JOEL THOMPSON TO MANLY?

[giboz71]

If we didn't have Sims, Host, Luc and Sele I'd say definitely try and keep him.

But we have cover and have more important needs. Like finding backs that are actually quicker than our forwards.

 

[dungay dragon]

Dungay
I think Thommo floats in and out of games because hes busted from his runs . How many times a game does he get the short pass from widdop only to be creamed instsntly by the opposition , I would love to see him this year with hunt also able to maybe put him thru a gap . lets not forget that our backrowers are all used as battering rams just to make yards We needed Thoomo as our reddy /wynn running into a gap . Unfortunately contracts get broken too easily for emotion and give them a good final pay day/
be a shame to lose him but theres no reason why host cant replace him

Agree with a lot of that...Our forwards are terribly coached and are easy targets for defence opposition.i dont blame players after the big payouts when nearing the end of their careers BUT unfortunately in thommos case we have a plethora of back rowers...If he can get $575k at manly good luck to him.Judging by Manlys line up he would be used exactly the same way

 

[BringTheNoise]

Literally every single player that has ever been offered a better deal from another club, the money has been labelled "overs" on this forum...

 

[grouch]

Literally every single player that has ever been offered a better deal from another club, the money has been labelled "overs" on this forum...

And they all miraculously turn to shit the moment they pull on a different coloured jersey too. Remarkable stuff.

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

And they all miraculously turn to shit the moment they pull on a different coloured jersey too. Remarkable stuff.

Minor Correction - They turn to sh!t for us the moment they sign for another club...... ( ie: Packer )

 

[Qdf]

Agree with a lot of that...Our forwards are terribly coached and are easy targets for defence opposition.i dont blame players after the big payouts when nearing the end of their careers BUT unfortunately in thommos case we have a plethora of back rowers...If he can get $575k at manly good luck to him.Judging by Manlys line up he would be used exactly the same way

Make him play out his contract, on the provision of a upgrade in2019..

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Literally every single player that has ever been offered a better deal from another club, the money has been labelled "overs" on this forum...

It's about cap management. If we paid all of these players what they REALLY wanted then we would have a roster of 10 men.
Packer on 600k+ was huge overs. The Tigers were desperate.
Dugan on 800k was overs, he is NOT a "world class player".
600k for Thompson, again, is overs. Love him to death, but he is not an elite second-rower.

We couldn't just fold to these guys and pay them top dollar, otherwise our cap would be in disarray.

 

[2010]

I would not blame him for taking the offer. This will probably be his last contract so he would be mad not to accept it.
The downside to this is that other players in the second row will want the same contract value.

 

[Dragon Revival]

When you look at our 2018 NRL side you would say that we only have four matchwinners being Dufty, Hunt, Widdop and Vaughan. Added to that we have three consistent forwards in De Belin, Frizzel and Graham. The rest of the NRL side is pretty ordinary and the backs do not match those of the top eight sides. We need to introduce other strike players such as Field, Lomax and others that can score long distance tries. When we won in 2010 we had scintillating players from half to fullback and defended stoutly. We also had wonderful backlines in 1977 and 1979 who could match any other side. Once we got to 2012 a game winning backline was no longer there which has continued for five long years. We lost some of our best ever backs such as Boyd, Cooper, Gasnier, Hornby, Brett Morris, and Soward and never replaced them with players of equivalent ability. Our Under 20's backs play exhilarating football and need to be given a go before they leave in frustration like Bird, Hastings, Linnett., Mansour, Josh Morris, Runciman and Whare. I would bet on these players being better than our 2017 backline. What do others think?

 

[denis preston]

When you look at our 2018 NRL side you would say that we only have four matchwinners being Dufty, Hunt, Widdop and Vaughan. Added to that we have three consistent forwards in De Belin, Frizzel and Graham. The rest of the NRL side is pretty ordinary and the backs do not match those of the top eight sides. We need to introduce other strike players such as Field, Lomax and others that can score long distance tries. When we won in 2010 we had scintillating players from half to fullback and defended stoutly. We also had wonderful backlines in 1977 and 1979 who could match any other side. Once we got to 2012 a game winning backline was no longer there which has continued for five long years. We lost some of our best ever backs such as Boyd, Cooper, Gasnier, Hornby, Brett Morris, and Soward and never replaced them with players of equivalent ability. Our Under 20's backs play exhilarating football and need to be given a go before they leave in frustration like Bird, Hastings, Linnett., Mansour, Josh Morris, Runciman and Whare. I would bet on these players being better than our 2017 backline. What do others think?

Well , lets start... Whare , Linnett & Mansour were pretty young and were blocked by Coop, Gaz Morris & Florence and I don't recall anybody crying when they left. Runciman & Hastings haven't kicked on. The Bird situation was handled very badly but the club appears to have seen their error here.

I dont see the 2010 side as scintillating as all , far from it.. The side next year should be good to very good in the forwards that can lay a platform and the addition of a fast experienced top class winger will show a back line that Hunt and Widdorp could play with very well.

Still can't get over the first half of the 2010 GF , how badly this side played so sometimes we look back with rose coloured glasses. What 2010 had was a coach that could , like Bellamy, turn NRL players into world beaters . Saffy , Costigan , Soward , Weyman & Prior to name a few..

The 2018 side doesn't have that luxury.

 

[possm]

I don't mind the Thompson going idea, as said above, we have the cover. And if we could get Cronk with Thompson money plus a bit more, we wouold have an amazing team:
1 Dufty
2. Mann
3. Lomax
4. Lafai
5. Nightingale/Young junior
6. Widdop
7. Cronk
8. Graham
9. Hunt
10. Vaughan
11. Sims
12. Frizell
13. De Belin

14. Ah Mau
15. Laurie/Kerr
16. Host/Sele/Leilua
17. McInnes/Field

Spine: Dufty, Widdop, Cronk and Hunt

 

[TruSaint]

I don't mind the Thompson going idea, as said above, we have the cover. And if we could get Cronk with Thompson money plus a bit more, we wouold have an amazing team:
1 Dufty
2. Mann
3. Lomax
4. Lafai
5. Nightingale/Young junior
6. Widdop
7. Cronk
8. Graham
9. Hunt
10. Vaughan
11. Sims
12. Frizell
13. De Belin

14. Ah Mau
15. Laurie/Kerr
16. Host/Sele/Leilua
17. McInnes/Field

Spine: Dufty, Widdop, Cronk and Hunt

Cronk and coming mate.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

Well , lets start... Whare , Linnett & Mansour were pretty young and were blocked by Coop, Gaz Morris & Florence and I don't recall anybody crying when they left. Runciman & Hastings haven't kicked on. The Bird situation was handled very badly but the club appears to have seen their error here.

I dont see the 2010 side as scintillating as all , far from it.. The side next year should be good to very good in the forwards that can lay a platform and the addition of a fast experienced top class winger will show a back line that Hunt and Widdorp could play with very well.

Still can't get over the first half of the 2010 GF , how badly this side played so sometimes we look back with rose coloured glasses. What 2010 had was a coach that could , like Bellamy, turn NRL players into world beaters . Saffy , Costigan , Soward , Weyman & Prior to name a few..

The 2018 side doesn't have that luxury.

Regarding Bird, which was a major stuff up, if he stayed, he would have left us anyway, he is after the money & will go to the highest bidder, no way do we compete with Broncos , we would all be fuming that we lost him and Millward would be a hunted man...

 

[BringTheNoise]

Regarding Bird, which was a major stuff up, if he stayed, he would have left us anyway, he is after the money & will go to the highest bidder, no way do we compete with Broncos , we would all be fuming that we lost him and Millward would be a hunted man...

It's easy to say he's chasing the money, but he has made some astute decisions. Already played SOO and won a premiership early in his career. Left the Sharks and joined another powerhouse club to develop his game under arguably one of the best coaches of all time. And he's getting paid handsomely to do it.

None of that would have been an option had he stayed with us. We couldn't even guarantee him a first grade spot.

Plus I'm willing to bet he wins more premierships than the Dragons do over the span of his career. He's already up 1-0.

 

[Crush]

I don't mind the Thompson going idea, as said above, we have the cover. And if we could get Cronk with Thompson money plus a bit more, we wouold have an amazing team:
1 Dufty
2. Mann
3. Lomax
4. Lafai
5. Nightingale/Young junior
6. Widdop
7. Cronk
8. Graham
9. Hunt
10. Vaughan
11. Sims
12. Frizell
13. De Belin

14. Ah Mau
15. Laurie/Kerr
16. Host/Sele/Leilua
17. McInnes/Field

Spine: Dufty, Widdop, Cronk and Hunt

I'd prefer Aitken over Lafai.

 

[dragonssamy61]

Cronk and coming mate.

We haven't even talked to him.
I don't think cronk will play for anyone.
It's all paper talk and gossip.

 

[Belta]

Would be nice to acquire Cronk but in all honesty I'd say the odds are 100-1 that he's not playing next year...but I guess it doesn't hurt to live in fantasy land ... Reality of late is just quite simply depressing

 

[TruSaint]

Would be nice to acquire Cronk but in all honesty I'd say the odds are 100-1 that he's not playing next year...but I guess it doesn't hurt to live in fantasy land ... Reality of late is just quite simply depressing

The sooner we put the Cronk debate to bed, the better we will all be.
Sadly or not

 

[coast_dragons]

The Cronk rumour is a joke.

The Thompson moving on doesn't seem to have alot of legs either.

 

[Walpole]

What goes on in people's heads when they list their team for next year and have Cooper Cronk in the 7? Just curious...