Flanno's New Signings

[Dragon David]

Good spot to live for a St George Illawarra player too, of course.


Chinese and Crownies? I’d better get on the board!


I assume they gave that authority to Bennett while he was here. Seems high time they give that authority to Flanno. After all it is the coach’s employment and reputation that is on the line

If Flanno doesn't have the authority and responsibility to make decisions on recruitment he might as well give it away. What's the use being a head coach when he is the one who can see where certain players are needed to fill positions and he has to wear the blame if he doesn't get and coach the players to play to the best of their abilities?

Surely the only time that the Board should be involved is to counter sign any contracts that need to be registered with the NRL. Not to pick and choose and say nay or yah on who Flanno wants.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

If Flanno doesn't have the authority and responsibility to make decisions on recruitment he might as well give it away. What's the use being a head coach when he is the one who can see where certain players are needed to fill positions and he has to wear the blame if he doesn't get and coach the players to play to the best of their abilities?

Surely the only time that the Board should be involved is to counter sign any contracts that need to be registered with the NRL. Not to pick and choose and say nay or yah on who Flanno wants.

After Hook used his authority and responsibility to contract a bunch of Queensland hacks, maybe the Board decided they needed to exercise a little more control.

 

[Dragon David]

After Hook used his authority and responsibility to contract a bunch of Queensland hacks, maybe the Board decided they needed to exercise a little more control.

Well in that case Johnno, they might as well go out and recruit the players themselves. Why have any inbetweeners do the ground work and negotiations when they can make the decision on the spot and sign them up and then hand them over to Flanno to coach them. If the players are flops, Flanno will get the blame for poor coaching rather than the Board for poor recruitment.

I know I'm stupid with what I have just said, but, we have people running the club who are much more stupid than me if they have to get together and dither about and make decisions if a player should be signed to play for the Dragons.

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

How good is a good satay chicken and steamed rice?

Hmmmmm

 

[possm]

I don't think the only way to do this is to give Flanno full control but rather to give the CEO a budget and have the CEO and Head Coach sign off on expenditure that is within the budget. The budget should not exceed the total amount of the salary cap.

 

[Hound of Dracula]

It certainly appears to be a recurring theme Parko. I'm not too sure if, when, how etc. all of the new rules apply to negotiations and signings after the obligatory cooling off periods, but it really appears to me that if AFB is taking in all of the sights and being fed the nibblies/coffees etc by these clubs, particularly the Bully Dogs, then we certainly have not got him by the balls if he is still waltzing around looking at their C of E and every other parts of the "Family" Club.

Nothing of this sort of thing is happening with Dearden which is a far cry better for our chances of securing him than of AFB for 2025. The only hurdle with us getting Dearden is the Cowboys themselves wanting to hold onto him but really there haven't been any other suitors going for him in a big way so, quietly we tread and not let too much out of the bag for our negotiations with him to be hampered by these other greedy bastards. So fingers crossed here.

Insofar as securing a big middle forward other than AFB, if he gives us the flick, then I'm sure that Flanno and his gang would have other players that they would be negotiating concurrently with who might be solid enough to help our squad but at less cost. As the saying goes don't put all the eggs in the one basket...

With all this said though and these are just my thoughts, the recurring theme of wait and see and being seen to again be slow to act is frustrating to say the least.

Heard a rumour the WT swap Shawn Blore for Justin Olam is "on Ice".

I reckon Shawn Blore would be a great addition.
He missed the entire 2022 season due to a serious knee injury but bounced back in 2023 making 15 NRL appearances.

It certainly appears to be a recurring theme Parko. I'm not too sure if, when, how etc. all of the new rules apply to negotiations and signings after the obligatory cooling off periods, but it really appears to me that if AFB is taking in all of the sights and being fed the nibblies/coffees etc by these clubs, particularly the Bully Dogs, then we certainly have not got him by the balls if he is still waltzing around looking at their C of E and every other parts of the "Family" Club.

Nothing of this sort of thing is happening with Dearden which is a far cry better for our chances of securing him than of AFB for 2025. The only hurdle with us getting Dearden is the Cowboys themselves wanting to hold onto him but really there haven't been any other suitors going for him in a big way so, quietly we tread and not let too much out of the bag for our negotiations with him to be hampered by these other greedy bastards. So fingers crossed here.

Insofar as securing a big middle forward other than AFB, if he gives us the flick, then I'm sure that Flanno and his gang would have other players that they would be negotiating concurrently with who might be solid enough to help our squad but at less cost. As the saying goes don't put all the eggs in the one basket...

With all this said though and these are just my thoughts, the recurring theme of wait and see and being seen to again be slow to act is frustrating to say the least.

Heard a rumour the WT swap Shawn Blore for Justin Olam is "on Ice".

I reckon Shawn Blore would be a great addition.
He missed the entire 2022 season due to a serious knee injury but bounced back in 2023 making 15 NRL appearances. 95% defensive stats, coming into his prime. Substantially cheaper than AFB and may be open for 2024 if Tigers need more $$ for Luai.
He also may not be happy being shopped around by the Tigers.

 

[Walpole]

Heard a rumour the WT swap Shawn Blore for Justin Olam is "on Ice".

I reckon Shawn Blore would be a great addition.
He missed the entire 2022 season due to a serious knee injury but bounced back in 2023 making 15 NRL appearances.

Heard a rumour the WT swap Shawn Blore for Justin Olam is "on Ice".

I reckon Shawn Blore would be a great addition.
He missed the entire 2022 season due to a serious knee injury but bounced back in 2023 making 15 NRL appearances. 95% defensive stats, coming into his prime. Substantially cheaper than AFB and may be open for 2024 if Tigers need more $$ for Luai.
He also may not be happy being shopped around by the Tigers.

Blore has a lot of potential and plenty of 'mongrel'- if he's over his injury concerns he would be a very good pick up.

 

[Dragon David]

Blore has a lot of potential and plenty of 'mongrel'- if he's over his injury concerns he would be a very good pick up.

We need mongrel. AFB is a tough hombre but if we are not successful in getting him and it is very likely that that will be the case, especially seeing that he is doing the rounds with interviews and job searching, Blore might be a good fit in lieu if of course the Tigers don't want him.

 

[slippery5]

Still a rumor, we want facts dont we. Where did you hear this?

Rumour Yes, but it was told to me from a father of a current NRL player who he & his roomie still have contact with him. So we will see if anything eventuates...

 

[Hound of Dracula]

We need mongrel. AFB is a tough hombre but if we are not successful in getting him and it is very likely that that will be the case, especially seeing that he is doing the rounds with interviews and job searching, Blore might be a good fit in lieu if of course the Tigers don't want him.

Tigers seem hot and cold on the idea of Blore moving on, however, considering Luai & AFB talks, I reckon they may need the dollars.

Tigers only gave him a one-year extension for 2024 but the club also re-signed Alex Twal and Alex Seyfarth, making Blore a little bit more excess to the team dynamics? Probably due to injury concerns

Early 2023 via social media he learned he was free to test the open market. Interest came from Melbourne, and Blore met with Storm coach Craig Bellamy – only to be told by the Tigers they wanted to keep him after all. (Can’t say Bellamy not a good judge)

June 2023 WESTS TIGERS reported back-rower Shawn Blore could make a move to Super League immediately. At the same time, it was reported that clubs within the NRL were made aware of his availability and contract status as a potential mid-season signing.

August 2023 Super League's Hull FC showed interest in Blore for next season

More recently the swap deal with Olam came to light, but for whatever reason that seems to have stalled

I rate him, not that I’m an expert, and he is only 22 – if we strike whilst the irons hot, a reasonable three to four year deal would be favourable to Dragon’s short, and long, term recruitment goals.

 

[possm]

Tigers seem hot and cold on the idea of Blore moving on, however, considering Luai & AFB talks, I reckon they may need the dollars.

Tigers only gave him a one-year extension for 2024 but the club also re-signed Alex Twal and Alex Seyfarth, making Blore a little bit more excess to the team dynamics? Probably due to injury concerns

Early 2023 via social media he learned he was free to test the open market. Interest came from Melbourne, and Blore met with Storm coach Craig Bellamy – only to be told by the Tigers they wanted to keep him after all. (Can’t say Bellamy not a good judge)

June 2023 WESTS TIGERS reported back-rower Shawn Blore could make a move to Super League immediately. At the same time, it was reported that clubs within the NRL were made aware of his availability and contract status as a potential mid-season signing.

August 2023 Super League's Hull FC showed interest in Blore for next season

More recently the swap deal with Olam came to light, but for whatever reason that seems to have stalled

I rate him, not that I’m an expert, and he is only 22 – if we strike whilst the irons hot, a reasonable three to four year deal would be favourable to Dragon’s short, and long, term recruitment goals.

We already have a few young props on our books. We need a top prop like AFB to lead our forward pack and possibly captain our team.

 

[Desperate Dragon]

Blore has a lot of potential and plenty of 'mongrel'- if he's over his injury concerns he would be a very good pick up.

@Dragonslayer flagged the interest in Blore a few months back.
Once Luia's future is settled, this will lead to a few other player dominos falling into place.

 

[saints4ever]

There is genuine talks of him being at the Dragons.

Just clarifying.

Do you mean Dearden or Luai?

 

[Dragon David]

Just clarifying.

Do you mean Dearden or Luai?

I had to do a reread of the posts to find out who that player is and it is Tom Dearden.

 

[Hound of Dracula]

We already have a few young props on our books. We need a top prop like AFB to lead our forward pack and possibly captain our team.

Hi Possm,
I do not doubt what you say
But the mind-games around AFB, especially by Gus and the Sharks, may over inflate his value especially when we're also after a top line half. There is a distinct possibility we will miss out and, as another poster said, "We can't have all our eggs in the one basket.

I don't want to impede our young props coming through but they haven't had 30 plus NRL games. Blore also represented in the Junior Kangaroos.

I would suggest there is still some dead wood to cull in our current top 30

Without discounting AFB - I still reckon Blore would be a good team move overall

 

[Parko1310]

It isn't like signing Blore is going to mean we can't get AFB. Blore isn't expensive, and look how much we have coming off contract next year. If we landed Blore, it would impact nothing on the AFB front. Really like Blore as a player, but considering he's an edge forward and we're training up Ryan Couchman for that position, and have Dylan Egan only a year or two out of the top grade we may not need him unless we lost Su'a.

 

[Victoire]

Plus we've signed Eisenhuth who's another backrower. I'd be more worried that signing Blore would mean Jack Bird is playing centre fulltime which is a rather scary proposition.

Corey Allan is still unsigned. Not a world beater but surely a better centre option than Bird, and can play fullback too. Any takers?

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Plus we've signed Eisenhuth who's another backrower. I'd be more worried that signing Blore would mean Jack Bird is playing centre fulltime which is a rather scary proposition.

Corey Allan is still unsigned. Not a world beater but surely a better centre option than Bird, and can play fullback too. Any takers?

Corey Allans a decent first grader, and in my opinion a better centre option than Bird. I'm a bit surprised that no-ones signed him up. I'd pick him but I doubt Flanno would play him over Bird.

 

[justadragon]

Corey Allans a decent first grader, and in my opinion a better centre option than Bird. I'm a bit surprised that no-ones signed him up. I'd pick him but I doubt Flanno would play him over Bird.

I'm hoping we dont get to see coach's favourites next season, I've had enough of that over the last few years. Pick on merit and performance, nothing else, especially memories of yesteryear.

 

[Slippery Morris]

As soon as there is obvious bias where the coach is picking his favourites, he should be 'Hooked".....Ah, I just realised how our ex-coach got his nickname.