Daniel Alvaro

[since77]

here are the facts. We lost Tyson, graham, host, Aitken and Saab

To be fair only 1 of those players you’ve mentioned above is worth getting upset about, and that’s Frizell.
Graham was past his use by date before he’d played his first game for us.
Host - dudded by McGregor admittedly but easily replaceable
Aitken - Useless as tits on a bull.
Saab - who cares?

At least Griffin is being patient and smart with the huge task of reworking our roster - it’s going to take time and we are just going to have to accept that as part of the consequence of fixing the ineptness of the McGregor era.

 

[Maddragon99]

Welch was the one we needed.

Alvaro. Underwhelming.

Welch is a fine player but I always thought corey harawira-naera was the one we should have gone big for, a creative ball playing backrower is exactly what we needed

 

[Slippery Morris]

Absolutely Madddragin99 - Corey Harawira-Naera is a gun forward and would have been an ideal replacement for Friz.

 

[Maddragon99]

Absolutely Madddragin99 - Corey Harawira-Naera is a gun forward and would have been an ideal replacement for Friz.

The brainstrust let Luciano Leilua go & didn’t replace him

 

[qld redvee]

100% agree Frizzle has been great but it was time to move on, Friz got a big payday & we probably got 3 quality first graders for the same money.

We desperately need creativity in the backrow to take pressure off our dud halves. Frizzle’s battering-ram running doesn’t suit us anymore, he doesn’t have an offload.

Mad,
lets see if Frizz goes back to a runnung forward next year... Remember it was whats his name ( last coach) that used a power game and converted all our forwards to non passing players .. But I agree with you we needed to buy a replacement for frizz but Im happy with the squad hook is assembling .. he seems to have a plan and ideas and the coaching staff in gentle and elliott are a huge step up from what we had during the previous regime. Maybe we have that 1 big signing left ( fingers crossed)
and hopefully our dud halves fire or spend time in cc

 

[Inisai Toga]

To be fair only 1 of those players you’ve mentioned above is worth getting upset about, and that’s Frizell.
Graham was past his use by date before he’d played his first game for us.
Host - dudded by McGregor admittedly but easily replaceable
Aitken - Useless as tits on a bull.
Saab - who cares?

At least Griffin is being patient and smart with the huge task of reworking our roster - it’s going to take time and we are just going to have to accept that as part of the consequence of fixing the ineptness of the McGregor era.

I think he’s patient because of both the circumstances that he’s confronted with and also because he’s extremely confident in his own ability. That’s the feeling I get; hope the players do too!

 

[Maddragon99]

Mad,
lets see if Frizz goes back to a runnung forward next year... Remember it was whats his name ( last coach) that used a power game and converted all our forwards to non passing players .. But I agree with you we needed to buy a replacement for frizz but Im happy with the squad hook is assembling .. he seems to have a plan and ideas and the coaching staff in gentle and elliott are a huge step up from what we had during the previous regime. Maybe we have that 1 big signing left ( fingers crossed)
and hopefully our dud halves fire or spend time in cc

100% agree, it’s a tradesman like squad but each player will have their role & just have to play to the best of their ability. I think we’ll be competitive next year & that’ll be a building block for 2022.

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

To be fair only 1 of those players you’ve mentioned above is worth getting upset about

exactly what I said. And we haven’t looked to replace him with someone similar. Instead we’re going after fringe first graders.

 

[qld redvee]

100% agree, it’s a tradesman like squad but each player will have their role & just have to play to the best of their ability. I think we’ll be competitive next year & that’ll be a building block for 2022.

thats what im looking forward to ... hopefully the building of a new dynasty

 

[getsmarty]

Jack Bird - New South Wales State of Origin, Country Origin, Prime Minister's XIII and Indigenous All Stars representative.

Daniel Alvaro - NSW Country Rep + Italy

Poasa Faamausili - Junior Kiwis

 

[Dragsters]

Welch is a fine player but I always thought corey harawira-naera was the one we should have gone big for, a creative ball playing backrower is exactly what we needed

Either Welch or CHN would have been great.

The Joe O's etc. I thought were good misses.

When I heard about Alvaro, my first thought was he offers less than those we passed on (albeit much cheaper, one would hope) then when I read about the Hook link it made more sense.

Let's see what Hook can get out of him.

I'm still expecting/hoping for a quality backrow signing soon-ish...

 

[mickeylane]

As a supporter, I have no other choice but to trust Hooks hunch on Alvaro here...I would have passed but he must know something we don't...Bennet did the same back in 2009 w Costigan, Smith and a few others. I must admit though he does run hard - check out the 2018 highlights here :...https://www.parraeels.com.au/news/2018/09/14/2018-highlights---daniel-alvaro/

 

[Maddragon99]

As a supporter, I have no other choice but to trust Hooks hunch on Alvaro here...I would have passed but he must know something we don't...Bennet did the same back in 2009 w Costigan, Smith and a few others. I must admit though he does run hard - check out the 2018 highlights here :...https://www.parraeels.com.au/news/2018/09/14/2018-highlights---daniel-alvaro/

Hook is building a squad & backing himself to coach & get the best out of underdeveloped players. Diamonds in the rough if you like. Where McGregor signed overpriced talent & thought it would just happen.

 

[kit66]

As a supporter, I have no other choice but to trust Hooks hunch on Alvaro here...I would have passed but he must know something we don't...Bennet did the same back in 2009 w Costigan, Smith and a few others. I must admit though he does run hard - check out the 2018 highlights here :...https://www.parraeels.com.au/news/2018/09/14/2018-highlights---daniel-alvaro/

Considering who's currently on the market he's not too bad a pick up. 115 kgs, plenty of first grade experience, good defence and at 27 should be hitting his peak years. If nothing else he's another big body to bring in off the bench with Kerr or Blacker against tiring opponents. Not the best but certainly not the worst.

 

[Inisai Toga]

Considering who's currently on the market he's not too bad a pick up. 115 kgs, plenty of first grade experience, good defence and at 27 should be hitting his peak years. If nothing else he's another big body to bring in off the bench with Kerr or Blacker against tiring opponents. Not the best but certainly not the worst.

Agree, player of the year 1 year ago is nothing to sneeze at. Understand why he would be moving on after achieving that award the year before. Good pick up I feel and not sure that i think he’s just a CC back up player as in previous year’s late sign ons.

 

[Jeremy Dragon]

Agree, player of the year 1 year ago is nothing to sneeze at. Understand why he would be moving on after achieving that award the year before. Good pick up I feel and not sure that i think he’s just a CC back up player as in previous years late sign ons.

It was two years ago, 2018 when Eels got the wooden spoon.

 

[Gareth67]

Undoubtedly Welch would had been an excellent signing , but the fact the Dragons at that point in time still had not decided upon the maestros fate , certainly threw a spanner in the works .

Still the team is what it is and as already said by Griffin himself and so many of our brethren - the team is in a rebuilding situation , but that does not rule out the possibility of a astute signing or two between now and the June cut-off date .

 

[Inisai Toga]

It was two years ago, 2018 when Eels got the wooden spoon.

Fair enough, but I do remember that year; Parra were meant to build on the previous years success and lost early and never recovered. Still nothing to sneeze at; always respect it when the big fellas get the big awards as they’re usually so bias towards the halves.

 

[blacksafake]

As a supporter, I have no other choice but to trust Hooks hunch on Alvaro here...I would have passed but he must know something we don't...Bennet did the same back in 2009 w Costigan, Smith and a few others. I must admit though he does run hard - check out the 2018 highlights here :...https://www.parraeels.com.au/news/2018/09/14/2018-highlights---daniel-alvaro/

I stated in another post that he’s not afraid of taking the tough hit up which is something we’ve missed.

 

[Number of the Beath]

Welcome to the fold, Daniel Alvaro.
He's always struck me as a pretty decent player - an aggressive runner, solid defender and at 115kg and 6'3" just the kind of big unit that a lot of people on this forum have been calling out for us to sign.
Who got excited when Bennett brought Neville Costigan in - by no means a high profile player or even a regular first grader, but for 2 years in a Red V he was an absolute star.