. Dragons had every right to challenge an incorrect call. No obstruction line was run by the defender. Of course the bunker was going to favour Atkins because the rule itself is not clear in interpretation.

What drives me bog eyed insane is that through the course of the season we will see an example of every "50/50" that we didn't get in Vegas go the other way.

 

[Trifili13]

Like it

Like it was for Suli apparently when he got knocked out and Dogs got the ball. Different rules for different teams. How was Suli a Loose carry when he clearly got knocked out and sent to HIA when he let go of the ball. Up until then he had a full grip.

Simple. Suli doesn't practice holding the ball like Xerri does at training if you read the garbage that came out if Xerri's mouth.

 

[Lovemedragons]

I'm loving watching the media clowns "have grave concerns" about our attack but creaming their pants over the Bulldogs every play of the game whilst ignoring that the game ended up 2 tries each.

Both our tries were nicely executed too