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Former Panthers in the NRL

Sime_11

Sime_11

Juniors
Messages
1,698
seeing as Gus was a former Panther and employee here - its appropriate to put in this thread.

Has Gus lost his touch Recruiting high profile players? seeing as the Dogs have money to spend?

AFB missed out
Dearden missed out
Luai missed out
Ben Hunt missed out
Fifita missed out
Tino missed out

ill give him Critta, Kikau and Mahoney - though the latter 2 had very disappointing 2023 seasons...

Burton and Fox were recruited before Gus joined?
 
T

The Realist

Juniors
Messages
1,884
Kilkenny said:
I’ve read the transcript of exactly what Ivan said on more than one occasion. Many more.

It really isn’t that bad. He was asked the question, he gave an honest answer, more just pointing out the obvious, which many on here and in the media acknowledge as being basically a fact.

He simply pointed out Jerome other than with Samoa hasn’t been required to fulfil a central playmaking role and given the money involved there would be risks.

Should he not have answered the question, or given a politically correct non answer.

When pressed on whether Jerome could be a central playmaker his response was “I’m sure he could.”

Is $1M or more for Jerome across five seasons to be your central playmaker a ‘risk’. Absolutely.

If Nathan Cleary signed with the Roosters tomorrow, would you be comfortable giving Jerome a five year deal to take over as our central playmaker on the same money.

Ivan is refreshing in the coaching ranks for his press conferences, his honesty and I don’t see his response was anywhere near as bad or unprofessional as few make out.
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I mostly agree with that but you, me and even the general Panther fan is not really what matters, we are bystanders not 'players' in this game.

And the chief player in this game was Luai. How did he react? Know your Worth.

Spin it how you want but how Luai perceived things is all that mattered, and it wasn't good from a retention perspective.
 
mxlegend99

mxlegend99

Referee
Messages
23,327
Sime_11 said:
seeing as Gus was a former Panther and employee here - its appropriate to put in this thread.

Has Gus lost his touch Recruiting high profile players? seeing as the Dogs have money to spend?

AFB missed out
Dearden missed out
Luai missed out
Ben Hunt missed out
Fifita missed out
Tino missed out

ill give him Critta, Kikau and Mahoney - though the latter 2 had very disappointing 2023 seasons...

Burton and Fox were recruited before Gus joined?
Click to expand...
He had a poor record with us. Signing big name players is tougher. They either want the biggest contract. Or stay loyal where they were. He missed out on Thurston. But that was hardly his fault.

Landing them doesn’t mean anything. Except you paid more than other clubs could (or would) pay. What made Gus good at his job was identifying guys like Whare, Segeyaro, Koroisau etc. and signing them before they broke out as big money players. And making smart signings like Soward, Wallace etc. that improved weak positions. It was great salary cap management.

Sure he landed Mez and Tamou. By paying both insane overs. Landed Jimmy because a trade deal popped up and also paying him massive money. I think too much credit is given to clubs for signing players when the only thing that truly mattered to that player was the biggest number… and it generally isnt great for their salary caps.
 
Fangs

Fangs

Coach
Messages
13,778
I rate the move from the Bulldogs perspective. Crichton has handled everything thrown his way so far in his career. Give him more responsibility and he will probably continue to flourish. It also takes responsibility away from Burton who has struggled and Mahoney as well who has tended to overplay his hand in the 9.

But while an excellent centre I think they are missing a trick not playing him in the 1. That spine needs another star.
 
mxlegend99

mxlegend99

Referee
Messages
23,327
Crichton will probably be a good captain.

But f**k me dead the Bulldogs truly are pathetic when they can't pick a captain who has even played for their club yet. How can they not be embarrassed by that?

Last year it's Burton and Mahoney (a Bulldogs rookie). This year it's Critter who is yet to play for their pathetic club. Long gone are the days of bred not bought, players bleeding blue coming through their system. The club no longer has any DNA left to be honest... and why would any of their juniors want to stay? THey have no career path to first grade. They would rather fill their squad with fringe first grade utility players than actually finish developing their juniors.

Congratulations to Critter though. He wouldn't have been named captain for our club probably ever. Not through lack of deserving to. We just have Cleary and Yeo who won't be losing that job anytime soon. Best he could have hoped for is captaining the club in random games when Cleary and Yeo (possibly Fish, Martin etc.) were out.
 
Munky

Munky

Coach
Messages
12,194
Critta is a very low involvement player.

He is massively clutch in key moments but doesn't go looking for work and doesn't make inspirational charges.

Surprised he will be a captain.
 
Pomoz

Pomoz

Bench
Messages
2,989
mxlegend99 said:
Crichton will probably be a good captain.

But f**k me dead the Bulldogs truly are pathetic when they can't pick a captain who has even played for their club yet. How can they not be embarrassed by that?

Last year it's Burton and Mahoney (a Bulldogs rookie). This year it's Critter who is yet to play for their pathetic club. Long gone are the days of bred not bought, players bleeding blue coming through their system. The club no longer has any DNA left to be honest... and why would any of their juniors want to stay? THey have no career path to first grade. They would rather fill their squad with fringe first grade utility players than actually finish developing their juniors.

Congratulations to Critter though. He wouldn't have been named captain for our club probably ever. Not through lack of deserving to. We just have Cleary and Yeo who won't be losing that job anytime soon. Best he could have hoped for is captaining the club in random games when Cleary and Yeo (possibly Fish, Martin etc.) were out.
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We shouldnt judge because this applied to the Panthers a few years ago. Our spine was Burns, Kingston, Walsh and Coote. Our best junior left for the Sharks. The team was filled with journeyman. Newton, Ciraldo and so on. But they were a necessary step to build a club that had dna, strategy and vision. You have to start somewhere. Building juniors takes time. Fastforward to 2022 and the Panthers win every grade on GF day. The NRL side has 13 players developed in house.

The Dogs juniors are already starting to be more competitive. They will improve quickly, just like we did. Gus will clean them out quickly, just like he did to us. They have a wealthy benefactor to help them, something we didn't have. The Dogs will be strong again.
 
Munky

Munky

Coach
Messages
12,194
Pomoz said:
The Dogs juniors are already starting to be more competitive. They will improve quickly, just like we did. Gus will clean them out quickly, just like he did to us. They have a wealthy benefactor to help them, something we didn't have. The Dogs will be strong again.
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The Dogs wealthy benefactor is a casino mogul.

Panthers Group is a casino empire.

They're quite similar when looking through to the underlying revenue stream.
 
Luke Bowden

Luke Bowden

First Grade
Messages
7,302
Iamback

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,296
Pomoz said:
We shouldnt judge because this applied to the Panthers a few years ago. Our spine was Burns, Kingston, Walsh and Coote. Our best junior left for the Sharks. The team was filled with journeyman. Newton, Ciraldo and so on. But they were a necessary step to build a club that had dna, strategy and vision. You have to start somewhere. Building juniors takes time. Fastforward to 2022 and the Panthers win every grade on GF day. The NRL side has 13 players developed in house.

The Dogs juniors are already starting to be more competitive. They will improve quickly, just like we did. Gus will clean them out quickly, just like he did to us. They have a wealthy benefactor to help them, something we didn't have. The Dogs will be strong again.
Click to expand...

Their best player in the trial last week was Eli Clark. His path is blocked by Crichton and Xerri, We had plodders in the way. Different at the dogs
 
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