How Much Damage has Hunt done to this Club

[Lovemedragons]

What has created the situation where by Hunt has damaged the club? IMO it has a lot to do with the appointment of moronic coaches who couldn’t train a dog to find a tree to piss on.

yeah but Hunt supported Griffin to the end, Griffin was, at that point, unsupportable. Hunt is not the man to lead us anywhere.

 

[Jersey No 14]

2024
It’s clear we won’t make the top 8
What I want to see is the talent we do have to put in every time they wear Your Mine Our Red V onto the park.
I want see the skills that made them first graders rise above.
That will keep us off the bottom.
We can’t worry about what other teams do we need to pull ourselves out poo.
No one will do it for us. - including our own management.
United we rise divided we fall.

As for Hunt - I expect nothing less than a 100% effort. Including when his bottom lip drops
(even when QLD pass him over.)
And if he dishes out the same childish shit next year as this year he should be charged at holding the game (as a player) in disrepute.
He - they are paid too much money not to held accountable for their actions (or lake of)
The players union need to address the less than enthusiastic efforts when a player doesn’t get what he wants.

Hunt’s reputation is unquestionably tarnished
A repeat of this year - it should be a public shaming. Then to deregistered for all NRL clubs.
including QLD ones as well.

 

[Number of the Beath]

How Much Damage has Hunt done to this Club​

Depends to some degree on whether you mean with ball in hand or opening his noxious, whining gob to the press.

 

[kit66]

.

 

[kit66]

yeah but Hunt supported Griffin to the end, Griffin was, at that point, unsupportable. Hunt is not the man to lead us anywhere.

You guys don't seem to get the irony of bagging Hunt for allegedly not supporting the club and then bagging him out in equal measure for supporting his coach ?
You can't have it both ways just because you think the Club is beyond any criticism (that's a laugh) and because you didn't like Hook. It was the Club that appointed Hook, not Hunt. It was the Club who extended Hooks contract, not Hunt. The same club that appointed Mary and kept extending his contract.
Some of you also gloss over the fact that Hook walked into one of the worst run clubs in the league with close to the poorest roster and subsequent poor recruitment during his tenure. Then what happened in 2021, Hook's first year, we start the year really well then a bunch of dickheads have a bbq (Hunt isn't one of them) and the year's a write-off. 2022 we fight our way into the top 8 by round 16 but lose Ramsey and Ravalawa long term and cop suspension after suspension and the wheels fall off (Sloan is mostly out of the picture too because he's a liability in firsts and only plays 8 games) but we still finished 10th. 2023 we had the weakest roster we've had since the merge and nothing was going to keep us out of the bottom 4.
I'm not exonerating Hook and Hunt from any responsibility for our poor showings but keep in mind what both of them had to work with, on the field and in the boardroom. Try to keep a little perspective. Personally I never liked Hook and didn't support his appointment but other candidates didn't want the job. I didn't like his approach or his team selections most of the time either. Hunt on the other hand bought into it and did his best to work with and support his coach and now some want to crucify him for that.
And, at the risk of repeating myself, don't forget how the Club have treated Hunt, the way they handled his 300th game (or more accurately ignored it completely) and their inability to create a good (non-toxic) environment and winning culture over the previous 13 years and to recruit a decent team and coaches for Hunt to work with.
Hunt's one of our best on field every week, he has been for 6 years and I'm glad (if a little surprised) he's sticking with us for another year because without him we probably wouldn't win a game.

 

[mickeylane]

How Much Damage has Hunt done to this Club​

Depends to some degree on whether you mean with ball in hand or opening his noxious, whining gob to the press.

Depends the way you want to view it..
to many, obviously this is about his off field comments ….
to many his comments have destabilised the teams onfield performance…..
but for me he has damaged the clubs brand, image, reputation and that has undeniably detracted from attracting quality players coming to the club..

 

[blacksafake]

You guys don't seem to get the irony of bagging Hunt for allegedly not supporting the club and then bagging him out in equal measure for supporting his coach ?
You can't have it both ways just because you think the Club is beyond any criticism (that's a laugh) and because you didn't like Hook. It was the Club that appointed Hook, not Hunt. It was the Club who extended Hooks contract, not Hunt. The same club that appointed Mary and kept extending his contract.
Some of you also gloss over the fact that Hook walked into one of the worst run clubs in the league with close to the poorest roster and subsequent poor recruitment during his tenure. Then what happened in 2021, Hook's first year, we start the year really well then a bunch of dickheads have a bbq (Hunt isn't one of them) and the year's a right-off. 2022 we fight our way into the top 8 by round 16 but lose Ramsey and Ravalawa long term and cop suspension after suspension and the wheels fall off (Sloan is mostly out of the picture too because he's a liability in firsts and only plays 8 games) but we still finished 10th. 2023 we had the weakest roster we've had since the merge and nothing was going to keep us out of the bottom 4.
I'm not exonerating Hook and Hunt from any responsibility for our poor showings but keep in mind what both of them had to work with, on the field and in the boardroom. Try to keep a little perspective. Personally I never liked Hook and didn't support his appointment but other candidates didn't want the job. I didn't like his approach or his team selections most of the time either. Hunt on the other hand bought into it and did his best to work with and support his coach and now some want to crucify him for that.
And, at the risk of repeating myself, don't forget how the Club have treated Hunt, the way they handled his 300th game (or more accurately ignored it completely) and their inability to create a good (non-toxic) environment and winning culture over the previous 13 years and to recruit a decent team and coaches for Hunt to work with.
Hunt's one of our best on field every week, he has been for 6 years and I'm glad (if a little surprised) he's sticking with us for another year because without him we probably wouldn't win a game.

Well said.
In relation to Hunts 300th wasn’t there a milestone game for an opposition player in WIN where our club actually painted 100/200 on one of the lines for him ? But couldn’t be arsed to celebrate Hunts a better way.

 

[True_Believer]

What has created the situation where by Hunt has damaged the club? IMO it has a lot to do with the appointment of moronic coaches who couldn’t train a dog to find a tree to piss on.

It's definitely this. I've just been watching some of the games from the 2018 season. I mean it's criminal we didn't do much better around that period with the team we had. It's only down to 1 person and the breakdown of the team in the subsequent years by him and his successor.

 

[Dragon David]

Depends the way you want to view it..
to many, obviously this is about his off field comments ….
to many his comments have destabilised the teams onfield performance…..
but for me he has damaged the clubs brand, image, reputation and that has undeniably detracted from attracting quality players coming to the club..

You hit the nail right into the coffin there mickey. We were dead and buried on getting any worthwhile signings as soon as all the wanting to be released followed by all the whinging came from this guys mouth.

Granted that what kit66 said has some validity insomuch as Hunt was a necessity in our weekly lineup and without him we could have been much worse off during the past few seasons and that Hook just wasn't capable of managing the rabble of the squad that was put together by him. However, when anybody, no matter who that body is says the sorts of things that Hunt said and being a body representing the club as the team captain, you are within your rights as a a member and a true fan to seek his banishment from the club as he has definitely brought this club to irreparable damage. I do get his angst though with his gripe about us not getting those signings before his wanting out but wanting and doing stuff are not the same so he should have shut his gob.

It has been said that we were unlucky not to have won more games in the concluding stages of the competition this year. I reckon if Hunt didn't spit his dummy because he couldn't get a release and played those games with more purpose and desire, we might not have needed that luck. We might have been able to have won those close and unlucky games if Hunt's mind was more focussed on the game and instead of kicking the hell out of the bucket, he could have kicked us to victory.

 

[possm]

Times have certainly changed for the worse,
Cost of Living, Housing Crisis thanks to successive governments selling Australia to overseas millionaires, being ripped off in energy and fuel, listening to smart ass scumulla supporters remind us we've only won 1 premiership, B Hunt, AFB and Amone, a very tough xmas to enjoy.
The best present St George can give there supporters is to go back to the 15 premiership winning St George Dragons.

I agree. Being loyal to the NRL during the Super League war proved to be a big mistake mainly because clubs like the Sharks who were a basket case at the time, came through without having to 'partner with another club' and without any negatives moving forward.

The only way to move forward is to restructure the club by St George Leagues Club buying out the Illawarra Steelers shares and finding a better partner to manage the NRL side of things. Illawarra should be no more than a feeder club for St George, that is all they ever have been.

Use the restructuring opportunity to replace the majority of Board members with professionals who know how to run such a business.

 

[possm]

You hit the nail right into the coffin there mickey. We were dead and buried on getting any worthwhile signings as soon as all the wanting to be released followed by all the whinging came from this guys mouth.

Granted that what kit66 said has some validity insomuch as Hunt was a necessity in our weekly lineup and without him we could have been much worse off during the past few seasons and that Hook just wasn't capable of managing the rabble of the squad that was put together by him. However, when anybody, no matter who that body is says the sorts of things that Hunt said and being a body representing the club as the team captain, you are within your rights as a a member and a true fan to seek his banishment from the club as he has definitely brought this club to irreparable damage. I do get his angst though with his gripe about us not getting those signings before his wanting out but wanting and doing stuff are not the same so he should have shut his gob.

It has been said that we were unlucky not to have won more games in the concluding stages of the competition this year. I reckon if Hunt didn't spit his dummy because he couldn't get a release and played those games with more purpose and desire, we might not have needed that luck. We might have been able to have won those close and unlucky games if Hunt's mind was more focussed on the game and instead of kicking the hell out of the bucket, he could have kicked us to victory.

Poor decisions regarding the head coach post the Bennett era is the main problem, closely followed by self-interested power brokers at the Board level spending most of their time working on backroom deals for themselves and their mates.

Price should never have been appointed head coach.
Mary should never have been appointed or extended as head coach.
Griffen should never have been appointed or extended as head coach.

Unkept promises made to key players added to the problem.
The employment of old boys who were not qualified for the job also added to the problem.

We have a show-and-tell recruitment manager who cannot close a deal with players that we need in our roster.

 

[rasaint]

All said and done the post Bennents era (except 2018) have been flat to terrible.

I have previously posted that we went so close to winning 2018; that year McGregor had a very good squad. We recruited James Graham, Ben Hunt, brought Dufty and lusciano Leilua through and the pack had Tariq at his best, Graham, Frizzel, JDB and Leeson at his best. In the 1st thrashing of Broncos semi we lost our champion 5/8 Widdop and rampaging Tariq in that one game. We regrouped with a weakened squad, Kurt Mann improvised at 5/8 and narrowly beaten by South’s in semi in a see saw game. Widdop and Tariq stayed healthy we win imo.

All the posts relevant now in 2023. Who knows the exact truth but nothing is ‘black n white’ in most situations. Ben shouldn’t have lost his patience last year etc, but who knows what promises and expectations he was given for recruitment and planning over the years.He is an elite player.

Flannagan is facing what previous post Bennents era coaches faced. Simply erosion of recruitment and retaining of top level players and seeming difficulty with the BOD and management of club.

My hope is that Flannagan brings forward Tamale, Finau and other younger players and let’s see how we go?

 

[Lovemedragons]

You guys don't seem to get the irony of bagging Hunt for allegedly not supporting the club and then bagging him out in equal measure for supporting his coach ?
You can't have it both ways just because you think the Club is beyond any criticism (that's a laugh) and because you didn't like Hook. It was the Club that appointed Hook, not Hunt. It was the Club who extended Hooks contract, not Hunt. The same club that appointed Mary and kept extending his contract.
Some of you also gloss over the fact that Hook walked into one of the worst run clubs in the league with close to the poorest roster and subsequent poor recruitment during his tenure. Then what happened in 2021, Hook's first year, we start the year really well then a bunch of dickheads have a bbq (Hunt isn't one of them) and the year's a write-off. 2022 we fight our way into the top 8 by round 16 but lose Ramsey and Ravalawa long term and cop suspension after suspension and the wheels fall off (Sloan is mostly out of the picture too because he's a liability in firsts and only plays 8 games) but we still finished 10th. 2023 we had the weakest roster we've had since the merge and nothing was going to keep us out of the bottom 4.
I'm not exonerating Hook and Hunt from any responsibility for our poor showings but keep in mind what both of them had to work with, on the field and in the boardroom. Try to keep a little perspective. Personally I never liked Hook and didn't support his appointment but other candidates didn't want the job. I didn't like his approach or his team selections most of the time either. Hunt on the other hand bought into it and did his best to work with and support his coach and now some want to crucify him for that.
And, at the risk of repeating myself, don't forget how the Club have treated Hunt, the way they handled his 300th game (or more accurately ignored it completely) and their inability to create a good (non-toxic) environment and winning culture over the previous 13 years and to recruit a decent team and coaches for Hunt to work with.
Hunt's one of our best on field every week, he has been for 6 years and I'm glad (if a little surprised) he's sticking with us for another year because without him we probably wouldn't win a game.

he still pouts and whimpers like a sad sorry dog whenever things go wrong - on or off the field. He is no leader, and as I said, Griffin was unsupportable well before he got the axe.

 

[since77]

You guys don't seem to get the irony of bagging Hunt for allegedly not supporting the club and then bagging him out in equal measure for supporting his coach ?
You can't have it both ways just because you think the Club is beyond any criticism (that's a laugh) and because you didn't like Hook. It was the Club that appointed Hook, not Hunt. It was the Club who extended Hooks contract, not Hunt. The same club that appointed Mary and kept extending his contract.

That's all fair enough and the decisions the club has made 2012 - 2023 are of course indefensible. We're lucky the Tigers were a worse basket case.
But the thing that sticks in my mind most from the Hook days is when Hunt was on record saying that if the club sacked Griffin we were going backwards. If he truly thought that he was a moron and was watching a different club to the rest of us.
We were already going backwards. At great speed. And with Griffin in charge we were only going to go further backwards.
And while I agree with you that Griffin, as you say " walked into one of the worst run clubs in the league with close to the poorest roster and subsequent poor recruitment during his tenure" its undeniable that Griffin took that poor roster and incredibly, made it even worse with his very own brain dead recruiting decisions. And crucially, Hunt supported all of that, especially those of recruiting his washed up cronies from QLD. He also went out there each week and "executed" Griffin's deplorable and insipid game plans. Hunt has been our "marquee" attacking player for 6 years. We haven't attacked with anything approaching excitement since Widdop left.
Hunt might have been our best player in one terrible year for us but so what?

 

[rasaint]

I’d love to have Widdop back even at 34 years old.

Apparently signed with Halifax for next year. See if we can do a deal with Halifax for a year or two. Widdop back at 5/8 would do me. Still remember his magnificent passing right to left cut outs and short balls close in space. He is a top player.

 

[OneEyedDragon]

I’d love to have Widdop back even at 34 years old.

Apparently signed with Halifax for next year. See if we can do a deal with Halifax for a year or two. Widdop back at 5/8 would do me. Still remember his magnificent passing right to left cut outs and short balls close in space. He is a top player.

Widdop was a great player for the Dragons. Unfortunately, from what I have read, his shoulders are held together with a bit of glue and some sticky tape. It is doubtful they could stand up to the rigour of NRL footy.

 

[dragon thomo]

Yes Widdop was a good player but his shoulders are had it.

 

[Gardenia]

Well, it says it all when you're enjoying your Christmas dinner with family at Turramurra, and your Penrith supporter BIL announces "It is time we addressed the elephant in the room". You think gosh, is there an issue I am unaware of, and the room goes quiet. And he simply says .............."The Dragons".

 

[Gardenia]

PS - I do not blame Hunt though. I think he just aired the dirty laundry.

 

[Gardenia]

I’d love to have Widdop back even at 34 years old.

Apparently signed with Halifax for next year. See if we can do a deal with Halifax for a year or two. Widdop back at 5/8 would do me. Still remember his magnificent passing right to left cut outs and short balls close in space. He is a top player.

Rumor has it that he flew in and offered his services to us at a very cheap rate 150K or so. We said no and sent him back to the UK on a plane. This was a couple of years back. Halfwits.