Jack Bird

[Dragon set in stone.]

Wot?

Benji And Dugan .Orange man

 

[muzby]

Benji And Dugan .Orange man

And?

 

[Eatons Hill Dragon]

Widdop was a gun.
If u look at his stats and simply how talented he was playing under a shithouse coach with us it’s actualky quite impressive.
He also played well in big games.
2015 final against Dogs, Benji goes down and Widdop almost gets us through. He played awesome that game.
2018 v Donkeys, easily player of the match up until injury.
The game against Manly at Brooke in about round 7 in 20-8 was stellar as well.heaps of great games, just a pity we didn’t have a better coach during those years.

 

[Gareth67]

Widdop was a gun.
If u look at his stats and simply how talented he was playing under a shithouse coach with us it’s actualky quite impressive.
He also played well in big games.
2015 final against Dogs, Benji goes down and Widdop almost gets us through. He played awesome that game.
2018 v Donkeys, easily player of the match up until injury.
The game against Manly at Brooke in about round 7 in 20-8 was stellar as well.heaps of great games, just a pity we didn’t have a better coach during those years.

100% so E.H.Dragon ! The game that you have referred to against the Bullydogs , he had actually jumped out of a hospital bed to play in that semifinal .

By his sheer brilliance ( plus a wholehearted performance by the Dragon pack ) almost won us that game that many thought was impossible to win , as the Dragons had been playing so badly in the last few matches of the season .

As you have said Widdop was a far better player than given credit for .

 

[The calm one]

For me, and I'd surprised if Griffin is on another track, it is Bird for fullback. Fullback is our only weakness right now. Max Feagai has the potential to handle left centre very well.

If full back is our only weakness how come we played shit house all year

 

[muzby]

If full back is our only weakness how come we played shit house all year

Because our fullback caused all our problems.

Duh.

 

[The calm one]

Because our fullback caused all our problems.

Duh.

Must have caused numerous problems every week.

Duh.

 

[muzby]

Must have caused numerous problems every week.

Duh.

That’s the joke.

Duh.

 

[rasaint]

Good on you EHD and Gareth regarding positive comments on Gareth Widdop.

A world class player and never understood the sometimes dismissive comments made about him. If he was playing in a top 4 side consistently he would have been so much more admired. In 2015 he took the field with the world’s largest thigh bandage and I understand took the field with a most significant injury. The bulldogs big bloopers went after him. Sheer guts.

I thought ‘you beauty’ that he may be coming back in a some deal to send Cory to England. Oh well didn’t happen.

 

[giboz71]

I often bagged Widdop, but seeing 2 years of Norman now makes me appreciate how good he was.

 

[Pro Dragons]

I would bring back Benji Marshall before Bird. He did not do much under McGregor’s coaching but now we have Griffin as our coach he may do much better. His form last season was very good, his attitude and experience would be great for the young players coming through. He also would be a fraction of the price of Bird and he is not injury prone like Bird.

 

[possm]

If full back is our only weakness how come we played shit house all year

Maybe because:

1. We had a very bad coach who did not have a realistic game plan for each game and who's selections and bench management were dreadful.
2. We had a number of players that were either not playing to their full potential or who were no longer up to the riggers of first grade football.
   1. For all the good Dufty brings to our team, he is a negative when it comes to defence, positional play and confidence when taking the high ball. Dufty is reluctant to do the hard yards coming out of our 20 for good reason, his size is not suitable for the first grade fullback role.
   2. Thank goodness Aitken and Lafai are gone and thank goodness we have unearthed juniors such as Ramsey, Max Feagai, Sullivan and Blacker. I expect to see a much better 17 on the field in 2021.
   3. The Board has finally decided to lash out on off-field things that will make recruitment easier, players stronger and fitter and the Club more professional overall.
3. I feel confident that the Dragons team under Griffin will be so much more competitive than what we had to put up with under Mary.

 

[Draginzaaar]

Can someone please explain if we have a genuine fullback in the making.. why do they have to start their NRL career on the wing?. Makes no sense to me and still cant get my head around it.
St George are about the only team that seem to start someone's NRL career in their wrong spot (backs) and it makes no sense and drives me insane. Maryisms gone wrong and hope it changes going forward.
Ramsay played a lot of Juniors as a winger so I can accept that and filled in at fullback so well. Schiller did ffill in at wing for Young in 1st grade as he was still so young (no pun intended) but in reggies and Under 18's his best position was at fullback.
dragons have some big decisions to make going forward especially in the backs with a lot of talent coming through.
If all show promise..we will have to let some go. I guess Sailor was the 1st casualty..more to come before 2022..

Hello, RTS wing for Roosters in 2013.

 

[BLM01]

Hello, RTS wing for Roosters in 2013.

Yes you have to go back a fair way to find one.
And a superstar one at that who did play on the wing before starting 1st grade
and they had a club legend taking already fulfilling that spot
Dragons Don’t have that luxury

 

[Coffs dragon]

I really hope Griffin & Millward undertake a proper risk assessment & consider flipping the Bird.

 

[possm]

I really hope Griffin & Millward undertake a proper risk assessment & consider flipping the Bird.

I'd say that Millward will now have to actually work for his pay or he will see the same treatment the former coaching staff recently experienced.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

I'd say that Millward will now have to actually work for his pay or he will see the same treatment the former coaching staff recently experienced.

I'd say Millward will find his job a bit easier now. Ho would have had to work MUCH harder to attract players to the club with Mary as coach.

 

[True_Believer]

All NRL clubs do their own extensive medical checks before signing a player including getting info from prior club medicos. If they have not then they are not a professional outfit more like a park football outfit who sometimes sign and hope for the best. Been guilty of that myself

Wasn't there some back and forth when Broncos first got Bird that the Sharks didn't tell them the full story regarding his injuries?

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Wasn't there some back and forth when Broncos first got Bird that the Sharks didn't tell them the full story regarding his injuries?

Yes, that was the accusation from the Broncos. Wayne Bennett claimed that the Sharks didn’t disclose the full extent of his injury before his move, and that the Broncos were only made aware of his injury by Bird himself. He needed surgery in the off-season and missed a few games at the start. I saw him in Brisbane at the time for some sort of promotion and he looked horribly over-weight. The rumour was the Broncos team were given free McDonalds as part of some sort of deal and Jack took full advantage.

Since then it's been the two ACL's to the same knee, so he's a massive risk. Dragons management can't claim they don't know about this. I'm sure Broncos would be keen to pay part of his salary so they only have a worthless $500k in the salary cap instead of a worthless $1M. Plus the on-going rehab costs which someone has to pay for as well.

 

[Banjo2014]

Free Maccas - was a cop for nine years and I can attest to the freebies on closing time - anything left over went to the first cop car on site. Not sure if it still happens. Free Daily Telegraphs at Surry Hills as well.