Stone to face panel on NRL on Fox RE defence.

[Rusty]

Oh dear... Scott Dureau and Ben Rogers "priorities" (in relation to signings).

 

[Misanthrope]

I can almost accept Dureau, even with his physical deficiencies. But Rogers? That makes me sad.

 

[roopy]

If we are serious about Finch, he needs to be just about a straight replacement for Rogers - perhaps on a bit more money.

 

[Holla if ya hear me]

Michael hagan ish

 

[Holla if ya hear me]

in his responses.....really tired of stock standard answers...bring back tommy raudonikis

 

[Spot On]

Oh dear... Scott Dureau and Ben Rogers "priorities" (in relation to signings).

Surely he meant that the priority for the club is to replace these two!

 

[chinorocks]

Watched the interview at about 2am whilst fairly intoxicated. All I took from it is he has bugger all to say and he's very fond of the phrase "there's no doubt about it" which he used after almost every answer including...

Scotty's under pressure "there's no doubt about it"
or alternatively
Scotty's been a great contributor "there's no doubt about it"
or
We will win the comp "there's no doubt about it"

Might have embelished that last one slightly but he deadset used that phrase about 10 times in a 5 minute grilling.

 

[Rudderriffic]

Apparently the Dogs were gonna offer Keating about 400k. Does that seem excessive, i haven't seen much of him?

If that is 400k per season than no, he isn't worth that.

But often these things are reported as "Player X has been offered a 2 year contract worth 500k'" which somehow becomes "Player X is on 500k" when he is actually on 250k per season.

If it is 200k over two years, then it's probably an alright deal for the Dogs.

 

[RABK]

Now for something unrelated let's play a game.

 

[Apey]

who gives a sh*t what he says to a bunch of wankers on NRL on Fox? wait, redundant question reading the replies.

i'd prefer to judge him by his actions and the team's performances over the next few weekends rather than the bullsh*t that he probably made up on the spot to please the morons on the lowest common denominator NRL show on television.

What he tells the team behind closed doors is going be a 100x different to what you lapped up from that interview. he was never going to go on that show and deliver souths their attacking gameplan on a platter.

 

[roopy]

I've liked his team selections so far, but i'm getting a bit worried that several guys who thrived under Smith have shown nothing.
On the flip side, a few guys who didn't seem to like life under Smith, like Uate, Dureau, Simmo, Pato etc are looking better by the week.
Now if Taia, Faas, Vuna, etc would start performing we would be sweet.

 

[Johns Magic]

It's too early to judge him yet, it's how he goes long-term that's important. Not how we're travelling 4 weeks into his first season.

Let's not forget that without a couple of desparation last minute tries against us we would be 3-1 this year and in the top 6.

 

[Nuffy]

JM

The problem is that of any club, we can ill afford another sh*tty year, for any number of reasons............ recruitment prospects, crowds, sponsors, finances.

The truth be told, Stone is living the dream irrespective of results, he's got to be a FG coach, the pinnacle of his chosen career.

He needs to make this work now, not in a years time. If you are the GM or CEO of a company, you are expected to be across things from day one and you are answerable for results.

I give him credit for copping things on the chin, but the reality is that he is employed to win games now, not in 2011, thats the role he sort and was given.

I think you are being very generous about the Penrith and Storm games, we lead both handsomely and were run down, whilst having any number of opportunities to close the game out.

What concerns me most is that it seems that a number of players seem to have regressed compared to last years efforts. I really thought that Mullen and Dureau, after promising signs last year, and with a full offseason behind them would form a handy combo............. at this stage, they look like rubbish.

I just don't know whether he has skills to get the best out of the team whilst he is learning the role himself.

Time will tell, I hope he can.

 

[BG]

I can almost accept Dureau, even with his physical deficiencies. But Rogers? That makes me sad.

Other than kicking, I think Rogers murders him as a footballer. They both have mistakes in them, but Rogers has decent defence and silky skills and if he were more consistent he'd be a top line NRL player; Dureau at his best is a dubious first grader.

 

[BG]

I don't see why we should necessarily have to buy a halfback. It's easy to forget just how well we were going for much of last season with 1. Gids, 6. Rogers, 7. Mullo. The final result might have been disappointing, but you could hardly say things went our way. The three hefty losses during Smith-gate destroyed a very real chance of making the top 4; then having ended up in a sudden-death final we lost our hooker right at the start, which is just a disaster for any team, and Faas and Simmo struggled through with injuries also. OK, maybe a poor decision to play De Gois, but again, it's not an indictment on the playing roster that we had a rookie coach thrust into the action late in the season.

Let's not forget that last year we lost once to the Storm in the final couple of minutes in rd 17, and then beat them comfortably in rd 23. We also beat the Drags and the Bulldogs the only times we played them in the regular season. Mullo/Rogers were our halves for both Storm games and the victory against the Dragons. Dureau was at 7 against the Dogs in rd 12 (in fact we had half our team out injured, but I do feel the Dogs were a tad complacent). For most of the season we looked right up among the better teams, and it seemed we only needed a bit of icing to go to the next level. Yes, perhaps a canny recruitment or two, but we didn't appear to desperately need a marquee signing or even necessarily someone in the halves. In fact, we went so well at stages without both Cross and Pato, that it seemed if we could get both of them on the field and firing, and have a couple of the young guns really kick on--Aku, Sau, Vuna--we were poised to be as good as anyone.

I'm hoping Stone gives Rogers a go as soon as he's available and it will be interesting to see what happens with him and Gids in the mix. If we're not right up there again when that happens, then there would have to be serious concerns about the way the team is actually being coached.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

I refuse to believe that. Could only possibly be chinese-whispers.

Exactly if anything Dogs are a club that can be unders, he'd be getting offered $250k at the very most. And I'd say the Dogs would be offering more like $150-$200k, so if we want to be a chance its $250-$300k atleast for us.

Go for Finch.

 

[sneaky_is_here]

Now for something unrelated let's play a game.

1. There are only two bananas in the first 1. 4 in the second. On the shelf behind them there are two little dolls instead of the bowl. The first plant has one flower in it, the second one has two.

2. I'd tap both of them.

3. One appears to be former Newcastle Knights and Parramatta Coach Michael Hagan the other one i think ROOKIE coach Newcastle Rick Stone. :lol:

Seriously though i'll reserve my Judgement for stone. At this stage you can't compare him to Hagan. (Not even a little.)

 

[Newie is God's Country]

Yeah when asked about the possibility of signing Finch he said there may be interest down the track but at the moment they're focussing on locking up Dureau and Rogers who are off-contract.

I tuned out about there. If Finch is a 'down the track' issue then he will be a missed opportunity. I have serious concerns about Stone as a coach after that interview. He seems to be very much under the thumb. The hagan MK 2 comparisons are looking more and more apparent everyday. I really like this bloke though as a talker even if he doesn't always seem to have conviction in his statements. I hope he can deliver the goods. Just raising some early concerns is all.

 

[sneaky_is_here]

I tuned out about there. If Finch is a 'down the track' issue then he will be a missed opportunity. I have serious concerns about Stone as a coach after that interview. He seems to be very much under the thumb. The hagan MK 2 comparisons are looking more and more apparent everyday. I really like this bloke though as a talker even if he doesn't always seem to have conviction in his statements. I hope he can deliver the goods. Just raising some early concerns is all.

There was no reason for Rick to give any defiant answers. In fact letting everyone know all our intensions would be stupid ala smithy never gave away anything. Sometimes (more than most of the time) it's better and easier to keep things out of the media. I also think whether the decision is made that we will be looking for a half next year the club would like to make scotty at least think they have confidence in him.

 

[Pika]

There was no reason for Rick to give any defiant answers. In fact letting everyone know all our intensions would be stupid ala smithy never gave away anything. Sometimes (more than most of the time) it's better and easier to keep things out of the media. I also think whether the decision is made that we will be looking for a half next year the club would like to make scotty at least think they have confidence in him.

Exactly my thoughts.