Flanno's New Signings

[jak]

And they won against Penrith without Ben Hunt.

my version is we won because ben hunt didn't play

 

[rasaint]

My version is Nathan Cleary didnt play ( no James Fisher Harris either).

 

[blacksafake]

My version is Nathan Cleary didnt play ( no James Fisher Harris either).

Why did you have to go and spoil it

 

[CozDragon]

My version is Nathan Cleary didnt play ( no James Fisher Harris either).

Except Fisher Harris did play...

 

[since77]

My version is Nathan Cleary didnt play ( no James Fisher Harris either).

Here we go again. Another way to find a reason that we only won that game because >>insert excuse here<<.......

People who know their footy would point out that Cleary didn't play in MOST of Penrith's games this year and this "understrength" Penrith team we played that day still finished second by the time the semi finals arrived. Which means this "understrength" Penrith team that the Dragons defeated still beat most other teams easily. Without Cleary. And Fisher Harris did play.

 

[Old Timer]

In our win v Penrith & Melbourne we played very well and the wins were well deserved as our opposition didn’t play poorly.

In our win v Manly they played putrid footy and we should have lapped them several times which we failed to do.

Unfortunately we had lots and lots of putrid moments in other games and that raises the question why especially in light of the Penrith & Melbourne wins.

If people are going to praise the coach and team for those wins and decry anyone who suggests the opposition were under strength or a bit off their game then it’s a bit rich to then blame the quality of the squad for the losses and say S F had little to work with.

 

[since77]

In our win v Penrith & Melbourne we played very well and the wins were well deserved as our opposition didn’t play poorly.

In our win v Manly they played putrid footy and we should have lapped them several times which we failed to do.

Unfortunately we had lots and lots of putrid moments in other games and that raises the question why especially in light of the Penrith & Melbourne wins.

If people are going to praise the coach and team for those wins and decry anyone who suggests the opposition were under strength or a bit off their game then it’s a bit rich to then blame the quality of the squad for the losses and say S F had little to work with.

OT you just keep going around in circles with this stuff. I'm surprised your head hasn't fallen off with how much it's juggling to keep your negativity going.
We played some great games. We played some terrible games. No arguments there.
Manly didn't play well when we beat them early in year. Okay.............Am I allowed to argue we played just as poorly in the second Manly game and that they should have lapped us? Or does the argument only work one way? Because they were also there to be beaten the second time we played them. So deserved win by Manly or bad game by us? It was actually a really poor second half by us, but in the end Manly dug deep and won. And while we're at it, let's not mention the crucial obstruction try that proved to be difference in the game that the NRL apologised for a few days later......
But this stuff has happened in footy since day one. A win is a win. A loss is a loss.

As for "If people are going to praise the coach and team for those wins and decry anyone who suggests the opposition were under strength or a bit off their game then it’s a bit rich to then blame the quality of the squad for the losses and say S F had little to work with" - you are missing the point.

You can't blame the quality of a squad for a loss. But you CAN blame the quality of a squad for a performance over an entire season or for their consistency / lack of consistency. Our squad was bottom tier in '24, easily one of the worst rosters in the NRL with a lot of bad leftover baggage from past regimes and terrible coaches.
I really think you go out of your way to either forget or ignore that 2024 was year one of a rebuild. I expected both improvement and inconsistency and guess what - thats exactly what we got. In year one I would happily take improvement and at times frustrating inconsistency under SF instead of just being consistently bad / woeful under Griffin and McGregor.

Big question is do we get better next year? If we don't then you'll be more entitled to be critical. I might even join you.

 

[Mojo]

OT you just keep going around in circles with this stuff. I'm surprised your head hasn't fallen off with how much it's juggling to keep your negativity going.
We played some great games. We played some terrible games. No arguments there.
Manly didn't play well when we beat them early in year. Okay.............Am I allowed to argue we played just as poorly in the second Manly game and that they should have lapped us? Or does the argument only work one way? Because they were also there to be beaten the second time we played them. So deserved win by Manly or bad game by us? It was actually a really poor second half by us, but in the end Manly dug deep and won. And while we're at it, let's not mention the crucial obstruction try that proved to be difference in the game that the NRL apologised for a few days later......
But this stuff has happened in footy since day one. A win is a win. A loss is a loss.

As for "If people are going to praise the coach and team for those wins and decry anyone who suggests the opposition were under strength or a bit off their game then it’s a bit rich to then blame the quality of the squad for the losses and say S F had little to work with" - you are missing the point.

You can't blame the quality of a squad for a loss. But you CAN blame the quality of a squad for a performance over an entire season or for their consistency / lack of consistency. Our squad was bottom tier in '24, easily one of the worst rosters in the NRL with a lot of bad leftover baggage from past regimes and terrible coaches.
I really think you go out of your way to either forget or ignore that 2024 was year one of a rebuild. I expected both improvement and inconsistency and guess what - thats exactly what we got. In year one I would happily take improvement and at times frustrating inconsistency under SF instead of just being consistently bad / woeful under Griffin and McGregor.

Big question is do we get better next year? If we don't then you'll be more entitled to be critical. I might even join you.

Inconsistency, by definition, makes it very difficult to be specific about what makes for good or bad performances. As for 'good squad' v's 'bad squad', I'm sure coaches Cleary and Bellamy wouldn't have attributed the losses against the Dragons to a lack of quality players in their squads.

Two things stood out to me in the two momentous wins: (i) against Penrith our halves were very good, especially when we were in their red zone; and (ii) against the Storm. our forwards were great both in attack and defence. I think I also noticed how passionate Jack was as Captain against Penrith (if I'm not mistaken).

 

[Old Timer]

OT you just keep going around in circles with this stuff. I'm surprised your head hasn't fallen off with how much it's juggling to keep your negativity going.
We played some great games. We played some terrible games. No arguments there.
Manly didn't play well when we beat them early in year. Okay.............Am I allowed to argue we played just as poorly in the second Manly game and that they should have lapped us? Or does the argument only work one way? Because they were also there to be beaten the second time we played them. So deserved win by Manly or bad game by us? It was actually a really poor second half by us, but in the end Manly dug deep and won. And while we're at it, let's not mention the crucial obstruction try that proved to be difference in the game that the NRL apologised for a few days later......
But this stuff has happened in footy since day one. A win is a win. A loss is a loss.

As for "If people are going to praise the coach and team for those wins and decry anyone who suggests the opposition were under strength or a bit off their game then it’s a bit rich to then blame the quality of the squad for the losses and say S F had little to work with" - you are missing the point.

You can't blame the quality of a squad for a loss. But you CAN blame the quality of a squad for a performance over an entire season or for their consistency / lack of consistency. Our squad was bottom tier in '24, easily one of the worst rosters in the NRL with a lot of bad leftover baggage from past regimes and terrible coaches.
I really think you go out of your way to either forget or ignore that 2024 was year one of a rebuild. I expected both improvement and inconsistency and guess what - thats exactly what we got. In year one I would happily take improvement and at times frustrating inconsistency under SF instead of just being consistently bad / woeful under Griffin and McGregor.

Big question is do we get better next year? If we don't then you'll be more entitled to be critical. I might even join you.

Interesting that you say I cant have it both ways but in your post you do exactly that.

"You can't blame the quality of a squad for a loss. But you CAN blame the quality of a squad for a performance over an entire season or for their consistency / lack of consistency."

You're blaming the quality of the squad for the losses over a season despite them scoring some enviable wins. If the squad can win against contenders then there is no excuses for either players or coaches for some of the ignominious losses. The team obviously had ability but only invested on a casual basis and that is on the coaching staff and I believe S F knows that too.


"Our squad was bottom tier in '24, easily one of the worst rosters in the NRL with a lot of bad leftover baggage from past regimes and terrible coaches."

S F disagrees with you because when he took the job on as he said there is a footy team in there and they are anything but a "spoon contender" and in fact the squad that took the paddock for S F this year was IMO much stronger than those that took the paddock in seasons 23 or 22.

You like others keep thinking that because we finished higher than the ridiculous assertions the media made of our chances before the season started that we have had some miraculous season and S F worked wonders.

FFS those idiots in the media even jumped on the various trains like Saints to make the semis, S F coach of the year, Saints to beat Easts on Anzac Day etc etc.

We got to where the team should have been no more no less and our obvious limitations in attack and defence were on show as they had been for several years but sadly our defence and mental strength actually got worse and that is a major concern.

Wins are wins and losses are losses but having a proper analysis of them is the key and every time anyone suggests that the opposition were under strength or simply poor instantly meets with push back and criticism well unfortunately often there is truth in the assertion despite the fact we played well and deserved our win.

 

[Gardenia]

Blow up all you like Matt. You're amongst friends here. I go into very dark explosive places at times. Havent for quite a while as I am running out of energy. It has been such a long road. I still hate Gould though. And POS going to Newcastle - the turd.

PS @mattw5 - its not Facebook DFL and "your not a real fan unless your DFL hardcore and you only say good things about the team" Here

 

[Gardenia]

Other players who actually played were the reason why we didn’t win any of the last 4 games plus the fact many of you overestimated our ability and underestimated other teams.

Yep I can name some of them - Ravawala, Sloan letting tackles in, Big Lucy not firing, BHunt not firing.

 

[Gardenia]

I think Saints wins were very impressive this year but their losses were scary as hell and showed that as good as they looked winning, they looked atrocious losing. It showed Saints have something and that is on their day they can beat the good sides like Melbourne in Melbourne. Flanno really just needs to work extra hard on defence in the offseason and make Saints an extremely hard team to break down not one that once they concede a try buckles. I would not look at the big name players to bring in but ones that can defend and have a tackle efficiency % that is higher that what the players Saints have now. Saints had guys like Cam McInness, Vaughn and Tariq Sims who I would love to have kept instead of McCullough, Maguire, Woods, Burgess etc. Griffin really did screw up Saints. Cam McInness and Tariq are true leaders and you just don't get rid of guys like that. They are the ones you should keep not replace.

ABSOLUTELY we should not have let Sims Vaughan or especially Mcguinness go. I think Mcguinness aka chucky was more a dummy spit on his behalf because his Favourite Coach Mary was let go.

 

[Gardenia]

Would anyone be that stupid ...
Maybe if we pay hunts contract as well

Moses will get snapped up by the Rorters

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

Might be worth a listen to: (from today`s The Oz)

"St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan is set to provide an intimate view of his plans for the Dragons’ rebuild on The Bye Round podcast with James Graham, where he is one of the guests on the second annual round table."

 

[mattw5]

Might be worth a listen to: (from today`s The Oz)

"St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan is set to provide an intimate view of his plans for the Dragons’ rebuild on The Bye Round podcast with James Graham, where he is one of the guests on the second annual round table."

About time i have been waiting for him to finally go on the show.

 

[TheRev]

just listened then, it was a round-table talking about refs and rules.. nothing on us unfortunately.

 

[mattw5]

just listened then, it was a round-table talking about refs and rules.. nothing on us unfortunately.

He releases a one on one podcast with a guest every Sunday i would expect him to be this weeks guest considering he was in the studio for the round table

 

[KingFlanno7]

He releases a one on one podcast with a guest every Sunday i would expect him to be this weeks guest considering he was in the studio for the round table

I hope so, his podcast is gold I've probably watched/listened to most if not all of them. He is even having a wrestling match tomorrow (WWE/WWF) type wrestling haha tune in on YouTube apparently it's free to watch so will be a good laugh

 

[mattw5]

I hope so, his podcast is gold I've probably watched/listened to most if not all of them. He is even having a wrestling match tomorrow (WWE/WWF) type wrestling haha tune in on YouTube apparently it's free to watch so will be a good laugh

I messaged their page at the start of the year asking to get him on they said he would in the off season. Yeah he is I will be watching as I am a fan of wrestling lol