20 year anniversary for the joint venture

[Saints of George]

And you still picked Luke Bailey?

I don't think anyone holds anything against Luke Bailey (or I certainly don't). The guy left the club yes but he a local junior and didn't leave disgraced or in a bad manner or drag it out or rubbish us as he left. It's a professional sport and sadly players will leave us, but unlike many others (Mundine, Gasnier, Brett Morris, Trent Merrin) he left to further his career, got offered captaincy at a new club and didn't bash us on the way out. He always had my respect both on and off the field.

thats exactly why Gazz is not in my team, I have Mcgregor at centre above him......people forget how good Mary was at centre for us and he almost captained us to that 99 GF, we should have that game recorded as our first JV win you know......nothing to do with the last try also for coach I have a certain D.Waite as our best coach above Benny..... same reason above, 99 trophy would have ( in an uncorrupt corporotocracy, or any time before 95, Super League involvement) been ours and he would have been coach of that......I far prefer his entertaining attack play to safe old Bennet and also admire the way he took us from a team of nobodys in his first year only days out from round 1 took over the utter wreckage left by selfish Reddy....and we made the GF in that year also

Mate I couldn't agree more. I had St.Benny because he is a legend and he did achieve what escaped us for so long but David Waite was an absolute legend and Godsend at the time. I remember 1996 well and all he achieved that year and no doubt he has his work cut out for him in 1999 bringing two clubs and cultures together under one unified banner. I'm sure that wouldn't have been easy. And much respect to Andrew Farra too. Not so much for his coaching ability (always felt he was a bit out of his depth) but it would have taken a man with a lot of character to step down from a head coaching role to be an assistant for the benefit of the team and he wore it. A lesser man would have left ego get in the way.

I always felt sad for the way Waite was show the door mid season on his birthday, considering how he pretty much grew the club in that first year. Very disrespectful.

Mary was a good centre and a pretty decent captain too. I don't know much about (or necessarily buy into corruption of the game) but I do remember thinking at the time that the '99 GF was a little too convienently perfect a GF for the NRL to have at the time and was a win/win regardless of the result. Post super league war, team culls and mergers were the rage, making way for expansion and as it happens the first merged team in their first year plays the new Melbourne expansion. Whoever won it was a win for the NRL.

Sadly, we know the tale

 

[Objective View]

So much for the super club.

De-merge.

Straight Shooter

 

[muzby]

So much for the super club.

De-merge.

Straight Shooter

Agree..

But can we at least be the Illawarra Dragons?

I’ve grown fond of that little green mascot..

And I think the NRL needs at least one team with a dragon monkier..

 

[Carrera28]

1) Gareth Widdop
2) Brett Morris
3) Mark Gasnier
4) Matt Cooper
5) Nathan Blacklock
6) Anthony Mundine
7) Trent Barrett
8) Michael Weyman
9) Nathan Brown
10) Neville Costigan
11) Ben Creagh
12) Trent Merrin
13) Brad Mackay
14) Dean Young
15) Beau Scott
16) Jamie Soward
17) Tariq Simms

Coach: David Waite

 

[gitano]

1. Boyd
2. Nighty
3. Euie
4. Coops
5. BMoz
6. Widdop
7. Barrett
8. Weyman
9. Fien
10. Vaughn
11. Simms
12. Friz
13. Timmo

 

[DragonJ]

1. Boyd
2. Nighty
3. Euie
4. Coops
5. BMoz
6. Widdop
7. Barrett
8. Weyman
9. Fien
10. Vaughn
11. Simms
12. Friz
13. Timmo

You would choose Aitken over Gaz????? Barrett and Widdop in the halves?????? Well in that case maybe Aitken should be in the centres because the only way the outside backs would score outside those two is through brute force. Are you talking Tariq or Ashton Simms? The former is a good player who has thus far only been in the starting team for a year.

 

[DragonJ]

I don't think anyone holds anything against Luke Bailey (or I certainly don't). The guy left the club yes but he a local junior and didn't leave disgraced or in a bad manner or drag it out or rubbish us as he left. It's a professional sport and sadly players will leave us, but unlike many others (Mundine, Gasnier, Brett Morris, Trent Merrin) he left to further his career, got offered captaincy at a new club and didn't bash us on the way out. He always had my respect both on and off the field.

Mundine was on the outer for Barrett who wanted to play 5/8. Utterly ridiculous but true nonetheless. Gaz wasn't paid what he was promised! A flagrant slap in the face. He had no option but to leave but wouldn't leave to another club to play against us! Loyal guy and Dragons legend! Merrin (for once in regard to our recruitment and retention outside of the Bennett era) was surplus to our needs. The behavior of Brett Morris as far as I can tell, or from what I understand, was disgraceful!

Bailey was great! Great player and only left to take up a big money deal toward the end of his career with a new club he know wouldn't be a serious premiership contender for some time.

 

[SEAT 1A]

1. Boyd
2. Blacklock
3. Gaz
4. Coops
5. BMoz
6. Mundine
7. Hornby
8. Weyman
9. Brown
10. Ryles
11. Scott
12. Friz
13. J Smith
14. Ah Mau
15. Mann
16.T Simms
17. Saffy

 

[DragonJ]

1. Boyd
2. Blacklock
3. Gaz
4. Coops
5. BMoz
6. Mundine
7. Hornby
8. Weyman
9. Brown
10. Ryles
11. Scott
12. Friz
13. J Smith
14. Ah Mau
15. Mann
16.T Simms
17. Saffy

Apart from 14-17, this is a very serious team!

 

[SEAT 1A]

Apart from 14-17, this is a very serious team!

Thanks DragonJ.

Thought I'd be a cheeky with the bench.

 

[Saints of George]

Mundine was on the outer for Barrett who wanted to play 5/8. Utterly ridiculous but true nonetheless. Gaz wasn't paid what he was promised! A flagrant slap in the face. He had no option but to leave but wouldn't leave to another club to play against us! Loyal guy and Dragons legend! Merrin (for once in regard to our recruitment and retention outside of the Bennett era) was surplus to our needs. The behavior of Brett Morris as far as I can tell, or from what I understand, was disgraceful!

Bailey was great! Great player and only left to take up a big money deal toward the end of his career with a new club he know wouldn't be a serious premiership contender for some time.

My beef with Gasnier, then, now and always will be is not the fact that he left the club, but how he left the club. Twice.

Sadly players leave all the time, he's a man with a job and players leave clubs. I have no beef with Bailey (as I said) or Sowie or even Barrett, but how Gasnier went about it was just plain disrespectful.

I've heard all the arguments that he wasn't being paid and what would you do and so on and so on but fact of the matter is, Rugby League isn't an office job. He was on shit loads of cash and endorsements and I'm sure was living happy and easy. In saying that I don't blame him for wanting what he was promised, he was told he'd get something and he didn't and he was upset, I get it. I just think that instead of signing a 5 year deal with cost us the like of Josh Morris and undoubtably other juniors and players only to leave at seasons end, he could have gone to the club in private and said to them that he was planning to leave, he's exploring offers for overseas rugby and to retain the juniors as he'll be out the door seasons end.
Then he could have left and all would have been understood, but he didn't and we only saw him again when a premiership was on the cards.

When you have men like Lance Thompson who took pay cut after pay cut to keep that team together, you have guys like Dean Young who Wayne Bennett considers one of the toughest men he's ever met due to the amount of pain he had to go through with his knees just to lace up a boot and give his all to the team, you have guys like Ben Hornby who played whatever role he was asked to and did it for the love of the jersey and where he was from, guys like Gasnier just pale in comparison in my opinion.

Gasnier was a talent, no doubt about that and before 2008 you'd see me cheering him on like crazy, but after 2008 I lost a lot of respect for him.

These guys had none of the natural talent Gasnier had, but they had much bigger hearts. Gasnier in his final years milked the club for all it was worth, got given everything he asked for, 2007 he was a co-captain then 2008 he was our sole captain. He was made 5/8th, 2008 he signed a 5 year contract despite knowing he was leaving, 2010 he came back mid season to collect the ring, 2011 signed another 5 year deal only to retire mid season which cost us a few players. He constantly treated the club and the fans with no respect and it's something that shit me as a supporter that he was left to get away with it and a lot of fans talk about him like he was God.

Sorry, rant over, don't wish to turn this into a Gasnier discussion forum.

 

[grouch]

There are several inaccuracies in that rant... tempted to call them deliberate lies.

Gasnier didn't "know he was leaving" in 2008, and the long contract was signed in 2006. He expected the deal was done in good faith. How can he go to the club and quietly tell them he's thinking of leaving when he was not thinking that at all? Ridiculous.
He played 4 games at five-eighth in 2007, and spent the whole of 08 in the centres.
There was no extended 5 year deal signed in 2011 either. He signed for 4.5 years in mid 2010.
I also completely disagree that he showed disrespect to the club and fans.
...

He showed loyalty in returning to the club after the contractual fiasco, and showed great humility at every possible opportunity - in every interview (even after the grand final win!) upon that return in 2010. Additionally, he was a huge reason we went on to win that comp in 2010 (as attested by Bennett himself) - providing the strike threat on the right edge we lacked, to balance out the lethal left, and scored a cracking try in the grand final - and for that reason should never be allowed to buy his own beers in the Taj Mahal for the rest of his life.

He might need the money too. A rugby league career is a very short one, and he walked away from over a million dollars when he retired in 2011. A truly selfish person may have gone through the motions and collected the cash.

Gaz is a legend.

 

[possm]

1. Boyd
2. B Morris
3. Gasnier
4. Coops
5. Blacklock
6. Mundine
7. Barrett
8. Weyman
9. Brown
10. Ryles
11. Scott
12. Frizell
13. Mackay
14. D Young
15. Vaughan
16. Bailey
17. T. Sims

 

[BLM01]

There are several inaccuracies in that rant... tempted to call them deliberate lies.

Gasnier didn't "know he was leaving" in 2008, and the long contract was signed in 2006. He expected the deal was done in good faith. How can he go to the club and quietly tell them he's thinking of leaving when he was not thinking that at all? Ridiculous.
He played 4 games at five-eighth in 2007, and spent the whole of 08 in the centres.
There was no extended 5 year deal signed in 2011 either. He signed for 4.5 years in mid 2010.
I also completely disagree that he showed disrespect to the club and fans.
...

He showed loyalty in returning to the club after the contractual fiasco, and showed great humility at every possible opportunity - in every interview (even after the grand final win!) upon that return in 2010. Additionally, he was a huge reason we went on to win that comp in 2010 (as attested by Bennett himself) - providing the strike threat on the right edge we lacked, to balance out the lethal left, and scored a cracking try in the grand final - and for that reason should never be allowed to buy his own beers in the Taj Mahal for the rest of his life.

He might need the money too. A rugby league career is a very short one, and he walked away from over a million dollars when he retired in 2011. A truly selfish person may have gone through the motions and collected the cash.

Gaz is a legend.

Agree with most u say Groucho but...He signed a water downed contract for the 1st year and a 1/2 (in regards to cap spending) which was heavily weighted on TPA's as they could not afford him in the cap. But for him to come back was enough to topple over the 2011 and 2012 projected team and we had to let some go to fit him in.
But then him leaving again after other players had to leave is what has irked most people. and rightfully so. Why did he come back to decide that he had enough about 12 months later?...
after the club moved the deck chairs to make sure he fit in at the expense of others.

That is probably the clubs fault but I can assure you some players (no names) from that era at The Dragons were not happy with his quick departure regardless off walking away from $$$....but notng with plans picking it up elsewhere.
It is strong belief that Bennett going at the end of the year was part of the catalyst that helped him also to decide to leave at the end of the same year....
I suppose Price being named I probably would of run for the hills too!

Maybe it was for personal reasons whatever...and just hit him like a bolt of lightning
..but...It just has not sat well with some from all circles..but he was a legend of a player who did his best on the field for our club and won us plenty of games and cant take that away from him.

 

[DragonJ]

My beef with Gasnier, then, now and always will be is not the fact that he left the club, but how he left the club. Twice.

Sadly players leave all the time, he's a man with a job and players leave clubs. I have no beef with Bailey (as I said) or Sowie or even Barrett, but how Gasnier went about it was just plain disrespectful.

I've heard all the arguments that he wasn't being paid and what would you do and so on and so on but fact of the matter is, Rugby League isn't an office job. He was on shit loads of cash and endorsements and I'm sure was living happy and easy. In saying that I don't blame him for wanting what he was promised, he was told he'd get something and he didn't and he was upset, I get it. I just think that instead of signing a 5 year deal with cost us the like of Josh Morris and undoubtably other juniors and players only to leave at seasons end, he could have gone to the club in private and said to them that he was planning to leave, he's exploring offers for overseas rugby and to retain the juniors as he'll be out the door seasons end.
Then he could have left and all would have been understood, but he didn't and we only saw him again when a premiership was on the cards.

When you have men like Lance Thompson who took pay cut after pay cut to keep that team together, you have guys like Dean Young who Wayne Bennett considers one of the toughest men he's ever met due to the amount of pain he had to go through with his knees just to lace up a boot and give his all to the team, you have guys like Ben Hornby who played whatever role he was asked to and did it for the love of the jersey and where he was from, guys like Gasnier just pale in comparison in my opinion.

Gasnier was a talent, no doubt about that and before 2008 you'd see me cheering him on like crazy, but after 2008 I lost a lot of respect for him.

These guys had none of the natural talent Gasnier had, but they had much bigger hearts. Gasnier in his final years milked the club for all it was worth, got given everything he asked for, 2007 he was a co-captain then 2008 he was our sole captain. He was made 5/8th, 2008 he signed a 5 year contract despite knowing he was leaving, 2010 he came back mid season to collect the ring, 2011 signed another 5 year deal only to retire mid season which cost us a few players. He constantly treated the club and the fans with no respect and it's something that shit me as a supporter that he was left to get away with it and a lot of fans talk about him like he was God.

Sorry, rant over, don't wish to turn this into a Gasnier discussion forum.

@Old Timer and I agree Gaz is morally irreproachable. He had no option but to leave first time. No way can a player of his caliber accept being promised $**** and not being paid it.

Second time he felt he had nothing to offer. Not like he did a Brett Morris. He had obviously lost motivation so retired. In his whole career he played zero games against us. Even after the flagrant insult of the first time he left. A moral giant!

 

[DragonJ]

1. Boyd
2. B Morris
3. Gasnier
4. Coops
5. Blacklock
6. Mundine
7. Barrett
8. Weyman
9. Brown
10. Ryles
11. Scott
12. Frizell
13. Mackay
14. D Young
15. Vaughan
16. Bailey
17. T. Sims

possm, you have done it again! That is a f**king great team. I'm only wondering about T.Sims. He has had one good season for us. If he plays 3 or 4 more seasons like last season, I would include him as well but not yet. Not even close.

I also wouldn't go with Barrett. Both he and Choc were attacking 5/8s but Choc was 20x times better. Definitely Hornby, Hunt or Head in front of Barrett.