Charity Shield 2023 vs Souths

[rasaint]

Sloan has some scoot for sure but has never looked safe under the high ball. I think they will persevere for a while with him. Treigh Stewart is in the wings this year. Both seem to trouble the defence in attack.

There are still posters holding a candle for Zac Lomax. Now in his 6th year he will never be any more than an unremarkable player, but is a good goal kicker. Granted, tries his best but rarely troubles the defence.Please let’s stop saying’its the coaching’ or get ‘early ball to him’ blah, blah.

Sullivan looked sharp.

Souths will go very well, if particularly Walker stays healthy. IMO they will tank if he and Mitchell aren’t on the park.

 

[Draginzaaar]

I didn't see the game, just read all your comments and watched our progress on NRL.com and if you just went by our stats you'd think it was pretty even - except for us making 16 errors (our worst effort in years) 13 errors to our starting back line 1-5, surely they can improve on that. All the other stats look good except maybe our kicking game which was very poor, we usually make over 500mtrs a game, today only 274, Hunt needs a partner there.
Goes to show stats don't show the massive gaps we leave in our defence or our poor ruck defence from people being too old and too slow and too dumb and too poorly trained.
I'll watch the replay tomorrow to see for myself what a rabble we've become.
Any positives ? Any stand out players ? Looks like BBurns did OK, 110 metres and only one missed tackle.
Hook's a dud but really he hasn't got much to work with - 16 errors ffs.

I have never watched a game we lost on replay....ever. I'm 62.

 

[blacksafake]

The best thing about watching the dragons these days is I just don’t care when they lose anymore. I used to get emotional, now I just chuckle.
Anyway, next game a few weeks away now, 0/2 from the trials, never looked like winning either of them.
Expectations for 23 very very low.

My sentiments also.
Have been that way since Mary

 

[Dark Corner]

Why no sell out ?

 

[thebigredv]

On a day where St Helens and Broncos caused an upset and even the Aussie cricketers got on top, good old dependable soulless Dragons got a good flogging that everyone saw coming a mile off.

 

[Nanadragon]

Just wanted to remind people: It's the charity shield for peats sake. If our preseason performances last year were any indication of how we'd travel, we would have been top 8, easily, but we weren't. Some of you honestly need to calm down a bit.

We're embarrassed for heaven's sake.
I, for one, am doubting my support for this Club after 60 years of supporting it.
Trial or no trial we looked like a reserve grade team yesterday. Hook has to go and soon.

 

[Miller was a legend]

Look on the bright side…. You’re not Penrith today.

no one is thinking too much about the Dragons loss as much as celebrating the defeat of pure smugness

 

[justadragon]

why is it that i have to hear every year how good the pre season was, the new attitudes we have, how we have bulked up, what the new coaches are doing, the lessons learnt from last season blah blah blah etc. we could have at least looked as sharp as what we talked ourselves up to be. yes i know its a trail but it was also a trail for souths, we looked like a disinterested rabble that thought it was too hot to play and really the season dosent start for a couple of weeks, so what does this matter. so now they leave with more questions than answers on such a poor showing wondering why their renewed pre season exuberance and soundly proffessed crap they regaled was a dismal fail. and to us members and supporters the stark reality of what we already knew is now evident before us. there is no excuse to having a poor attitude or desire in any game you play, as a matter of fact you get paid a lot of money to constantly have it. well its over to you mr griffen lets see what magic you have for us in 3 weeks, knock yourself out.

 

[matPORTS]

Our biggest problem certainly came to roost yesterday - and that was not persisting with Sloan in 2022. He'd surely be a lot more progressed in his development and not making as many fundamental errors by now. We can no longer panic and must persist with him now. He has potential to be something pretty special. He looked very emotional after the game yesterday - jeez if only the rest of them could take that same look in the mirror knowing they had average performances !

The backs don't look too bad - we've got to early ball to the centres. My goodness haven't we been saying that since the Gasnier/Cooper days, yet the ball struggles to get out there early most weeks?

Mbye - he is the utility off the bench (he'll need to be because Liddle isn't ready for a full 80mins yet) and Sullivan must be starting in the six.

Hunt, solid as always and was dusting off his cobwebs for the most part.

Musgrove, BMM, Liddle look to be handy buys.

Woods - you should have retired mate! See out the year in reserve grade please (you might get a run in the event of an injury crisis.

Everything and everyone else - feeling very underwhelmed. Lawrie went okay but can't do it all on his own. How much will having JDB & Bird back for round 2 help? The other forwards (namely the Molo brothers + Su'a + Kerr + etc) really need to step up!

I think we'll win enough games to avoid the wooden spoon (we always seem to) but it will be an underwhelming season floating somewhere in the middle of the bottom half of the table.

 

[Crush]

why is it that i have to hear every year how good the pre season was, the new attitudes we have, how we have bulked up, what the new coaches are doing, the lessons learnt from last season blah blah blah etc. we could have at least looked as sharp as what we talked ourselves up to be. yes i know its a trail but it was also a trail for souths, we looked like a disinterested rabble that thought it was too hot to play and really the season dosent start for a couple of weeks, so what does this matter. so now they leave with more questions than answers on such a poor showing wondering why their renewed pre season exuberance and soundly proffessed crap they regaled was a dismal fail. and to us members and supporters the stark reality of what we already knew is now evident before us. there is no excuse to having a poor attitude or desire in any game you play, as a matter of fact you get paid a lot of money to constantly have it. well its over to you mr griffen lets see what magic you have for us in 3 weeks, knock yourself out.

“Boys are training really well”
“There’s a different feeling around the club”
“Young blokes are really putting their hand up”
“Sloany has a real confidence about him, he’s ready to make the jersey his own”
“New assistants have brought a new perspective to the team, it’s very different from last season”

Did I miss any Aaron Woods/Moses Mbye quotes from the offseason?

 

[currumbinsaint21]

Who was the number 22 who came on late?some strong defence on our line
and ran hard.comentators didn't mention his name.

 

[Dragon David]

“Boys are training really well”
“There’s a different feeling around the club”
“Young blokes are really putting their hand up”
“Sloany has a real confidence about him, he’s ready to make the jersey his own”
“New assistants have brought a new perspective to the team, it’s very different from last season”

Did I miss any Aaron Woods/Moses Mbye quotes from the offseason?

You and justadragon have hit the nail on the head as well as so many of us about what is said and what is actually done.

Talk can be upbeat anytime, but the reality is what happens on the pitch that counts. Trials help all to see who have the goods and what needs fixing. No matter if it is a nuffing game, there should be players put into positions to see whats best. For example, why not switch Lomax back to right centre and Suli to left during the game? Why not put Sloan on Rava's wing and move Lomax to fullback? Mix them around for a bit and see what they can do. Try different things - maybe that is the problem, they don't know what they are.

Sloan has the talent but I feel that he puts too much pressure on himself to prove to others that he has what it takes. He wants to impress all of the time but in doing so he is not playing his natural game. Just relax and enjoy the sport and don't worry about things too much.

Our first game against the Titans will be a very hard one in my opinion. Their forwards are big and tough and their backs are very capable. Hook and Co. have big jobs to get us right for the game.

 

[Como Connection]

Who was the number 22 who came on late?some strong defence on our line
and ran hard.comentators didn't mention his name.

Dan Russell.
CC

 

[currumbinsaint21]

Thanks como.

 

[epDragon62]

Who was the number 22 who came on late?some strong defence on our line
and ran hard.comentators didn't mention his name.

Dan Russell, he needs to be in the 17.

 

[epDragon62]

Ben Woolfe really needs to get our diabolical defence fixed. Fix the defence and the arrack will improve with game time. We will still be middle of the road but not the rabble of yesterday.

Some of the poor positioning in defence and the lack of cohesion was dreadful.

 

[st.phil]

Miserable performance, middle third absolute cake walk.

key observationzzz
Mbye is no hooker, get Mulheisan in to sub, Bud must be 6 , Suli was lost n carved in defence , switch him and lomax back to natural sides. No leg drive or mongrel up front , JDB and musgrove must start , bird at 13. Sloan looks like he’s carrying the weight of a grand final in a trial. He has the talent but unsure if the current Drags environment can get him to where he needs to be.

for all the off positive off season chit chat , the team looked lost, clunky and disconnected, Griffin surely has max 2 months, dead man walking

 

[Draginzaaar]

why is it that i have to hear every year how good the pre season was, the new attitudes we have, how we have bulked up, what the new coaches are doing, the lessons learnt from last season blah blah blah etc. we could have at least looked as sharp as what we talked ourselves up to be. yes i know its a trail but it was also a trail for souths, we looked like a disinterested rabble that thought it was too hot to play and really the season dosent start for a couple of weeks, so what does this matter. so now they leave with more questions than answers on such a poor showing wondering why their renewed pre season exuberance and soundly proffessed crap they regaled was a dismal fail. and to us members and supporters the stark reality of what we already knew is now evident before us. there is no excuse to having a poor attitude or desire in any game you play, as a matter of fact you get paid a lot of money to constantly have it. well its over to you mr griffen lets see what magic you have for us in 3 weeks, knock yourself out.

Don't you like Capital letters to start a sentence? Or just Capital letters in general?

 

[dungay dragon]

Watched the attitude of the young blokes who played against St Helens last week .They were keen , proud to put on the famous jumper and eager to to do well .Yesterday , the tried n true were back and it was just another day at the office.Try and survive 80 mins and put the hand out for an oversized weekly pay packet.The biggest worry they had yesterday was working out who bought the 50 plus sunscreen so the poor little pets didnt get burnt.
I would much rather watch the youngsters go out and do their best than most that turned up yesterday
Woods FFS should be made captain of the twos . Even his old club didnt want him back . Embarrassing .
Rava is a shadow of better days , while Moga is slower that the zambuck bringing out the kicking tee
At least Sloan displayed that he cared about his performance .Some of the others were more interested in getting directions to the local wineries
The performances last week of Russell , Coachman x 2 , Egan and Mullhousen indicated they are very close to regular NRL competition esp in our squad
Hook looked just as non plussed and clueless as the playing group .
His tenure must be hanging by the skinniest of threads
A loss to the Titans in round 2 will more than likely be the end
The return of Bird and JDB is significant and they will add plenty .
Sure its only a trial , but all the indications are there that we are in a similar or even worse position than how we finished last year .
Our defence esp up the middle is paper thin and there is no pattern with our attack.
It would seem our main target this year will be to avoid the Spoon unless changes are made now

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

I have never watched a game we lost on replay....ever. I'm 62.

So you’re missing a lot of footy these days then