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Dragons New Captain 2025

Gardenia

Bench
Messages
2,797
I like Cookie as Captain. He has already shown leadership by encouraging Holmes to come to us for example. Seems to have a calm head on his shoulders and is respected by other players. Might be a bit much for Gutho to go from captain at Parramatta to captain at the Dragons straight up.
 

TheRev

Coach
Messages
11,503
To be fair he might just wait till january and see how all the boys interact, or who they gravitate towards..

but my suspicion is Gutho is on the field 80mins per game.. already talking and organising, has been doing it for years, good with the refs.. is his for 3yrs.. just seems like a natural fit... highest paid player at the club also.

Cook could ofcourse do it, great guy.. Sua maybe, im not sure if he actually wants to do it though, or its more just that he was the forward leader in a pack otherwise devoid of leaders (bar maybe Jack)... I think he can lead with action anyway.
 

Carrera28

Juniors
Messages
75
I think there will be a lot of pressure on Gutherson, as our halves will likely be either inexperienced or not superstars and he will carry a lot of burden at Fullback to find finding attacking opportunities and score points. Club captaincy on top of this is a lot of pressure that is unnecessary on our marquee player.

I would make Cook club captain and on field captain. I would have a leadership team that includes Gutherson, JDB and Sua. That way when Cook is off the field Gutho or Sua can captain.

Sua then gets experience from a leadership team with experience and he takes over as club captain if he demonstrates leadership in 2026 or 2027 when Cook retires and goes back to join Souths off field team.

I have purposely left Valentine Holmes out of the leadership team as I would love him to just concentrate of being fit and playing strongly with consistency. He needs to be a bit selfish in terms of training to stay at his peak for as long as possible.

Personally I would not have JDB in a leadership position as I think he is a poor role model, but he appears popular and respected by the team so in light of this I would reluctantly let him into the leadership team.
 

TheRev

Coach
Messages
11,503
I think there will be a lot of pressure on Gutherson, as our halves will likely be either inexperienced or not superstars and he will carry a lot of burden at Fullback to find finding attacking opportunities and score points. Club captaincy on top of this is a lot of pressure that is unnecessary on our marquee player.

I would make Cook club captain and on field captain. I would have a leadership team that includes Gutherson, JDB and Sua. That way when Cook is off the field Gutho or Sua can captain.

Sua then gets experience from a leadership team with experience and he takes over as club captain if he demonstrates leadership in 2026 or 2027 when Cook retires and goes back to join Souths off field team.

I have purposely left Valentine Holmes out of the leadership team as I would love him to just concentrate of being fit and playing strongly with consistency. He needs to be a bit selfish in terms of training to stay at his peak for as long as possible.

Personally I would not have JDB in a leadership position as I think he is a poor role model, but he appears popular and respected by the team so in light of this I would reluctantly let him into the leadership team.
Yeah I take ur point definitely.. Cook will do a good job too, but he wont always be on the field, I know hes playing 9 & 13, but I think hes going to need a rest either way... still doable but would need a vice captain.

But I think Gutho, a veteran @30yrs of age, I think he can handle it.. and I think he will thrive in the new challenge tbh.. and hes come off a bad year so he knows what losing looks like, its not going to be a shock.

But I am really curious about the player dynamic.. is it like a pack of dogs where one asserts a natural dominance? Do the players turn to a specific person in a crisis? Maybe the leader of the group will become obvious.. but the older guys wont be into camp until January I think.. I think Cook played for Prime Ministers XI Oct 13, so hes back for sure around xmas time.. Gutho probably back in December, he hasnt played since R27.. I can see Luciano and FMolo played for Samoa last week.. JDB for PNG also... they are probably January.. but hopefully 26 out of 30 are back early december... and I bet Cook and Gutho are back early anyway.. keen to make their mark at a new club.
 

parra pete

Referee
Messages
20,657
I think there will be a lot of pressure on Gutherson, as our halves will likely be either inexperienced or not superstars and he will carry a lot of burden at Fullback to find finding attacking opportunities and score points. Club captaincy on top of this is a lot of pressure that is unnecessary on our marquee player.

I would make Cook club captain and on field captain. I would have a leadership team that includes Gutherson, JDB and Sua. That way when Cook is off the field Gutho or Sua can captain.

Sua then gets experience from a leadership team with experience and he takes over as club captain if he demonstrates leadership in 2026 or 2027 when Cook retires and goes back to join Souths off field team.

I have purposely left Valentine Holmes out of the leadership team as I would love him to just concentrate of being fit and playing strongly with consistency. He needs to be a bit selfish in terms of training to stay at his peak for as long as possible.

Personally I would not have JDB in a leadership position as I think he is a poor role model, but he appears popular and respected by the team so in light of this I would reluctantly let him into the leadership team.
He loves PRESSURE..Eats it up....You have signed a bloke who gives 100% EVERY TIME. Im gonna miss watching him put his heart and soul into every play.
 

Harry Bath

Juniors
Messages
308
It is good to see Flanno will have plenty of good options for captaincy. I am sure he will make whoever it is earn it over the offseason and whoever gets it will be much better than what Saints had in the past.
Agree if nothing else there is now some leadership in the club, there was none for the last 11 years since Hornby and Creagh retired
 

Gareth67

First Grade
Messages
8,757
We need someone with their wits about them , a individual who knows how to speak to the refs and is able to put his point of view across .

For mine that player is Damien Cook , as cool headed as they come and with previous experience in that capacity .
 

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