Half a halfback for 30 years.

[Dragon Revival]

Peter Coyne was a fabulous five-eighth. I preferred him above Branson and Hawthorne. It was a shame that we only had him for two years. Michael O'Connor, Graeme O'Grady and Phil Blake were also pretty slick. Hopefully Field will be in that class. Maybe Mark Coyne could get Peter Coyne along to coach our halves along with Matt Head.

 

[getsmarty]

Peter Coyne was a fabulous five-eighth. I preferred him above Branson and Hawthorne. It was a shame that we only had him for two years. Michael O'Connor, Graeme O'Grady and Phil Blake were also pretty slick. Hopefully Field will be in that class. Maybe Mark Coyne could get Peter Coyne along to coach our halves along with Matt Head.

With all due respect to Peter Coyne, we already have enough "Old Boys" at the Club LOL

 

[Slippery Morris]

Best of the lot has to be Slippery Morris..................Geez no bias here.

Goldthorpe was pretty good and I will get shot for this but if we had Trent Barrett and Rodwell in the halves for the 99 Grand Final we would have won it. It is a shame Rodwell was overlooked for Mundane....OK he did get us the the GF but people seem to forget he also lost them the GF due to his selfishness. I know which game I would rather lose.......

Mundine provided great memories but the way he left the club and the rubbish he has said he really has no respect for anyone but himself. Barrett/Rodwell when they played together in those few games were pretty awesome.

Matt Head was another gun absolutely smashed by injury. Glad he is back in the red V in some capacity. Seem to have a good footy brain on him and played what was in front of him not what he was told to do.

 

[Drakon]

While we're reminiscing about halfbacks - how good would it be to see Billy Smith at his prime with Matt Dufty as his fullback?! Shades of Chang and Smithy.

 

[Old Timer]

While we're reminiscing about halfbacks - how good would it be to see Billy Smith at his prime with Matt Dufty as his fullback?! Shades of Chang and Smithy.

Why would Smith take Dufty when he had Changa?

 

[Drakon]

Why would Smith take Dufty when he had Changa?

Me thinks you are missing my drift Old Timer. I'm not suggesting Dufty is yet in the same league as Changa nor suggesting he will or won't be but merely how good it would be to see. The wily, talented halfback with the talented, speedy, elusive fullback. Hence my words SHADES of 'Chang and Smithy.'

 

[Old Timer]

Me thinks you are missing my drift Old Timer. I'm not suggesting Dufty is yet in the same league as Changa nor suggesting he will or won't be but merely how good it would be to see. The wily, talented halfback with the talented, speedy, elusive fullback. Hence my words SHADES of 'Chang and Smithy.'

I sort of guessed that was the drift but IMO having seen the great pair play for many years I am not so sure that Billy would be the best fit for Dufty.
Don't get me wrong, loved Billy but I think he had some limitations and Chang somehow got the very best out of him rather than vice versa.
I actually think that Bishop was the more creative and imaginative half at that time.
In respect of Dufty I think Sowie of 2010 would be a better fit and would in fact outdo the Soward and Boyd combination if given time.

 

[Drakon]

I sort of guessed that was the drift but IMO having seen the great pair play for many years I am not so sure that Billy would be the best fit for Dufty.
Don't get me wrong, loved Billy but I think he had some limitations and Chang somehow got the very best out of him rather than vice versa.
I actually think that Bishop was the more creative and imaginative half at that time.
In respect of Dufty I think Sowie of 2010 would be a better fit and would in fact outdo the Soward and Boyd combination if given time.

There are lots of great halfbacks that could be a good combo with someone like Dufty but the original thread was on Saints half backs and although Billy falls outside the 30 years quoted, how good would it be to have Billy in the team now?! Especially with an exciting prospect like Dufty.

 

[hazzbeen]

There are lots of great halfbacks that could be a good combo with someone like Dufty but the original thread was on Saints half backs and although Billy falls outside the 30 years quoted, how good would it be to have Billy in the team now?! Especially with an exciting prospect like Dufty.

Drakon and how good would it be if we had a proper coach as well ......

 

[Drakon]

Bring back Harry Bath, Norm Provan, Killer Kearney!!!

 

[Walpole]

Bring back Harry Bath, Norm Provan, Killer Kearney!!!

There's a coach, captain and hooker right there!

 

[hazzbeen]

There's a coach, captain and hooker right there!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah how the game has changed ......

 

[Dragon Revival]

Unlike some others on this forum I am quite happy to have old boys involved with the Club as long as they get good results. Last year two old boys Demetriou and Head got excellent results culminating in first and third position. Since 2012 the Dragons NRL coaching has been an unmitigated disaster showing that our Directors are inept and lack sound judgement.
Both Price and Mc Gregor should never have been countenanced. NRL is a business not a charity. I am not convinced with Des Hasler who I believe shows little creativity in coaching. He has done little with the
good teams that the Bulldogs have had. He is a goose for recruiting
Hopoate who does not play Sundays.
Next year we need a creative attacking
coach who can get the team to score
points instead of relying on a largely
defensive and conservative approach.
If our dour approach continues we will
lose the promising attacking players that we have on the roster. Steve
Mortimer was a great attacking player and I would back his opinion of Des Hasler as opposed to that of Raelene
Castle who would have no idea.

 

[bad boy bubby]

Flanno is an old St.George boy,
You guys wouldn't take him back?
Of recent times, Matt Head was the best genuine half back you have had.
In saying that, Hornby did play one test in the half back position, in 2006. That was a sorry loss to the Poms and Ben never played a test for Australia again.

 

[BennyV]

Unlike some others on this forum I am quite happy to have old boys involved with the Club as long as they get good results. Last year two old boys Demetriou and Head got excellent results culminating in first and third position. Since 2012 the Dragons NRL coaching has been an unmitigated disaster showing that our Directors are inept and lack sound judgement.
Both Price and Mc Gregor should never have been countenanced. NRL is a business not a charity. I am not convinced with Des Hasler who I believe shows little creativity in coaching. He has done little with the
good teams that the Bulldogs have had. He is a goose for recruiting
Hopoate who does not play Sundays.
Next year we need a creative attacking
coach who can get the team to score
points instead of relying on a largely
defensive and conservative approach.
If our dour approach continues we will
lose the promising attacking players that we have on the roster. Steve
Mortimer was a great attacking player and I would back his opinion of Des Hasler as opposed to that of Raelene
Castle who would have no idea.

Demetriou could hardly be considered an old boy. He was a junior here but barely played a game in the Red V and has been part of many other systems before even considering coming back
The issue with 'old boys' isn't necessarily just employing people who played here. The problem is employing people purely because they played here, despite having no external experience and showing no results.

E.g. McGregor having effectively failed as a Cutters coach, failed as a Strength and Conditioning coach and failed as an assistant coach being employed as head coach.
Bobby Millward's son having failed as an ESL coach being brought over to coach Cutters, and when he failed at that the board created a position for him (admittedly, he has done well in that position but the point is the process that got him there was wrong).
And of course, it goes back to Laurie Doust's son being employed as CEO, and kept on as CEO longer than any CEO in any business should be kept on.

Finally, dont let last year cloud your judgement. Halser made 2 GFs and won a minor premiership with a fairly poor Bulldogs team. The guy came across from Manly straight into a team that missed the 8 with Kris f**king Keating as halfback, and revolutionised the modern forward into an attacking weapon to win the minor premiership. He has struggled the last few years with the board on his back about 'understanding the Bulldogs culture' (probably because he hasnt assaulted or abused anyone since he's been there) but to claim he's done nothing with a 'good teams' he's had is wrong. The teams have only been as good as they have because of him.

 

[Mr Red]

Plenty of rubbish in that group, with very little quality....
There is a direct relationship between this group and only 1 premiership in 30 years......

 

[blacksafake]

Goldy or the unlucky Head for me.
There is some absolute rubbish on the list.

 

[MattoDragon]

Demetriou could hardly be considered an old boy. He was a junior here but barely played a game in the Red V and has been part of many other systems before even considering coming back
The issue with 'old boys' isn't necessarily just employing people who played here. The problem is employing people purely because they played here, despite having no external experience and showing no results.

E.g. McGregor having effectively failed as a Cutters coach, failed as a Strength and Conditioning coach and failed as an assistant coach being employed as head coach.
Bobby Millward's son having failed as an ESL coach being brought over to coach Cutters, and when he failed at that the board created a position for him (admittedly, he has done well in that position but the point is the process that got him there was wrong).
And of course, it goes back to Laurie Doust's son being employed as CEO, and kept on as CEO longer than any CEO in any business should be kept on.

Finally, dont let last year cloud your judgement. Halser made 2 GFs and won a minor premiership with a fairly poor Bulldogs team. The guy came across from Manly straight into a team that missed the 8 with Kris f**king Keating as halfback, and revolutionised the modern forward into an attacking weapon to win the minor premiership. He has struggled the last few years with the board on his back about 'understanding the Bulldogs culture' (probably because he hasnt assaulted or abused anyone since he's been there) but to claim he's done nothing with a 'good teams' he's had is wrong. The teams have only been as good as they have because of him.

I agree with the majority of what you've said. But please don't tell me you think Millward has done well with our recruitment.
He's been involved in the failed attempts to recruit centres Peta Hiku and James Roberts, instead signing Tim Lafai (Genius).
Then there is his attempts to sign a half, Cooper Cronk, Luke Keary, Lachlan Coote, that went well.
He's signed Nene MacDonald, a winger, for over $350k a season (paid overs) and Paul Vaughan, unwanted at Canberra, for $550k a season (paid overs).
In the mean time, we currently have the likes of Josh Dugan, Euan Aitken, Taane Milne, Kurt Mann, Drew Hutchison, Garreth Widdop, Jack De Belin, Russell Packer and Siliva Havili off contract at the end of 2017. The majority of these guys should have been tied up to long term deals by now. But he did sign Jake Marketo to another season, that was a master stroke.
I will give credit where credit is due; he signed Tyson Frizell long term.
Fortunately, we have some loyal juniors that he has re-signed. But please don't tell me he's done a good job. He is another part of the incompetence running the club, along with Doust and his cronies and McGregor.

 

[MattoDragon]

I agree with many before me; Matt Head was the most promising Half we've had for many, many years. It is such a shame for him and for us fans that injury ruined his career.
And many of you touched upon Brett Firman. When we let him go I was so pissed off because I thought he was going to be our HB for many years to come. But the powers that be saw it differently and they were right, injury was his downfall sadly.
And of course, Ben Hornby was instrumental in winning our 2010 Premiership.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Other than two poor refereeing performances by Mander and Clarke, I believe Saints would've won a premiership with a fully fit Head.

Other notes...

Who could ever forget Troy Hodges' stellar 1991 season replacing an injured Jason Alchin? Also, Kieran Kerr's top debut against Brisbane circa 2004 (from memory he scored a side's only try)?

Peter Coyne was one of my favourite players in the early 90s.

By 1986, Steve Morris' halfback days were well behind him before heading to Easts at season's end.