Bad luck Illawarra, from the Sharkies.

[weasel]

Our loss yesterday is really incomparable to the belting we handed the Sharks last week. Our preparation was extremely disrupted thanks to the uncertainity caused by City/Country and the injury clouds over our key players. No one could have predicted the side we ended up playing- Hornby was out, Gasnier in, Riddell and Kite to the bench. A team's not going to be able to find too much rhythm when the line-up is shaken up so much from what was expected all week, and we were missing some pretty key players that we had assumed earlier in the week we'd have. The bad weather didn't help either, whoever scored first was always going to get on top, unfortunately it was Manly and they got the vital edge to grind out a victory. We weren't good but we weren't too bad either, our forwards, Kite, Sims, Bailey, Riddell all still performed pretty impressively, but circumstance was against us. Don't really see how much that has in common with the Sharks and the thrashing we handed them. They'd won two in a row and were building up confidence, the conditions were good, they had a strong home crowd and impressive team named, and we were without a few internationals. Didn't stop the final score from being 42-12. The equation still remains the same- Dragons are contenders, Sharks are also-rans.

 

[wittyfan]

The equation still remains the same- Dragons are contenders, Sharks are also-rans.

No. The Dragons are not serious contenders. Yesterday's game clearly showed why the Dragons can not win the competition. Again, against a team they should beat, they've come up short. It was the same story in 2003, 2002, 2001....

Plus with the usual stream of injuries, the Dragons are set for a bumpy ride in coming weeks.

 

[_Johnsy]

Come and see us when you beat us, or when you finish higher than us on the ladder this year. Until then go back to the swamp and keep away from your sister. Of course you will have to get your cousin out first.

 

[weasel]

Our wins over the Knights, Sharks and Tigers pretty clearly showed we've moved on from that. I mean last year we lost to all three in games we were expected to win and this season we've beaten them by an average margin of over thirty points. Yesterday wasn't much of a return to old habits, as I pointed out we didn't have things going all our way. City/Country isn't every week, though I s'pose Origin could potentially ravage our side. Still, even if it does the talent we still have in the team won't be stifled every week by poor weather.

 

[wittyfan]

Come and see us when you beat us, or when you finish higher than us on the ladder this year. Until then go back to the swamp and keep away from your sister. Of course you will have to get your cousin out first.

I don't have a sister.

 

[_Johnsy]

Yes you do its just that @#@ could not bear to tell you that she has literally hundreds of other children, one for each of the fathers. :lol: Afterall its amazing what you can buy get for $20 at the shire.

 

[wittyfan]

Our wins over the Knights, Sharks and Tigers pretty clearly showed we've moved on from that. I mean last year we lost to all three in games we were expected to win and this season we've beaten them by an average margin of over thirty points. Yesterday wasn't much of a return to old habits, as I pointed out we didn't have things going all our way. City/Country isn't every week, though I s'pose Origin could potentially ravage our side. Still, even if it does the talent we still have in the team won't be stifled every week by poor weather.

Newcastle were affected by City-Country yet still put in an impressive performance.

 

[wittyfan]

Yes you do its just that @#@ could not bear to tell you that she has literally hundreds of other children, one for each of the fathers. :lol: Afterall its amazing what you can buy get for $20 at the shire.

I think the heat of Townsville has fried your brains out.

 

[blacktip-reefy]

Poor weather!! Gotta love that one.

The joint venture must have really written the excuse book huh?

& lucky the joint venture has the book too as it will lose it's "stars" through injury, they will be rocked by internal controversy & they will underacheive by 1.5 million dollars again.!

 

[_Johnsy]

Sully

Top marks for the pure wit of your comeback.

Do you have change of a twenty I hear the prices have dropped.

 

[blacktip-reefy]

So Johnsy is in either, Newcastle, Townsville or St George!
& he's baggin the shire!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Talk about the 3 of the lowest places in the World!!!
Just behind Geelong.

 

[weasel]

Our wins over the Knights, Sharks and Tigers pretty clearly showed we've moved on from that. I mean last year we lost to all three in games we were expected to win and this season we've beaten them by an average margin of over thirty points. Yesterday wasn't much of a return to old habits, as I pointed out we didn't have things going all our way. City/Country isn't every week, though I s'pose Origin could potentially ravage our side. Still, even if it does the talent we still have in the team won't be stifled every week by poor weather.

Newcastle were affected by City-Country yet still put in an impressive performance.

Yeah and I admit the Sharks produced an impressive performance with players backing up too. But do you think it's a coincidence that the Bulldogs, Storm and Dragons, three teams who have been playing some of the best football this year, all produced close to their most lacklustre performances of the year on the weekend they had key players in City/Country?

 

[Rexxy]

So Johnsy is in either, Newcastle, Townsville or St George!
& he's baggin the shire!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Talk about the 3 of the lowest places in the World!!!
Just behind Geelong.

If its so good why dont you live there?

 

[wittyfan]

Yeah and I admit the Sharks produced an impressive performance with players backing up too. But do you think it's a coincidence that the Bulldogs, Storm and Dragons, three teams who have been playing some of the best football this year, all produced close to their most lacklustre performances of the year on the weekend they had key players in City/Country?

That shouldn't be used as any excuse as other teams performed well that had players backing up. Plus some of the Dragons' best performances in recent years have been with a depleted line-up.

 

[blacktip-reefy]

So Johnsy is in either, Newcastle, Townsville or St George!
& he's baggin the shire!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Talk about the 3 of the lowest places in the World!!!
Just behind Geelong.

If its so good why dont you live there?

I do.
How would you know if I didn't?
:?

 

[t-ba]

t-ba the hutt wrote today"Shocking Indeed. The Crowds at Manly (And I would Imagine) penrith wouldn't have been helped by those Stormy clouds."
And you have the hide to post comment's regarding the magpies gate taking's .Think before you post w*nker!

What does that have to do with the price of fish? Fact is, your hapless club couldn't draw a crowd for it's final decade if it payed people to attend...and Bagging St George Fans about the value of their stuff is quite humorous you Dolt!

 

[weasel]

Yep, a depleted line-up that has been aware of that the whole week and not a spareparts one that has only been settled on the day of the game due to the uncertainties of players backing up and others passing fitness tests. Let's take a look at the line-up we had named against Manly-

1. Ben Hornby- Didn't end up playing and was replaced by a reserve grader. Didn't seem to be any suggestion he'd withdraw before gameday.
2. Nathan Blacklock- expected to play all week but was ruled out after city/country. John Carlaw was shifted to wing to accomodate.
3. John Carlaw- shifted to wing with Gasnier passing fit and Blacklock being ruled out. Gasnier's addition was a boost but he had been less than a fifty percent chance of playing so I doubt he would have been included a great deal in the preparation for the match.
4. Matt Cooper- played where named but was backing up, still performed fairly well.
5. Reece Simmonds- played where named.
6. Shaun Timmins- played where named.
7. Matthew Head- played where named.
8. Luke Bailey- played where named.
9. Mark Riddell- backing up from Friday night, shifted to the bench. Withers moved to the starting side.
10. Brent Kite- backing up from Friday night, shifted to the bench. Sims promoted to starting prop.
11. Dean Young- played where named.
12. Lance Thompson- expected to play all week but ruled out after city/country. Replaced by Justin Poore.
13. Tony Jensen- played where named.

Bench- Sims- swapped places with Kite, Withers- swapped places with Riddell, Ryles-played where named, Poore- promoted to starting side, Creagh- would have been the benchplayer omitted if we had a full strength side, ended up playing.

That's ten players whose roles were adjusted on the day of the game, and another one backing up. Such disruption isn't very helpful, either for the coach or for the player's preparation. And to be fair the Sharks and Knights didn't have as many players backing up as the Dogs and Dragons.

 

[Southernsaint]

Weasel, i think that might be too much common sense for Blacktip to digest...

Cheers,
Ben S.

 

[_Johnsy]

Having spent a fair bit of time at the shire you could not pay me enough money to live there.

Black tip, how stupid can one person be, under my name it says location - Townsville, and you still came up with 2 other options. Mind baffling.

Townsville is a great place to live, Cairns a few hours up the road, Airlee Beach a great day trip, Mission Beach same as Airlee, Magnetic island a twenty minute ferry trip, Barra fishing in literally thousands of spots. And thats just to mention a few places, Yep I'd take Townsville any day of the week. The good thing is people like you have no idea, and thats how we like it.

 

[Anonymous]

The joint venture must have really written the excuse book huh?

Not at all, that was written by our little cousins in South St George.
Its called: '74-4 and how it was the refs fault'. Very popular reading in the Swamplands