Halves 2021

[possm]

An unlikely but desirable outcome would be for Luc to come back as part of this deal. Mary, the major obstacle to Luc's career has gone- a test for Hook's persuasive powers?

I like this idea. It is a win for the Dragons and yes a win for the Dragons.

 

[Inisai Toga]

I admit there are no clear cut solutions to our halves dilemma but to some extent "the tribe (meaning the Qld brains trust- Bennett and Meninga) has spoken. They have dropped Hunt from the 17 for SOO 3.

While Joey Johns irritates me at times, he is dead right when he talks about the value of a "dominant" half. Hunt has never been, and imo, never will be that. He splutters and fires occasionally but not consistently. He has an aversion to running at the line for some reason and his passing and kicking games are iffy. Seems to get panicked and confused about which option to choose and also lacks a field goal skill. I believe he played his best football for us last year coming off the bench at No 9.

We may have to endure some 'licks" in the short-term while Sullivan and Clune build up a combination but they are our future. Hunt and Norman (hopefully gone at the end of 2021 or possibly earlier if one of Possms "deals'' grows legs ) were expensive mistakes we'll just have to learn to live with.

In relation to McInnes, I would just say that Cam Murray is smaller than McInnes and does a great job at 13 at the Rabbitohs.

Agree mate, but they’ve dropped him (Hunt) because they have better options for Game 3 yet I’m not convinced we have.

Agree Murray does a great job at Souths and hear what your saying about the size comparison, however, I feel that Cam Murray is a mile more effective at lock. Whether that’s coaching, game plan differences or ability, I’m not sure; just my perspective....

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Agree mate, but they’ve dropped him (Hunt) because they have better options for Game 3 yet I’m not convinced we have.

Agree Murray does a great job at Souths and hear what your saying about the size comparison, however, I feel that Cam Murray is a mile more effective at lock. Whether that’s coaching, game plan differences or ability, I’m not sure; just my perspective....

I actually think a Ben Hunt/Grant hooker rotation would be better than a Friend/Grant one.

 

[Inisai Toga]

I actually think a Ben Hunt/Grant hooker rotation would be better than a Friend/Grant one.

Agree FCD!

 

[Gareth67]

I admit there are no clear cut solutions to our halves dilemma but to some extent "the tribe (meaning the Qld brains trust- Bennett and Meninga) has spoken. They have dropped Hunt from the 17 for SOO 3.

While Joey Johns irritates me at times, he is dead right when he talks about the value of a "dominant" half. Hunt has never been, and imo, never will be that. He splutters and fires occasionally but not consistently. He has an aversion to running at the line for some reason and his passing and kicking games are iffy. Seems to get panicked and confused about which option to choose and also lacks a field goal skill. I believe he played his best football for us last year coming off the bench at No 9.

We may have to endure some 'licks" in the short-term while Sullivan and Clune build up a combination but they are our future. Hunt and Norman (hopefully gone at the end of 2021 or possibly earlier if one of Possms "deals'' grows legs ) were expensive mistakes we'll just have to learn to live with.

In relation to McInnes, I would just say that Cam Murray is smaller than McInnes and does a great job at 13 at the Rabbitohs.

Unfortunately for McInnes he has been playing behind a beaten pack - with no heart for most of this year . Murray on the other has his co-forwards doing the job that they are paid to do - go forward and trample over the opposition .

McInnes job at lock would be made so much easier if our pack found some fire - similar to that which they had in the flogging of the broncs in 2018 . Perhaps Griffin and colleagues will be able to light that fire once again .

 

[possm]

Unfortunately for McInnes he has been playing behind a beaten pack - with no heart for most of this year . Murray on the other has his co-forwards doing the job that they are paid to do - go forward and trample over the opposition .

McInnes job at lock would be made so much easier if our pack found some fire - similar to that which they had in the flogging of the broncs in 2018 . Perhaps Griffin and colleagues will be able to light it once again .

McInnes tackles his heart out and shows good line speed. But his fellow team mates don't follow his lead. He does not know how to bring them with him. Frankly he is not a leader.

 

[redv13]

McInnes tackles his heart out and shows good line speed. But his fellow team mates don't follow his lead. He does not know how to bring them with him. Frankly he is not a leader.

Disagree with you. McInnes is 100% a leader. The other forwards struggle to follow cause they are lazy f**ks who need a serious reality check. Hopefully that begins now under hook

 

[TruSaint]

Disagree with you. McInnes is 100% a leader. The other forwards struggle to follow cause they are lazy f**ks who need a serious reality check. Hopefully that begins now under hook

He's a leader alright.
Tough as nails and leads by example and not mouthing antics.
He is NOT our problem.

 

[be55]

McInnes tackles his heart out and shows good line speed. But his fellow team mates don't follow his lead. He does not know how to bring them with him. Frankly he is not a leader.

Mate, Darren Lockyer was recently voted the best captain in the last thirty years beating some pretty impressive names for that title and whether you agree with that or not, he was a guy that hardly said a word on the field and if he did you probably couldn't hear it anyway. He let his actions do the talking.The best leaders, lead by example. They show the way for others to follow and Cam sets a fairly good example week in week out.

For mine he's our captain every day of the week without doubt...

 

[George Sancti]

Cameron McInnes is a good dummy half and arguably one the best defensive hookers in the NRL. At lock McInnes gets knocked around too much by some of the larger opposition forwards.

If it turns out that Ben Hunt is not our best option at half, the club will need to let either McInnes or Hunt go. Unlike Corey Norman, I believe that there would be significant interest by other clubs in McInnes or Hunt and considering their age and other skills, McInnes may be the one to be retained.

 

[dragon thomo]

If i had to choose between McInnes or Hunt I would take Hunt. I am not saying that McInnes is not a good player, i feel Hunt offers a lot more with his attack and for us to compete with the top sides I do not feel McInnes is the answer at hooker.

 

[possm]

Disagree with you. McInnes is 100% a leader. The other forwards struggle to follow cause they are lazy f**ks who need a serious reality check. Hopefully that begins now under hook

Even under Mary our forwards once were so dominant being it only for the first half of a season. They did have good line speed and determination with a bruising defence.

This is not a sudden realization of mine about McInnes's leadership. I have posted the feeling of mine in a number of posts previously.

The the Dragons to climb from the depths they will need complete change. Now they have a new coaching staff, a new CEO and it seems a Board that realises they had lost a big chunk of credibility.

For the team to completely move on, I believe they need to hand the captaincy to another player and only Griffin and his coaching staff will be close enough to make the decision of whom should be that player.

 

[FlameThrower]

McInnes has to tackle himself into the ground because of lazy players around him. So by the time he may have a chance for quick dart out of dummy half he is stuffed.
As a leader I don’t think he is a good captain - as he never gets into the refs faces, barely speaks on the field. The game has changed from the strong silent types of yesteryear- we have video refs, captains challenge and so much more going on.
The best example is Cam Smith - watch him speak to his players in the huddle, they were all watching him. He looked at each player on the eye and had them believe everything he said.
Our Cam is nothing like that- last great captain was Ben Hornby.
Hunt barely speaks, Frizzel never spoke and Graham is gone. We don’t have any leaders on the field full stop and nobody is there to rev up the troops when the chips are down...

 

[possm]

McInnes has to tackle himself into the ground because of lazy players around him. So by the time he may have a chance for quick dart out of dummy half he is stuffed.
As a leader I don’t think he is a good captain - as he never gets into the refs faces, barely speaks on the field. The game has changed from the strong silent types of yesteryear- we have video refs, captains challenge and so much more going on.
The best example is Cam Smith - watch him speak to his players in the huddle, they were all watching him. He looked at each player on the eye and had them believe everything he said.
Our Cam is nothing like that- last great captain was Ben Hornby.
Hunt barely speaks, Frizzel never spoke and Graham is gone. We don’t have any leaders on the field full stop and nobody is there to rev up the troops when the chips are down...

Very well said and the comparison between Smith and McInnes when it come to captaincy is right on the money.

• If our forwards were able to each share the load.
• If McInnes could just be loaded with his fair share and without the captaincy.
• If we had a captain that oozed the authority that Cam Smith shows on the field.

The I'm sure Cam McInnes's game would improve even more and the team as a whole would step up to be competitive each and every game. I am sure Griffin and his staff will be looking at this in the off-season.

 

[RedVDragon]

Steve Morris and Tony Trudgett

 

[epDragon62]

Disagree with you. McInnes is 100% a leader. The other forwards struggle to follow cause they are lazy f**ks who need a serious reality check. Hopefully that begins now under hook

McInnes needs to find a voice with his teammates and tell them to pull their fingers out when shit happens.

 

[blacksafake]

If i had to choose between McInnes or Hunt I would take Hunt. I am not saying that McInnes is not a good player, i feel Hunt offers a lot more with his attack and for us to compete with the top sides I do not feel McInnes is the answer at hooker.

McInnes needs to run more & develop a kicking game to complement his defence & courage.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

Unfortunately for McInnes he has been playing behind a beaten pack - with no heart for most of this year . Murray on the other has his co-forwards doing the job that they are paid to do - go forward and trample over the opposition .

McInnes job at lock would be made so much easier if our pack found some fire - similar to that which they had in the flogging of the broncs in 2018 . Perhaps Griffin and colleagues will be able to light that fire once again .

Agree about the pack- but we also have to keep in mind that, unlike Murray, McInnes is only a recent convert to the backrow. His defence is great wherever he plays but, I think that his running lines and penetration improved markedly as the season progressed and at least he could be counted on for directness -unlike Frizzell who runs too much across field imo.

We saw in SOO2 how Hunt struggled to defend at 5/8 with players moving quickly and laterally and stepping him but, as he is very strong, his front on defence can be dynamite. Another reason I feel he offers more from the Hooker position.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

I'm a fan of the Dufty 6, Sullivan 7 halves combination. With Soward working on their kicking game, my view is that the attacking skills of these two halves will cause the opposition major headaches. Griffin will have his work cut out getting these two players up to scratch in defence however, I feel sure he can do it.

The obvious bonus of selecting these two as our halves pairing, is the possibility of offloading of both Norman and Hunt and making more salary cap available to purchase the forwards we need to compete with the rest of the competition.

I believe that, with these two halves, together with our young speedy backline, and with two first grade props and a first rate edge forward, we would see the Saints competing for a top 4 spot in 2021.

Like the Dufty/Sullivan combo but can't see it happening initially as it leaves a huge problem for poor old Hook - no NRL experienced full-back.

I don't believe Dufty is up to being FB and Hook will have to deal with that eventually which means that Dufty/Sullivan may happen later in the season.

 

[possm]

Like the Dufty/Sullivan combo but can't see it happening initially as it leaves a huge problem for poor old Hook - no NRL experienced full-back.

I don't believe Dufty is up to being FB and Hook will have to deal with that eventually which means that Dufty/Sullivan may happen later in the season.

The Dufty / Sullivan scenario has lost some gloss given the recruitment of Bird and the promotion of a couple of very talented halves to the Development squad. In addition we still have Clune.

My preference now is a Bird 6 and Sullivan 7 combination. A well balanced partnership in experience/new talent and tough defence/eagerness to defend. More than anything, if Bird is fit to go, this would be a dynamic attacking weapon as well.

At the back I predict that over time, Ramsey will replace Dufty at fullback and eventually Schiller will replace Ramsey at fullback with Ramsey moving back to the wing.