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2022 Squad: Gains, Losses & Re-signings.

FlameThrower

Bench
Messages
3,557
Where is the wealth in the junior nursery we talk so much about ? Why do we only seem to have a chance at recruiting someone who is not wanted by their Club. The ex Broncos link at recruiting has been pretty average and we pay too much and sign old players on longer contracts than needed. Sorry guys I can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel - the Club is a shambles, no identity, no culture, stuck with a gerrymander style BOD, ultra conservative and full of vested self interest. The Club has gone out of its way to disconnect from most fans and I can’t see a vision or strategy at this stage.Rant over …
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,492
Given our tepid form this year is Griffin really the kind of coach to get the best out of moody player like Suli? If we wanted a big dollar outside back we should have gone for Nicho Hynes or Addo-Carr

Remember Suli hasn’t been able to get a game at Manly most of this year even though he resigned with Manly on good money. Hasler is a good coach & he hasn’t been able to get much out of him, look at Saab he’s been a revaluation under Hasler.

This has a Corey Norman feel to it, over paid, lazy & useless.
Saab would have been a good player in any team where he gets good ball in space. He’s another one that looked great from a young age, even when I saw him in a trial years ago he was a peg above all others on the field.
I guess my point is, there are good players and potentially great players. If you can get the best out of the lazy blokes like BJ Leilua, Moses Suli, Willie Mason, Ben Barba etc then you have players that can win you a comp.
Lomax on one side with his class and polish and Suli the wrecking ball on the other side! Yes please.
 

Adolf_Spritzer

Juniors
Messages
506
Where is the wealth in the junior nursery we talk so much about ? Why do we only seem to have a chance at recruiting someone who is not wanted by their Club. The ex Broncos link at recruiting has been pretty average and we pay too much and sign old players on longer contracts than needed. Sorry guys I can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel - the Club is a shambles, no identity, no culture, stuck with a gerrymander style BOD, ultra conservative and full of vested self interest. The Club has gone out of its way to disconnect from most fans and I can’t see a vision or strategy at this stage.Rant over …
Almost that garbage fox article verbatim. Too many people getting sucked into the clickbait. It was always going to be a difficult year and we've seen the worst of it, now chin up as we're back on track despite what the nufties in the media are saying.
 

thebigredv

First Grade
Messages
5,346
Almost that garbage fox article verbatim. Too many people getting sucked into the clickbait. It was always going to be a difficult year and we've seen the worst of it, now chin up as we're back on track despite what the nufties in the media are saying.

Almost that fox article verbatim? Sucked in to clickbait?

I am sorry but no, don't agree. These are the words of a long time hurting Dragons supporter that doesn't deserve to be blown off as some meaningless, naive naysayer. We are not talking about some journalist concerned with their own career. The bulk of fans, bandwagoners or bleeders have become absolutely disillusioned with this club and in my own personal experience, isolated by it as well.

The only people that really suffer and receive zero reward for the decade long stuff up of this club are the fans, who have a lot more invested in the club than some blow in coach and pack of childish players.

Somewhere, some fool said "Dragons will finish last" probably to get a headline. Now we are supposed to leap up and commend this team? The team that has AGAIN been stuck in paralysis in the business end, being used as a step ladder for the rest of the comp.

Flamethrower is correct on many accounts - poor recruitment, suffering culture, laughing stock of the league. We go into another round of footy with next to no hope of a win or even an 80 minute performance. We can find every excuse under the sun for these players but in actual fact they have let the club down again this year. There simply hasn't been enough shown that next year will be loads better. Hell, we can't even get a decent look at Sloan whose left back in his room playing Playstation.

Griffin: Sign Kikau or Fotoaika and a damaging outside back and then we can start to perhaps believe again, and keep booting the soft blokes.

The proof is in the pudding. Maybe it's you that has been sucked in.
 
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Adolf_Spritzer

Juniors
Messages
506
Almost that fox article verbatim? Sucked in to clickbait?

I am sorry but no, don't agree. These are the words of a long time hurting Dragons supporter that doesn't deserve to be blown off as some meaningless, naive naysayer. We are not talking about some journalist concerned with their own career. The bulk of fans, bandwagoners or bleeders have become absolutely disillusioned with this club and in my own personal experience, isolated by it as well.

The only people that really suffer and receive zero reward for the decade long stuff up of this club are the fans, who have a lot more invested in the club than some blow in coach and pack of childish players.

Somewhere, some fool said "Dragons will finish last" probably to get a headline. Now we are supposed to leap up and commend this team? The team that has AGAIN been stuck in paralysis in the business end, being used as a step ladder for the rest of the comp.

Flamethrower is correct on many accounts - poor recruitment, suffering culture, laughing stock of the league. We go into another round of footy with next to no hope of a win or even an 80 minute performance. We can find every excuse under the sun for these players but in actual fact they have let the club down again this year. There simply hasn't been enough shown that next year will be loads better. Hell, we can't even get a decent look at Sloan whose left back in his room playing Playstation.

Griffin: Sign Kikau or Fotoaika and a damaging outside back and then we can start to perhaps believe again, and keep booting the soft blokes.

The proof is in the pudding. Maybe it's you that has been sucked in.
I'm blowing it off not because of naivety, but because it's the same tired crap that the media and too many of us have been saying for years now. There's actual light at the end of the tunnel, the deadwood from the Mary era is being cleansed but you all want to keep digging yourselves deeper into that ever giving pit of despair. It's not been fun for any of us, but "woe is me and my situation" does nothing but perpetuate all the negativity of the past decade.

I come here for a laugh and to get away from it all and predominantly to talk about footy.. humble ol footy. Apologies if getting the shits with the increasing negativity doesn't sit right, but it gets pretty tiresome.

In no way am I dismissing the abysmal year this has been, on just about every front it couldn't have gone worse. But it's not as if there is nothing to look forward to. Can you imagine if all our promising juniors were completely bust? But that's not the case, some of them showed genuine promise, even in this ridiculous situation of not having played consistently for close to two years. Can you imagine if there had been absolutely nothing for us in the player market? Despite what some might believe, finally there is some decent players being recruited in positions we're in need of with legitimate upside to their game, and yet we get slammed for paying too much, not developing culture, falling into the "Moneyball" trap.

What do you all want? Something something Rome wasn't built in a day. This isn't Afghanistan for goodness sake.
 

hewi

Bench
Messages
3,785
I hope Manly don’t change their mind.

SULI SHOWS MANLY WHAT THEY’LL BE MISSING

Moses Suli returned to the starting side for the first time since Round 13 and didn’t miss a beat.

The destructive centre was Manly’s best — alongside sensational second-rower Haumole Olaka’atu.

Suli ran for 217 metres, had nine tacklebusts, one linebreak, one line break assist and one offload in an a truly sensational performance.

Fox League commentator Dan Ginnane said Suli was “torturing these Raiders,” while Greg Alexander said he was “outstanding.”

Cooper Cronk was equally impressed, saying: “He had spiders on him at different stages.”

Suli’s efforts came just days after it was revealed he was closing in on a deal with the Dragons from next season.

The 23-year-old is contracted to the Sea Eagles until the end of 2022 but it’s understood he was told by the club that he’s free to look elsewhere.

“I can’t believe Manly are letting him go,” Roach said while watching the towering centre carve up the Raiders.

Suli has struggled to nail down a spot in Des Hasler’s 17. He started the year in the centres but while he was sidelined with a back injury, Morgan Harper filled in and has held that spot ever since.

He only got his chance this week because Brad Parker sat out after suffering a concussion last week.

Hasler was very impressed with Suli’s game, saying “he had a whale of a game.”
 
Messages
3,662
These are the words of a long time hurting Dragons supporter
I know precisely how you feel. The passion you have for our Red V. Probably like you I have seen the good and not so good of our famous club. I grew up in middle of their world record run. Those running our game had to change the rules to stop the rampaging Dragons. Then came the day we sold our soul to Gordon and the Steelers, I suspect, because our famous nursery had shrunk. St George parents were prioritising soccer and other sports over rugby league for their kids. With this merger came a great sense of loss of our true identity. An identity that spawned a world record 11 consecutive premierships. There has been premierships since but sadly too few. Where does our club's future lie.. do we remain part of a dual entity.. relocate to another state (Western Dragons?) .. or fold. The day that happens will be like a dagger thru my heart.
 
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Messages
3,662
We are after Suli again
his contract was terminated ahead of the 2018 NRL season for repeated indiscretions during pre-season.

What indiscretions? Must we always chase blokes that have less than respectable reputations. Surely that wont help our culture. The Dogs did not want him now Manly has shown him the door. There has to have been an underlying reason for this despite him being a good footy player.
 
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Dragon David

First Grade
Messages
7,524
I know precisely how you feel. The passion you have for our Red V. Probably like you I have seen the good and not so good of our famous club. I grew up in middle of their world record run. Those running our game had to change the rules to stop the rampaging Dragons. Then came the day we sold our soul to Gordon and the Steelers, I suspect, because our famous nursery had shrunk. St George parents were prioritising soccer and other sports over rugby league for their kids. With this merger came a great sense of loss of our true identity. An identity that spawned a world record 11 consecutive premierships. There has been the odd premiership since but sadly too few. Where does our club's future lie.. do we remain part of a dual entity.. relocate to another state (Western Dragons?) .. or fold. The day that happens will be like a dagger thru my heart.
I, like all of us here on this forum, are passionate Dragons supporters and most have been for decades and what I want to say is what does the future hold for this club? I wonder and worry (if worrying is the right word) about where we are heading, when will we be a club that will be recognised for playing great footy and not being joked about?

For the past decade we as fans have endured frustration and heartache like, I don't think, ever before. I am worried about our future and something needs to be done by the club to make the next decade extremely better or come to an end. The thing is though, by 2031, I don'ta thinka thata I willa be around.
 

epDragon62

First Grade
Messages
5,076
I remain hopeful that we can regain credibility and I am encouraged by the South Sydney history of being out of the comp and coming back in.

We have not been as bad as some teams and I can see the prospect that we will compete for finals again soon.
 
Messages
3,662
Moses Suli has turned his back on a big-money offer from the Dragons to sign a contract extension with Manly.
The Sea Eagles centre, who turns 22 next week, was the subject of a three-year offer from St George Illawarra, worth a reported $2 million.


Must have missed this.. back in 2020. What have we offered him this time?

I have my answer.
the Red V are close to signing Suli on an estimated $550,000 per season.

Sounds like more than we need to pay for a reject.
 
Messages
3,662
"If the reports of his (Suli) move to the Dragons are accurate, it would be another smart play by Anthony Griffin , Ian Millward and Ben Haran. The club already have other clubs chipping in for the salaries of multiple players in 2021 including Jack Bird , Josh McGuire and Andrew McCullough, and they aren't stopping there."

..and now Mbye. No wonder they recruited these blokes. A bit of clever bookeeping or thieves in the nite.
 
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