2019 TEAM

[True_Believer]

I don't know what your on about.
Millward let Dugan go 750k but couldn't sign Tedesco for 700k.
Millward extended Lafai and Aitken instead of Roberts for about the same coin...……..

You're the one that goes on about TPAs all the time. Do you really believe that Teddy is only on 700k total? He might be getting paid that out of the cap, but I would suspect there are other deals on top of that. IF you are to believe the press about how much the TPAs are across the clubs, then you would have to be blind Freddy to see that we aren't getting the TPAs other clubs are getting. Is that Millwards fault that that is all he has to work with? I would suspect that in your eyes it is.

Additionally, how do you know how much they are asking for and how much we are offering? It's all purely speculation and to blame Millward for not signing players based purely on this speculation is completely agenda driven. I mean realistically, a players name is mentioned in here and you're straight on it accusing Millward for not signing him. It's ludicrous.

Look, I understand you hate the guy for whatever reason. But you beat the same old dead horse every chance you get. And even if there isn't a chance you bring him up even when there isn't a tangible link.

 

[My man Gasnier]

You're the one that goes on about TPAs all the time. Do you really believe that Teddy is only on 700k total? He might be getting paid that out of the cap, but I would suspect there are other deals on top of that. IF you are to believe the press about how much the TPAs are across the clubs, then you would have to be blind Freddy to see that we aren't getting the TPAs other clubs are getting. Is that Millwards fault that that is all he has to work with? I would suspect that in your eyes it is.

Additionally, how do you know how much they are asking for and how much we are offering? It's all purely speculation and to blame Millward for not signing players based purely on this speculation is completely agenda driven. I mean realistically, a players name is mentioned in here and you're straight on it accusing Millward for not signing him. It's ludicrous.

Look, I understand you hate the guy for whatever reason. But you beat the same old dead horse every chance you get. And even if there isn't a chance you bring him up even when there isn't a tangible link.

Well said. One of the positives of Millward is that we aren't paying players who are now at other clubs like so many others are. He began that role with a salary cap mess from the Bennett/Price era and has done a good job in getting it under control and bringing some players across/retaining promising youngsters.

 

[blacksafake]

I don't know what your on about.
Millward let Dugan go 750k but couldn't sign Tedesco for 700k.
Millward extended Lafai and Aitken instead of Roberts for about the same coin...……..

Possm mate,
Tedesco was always going to go to the roosters no matter how much we offered him.

 

[Dragonslayer]

I don't know what your on about.
Millward let Dugan go 750k but couldn't sign Tedesco for 700k.
Millward extended Lafai and Aitken instead of Roberts for about the same coin...……..

Possm I know your not a fan of Millwatd but 2 questions for you to answer:

1. Who actually decides which position we need fill/replace/improve?

2. TPA's ars not arranged by the club or by Millward. How can you be so certain we didnt approach Tedesco or Roberts already buf they declined us or even used us to gain a higher TPA from elswhere (Politis for Tedesco and Murdoch for Roberts).

To state we have X amount remaining from X player isnt factual. We dont know the inner workings of the salary cap for our club and for all we know we may have used that money to upgrade a few (not extend) players, Lomax, Leilua, McInnes and Dufty come to mind.
So by this thinking:
Millward signs Tedesco but no money to ward off potential suitors for say Lomax........Millward is crap.
Millward extends Lomax but doesnt sign Tedesco........Millward is crap.

Hopefully now that with the change of ownership and being free from the debt noose of the NRL (which may or may not have been an off-set for potential TPA contributors) this may lead to stronger investment from outside sources.

Millward is far from perfect but think of the recruitment manager that signed Bird or Cartwright or Tamou or even Cherry-Evans on big money contracts and produced what?

 

[possm]

Well said. One of the positives of Millward is that we aren't paying players who are now at other clubs like so many others are. He began that role with a salary cap mess from the Bennett/Price era and has done a good job in getting it under control and bringing some players across/retaining promising youngsters.

Gee I didn't know that. Just for me, could you name the players we were subsidising from the Bennett/Price era. I know we let Brett Morris go early and did not penalise him or the dogs with payments. That move did catch us off guard and we suffered from not having Brett on the wing that season. There were a couple of players Hunt and Farrell who did not play for extensive periods due to injury and although we tried to move Farrell on we were not successful.

 

[2010]

Every post on this thread makes a lot of sense. I feel that our forward pack is almost settled, maybe there might be another signing coming our way.
The backline needs to be looked at closely with a view to bringing players like Herbert and Lomax through to first grade.
Aitken, unfortunately takes a spot that can be taken over by Lomax. Herbert is another one but his Defence is an issue.
Lafai, my man needs to be in his position. Dufty, some hard decisions need to be made. He has the X factor we need but I feel he is heavily marked by other teams, his Defence is, well not there for a first grade fullback.
There just needs to be a few tweaks to the team. We need to bring on Lomax and others through.
Then we come to the Fox in the chicken coup, McIdiot.
The power game whilst working cannot be sustained over a full season. Clubs have shown how to negate that and sadly we don’t seem to have an answer when that fails.
I doubt we will see the success next year as we have had in 2018 using the power game.
McIdiot needs to grow a pair and make some hard decisions next year otherwise we won’t be as successful as 2018

 

[possm]

Possm I know your not a fan of Millwatd but 2 questions for you to answer:

1. Who actually decides which position we need fill/replace/improve?

2. TPA's ars not arranged by the club or by Millward. How can you be so certain we didnt approach Tedesco or Roberts already buf they declined us or even used us to gain a higher TPA from elswhere (Politis for Tedesco and Murdoch for Roberts).

To state we have X amount remaining from X player isnt factual. We dont know the inner workings of the salary cap for our club and for all we know we may have used that money to upgrade a few (not extend) players, Lomax, Leilua, McInnes and Dufty come to mind.
So by this thinking:
Millward signs Tedesco but no money to ward off potential suitors for say Lomax........Millward is crap.
Millward extends Lomax but doesnt sign Tedesco........Millward is crap.

Hopefully now that with the change of ownership and being free from the debt noose of the NRL (which may or may not have been an off-set for potential TPA contributors) this may lead to stronger investment from outside sources.

Millward is far from perfect but think of the recruitment manager that signed Bird or Cartwright or Tamou or even Cherry-Evans on big money contracts and produced what?

You are correct we don't know the inner workings and the salary cap amount taken up by each player. These figures are not public however, they are either leaked or estimated by the media and various club officials. When Hunt was being tagged as the 6m dollar man, Millward came out and said we did not pay anywhere near that much for him.

Who knows if there is collaboration between recruitment and coaching staff. I'd say that Millward would put is recommendations directly to the CEO and Mary would do the same. The CEO will have a delegated limit regarding decisions and would recommend to the Board outside of his authority. But all this is kept secret and hidden just in case something goes wrong.

The structure is wrong because the coach is accountable for the performance of the team but does not have control of the players signed by the club. All would be Ok if the structure was changed back to Millward performing his current role but reporting to the head coach. The CEO should have a football committee which comprised of all key staff involved in the football side of the Club.

 

[SaintPauli]

Possm mate,
Tedesco was always going to go to the roosters no matter how much we offered him.

Same as Munster who in my opinion is the best player i have seen play at Kogarah this year, will likely do the same when Cronk retires. The roarters literrally always get their man.

Speaking of the roarters who I am never ashamed of beating their roarting methods,
Fancy landing the highly regarded assistant coach from Melbourne!. They stole Fitzgibbon from us, he won a comp with roarters and also the clive Churchill medal.
Sat next to Trent Robbo for year after year as assistant coach and now like true Roarters style will push him on for a new assistant coach. Great loyalty! Not. Ruthless to the core.

 

[LINESPEED]

I've been told that Millward is brilliant.
If Bennett is signed, he will bring Roberts, TPJ and possibly Oats or Boyd with him. Rapana will be difficult but not beyond the grasp of our brilliant Millward.

Don't know if Bennett's likely or not Possm (hope you're well by the way)
He would've learnt from his experience in 2011 at the Dragons not to telegraph any move, as that demoralised the side and they lost 9 straight.
Of course the same would probably happen at the Broncos if he'd said he's leaving,
I kind of figure that he won't be able to work with White next year, and anyway, with the players up there knowing he's not being extended, it makes it a dead duck year where authority is probably diminished.
I reckon he'd be thinkin' 'keep quiet', have a crack at winning the flag up there this year for an 'up yours' to White, then win another 1 or 2 at the Dragons for a swansong.

I wouldn't believe anything anyone's saying ATM.
The Griffen sacking was immediate I thought because it was a player revolt?

And that's the quickest way to roll a coach

We'll find out after the last Broncos game

 

[Gareth67]

Same as Munster who in my opinion is the best player i have seen play at Kogarah this year, will likely do the same when Cronk retires. The roarters literrally always get their man.

Speaking of the roarters who I am never ashamed of beating their roarting methods,
Fancy landing the highly regarded assistant coach from Melbourne!. They stole Fitzgibbon from us, he won a comp with roarters and also the clive Churchill medal.
Sat next to Trent Robbo for year after year as assistant coach and now like true Roarters style will push him on for a new assistant coach. Great loyalty! Not. Ruthless to the core.

The overall good of a CLUB is far greater than the loyalty shown by any ex-player . That , IMO is the way it should be , hence part of the reason for the Dragons limited success over the last couple of decades . If you gave these players positions within the club itself they will eventually find themselves a nice , comfy little web in the boardroom , a’ la - Joint Venture.

 

[My man Gasnier]

Gee I didn't know that. Just for me, could you name the players we were subsidising from the Bennett/Price era. I know we let Brett Morris go early and did not penalise him or the dogs with payments. That move did catch us off guard and we suffered from not having Brett on the wing that season. There were a couple of players Hunt and Farrell who did not play for extensive periods due to injury and although we tried to move Farrell on we were not successful.

I was referring to players currently being subsidised by other clubs. Ie. Graham by the bulldogs. The reference I made to the Bennett/Price era is in relation to the cap trouble we ran in to at the end of 2014 when Mulholland was in charge of recruitment. He expected Thompson to return to Canberra and threw the surplus cash at Benji. That meant we had to clear out the likes of Merrin, Beale, Stockwell, Quinlan, Farrell and Morris. What I'm saying is that our cap and roster is now in a better position compared to back then with Millward in charge.

 

[Belta]

Wingers more and more are yardage eaters. We won’t get three SOO players, probably none but if we could snag one, Oates would be a good target

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Wingers more and more are yardage eaters. We won’t get three SOO players, probably none but if we could snag one, Oates would be a good target

Oates should 100% be the target, we need a quality right winger to replace Nightingale and we're not going to get it from within. Some might say Lomax, but he will be a centre for us and when he eventually transitions there, we'll be back to square one again.

I like MacDonald, I think.. With a quality coach (which I am still confident we will get as I think Johnston is aware we need to move on from Mary)... MacDonald could be one of the most damaging wingers in the comp. His dummy half runs are invaluable, he makes 15m every time. His finishes are top 3 in the comp, and i'm NOT just saying that.

Lomax will eventually solve our centres issue, if we can land Oates for 4 years, we've got ourselves a deadly backline.

 

[JDHD]

I don't know what your on about.
Millward let Dugan go 750k but couldn't sign Tedesco for 700k.
Millward extended Lafai and Aitken instead of Roberts for about the same coin...……..

Teddy is on waaaaaaaaaaay more than $700k

 

[possm]

Teddy is on waaaaaaaaaaay more than $700k

I believe his NRL contract says 700k.

 

[Dragons4me]

I have this super vision of our team next year.......

bear with me a couple of changes and getting rid of some dead wood I think is REALLY holding us back

GONE.....Id love to ditch Dufty ( cant catch a high ball, makes too many mistakes, cant defend like a fullback should a bit of Quinlan mk 2 so hes got to go) and Aitken ( so overrated, hopeless defender a total turnstyle and cant pass for shit) NIGHTS retired......

backline:


LOMAX ( our only long term FB solution in his best position and future superstar)

PERRIERA ( hell get the job done and turn into a good winger)

LAFAI ( not an Inglis in attack but is a decent defender with a great flick and can set up his winger, Aitken making him look bad the last 2 years I think )

MANN ( MUST be in the team can only fit him in at centre but he craps all over Aitken)

NENE ( keep him there, not the most mungrel runner out of our twenty but a total ferrari who knows how to find the line)

WIDDOP ( of course)

HUNT ( he goes alright)

forwards:

DE BELIN
FRIZZEL
SIMMS
GRAHAM
MCINNIS
VAUGHN


bench.....

ONE NEW MUNGREL BIG BASTARD PROP TO REPLACE MIGHTY CONSISTENT AH MAU ( our only real need to buy in the off season one very good prop there must be at least ONE floating round for us)

LUCH ( MUST be in the team every single week splits games apart)

KORBIN ( prop rotation, better than LAWRIE but he goes ok aswell so we do have some depth here)

HERBERT ( MUST get his chance or hell go elsewhere....SUPERSUB off the bench.....if used right can split games open for us, so flexible also, can play multiple positions in the backline so if Widdop has a bad patch in a game can slip into centre while Mann goes to five eight, OR can play five eighth himself)

Id also love to see some variation in the backline to shake things up and surprise other teams, as in, for parts of the game drop WIDDOP back to FB and slip LOMAX into the centres, whack MANN to five eighth , or HERBERT to centre etc etc ) we have a LOT of talent to work with!! I just wich Mclamass would get some damn CREATIVITY and see the talent of the kids here he actually has.......and just how only a couple of vital changes would really help us to maximise, Dufty just not up to it sorry.....move him on, let him go ok elsewhere, same with Aitken

With all that insight and intellect you're a natural to take over as coach. Just wish you'd use fullstops, comma's and paragraphs. I passed out three times trying to read your post.

 

[Gareth67]

Really Tedesco ? He is a rooster now and shall remain so , perhaps another player that the cashed up Dragons (?) should be going after is Munster ? Dil Rothschilde ‘s exclusive that he was off to the rorters come 2020 is perhaps something to give some thought to .

How many times have those Bondi car-dealers trumped the Dragons when it has come to signing players of late ? Who knows now , we may find ourselves with T.P.A.’s running out of our ears with the new setup - maybe .

 

[Ted bartolo]

Really Tedesco ? He is a rooster now and shall remain so , perhaps another player that the cashed up Dragons (?) should be going after is Munster ? Dil Rothschilde ‘s exclusive that he was off to the rorters come 2020 is perhaps something to give some thought to .

How many times have those Bondi car-dealers trumped the Dragons when it has come to signing players of late ? Who knows now , we may find ourselves with T.P.A.’s running out of our ears with the new setup - maybe .

Yes we have Gorden hopefully we have a better rorter than Polites

 

[Crush]

I am hoping that we get Bennett and he brings Pangai Junior and Roberts with him. I would also like us to be able to snare Rapana a year early than his contract finishes.

I have also been questioning if Hunt is a good game managing halfback. There were already question marks about this before he got here. I think he is a very good player. Someone on this site even suggested that 5/8 would be more his go, maybe it would be. Bennett also moved him to hooker last year and he played for QLD this year off the bench in the last game. Some think that he should be Qld's starting hooker next year. So it got me thinking that Corey Norman could be worth signing. I have heard/read that Parra have apparently been shopping him around. For next year, I would like to imagine a side of (Yeah I know I am dreaming).

1 Dufty
2 Rapana
3 Lomax
4 Roberts
5 Robert Jennings
6 Widdop
7 Norman
13 DeBelin
12 Sims
11 Leilua
10 Pangai Junior
9 Hunt
8 Frizell

14 Graham
15 Vaughan
16 K Sims
17 Host

18 Lawrie
19 Latimore
20 Mann

Coach Bennett

Then for 2020 sign Munster to play fullback and S Johnson to play 5/8.

This is great stuff.
From next year we get Rapana, Roberts, Jennings, Norman, Pangai Junior?
I especially love how you finish with "then in 2020 sign munster and johnson".
FF, thats some imagination mate!

 

[gitano]

This is great stuff.
From next year we get Rapana, Roberts, Jennings, Norman, Pangai Junior?
I especially love how you finish with "then in 2020 sign munster and johnson".
FF, thats some imagination mate!

Surely we sign Keary, RTS, Cleary and Ponga to play reserve grade and cover the origin period?!