2018 and beyond, our squad and recruitment.

[FlameThrower]

Hey Benny I think he's only on the Board for St.George Leagues Club these days and not the JV operation!

Hey Denis....it's only what I read a few years back. It claimed Craig Young was on the Board of Directors of both the St.George Leagues Club and the St.George District Rugby League. I know he owns a Pub in the Gong region and lives down that area, but being on the Board is a meeting now and then with a free Chinese feed!

I was at Dragons game and got Chairmans corporate pass . Craig Young was introduced as chairman of St George District Rugby League ...still has some influence.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Jeremy Latimore
A A

• Date of Birth: 08-10-1986
• Height: 191cm
• Weight: 110kg
• Position: Prop
• Rep. Honours: PM XIII (2015), Junior Kangaroos (2005)
• Junior Clubs: Port Macquarie Sharks
• Previous Clubs: Parramatta Eels (2009), New Zealand Warriors (2010-2011), St George Illawarra Dragons (2012), Penrith Panthers (2013-2016), Cronulla Sharks (2017)
• FG Debut: Parramatta Eels v South Sydney Rabbitohs, ANZ Stadium, 22/05/2009 (Round 11)
• Club Debut: v Newcastle Knights, Hunter Stadium, 01/03/2012 (Round 1)

Latimore returns to the Dragons for the first time in six years after signing a one-year deal with the Red V for the 2018 Telstra Premiership season.

With stints at the Penrith Panthers and Cronulla Sharks under his belt since his time at the Dragons, Latimore will add invaluable experience to the club's wider squad in 2018.

http://www.dragons.com.au/team/profiles/jeremy_latimore.html

Over the past eight-years, Latimore has played for five different clubs without securing a long future with any of them.

Doesn't anyone else find this disconcerting, or only me?

 

[watatank]

He's returning to a club that he has already played for on a one year deal. Safe to say that no one is looking to secure a long term future here.

 

[2010]

2018 is going to be the most important year in a long while. We have bought Hunt and Graham. On the other hand we have a few guns ready to make the jump to first grade. The likes of Lomax, Field and the rest if they make it would give us a bunch of young ones that will playing together for the foreseeable future.
We have to give these kids the chance.

 

[Dragonslayer]

One thing overlooked in all this recruitment, retention and rumour milling is that I believe most people would be unawares that we have 6 current U20's from 2017 signed to the club for 2018 and I'm not talking about Sailor, Masters or Zac Lomax.
Those 6 are:
Matheson Johns - (wing/centre)
Hayden Lomax (Zac's brother - prop/lock)
Joe Lovodua - (currently playing for Fiji in the RLWC - 7 or 6)
Trent Peoples - (2nd row)
Cooper Purcell - (hooker)
Jackson Willis - (7 or 6)

Now under the new structure I'm not sure if they are included in the new salary cap.

With the development squad we currently have Sailor and Masters and we need 1 or more (to a max 6) to fulfil this requirement.
Johns played a few games in reserve grade this year.
Lovodua is currently playing in the RLWC and doing ok
These would be the 2 that could make that squad IMO in 2018. The others may get promoted based on early performances in the new 20'scomp or even the next years squad (2019).

Some of you closer to these boys maybe able to shed more light on these guys and their prospects.

 

[Crush]

2018 is going to be the most important year in a long while. We have bought Hunt and Graham. On the other hand we have a few guns ready to make the jump to first grade. The likes of Lomax, Field and the rest if they make it would give us a bunch of young ones that will playing together for the foreseeable future.
We have to give these kids the chance.

But Mary will be again fighting for his job and won't risk bringing the youth through. The only way these young guys will get a shot is through injury and origin. Mary doesn't have the balls to just roll the dice and start with Lomax. He'll be wanting to prove to everyone that Lafai really is great and he was right for picking him for the past 2 seasons.
He's a stubborn prick.
But hey, in mary we trust I guess....

 

[Belta]

Getsmarty said; "Over the past eight years, Latimore has played for five different clubs without securing a long term future with any of them.

Doesn't anybody else find this disconcerting, or only me?

I have my theories. Firstly his signature hasn't created a lot of fan fare as I'd imagine he was a low budget 'depth' signing. In that sense he is not considered a key signing but (and I'd say Allgood is in this same category) could come into play if injuries strike, which can often happen.

The other point is that essentially our forwards done well last year, our only change is Packer out, Graham in. Now in my opinion the two props offer different things. Graham has a high work rate and links a lot with outside players, whereas Packer is basically a battering ram, taking the tough yards and providing quick play the balls.

So may spin in these two recruitments is that they offer more depth in the 'packer style of prop', very basic, big bodies who are first grade hardened to take the hard yards, that's basically it. Ah Mau is another prop who does this well.

 

[Life's Good]

But Mary will be again fighting for his job and won't risk bringing the youth through. The only way these young guys will get a shot is through injury and origin. Mary doesn't have the balls to just roll the dice and start with Lomax. He'll be wanting to prove to everyone that Lafai really is great and he was right for picking him for the past 2 seasons.
He's a stubborn prick.
But hey, in mary we trust I guess....

SuperCoach isn’t lacking balls, he is simply lacking the brain of a good footy coach who can adapt and change as necessary. To me that is the driver of his stubborn approach, he doesn’t know any better.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Getsmarty said; "Over the past eight years, Latimore has played for five different clubs without securing a long term future with any of them.

Doesn't anybody else find this disconcerting, or only me?

I have my theories. Firstly his signature hasn't created a lot of fan fare as I'd imagine he was a low budget 'depth' signing. In that sense he is not considered a key signing but (and I'd say Allgood is in this same category) could come into play if injuries strike, which can often happen.

The other point is that essentially our forwards done well last year, our only change is Packer out, Graham in. Now in my opinion the two props offer different things. Graham has a high work rate and links a lot with outside players, whereas Packer is basically a battering ram, taking the tough yards and providing quick play the balls.

So may spin in these two recruitments is that they offer more depth in the 'packer style of prop', very basic, big bodies who are first grade hardened to take the hard yards, that's basically it. Ah Mau is another prop who does this well.

Actually, a complete weirdo named Jimmy wrote the above quote.

 

[possm]

But Mary will be again fighting for his job and won't risk bringing the youth through. The only way these young guys will get a shot is through injury and origin. Mary doesn't have the balls to just roll the dice and start with Lomax. He'll be wanting to prove to everyone that Lafai really is great and he was right for picking him for the past 2 seasons.
He's a stubborn prick.
But hey, in mary we trust I guess....

I believe we have the makings of a truly great squad. The problem has always been that we do not have the makings of a truly great coaching staff. Once the Board finds the courage to breakup the factions and power brokers within the Club e.g. the Young and Millward clans, we will finally be on our way to climbing the ladder of greatness again. For now it is one step up the ladder and one or two steps back down.

Just imagine if we kept Packer and still purchased Graham, how good would our pack be in in 2018? Imagine if we won Tedesco's signature, retired Nightingale, released Thompson and shown the door to Macdonald, would the likes of our young outside backs together with a spine of Tedesco, Widdop, Hunt and a hooker rotation of McInnes and Robson make the top 4 cut?

Yes it would have been a difficult task for our Club to pull off such recruitment however, not so difficult if the Club had top grade independent minded staff in place to do the hard work to make this happen. At the moment it seems factional self-interests first, Club and supporters interests last.

I am one of many who believe we could have done a better job with the salary cap we had at the end of the 2017 season;

1. Hunt a good buy but hardly a hard nut to crack.

2. Graham a great opportunity because the Dogs were desperate to offload him.
These two players were our significant purchases for 2018 the rest are the usual marginal first graders who will play reserve grade for the majority of the season.

And now look at the ones we missed:

1. Tedesco is far and away the best fullback in the competition right now. With Dugan's salary cap and some of the 2m cap rise, surely we could have landed him with a good TPA; that is if the Club wanted to or recruitment had the talent to do so.

2. Packer was ours and ours to keep if we wanted to. Forget Allgood and Latimore, keep Packer and with Graham and our young props our forwards would have dominated the comp again only this time, with depth in our prop rotation.

3. With Mann on the left wing and Tedesco at the back all we really need is a speedy right winger who is also a good defender. There are several in our own backyard. So move Lafai to right centre and have one of our own young guns on the right wing outside him. Lafai has played a large proportion of his career as a right centre. On the left side, pair Mann and a young gun with speed and good defensive skills and you have a completely different backline with speed to burn and the attacking flair to take advantage of our dominant forwards.

So why didn't the Club do this? It's a very simple answer, because we do not have the right people in place to pull it off and we do not have the TPA structure in place to support our recruitment. SGI are operating within the rules and in the spirit of the rules while the Roosters, Storm, Broncos and Dogs are operating in the outside margin and NOT within the spirit of the rules. So until we have a Board and a CEO who are not obliged to be compliant with a corrupt NRL TPA system and avoid controversy under fear of the NRL calling in their debt, we will continue to just make up the numbers in the NRL competition.

The Dragons have been tamed for the last 50 years except the the occasional breakout in 1977, 79 and 2010. They have been tamed through:

1. Rule changes - from unlimited tackles to the four tackle rule with little notice to re-shape their squad.

2. Re-distribution of their recruitment catchment area - Cronulla / Southerland and Illawarra being admitted to the NRL Competition.

3. The under-resourced merger with Illawarra after the failed Super League venture.

I say it's time to again take our right our rightful place at the top of the tree by the Club ridding itself of the self interested factions within the joint venture and paying it's debt to the NRL in order to escape from NRL financial obligations which demand compliance with damaging policy which venue we should play our home games at. In my opinion the only way to achieve this change is to sell the Club to a wealthy entity that supports the Dragons and wants to see them blaze through the competition with fire again. Such an entity will quickly come to the right answers to our problems and with remedial action set us on the path to glory again.