Flanno's New Signings

[maestro1]

Don’t underestimate em mate.

Lancaster and Creagh aside, the rest are leeches clinging on for dear life and useless. I think Webb is ok also but he is moving on. Lancaster and Creagh want success. The rest just want the position. Whoever made the decision to let Paul Smith down and go with the Gordon's nearly murdered this club or at least set it back a decade and a half

 

[VodkaSaint]

Lancaster and Creagh aside, the rest are leeches clinging on for dear life and useless. I think Webb is ok also but he is moving on. Lancaster and Creagh want success. The rest just want the position. Whoever made the decision to let Paul Smith down and go with the Gordon's nearly murdered this club or at least set it back a decade and a half

This still makes me mad , jobs for the boys all running scared and watching each others backs to keep their jobs safe

 

[maestro1]

This still makes me mad , jobs for the boys all running scared and watching each others backs to keep their jobs safe

These positions should be aligned to results like the coach. If the coach doesn't achieve success he is moved on.......so to the BOD. The rusted-on days are over. It is big business and if they can't compete with the likes of the Roosters in the board room....then fxck off and let someone in who can.

 

[RedVee]

The account clearly represents a vested interest against what is occurring.

They’re just now realising they’re doomed and they’ll kill everything rather than lose power.

A tale as old as time itself.

Deano - whom we all love. And I mean personally adore - is the compromise.

St. George Board has always been untouchable. Bloodlines.

Antics catching up now that the Leagues Club is a non factor in financials?

Pretty sure Lancaster is the deciding vote and Creagh has his ear.

Anyone see Pleasantville around 99-2000?

The Old Timers in the bowling alley?

Thanks for the insight.

Though a case could be made that Flanno “is one of us” as he was a Dragons junior and player. He made his first grade debut with us. A bit like Cook, he has had to move around to make his career.
Flanno also did that work in the coaching and list management areas before moving on to Manly. Maybe he made some helpful relationships then, though it seems not with Doust. Flanno & Deano seem to get on though.

 

[SnowDragon]

I hated the peptide issue and his wilful breach of the ban he was hit with so pissed off that the board signed him.

In regards to how he coached Cronulla I was never a fan of their style of play and thought circumstances also helped them over the line not just coaching.

I have somewhat begrudgingly let go of the bone as life is to short especially for some so am now willing to judge him purely on results.

Note Edit:

I get it.

i wasn’t sure about Flanno when my brother was pushing for him at the time they signed hook (I wanted the English guy wane at the time) my feelings were similar to that you said. But I came around over time. I see so much more positives in the last 12 months, and I love his approach. In fact everything’s seems to be improving. So I’m a believer. I’m glad your getting over your feelings too, even if more slowly

that said, if clubs punt coaches every time they loose more games than they win, the around half the teams would change coaches each year. The disruption that causes kills off development. Each coach takes a few years to adjust the roster. Surely pass marks until They have that need to be lower?

 

[Old Timer]

I get it.

i wasn’t sure about Flanno when my brother was pushing for him at the time they signed hook (I wanted the English guy wane at the time) my feelings were similar to that you said. But I came around over time. I see so much more positives in the last 12 months, and I love his approach. In fact everything’s seems to be improving. So I’m a believer. I’m glad your getting over your feelings too, even if more slowly

that said, if clubs punt coaches every time they loose more games than they win, the around half the teams would change coaches each year. The disruption that causes kills off development. Each coach takes a few years to adjust the roster. Surely pass marks until They have that need to be lower?

The issue in this place is that many posters are completely reactionary to every media report.

S F has a 3 year contract so no chance he gets punted after 1 year nor should an extension be given unless it is a remarkable occurrence and 2024 certainly wasn’t that.

We should have a firm indication by late in the 2nd year of a tenure as to how we are progressing and where we are progressing to.

The coach and club should be comfortable that neither need to do anything until the 2nd year of 3 is completed and reviews held.

If S F wants or demands an instant upgrade or extension out to 5 years on the basis of 2024 then let him go IMO as he is simply a mercenary always susceptible to offers and is not actually fully invested in our club.

Now for the record I see no such signs from S F and actually believe he knows he has work to do to re-establish himself as a top tier coach and probably sees his best chance of doing that is at our club.

What I do see is a chance that we lock in for 5 years purely on potential just to quiten down an unsubstantiated media release.

I think Mc Fookknuckle got us to a 7th or 8th place and Hook to a 9th and both were failures in so many respects but got upgraded prematurely.

S F has punted a few, signed a few, forward planned a few so that all looks good and promising let’s see how that translates into results which is what he ultimately gets paid to achieve.

Compete for 80
No more 2nd half capitulations or thrashings
Don’t beat ourselves
Proper game plan and no more 5 hit ups and a shitty bomb
Develop our youth

These were basically his challenges for himself so let him tick the boxes and the review becomes really easy.

 

[BlackDuckSaint]

I hated the peptide issue and his wilful breach of the ban he was hit with so pissed off that the board signed him.

In regards to how he coached Cronulla I was never a fan of their style of play and thought circumstances also helped them over the line not just coaching.

I have somewhat begrudgingly let go of the bone as life is to short especially for some so am now willing to judge him purely on results.

Note Edit:

Circumstances helped... Like Bellemy signing the best spine in history at the same time?

Robinson walking in to one of the best teams assembled.

Cleary walking back into the Panthers as they were about to peak.

Or was it the familiarity of Flanno signing a Hooker, Fullback, 5/8 that were all unwanted by there previous clubs and taking them to a GF...

Are you just worried that he will do that again and prove you wrong?

 

[hook hook]

The issue in this place is that many posters are completely reactionary to every media report.

S F has a 3 year contract so no chance he gets punted after 1 year nor should an extension be given unless it is a remarkable occurrence and 2024 certainly wasn’t that.

We should have a firm indication by late in the 2nd year of a tenure as to how we are progressing and where we are progressing to.

The coach and club should be comfortable that neither need to do anything until the 2nd year of 3 is completed and reviews held.

If S F wants or demands an instant upgrade or extension out to 5 years on the basis of 2024 then let him go IMO as he is simply a mercenary always susceptible to offers and is not actually fully invested in our club.

Now for the record I see no such signs from S F and actually believe he knows he has work to do to re-establish himself as a top tier coach and probably sees his best chance of doing that is at our club.

What I do see is a chance that we lock in for 5 years purely on potential just to quiten down an unsubstantiated media release.

I think Mc Fookknuckle got us to a 7th or 8th place and Hook to a 9th and both were failures in so many respects but got upgraded prematurely.

S F has punted a few, signed a few, forward planned a few so that all looks good and promising let’s see how that translates into results which is what he ultimately gets paid to achieve.

Compete for 80
No more 2nd half capitulations or thrashings
Don’t beat ourselves
Proper game plan and no more 5 hit ups and a shitty bomb
Develop our youth

These were basically his challenges for himself so let him tick the boxes and the review becomes really easy.

Say flanno fails at a few of your points this year. Who is replacing him? There are no good coaches on the market. If one becomes available it’s likely because their team was going so poorly that they were punted. Other than that it’s a rookie coach, Benji with a roster better than ours anyone? Flanno is the best we can hope for. He’s already improved us greatly. As long as we shot even a hint of improvement next year he should be commended, given we probably overachieved this year with the squad we had.

 

[Dragonslayer]

The issue in this place is that many posters are completely reactionary to every media report.

S F has a 3 year contract so no chance he gets punted after 1 year nor should an extension be given unless it is a remarkable occurrence and 2024 certainly wasn’t that.

We should have a firm indication by late in the 2nd year of a tenure as to how we are progressing and where we are progressing to.

The coach and club should be comfortable that neither need to do anything until the 2nd year of 3 is completed and reviews held.

If S F wants or demands an instant upgrade or extension out to 5 years on the basis of 2024 then let him go IMO as he is simply a mercenary always susceptible to offers and is not actually fully invested in our club.

Now for the record I see no such signs from S F and actually believe he knows he has work to do to re-establish himself as a top tier coach and probably sees his best chance of doing that is at our club.

What I do see is a chance that we lock in for 5 years purely on potential just to quiten down an unsubstantiated media release.

I think Mc Fookknuckle got us to a 7th or 8th place and Hook to a 9th and both were failures in so many respects but got upgraded prematurely.

S F has punted a few, signed a few, forward planned a few so that all looks good and promising let’s see how that translates into results which is what he ultimately gets paid to achieve.

Compete for 80
No more 2nd half capitulations or thrashings
Don’t beat ourselves
Proper game plan and no more 5 hit ups and a shitty bomb
Develop our youth

These were basically his challenges for himself so let him tick the boxes and the review becomes really easy.

Agree with your 2nd paragraph re: Flanos current contract and extension of same.

Imo, no decision will be made on an extension (even if there is one to be made) until the new CEO is appointed, puts their feet under the desk, and even then a review of circumstances, processes and performance would take, I believe, several months.

The Dragons, our team, is going through some sort of metamorphosis, which is being felt throughout the Club and in all areas. The "close enough, is good enough" attitude is slowly being replaced. Those who wish not to embrace the positivity, will be looking for the door with yhe green and white sign above it.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but it was destroyed in one night.

 

[Old Timer]

Circumstances helped... Like Bellemy signing the best spine in history at the same time?

Robinson walking in to one of the best teams assembled.

Cleary walking back into the Panthers as they were about to peak.

Or was it the familiarity of Flanno signing a Hooker, Fullback, 5/8 that were all unwanted by there previous clubs and taking them to a GF...

Are you just worried that he will do that again and prove you wrong?

WTF are you talking about?

How do you possibly derive that I’m worried about him succeeding?

I unlike you believe he has things to achieve before he gets an extension.

If he achieves them no issue if not then we need to take another look during his 3rd year

if you are so convinced he is the one then why aren’t you pushing for a 5 year , 10 year or life time contract extension?

When we 1st signed Mc Fookknuckle did you want him to succeed?

When we 1st signed Hook did you want him to succeed?

When they didn’t succeed after getting extensions and we ultimately had to terminate them and pay them out do you think we should have waited until they had achieved something more substantive before extending them?

 

[Old Timer]

Say flanno fails at a few of your points this year. Who is replacing him? There are no good coaches on the market. If one becomes available it’s likely because their team was going so poorly that they were punted. Other than that it’s a rookie coach, Benji with a roster better than ours anyone? Flanno is the best we can hope for. He’s already improved us greatly. As long as we shot even a hint of improvement next year he should be commended, given we probably overachieved this year with the squad we had.

Over achieved this year you say, I suspect S F sees it differently.

I think he is totally pissed off that we let a golden opportunity slip through our hands.

He unlike you rated our chances of making
fools of the media much higher and had his sights well and truly set on making at least 8th spot.

You were happy though and see that as some form of success to be rewarded.

S F decided that he needed to punt a few and sign a few because the team failed to get the results he thought they should have and I applaud that.

The question that remains for me is can he coach at that elite level that attracts the best talent and ultimately wins comps?

2025 will go a long way to answering that.

 

[saintmar]

FM

FMD....You haven't posted one positive thing about Flanno since before he became our coach. Why lie about hating him. It sticks out like dogs balls. Stop treating people like imbeciles. It makes you look dense.

Well you must be an imbecile Maestro because for starters if you read my posts properly you would have seen that I congratulated him on the signing of Atkinson but was concerned that it wasn’t kept under wraps till after the cooling off period.
With regards to the other players which clubs were after them.?Please let me know, cause without letting out too much I can let you know facts.
With regards to Flano, apart from the peptide crap I don’t dislike him.
BUT
The whole Hunt fiasco when he joined us was clear his decision making process was extremely flawed.
It took him a year too realise he f**ked up by keeping an overpaid player who didn’t want to be here and then it was well publicised that he took Deano with him to tell Hunt the truths about his game.
You and others , NOW want to credit him for getting rid of Hunt.
Are you kidding yourselves.That was a huge f*** up from Flano.
I say thank you Deano for finally fixing the situation
Hurt should give Flano half his salary as a reward for making him stay and earn money for non performance but for our club it was a disastrous decision
As per our performance we finished behind Hooks 2022 efforts and we all know what we thought of Hook.
NOW I’m prepared to wait out and see if we make the top 6 as a minimum for 2025 and if we do as I said many times before he should be given an extension
Failing that we should move on if there are better options at the time
I don’t know what your issue is mate against this view.

 

[Mojo]

Agree with your 2nd paragraph re: Flanos current contract and extension of same.

Imo, no decision will be made on an extension (even if there is one to be made) until the new CEO is appointed, puts their feet under the desk, and even then a review of circumstances, processes and performance would take, I believe, several months.

The Dragons, our team, is going through some sort of metamorphosis, which is being felt throughout the Club and in all areas. The "close enough, is good enough" attitude is slowly being replaced. Those who wish not to embrace the positivity, will be looking for the door with yhe green and white sign above it.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but it was destroyed in one night.

Your last sentence is one of my favourite aphorisms. We need to make sure Nero keeps his fiddle in its case.

 

[Jubilee]

Flanno's job. When could we next play in a GF? What kind of troops will be needed and how would they be acquired in the assumed time frame?

Assume a progression:
2025 - 14 wins, semi-final appearance. With our current halves, this would be good.
2026 - 15 wins. Atkinson new 5/8. Our young props and Couchies developing. The core leaders still with us. So not impossiible.
2027 - ?? wins. Laurie, Rava gone (two slots opened up) Eisenhuth, JDB, Cook all gone. Sua and Liddle 29 y.o.
2028 - Val, Gutho gone. Last year of DA's 3 year contract.

When does our window open up in this time frame and with this player turnover to get a GF appearance? Clearly, it does not. But maybe 2029 or 2030.

And check out the challenges we are going to be facing in development and recruiting in the next four years!

This has to be the way Flanno is thinking right now. When is our next GF and how do we assemble the troops to get there?

 

[saintmar]

Over achieved this year you say, I suspect S F sees it differently.

I think he is totally pissed off that we let a golden opportunity slip through our hands.

He unlike you rated our chances of making
fools of the media much higher and had his sights well and truly set on making at least 8th spot.

You were happy though and see that as some form of success to be rewarded.

S F decided that he needed to punt a few and sign a few because the team failed to get the results he thought they should have and I applaud that.

The question that remains for me is can he coach at that elite level that attracts the best talent and ultimately wins comps?

2025 will go a long way to answering that.

Again another outstanding post of truth and common sense approach of wait and see what we will achieve in 2025

 

[Old Timer]

Flanno's job. When could we next play in a GF? What kind of troops will be needed and how would they be acquired in the assumed time frame?

Assume a progression:
2025 - 14 wins, semi-final appearance. With our current halves, this would be good.
2026 - 15 wins. Atkinson new 5/8. Our young props and Couchies developing. The core leaders still with us. So not impossiible.
2027 - ?? wins. Laurie, Rava gone (two slots opened up) Eisenhuth, JDB, Cook all gone. Sua and Liddle 29 y.o.
2028 - Val, Gutho gone. Last year of DA's 3 year contract.

When does our window open up in this time frame and with this player turnover to get a GF appearance? Clearly, it does not. But maybe 2029 or 2030.

And check out the challenges we are going to be facing in development and recruiting in the next four years!

This has to be the way Flanno is thinking right now. When is our next GF and how do we assemble the troops to get there?

What a load of codswallop

If you think we don’t get there for 5 or 6 years you’re definitely backing the wrong horse.

Our window is open as soon as we sign a marquis half and an alpha prop and have them for a full preseason.

2025 top 8 spot
2026 - 2027 top 4 spot
2027 - 2028 GF appearance.

 

[Mojo]

25 - Top 4
26 - GF

 

[Jubilee]

What a load of codswallop

If you think we don’t get there for 5 or 6 years you’re definitely backing the wrong horse.

Our window is open as soon as we sign a marquis half and an alpha prop and have them for a full preseason.

2025 top 8 spot
2026 - 2027 top 4 spot
2027 - 2028 GF appearance.

"codswallop"! Forsooth, I am chastised!

A GF appearance in 2027-28? Alright, that would be great. Perhaps you could name your teams for those years. And that should include the names of the players who will be promoted or recruited to replace those who will be moving on. And if the 2027-2028 team is substantially the same as what we have now (plus a magical half and prop), then surely you must think that SF is a master recruiter and coach. I did not know that you thought that.

But - and this is more relevant to my post - what happens if Flanno's magic wand does not get us a 2027 GF? Then who is replacing Cook (gone end 2026), and Gutho, Val (gone end 2027)? Who is replacing JDB, Eisenhuth, Lawrie, Rava in 2025 and 2026...whatever your opinion of them?

But I am asking the impossible, aren't I? Bcs you can't know the answer to that.

And that is my point, not whether I am specifically right or wrong in picking a GF year, but in identifying the team development issues that will lead us to a GF.

This is an example of something that is sometimes called "conversation" and it involves a polite exchange of views. You might try it some time.

 

[Jubilee]

What a load of codswallop

If you think we don’t get there for 5 or 6 years you’re definitely backing the wrong horse.

Our window is open as soon as we sign a marquis half and an alpha prop and have them for a full preseason.

2025 top 8 spot
2026 - 2027 top 4 spot
2027 - 2028 GF appearance.

Who will be your center and fullback to replace Val and Gutho for your 2028 GF run?

You can't know, right? So there is my point. SF has to be thinking about this NOW! And I am sure he is.

This is one reason why short-term coaching gigs may not be a good policy. Someone has to think and plan long-term.

 

[dragon thomo]

Don't fall off your chair Old Timer but I agree with you.
Top front rower and halfback.
It's not going to happens but it would be good if we got a front rower like Leota from Penrith.