Adam Clune

[Saints Forever]

Although I greatly admire Clune’s grit and persistence and some of Norman’s natural ability, if our future at 5/8 this year revolves around either of Clune or Norman, we are stuffed. Those advocating Amone should not forget he played SGBall last week. I would like to see him get a few runs from the bench this season but I don’t want to throw him to the wolves too early.

Adam is a great backup and is capable of filling in where necessary but Sullivan/Amone are on the verge of overtaking Adam in the pecking order very soon.

 

[Dragon David]

Adam is doing a great job with Clifford at the moment. Andrew Johns reckons Adam is a top-notch organiser and an old-styled halfback. I was sorry to see him go as I likened him to Luke Keary who as we know is great.

To me the halves are the key to run the attack and as we have seen, the Knights are doing well in that department beating the Roosters and Tigers easily, scoring good tries and defending the points.

I really hope that our Hunt/Amone combination works out and quickly. Not good if it is a work in progress situation. It has got to start clicking sooner rather than later.

I'm waiting for the Dragons to get its' halves combination to be dynamic and exciting to watch. Not much success with Hunt/Widdop, Hunt/Norman, Hunt/Clune (short term) and now Hunt/Amone. The common factor of late here is Hunt. In the circumstances I think we should have the pairing of Amone/Sullivan during this year for several games if only to see how they combine and get us scoring some scintillating tries.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

Adam is doing a great job with Clifford at the moment. Andrew Johns reckons Adam is a top-notch organiser and an old-styled halfback. I was sorry to see him go as I likened him to Luke Keary who as we know is great.

To me the halves are the key to run the attack and as we have seen, the Knights are doing well in that department beating the Roosters and Tigers easily, scoring good tries and defending the points.

I really hope that our Hunt/Amone combination works out and quickly. Not good if it is a work in progress situation. It has got to start clicking sooner rather than later.

I'm waiting for the Dragons to get its' halves combination to be dynamic and exciting to watch. Not much success with Hunt/Widdop, Hunt/Norman, Hunt/Clune (short term) and now Hunt/Amone. The common factor of late here is Hunt. In the circumstances I think we should have the pairing of Amone/Sullivan during this year for several games if only to see how they combine and get us scoring some scintillating tries.

I like Hunt as a person and a player but he has to smarten up some aspects of his kicking game- he takes an age to get boot to ball- thus the frequent charge downs- and his short kicks into the in-goal often end up hitting an opposition player.

I was also an advocate for Adam while he was here- he has a bullet cut out pass- probably better than Dufty's- would have liked to see him play extended minutes at 5/8 outside Hunt but Norman spoilt all that. Good luck to him at the Knights.

 

[Dragon David]

I like Hunt as a person and a player but he has to smarten up some aspects of his kicking game- he takes an age to get boot to ball- thus the frequent charge downs- and his short kicks into the in-goal often end up hitting an opposition player.

I was also an advocate for Adam while he was here- he has a bullet cut out pass- probably better than Dufty's- would have liked to see him play extended minutes at 5/8 outside Hunt but Norman spoilt all that. Good luck to him at the Knights.

To me, we should have persisted more with Adam at the expense of Norman. Adam might still be with us and that would have allowed the likes of Amone and Sullivan to spend more time in reserves to prepare for first grade. The Knights have him now and they will be a much better team with him there. You are right about Hunt needing to smarten up his kicking game and that is why we need a 5/8th who can take the pressure off him who can kick as well. Amone doesn't have that skill. Mbye can so let's see how he goes against the Sharks.

 

[Number of the Beath]

Clune's departure to Newcastle further proves that the people in charge of recruitment and player retention at StG-I Inc don't know $hit from clay. Aren't we the club that signed Tony Caine over Danny Buderus, and condemned 2019, 2020 and 2021 to Death By Norman?
Mary was just the tip of a particularly $hitty, toxic and mediocre iceberg.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

Joel Caine*

 

[BLM01]

Clune's departure to Newcastle further proves that the people in charge of recruitment and player retention at StG-I Inc don't know $hit from clay. Aren't we the club that signed Tony Caine over Danny Buderus, and condemned 2019, 2020 and 2021 to Death By Norman?
Mary was just the tip of a particularly $hitty, toxic and mediocre iceberg.

Lets just see how he goes against the Panthers and the rest of the year when the spotlight starts to shine. The Tigers were terrible yesterday
Apart from a kick bomb that nearly went too far yesterday that should of been well covered and credit for a good delayed pass for a try, Adam was not the main man
Clifford was the main guy out there running most of their set plays
Dont get me wrong I like Ads as a player and would of been happy to have him as a back up but a choice between him & Hunt I take Hunt every day even at 7 + we have Sullo next in line.
So I support the club on that one.
Newcastle needed a 7 desperately as they have no-one and gave him an opportunity.
Good luck to him
The history lesson mistakes. Yep. We have made plenty and Doust has his fingerprints on a lot of those.

 

[Dragon David]

Clune's departure to Newcastle further proves that the people in charge of recruitment and player retention at StG-I Inc don't know $hit from clay. Aren't we the club that signed Tony Caine over Danny Buderus, and condemned 2019, 2020 and 2021 to Death By Norman?
Mary was just the tip of a particularly $hitty, toxic and mediocre iceberg.

Agree wholeheartedly NOTB. Getting Norman and Hunt to the club was a massive mistake. We should have stuck with our own guys who were part of the Dragons fabric not outsiders.

I'm sorry to have brought back Clune onto the forum. It's just that when I see him running around the field in the Knights colours and doing a very good job with long cut out passes - which seem to be non existent with our halves - good kicks in general play which are strategic, it gives the other guys at the Knights more chances to score which they have already shown.

 

[Number of the Beath]

Lets just see how he goes against the Panthers and the rest of the year when the spotlight starts to shine. The Tigers were terrible yesterday
Apart from a kick bomb that nearly went too far yesterday that should of been well covered and credit for a good delayed pass for a try, Adam was not the main man
Clifford was the main guy out there running most of their set plays
Dont get me wrong I like Ads as a player and would of been happy to have him as a back up but a choice between him & Hunt I take Hunt every day even at 7 + we have Sullo next in line.
So I support the club on that one.
Newcastle needed a 7 desperately as they have no-one and gave him an opportunity.
Good luck to him
The history lesson mistakes. Yep. We have made plenty and Doust has his fingerprints on a lot of those.

I think we would have benefited from at least one more year of a Clune / Hunt partnership in 6 and 7, with Hunt moving to dummy half to give Amone & Sullivan some time off the bench. A & S are a potentially great future halves pairing but the key word there is *future*, cos they're both very young. Too much responsibility on young shoulders might see a promising career go pear-shaped. And then, instead of having a killer pair of home-grown halves were shopping around for journeymen or paying overs in order to fill a jersey ... again.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

I think we would have benefited from at least one more year of a Clune / Hunt partnership in 6 and 7, with Hunt moving to dummy half to give Amone & Sullivan some time off the bench. A & S are a potentially great future halves pairing but the key word there is *future*, cos they're both very young. Too much responsibility on young shoulders might see a promising career go pear-shaped. And then, instead of having a killer pair of home-grown halves were shopping around for journeymen or paying overs in order to fill a jersey ... again.

It's easy to be wise after the event and I've been guilty of that as much as anyone, but I was really disappointed we missed out on Nicho Hynes who is potentially the best of all the halves we're discussing. How hard we went after him I don't know and no doubt there were other factors ( the coach, Finucane etc) that no doubt influenced his decision but if Norman was worth $850K, this guy should be on Hunt's money. He's a class act on and off the field. He can play 1,6 and 7 and (most times) kick goals as well. After watching his role in the Sharks win over the Eels, I am (reluctantly) convinced that the Sharks could be top 4 material this year.

 

[Illusion]

It's easy to be wise after the event and I've been guilty of that as much as anyone, but I was really disappointed we missed out on Nicho Hynes who is potentially the best of all the halves we're discussing. How hard we went after him I don't know and no doubt there were other factors ( the coach, Finucane etc) that no doubt influenced his decision but if Norman was worth $850K, this guy should be on Hunt's money. He's a class act on and off the field. He can play 1,6 and 7 and (most times) kick goals as well. After watching his role in the Sharks win over the Eels, I am (reluctantly) convinced that the Sharks could be top 4 material this year.

Agree here, don't know if they tried or not but when he went on the market I thought he would have been a good buy can cover a couple of positions ...... Won't surprise me at all if he is the difference between us and them winning ...... Our 6,7 need to stand up in this game and every game if we are to win tight games ......

 

[Trifili13]

Just playing devils advocate here but if we went for Hynes to play, 1, 6 or 7, you would have posters screaming that he is blocking Sloan, Amone and Sullivan. Let's just hope they made the right decision.

 

[OneEyedDragon]

Clune always comes across as a solid player and a great guy. I wish him every success at the Knights - except when he plays against the Dragons. On those occasions Adam needs to have a shocker!

 

[BLM01]

I think we would have benefited from at least one more year of a Clune / Hunt partnership in 6 and 7, with Hunt moving to dummy half to give Amone & Sullivan some time off the bench. A & S are a potentially great future halves pairing but the key word there is *future*, cos they're both very young. Too much responsibility on young shoulders might see a promising career go pear-shaped. And then, instead of having a killer pair of home-grown halves were shopping around for journeymen or paying overs in order to fill a jersey ... again.

I agree re Ads, 1 more year but..Knights trumped that so he had to go for himself
I did not think we were shopping round for journeyman for a half...are we?
If you are talking Mybe, he offers a lot more than a half back up so better utility value for me.
Ads defence still needs work, but i wish the guy well
He may well be the next Cody Walker coming to shine in his late 20's

 

[Maddragon99]

Agree here, don't know if they tried or not but when he went on the market I thought he would have been a good buy can cover a couple of positions ...... Won't surprise me at all if he is the difference between us and them winning ...... Our 6,7 need to stand up in this game and every game if we are to win tight games ......

I wish Adam nothing but the best of luck, he’s another victim of Hunt’s mega contract but having said that we are well placed with Amone, Sullivan, Mbye & Hunt.

My personal opinion is that our cap will never be balanced while we carry Hunt’s contract regardless of how well be plays. Any Premiership window we might have is 2 or 3 years away long after Hunt is gone. Much like winning in ‘10 after Trent Barrett had gone.

 

[muzby]

So Clune’s driving a big yellow taxi now?

 

[Kiwi Dragon supporter]

So Clune’s driving a big yellow taxi now?

I always had some time for Clune, he does have some talent, but his departure from the Dragons is done and dusted. I wish him well at Newcastle.