Dureau's Newcastle ambition on the table as negotiations loom

[Gene Krupa]

That's the halves credo at the Knights so he fits right in. LOL.

 

[Apey]

The main difference between Dureau and Rogers is that you can actually rely on one to defend competently.

 

[Misanthrope]

The main difference between Dureau and Rogers is that you can actually rely on one to defend competently.

Call me crazy, but I'd rather a half that manages to threaten in attack more than once every two games. Lockyer's a woeful defender and the Broncos have worked around it. If we had a halfway decent coach, Dureau's defensive wouldn't be the issue it seems to be.

 

[Big Tim]

He has a solid left to right cut out it seems. If you are going to make a list, then you need to add that.

In terms of the final kick, the only problem I had that it was to the wrong winger. At the end of the day Dureau was the best to take the kick. Gids, De Gois or Hilder were the only other options.

Deathride Scott all you want, but until we actually sign another 7 we need him. If Dodge were in the game today we would have had 2 reactive halves in the game once Mullo went off.

 

[Serc]

Serc, - What we have been saying all along is that we need to get a decent half.

Correct

Dureau has been rubbish for 3 years.

Incorrect (and no I'm not going to bother arguing)

So perhaps you should direct your rage at the coaching/recruitment staff who make the decisions on who plays at our club rather than the player who just goes out there and plays if he is picked?

For christ sake, Hodgkinson has made the city side after 7 games.

I don't think he has been on anyone's radar until the last month or two...

Barba has scored 7 tries in as many games

Do you think we need another player at our club who can't tackle? Plus we already have that style of player in attack between Rogers/Mullen/Gidley and their various attributes.

Foran has only been in first grade for a little over 12 months and he is a gun and represented NZ.

I don't think he was ever going to go anywhere...just like we held onto Walsh and Dureau until they spent x amount of time in first grade, I don't think there ever was a chance Manly would've let go of Foran knowing that Orford was going. This is not just something at Manly, there are bugger all halfbacks right across the NRL, so every club is holding onto what they have just in case.

We buy hacks in Rodgers and keep giving Dureau so many chances when it was clear to all he hasn't the skill level to play at the NRL level.

We take the easy option instead of putting in the hard work to recruit the right players. How many players do we recruit to the club that are from the top shelf. It is plain lazy recruiting from my perspective.

Dureau and Dodge are not being the players we need to take us towards the top of the competition and we need to start the identification and recruiting of halves now as the talent is there.

Now we're getting there!

I seriously hope we're going to do some good recruiting over the next 6 months, fingers crossed.

 

[Whats Doing]

The issue is not about players not being on the horizon until the last couple of months, The point is that other clubs can identify the talent who will in the future develop into NRL standard players or higher. The players mentioned were some examples of this and there are others such as Keating and Moltzen before he got injured.

The knights recruitment are just lazy or do not possess an eye for talent.

For christ sake we lost Inglis because they thought he wouldn't make the grade.

 

[Misanthrope]

How much of losing players because we don't think they'll make the grade is to do with recruitment/retention? Maybe the problem is that we're not capable of training players to the standard required from first graders in the modern game?

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Nice to see the Dureau hate bandwagon working hard as always...

If you're obsessing about getting rid of him from the club, you have to get rid of Rogers as well. Hell there's even half a case for getting rid of Mullo too!

Sure he had some poor moments today, but a) we don't have a better halfback at the club at the moment and b) in the last two games, Mullo hasn't been any better than him either.

Half a case to get rid of Mullen I'd pack his bags if it meant a Keiran Foran or similar player comming here.....

Dureau is useless he has nothing besides a kicking game.

Talent wise Rogers has way more then him.

Stone is Hagan reincarnated and I hate to say it but I say it all along.

 

[Whats Doing]

How much of losing players because we don't think they'll make the grade is to do with recruitment/retention? Maybe the problem is that we're not capable of training players to the standard required from first graders in the modern game?

Surely you can't be serious?

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Call me crazy, but I'd rather a half that manages to threaten in attack more than once every two games. Lockyer's a woeful defender and the Broncos have worked around it. If we had a halfway decent coach, Dureau's defensive wouldn't be the issue it seems to be.

CWB I actually respect u a fair bit, but surely ur not suggesting that Dureau offers anything at all in attack?

 

[Alex28]

If Dodge were in the game today we would have had 2 reactive halves in the game once Mullo went off.

Tremendous point. With all the success we had last year with the three of them in the 17, why on earth would Rick Stone have McDonnell on the bench?

 

[Gene Krupa]

Tremendous point. With all the success we had last year with the three of them in the 17, why on earth would Rick Stone have McDonnell on the bench?

Exacly what I was thinking. The McDonnell bench spot was a nuffy choice. Had pleanty of options if Kurt went down.

I see why I confused you earlier Alex, I called him O'Donnell.

 

[Alex28]

Took me a while but I figured it out in the end

 

[Yosh]

Haven't watched the game but if we lost by 40 means everyone's defence was shocking doesn't it? Anyways... Its all speculation and we don't know if Dureau is gonna be on any good money anyways. Lets wait it out and see the result. We might end up signing im on peanuts and sigining someone good you never know.


OR

Knowing our club. Let's just rage now because nothing is gonna happen.

 

[Misanthrope]

Surely you can't be serious?

I'm not saying we don't have massive issues with retention and recruitment. I'm asking how much of the losses of guys like Mason, Tupou, Inglis, and Snowden (guys who didn't look like first graders and three of whom had reputations for being poor trainers) had to do with us not having adequate training technique in place to get the players into the shape they needed to be in.

Snowden and Tupou in particular were apparently players with bad attitudes towards training who were having trouble with their fitness/weight. Yet they've gone on to improve massively. Perry's done similarly.

How much of the problem with players improving after we lose them is to do with us not seeing their talent and how much is to do with this club not being able to nurture and develop a player to their full potential?

CWB I actually respect u a fair bit, but surely ur not suggesting that Dureau offers anything at all in attack?

Sure. He offers an excellent long kicking game. Given that Rogers plays the same position as Mullen and is basically an inferior clone (good runner and passer) - I don't see what he contributes that the team doesn't already have, save for a few extra tackles.

 

[Big Tim]

CWB I actually respect u a fair bit, but surely ur not suggesting that Dureau offers anything at all in attack?

If you read it, you will see that he is saying that Dureau's level of attack and organising is consistent unlike Dodge.

 

[Alex28]

Sure. He offers an excellent long kicking game. Given that Rogers plays the same position as Mullen and is basically an inferior clone (good runner and passer) - I don't see what he contributes that the team doesn't already have, save for a few extra tackles.

Mate...we need a lot more out of a halfback than just being able to kick the ball a mile.

What Rogers adds to the team is having two players in the halves that can tackle, run and pass. We have other guys who can kick the ball a long way.

 

[Misanthrope]

What Rogers adds to the team is having two players in the halves that can tackle, run and pass. We have other guys who can kick the ball a long way.

Well? I think Mullen's got an acceptable long game, but he's about the extent of it from a play-making perspective. Kurt Gidley is dire and Cory Patterson's only good for a kick-off.

Rogers offers far better defense than Scotty and he has an acceptable passing game. But Mullen's doing the same kind of thing and he's doing it consistently.

No team in the NRL is winning games with two ball running halves. You need somebody who has a good kicking game and can organize. I'm not saying Dureau is that player, but Rogers isn't and Mullen hasn't looked like it either.

 

[meercat]

Maybe Smith was onto something when he was changing the halves constantly. Correct me if im wrong but hasnt each of our 3 wins come in games when weve changed the starting half from the previous week...whereas when dureau/rogers gets a go in successive weeks we seem to lose. :crazy: Then again probably not, funny coincidence though.

 

[Newie is God's Country]

Where is Karma? I thought he would have been all over this one due to Dureau's brain explosion on full time.