2023 Squad: Gains, Losses & Re-signings.

[Dragon David]

What in blazes have our supposed recruiters been doing? Surely they know that several of the current forwards are not up to it and will be bundled out at the end of this year. Hopefully they have been doing their due diligence and looking at signing some big bopper hard arse fast and furious forwards. Here is a guy Sutton who if we were quick enough could have signed up by us (I think) before the Dogs did. To me, not only are we dead shit on the field, our recruiters don't seem to be any better.

Talk about a mess for the future. There won't be much to choose from and our hopes of better results go further down the drain.

I'm just so devastated and upset with this club words just cannot describe it.

 

[I'm Hornby]

What in blazes have our supposed recruiters been doing? Surely they know that several of the current forwards are not up to it and will be bundled out at the end of this year. Hopefully they have been doing their due diligence and looking at signing some big bopper hard arse fast and furious forwards. Here is a guy Sutton who if we were quick enough could have signed up by us (I think) before the Dogs did. To me, not only are we dead shit on the field, our recruiters don't seem to be any better.

Talk about a mess for the future. There won't be much to choose from and our hopes of better results go further down the drain.

I'm just so devastated and upset with this club words just cannot describe it.

We're told the focus was on retention Dave, so we must have one bloke handling all the contract talks/negotiations and he can only fit so many coffee meetings in to his schedule per week so no time until now to look at any new signings

 

[Kiama_Dragon]

I honestly think our roster is in all sorts at the moment. Desperately need a prop, hooker and fullback ASAP. Can’t see much changing for next season either.

 

[denis preston]

The clubs signing of Molos , sua &. Suli great. The retention money for Debellin & Bird not great at all and smaks of mates doing other mates favours.

 

[ChocOConnor]

What our club needs is a coach and defence and attack coach. I was all for hook but he is turning me off with his selections. Can someone be so stubborn and not see what is best for the club. Like give them a go let them fail. But for gods sake my good for nothing mother in law can see what changes need to be made.

 

[Dragon David]

What our club needs is a coach and defence and attack coach. I was all for hook but he is turning me off with his selections. Can someone be so stubborn and not see what is best for the club. Like give them a go let them fail. But for gods sake my good for nothing mother in law can see what changes need to be made.

Well by the looks of how things have panned out so far this year, Hook mustn't see much in both Sloan and Sullivan but still sees upsides in Macca, Mbye, Bird, DeBelin, Woods, Lawrie and Lomax.

What I'm not seeing is who, what, where are coming, staying and going.

I know that a lot of our posts are on the negative side (me being a deadset culprit in this regard) but if Hook is being "negative" with his team selections and not giving a guy like Sullivan a go (reports of the last game Sloan played would indicate that Hook has reason not to bring him back into firsts) then I am feeling negative. As justadragon mentioned in another thread, Sullivan was all over the young Souths half in the lower grade but yet Demetriou has given him all of this year as their halfback showing confidence in him.

Our signings have been in the main poor for years. We don't take initiatives whatsoever and get ahead of ourselves and sign younger and better players like Sutton and even the Roosters are planning for the likely exit of Luke Keary (concussion injuries concern) by looking at alternatives now - one being Munster.

‘They don’t waste time’: Why Roosters’ Keary concerns could trigger all-in Munster move

‘They don’t waste time’: Why Roosters’ Keary blow could trigger all-in Munster move

www.foxsports.com.au

I am asking the question again, what the eff is the club doing about recruitment? Are they just focusing on retention and if so who?

Until we get some idea, I will remain quite negative of our bloody club.

 

[Parko1310]

There are a number of issues with recruitment at the Dragons, but one of them would have to be how slow they operate in getting a deal done. Anthony griffin said a couple weeks ago they’d start to look towards next year in the next month which says it all…

You would imagine the club has some players shortlisted that they’d like to talk to, but you only ever seem to hear about one player at a time from outside of our club. If they aren’t, why aren’t they talking to multiple targets at the same time? Talking and negotiating doesn’t mean you have to sign them, it just means you have options. Maybe they are doing this, but from the outside looking in it doesn’t appear this way. Ultimately, the club misses out if they don’t manage to get their man. Think back to when we were linked to Kikau and Fotuaika in the off season. Both put pen to paper elsewhere and now we have nothing. Briton Nikora by all reports will re-sign with Cronulla… so that’s gone cold. Why would they not have been talking to someone like Luke Garner at the time? He will go to Penrith and kill it next year, very underrated player. Angus Crichton can’t register his contract with the roosters. Instead of getting out there and trying to swiftly get things done, I don’t think they’re even trying to lure him. How have we gone from talking to Kikau and Fotuaika, to talking to no one?? There was no plan B… they’ve moved too slow and now they’re left with not much to choose from. Next year could be very painful when you consider what we need to improve the roster. In my opinion that would include:

A hooker, two props, a second rower (crucial)

A winger and centre (of decent quality that plays first grade here and there, putting pressure on top graders)

Maybe a fullback but not essential as either one of Ramsey or Sloan could improve a heap and honestly isn’t a position our main concern should be in, that’s in the forwards.

Problem is there isn’t much on the market right now, and we could be left behind badly for 2023, looking to improve drastically with a lot of players off contract to be signed for 2024.

 

[Smacka]

Recruitment = $$$ : and we don't have enough of it.
We're a tax write-off for WIN CORP that's all. Other Clubs have astute Operators who can organise substantial 3rd Party deals , endorsements etc. The only Bloke of ours I see is the mercurial Zac Lomax advertising his sports energy drink !
Peter O'Sullivan is the best in the business - rightly or wrongly given his involvement in Storm's salary cap rort. But that's how it's done , not necessarily according to NRL rules & if you're with the right Organisation it never draws the attention of Salary Cap Auditors.
Meanwhile , our Pigs have their noses in the swill.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

What our club needs is a coach and defence and attack coach. I was all for hook but he is turning me off with his selections. Can someone be so stubborn and not see what is best for the club. Like give them a go let them fail. But for gods sake my good for nothing mother in law can see what changes need to be made.

Defence- Hook wants to know do you want palings with that or will colourbond do ?

 

[Dragonslayer]

As we stand there are 22 players on our books for next year:

7 Backs:
Feagai x2, Lomax, Ramsey, Ravalawa, Sloan & Suli

3 Halves:
Amone, Hunt & Sullivan

1 Hooker:
McCullough

6 Props (leaving out JDB atm):
Burgess, J. Hunt, Kerr, Lawrie, F. Molo & Woods

2 Edge forwards:
Bird & Sua

1 Lock:
JDB

2 Utility players:
Fuimaono & Mbye

Hooker is the first signing priority:
Seeking a quality hooker, or do we go with promoting young Muhleisen. There's always Mbye!!

Signing a hooker from outside would mean 23 players in the squad

Props:
I think there will be some movement in this space. M. Molo should get a contract, and I think JDB will play middle from now on. Another that could be promoted is Coric, but another outsider would be a good thing.

Signing M. Molo, Coric and 1 from outside would mean increasing the squad to 26.

Edge forward:
Personally, I think Bird would be better suited at lock. I believe that we are in talks with Burns to re-sign, and I think they'll offer Gosiewski an extension.

Re-signing Burns and Gosiewski would mean increasing the squad to 28.

IMO only Moga might also get an extension so that would mean 29.

There's no rumour or whisper to say that any other player who is listed above are moving on.

From this we can see why we haven't been rampant in recruitment. There are tweaks here and there but the main priority remains a quality hooker. And yes, I may be far off course with a few that may be re-signed, but as for now, that's how I see us for season '23.

 

[Draginzaaar]

Recruitment = $$$ : and we don't have enough of it.
We're a tax write-off for WIN CORP that's all. Other Clubs have astute Operators who can organise substantial 3rd Party deals , endorsements etc. The only Bloke of ours I see is the mercurial Zac Lomax advertising his sports energy drink !
Peter O'Sullivan is the best in the business - rightly or wrongly given his involvement in Storm's salary cap rort. But that's how it's done , not necessarily according to NRL rules & if you're with the right Organisation it never draws the attention of Salary Cap Auditors.
Meanwhile , our Pigs have their noses in the swill.

Every team get the equivalent of the salary cap from the NRL. How do we not have the $?

 

[blacksafake]

P

Every team get the equivalent of the salary cap from the NRL. How do we not have the $

We’re an unattractive middle of the road team at the moment who probably needs to pay overs to get decent players.
The better teams can most likely pay less with this money going into retention etc.but make up for it with Third Party deals along with the chances of playing rep & finals.

Just my thoughts

 

[Trifili13]

I think you also have to spend 95% of your cap so lower teams are forced to spend overs for average players which doesn't leave them money to buy a top line player when he comes on the market and they also have to compete with the better teams who pay unders for that player.

 

[Dragons4me]

P


We’re an unattractive middle of the road team at the moment who probably needs to pay overs to get decent players.
The better teams can most likely pay less with this money going into retention etc.but make up for it with Third Party deals along with the chances of playing rep & finals.

Just my thoughts

So how have the dogs done it? Far less attractive option than us on so many levels other perhaps than a better run financial club. Just in simple terms, compare leagues clubs. The Taj Mahal I'm sorry to say is a relic of a bygone era. I once thought it was the bee's knees.

 

[Illusion]

So how have the dogs done it? Far less attractive option than us on so many levels other perhaps than a better run financial club. Just in simple terms, compare leagues clubs. The Taj Mahal I'm sorry to say is a relic of a bygone era. I once thought it was the bee's knees.

Yes the club is a relic as you say ...... hasn't changed for years , maybe they need to strike a deal with developers to build them a new club and apartments on top like the Panthers club ......

 

[Dragon David]

Yes the club is a relic as you say ...... hasn't changed for years , maybe they need to strike a deal with developers to build them a new club and apartments on top like the Panthers club ......

You would think that they would have done something like this starting a few years ago. Somehow I have a feeling that they will just keep things as they are.

 

[OhWhenTheSaints]

Short of one of us die hard fans striking oil or inventing the next Facebook I can’t see anything changing. It would take a real passion for the club to throw the kind of money to truly set us up as elite. The poor ol leagues club is just a place to do laundry these days.

 

[randomdragon]

Michael molo has resigned, not sure on how many years.

 

[BLM01]

So how have the dogs done it? Far less attractive option than us on so many levels other perhaps than a better run financial club. Just in simple terms, compare leagues clubs. The Taj Mahal I'm sorry to say is a relic of a bygone era. I once thought it was the bee's knees.

They have overpaid for a few and dare I say other ways and means. But they are offloading left right and centre. Dufty, Vaughan, Naden and more to come. We have some work to do in a similar area ourself in the next 12 months.

 

[Dragon David]

Short of one of us die hard fans striking oil or inventing the next Facebook I can’t see anything changing. It would take a real passion for the club to throw the kind of money to truly set us up as elite. The poor ol leagues club is just a place to do laundry these days.

At least the "old" Taj is still being patronised and although now is in need of "redevelopment" it is a "mansion" compared to the old Tigers establishment on Victoria Road, Rozelle which has been waiting for demolition for years.