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Jacob Host

redandwhite4evr

Juniors
Messages
1,816
Based on that interview it sounds like Dufty is still delusional about his ability to be a modern full-back and Host is intelligent and realistic about the need to win back the fans. However, we all know good intentions without a decent coach count for nothing and I'm still not convinced he has that x factor and/or mongrel to justify a place in the squad.
 

BLM01

First Grade
Messages
8,938
Based on that interview it sounds like Dufty is still delusional about his ability to be a modern full-back and Host is intelligent and realistic about the need to win back the fans. However, we all know good intentions without a decent coach count for nothing and I'm still not convinced he has that x factor and/or mongrel to justify a place in the squad.

If Dragons are fed dinkum. It is either Host or Ford we dont need both lighterweight backrowers with the better ones we have. Sims Leilua, Frizz, JDB and chasing and likely wont get Matterson?
And I think Host is short of being that good 1st grader ability wise.
 

SAP58

Juniors
Messages
1,788
If Dragons are fed dinkum. It is either Host or Ford we dont need both lighterweight backrowers with the better ones we have. Sims Leilua, Frizz, JDB and chasing and likely wont get Matterson?
And I think Host is short of being that good 1st grader ability wise.
He was told he was free to look elsewhere but no great offers, Souths had a chat but he is going to stay by the look of it. Agree he has not come on as well as expected, being an Australian Schoolboys rep he certainly had a lot of potential but he is not a great fan of Mary’s coaching, maybe 2020 will be different with others influences & coaching.
 

Forbes Creek Dragons

First Grade
Messages
5,078
He was told he was free to look elsewhere but no great offers, Souths had a chat but he is going to stay by the look of it. Agree he has not come on as well as expected, being an Australian Schoolboys rep he certainly had a lot of potential but he is not a great fan of Mary’s coaching, maybe 2020 will be different with others influences & coaching.
I actually think he started the year pretty well this year until he got injured and was playing injured for a while. Again its my hope that Flanno coaches the reserve grade team so we can really get a look at which players come along and which ones we let get for 2021. There could be some real diamonds that just need a polish and there might be some that look good now but will turn out to not really make it.
 

BLM01

First Grade
Messages
8,938
He was told he was free to look elsewhere but no great offers, Souths had a chat but he is going to stay by the look of it. Agree he has not come on as well as expected, being an Australian Schoolboys rep he certainly had a lot of potential but he is not a great fan of Mary’s coaching, maybe 2020 will be different with others influences & coaching.
Well the fact that he got no great offers tells me more.
No one is a fan of Mary's coaching are they?...but Host needs more out of himself to overtake our current backrowers which is our strength, especially edge if used properly. For me it is reggies for Host waiting for injuries and reps.
 

BLM01

First Grade
Messages
8,938
To me Luke Gale has some ability and size.
For me after watching him in reggies he just has to wait in line as would be behind Host, Ford and our 1st grade backrowers. Dont see him adding any impact at 1st grade at this stage but plays with heart but as Timm can attest to that is not always enough.
 

Old Timer

Coach
Messages
16,914
Young Host is in exactly the same boat as any other quality junior in our club and unfortunately that boat is sailing up shit creek.
Far too many criticisms of him IMO.
People need to look at the simple facts in that not 1 of our juniors has progressed within our system in the past 5 or 6 years.
The vast majority of them achieved junior rep footy (under good coaches) so it not as if they can't play football IMO it's they can't play Dragons Footy.
Garrick was openly criticised and left the system before he got burned and further and look what happened he has prospered so therein lies the truth of the matter.
Host was playing really well early in the season and scored well in the MOM points in this place but as soon as Mc Fookknuckle could find a way to get him busted he did and then he dropped him.
 

Dragonsamy

Bench
Messages
2,882
Young Host is in exactly the same boat as any other quality junior in our club and unfortunately that boat is sailing up shit creek.
Far too many criticisms of him IMO.
People need to look at the simple facts in that not 1 of our juniors has progressed within our system in the past 5 or 6 years.
The vast majority of them achieved junior rep footy (under good coaches) so it not as if they can't play football IMO it's they can't play Dragons Footy.
Garrick was openly criticised and left the system before he got burned and further and look what happened he has prospered so therein lies the truth of the matter.
Host was playing really well early in the season and scored well in the MOM points in this place but as soon as Mc Fookknuckle could find a way to get him busted he did and then he dropped him.

Well said OT you have nailed it.
They keep trying to use host as a battering ram. Which is totally ridiculous for him he's a fringe second rower with strong defence needs to be used correctly. Hopefully he will be used correctly and then he can show he is a better player than a lot of people think .
 

possm

Coach
Messages
15,587
Young Host is in exactly the same boat as any other quality junior in our club and unfortunately that boat is sailing up shit creek.
Far too many criticisms of him IMO.
People need to look at the simple facts in that not 1 of our juniors has progressed within our system in the past 5 or 6 years.
The vast majority of them achieved junior rep footy (under good coaches) so it not as if they can't play football IMO it's they can't play Dragons Footy.
Garrick was openly criticised and left the system before he got burned and further and look what happened he has prospered so therein lies the truth of the matter.
Host was playing really well early in the season and scored well in the MOM points in this place but as soon as Mc Fookknuckle could find a way to get him busted he did and then he dropped him.
Garrick, AFB and Cook are standout examples of players who under good coaching have risen to quality first grade players.

Yes 'we can't keep them all' but those in charge seem to be blinded in there decision making and go with Mary's opinon which is usually flawed. We need a strong and clear policy that supports the idea of 'replace like with like'.

Right now a few of our best and brightest are fielding offers when really there should have been absolutely no reason why they were not tied up mid last season. Frizell, Leilua and Lomax should have been extended, Aitken and Lafai should never have been extended long term.

There is no backrower in the competition that I would swap for Frizell. He could be even more devastating if coached to stay wide in attack and draw the opposition forwards wide in defence while at the same time, smash the opposition halves sometimes leading to a break in the line, fatigue of the defenders and even injury to the opposition halves.

Leilua is a work in progress but in my opinion could rise to be a great lock or prop forward. With speed, size, good hands and a good off-load he could be devastating.

Lomax and Saab our our bright juniors who right now only need first grade experience to rise to the top. Our problem is that we have too many inexperienced outside backs Dufty, Pearson, Ravalawa and Pereira. Any one of these could rise to first grade level however, we really need to inject some quality and experience into our back five. The big hold up is our centre combination of Aitken and Lafai. If we replaced these to say with players who have speed and good defence, e.g. Ramien and Ford, we may have a chance to be competitive in 2020. If Aitken and Lafai were off the books, we would have a great chance of recruiting a couple of good first grade centres.
 

BLM01

First Grade
Messages
8,938
Well said OT you have nailed it.
They keep trying to use host as a battering ram. Which is totally ridiculous for him he's a fringe second rower with strong defence needs to be used correctly. Hopefully he will be used correctly and then he can show he is a better player than a lot of people think .
Problem is Samy we have 2 very good fringe backrowers in front of him and should encourage them to stay both play left and right in Frizz & Sims and both should play in their rightful position. If JDB comes we have LUC or McInnes who can play 13..then we have Ford. No room for Host IMO and as someone mentioned earlier offered around to clubs with no decent bite. That has got to say something about his worth and we have no room for him ATM...only in reggies..buying his time waiting for a spot and in the mean time bulking up a bit more. I met him last year at the state election polling booth in March and no doubt fit, but still a bit leanish for me for edge back row in todays game.
I believe they are the facts and I watched him closely in reggies late last year where he was used more as a No 13 battering ram but did not excel IMO but as I said no doubt fit.
 

BLM01

First Grade
Messages
8,938
Garrick, AFB and Cook are standout examples of players who under good coaching have risen to quality first grade players.

Yes 'we can't keep them all' but those in charge seem to be blinded in there decision making and go with Mary's opinon which is usually flawed. We need a strong and clear policy that supports the idea of 'replace like with like'.

Right now a few of our best and brightest are fielding offers when really there should have been absolutely no reason why they were not tied up mid last season. Frizell, Leilua and Lomax should have been extended, Aitken and Lafai should never have been extended long term.

There is no backrower in the competition that I would swap for Frizell. He could be even more devastating if coached to stay wide in attack and draw the opposition forwards wide in defence while at the same time, smash the opposition halves sometimes leading to a break in the line, fatigue of the defenders and even injury to the opposition halves.

Leilua is a work in progress but in my opinion could rise to be a great lock or prop forward. With speed, size, good hands and a good off-load he could be devastating.

Lomax and Saab our our bright juniors who right now only need first grade experience to rise to the top. Our problem is that we have too many inexperienced outside backs Dufty, Pearson, Ravalawa and Pereira. Any one of these could rise to first grade level however, we really need to inject some quality and experience into our back five. The big hold up is our centre combination of Aitken and Lafai. If we replaced these to say with players who have speed and good defence, e.g. Ramien and Ford, we may have a chance to be competitive in 2020. If Aitken and Lafai were off the books, we would have a great chance of recruiting a couple of good first grade centres.
Geez Poss after reading all that..this time I was going to agree with everything you said :p..except you went on right near the end to mention the Ford to play centre again.
Otherwise Good Post
 

Dragonsamy

Bench
Messages
2,882
Problem is Samy we have 2 very good fringe backrowers in front of him and should encourage them to stay both play left and right in Frizz & Sims and both should play in their rightful position. If JDB comes we have LUC or McInnes who can play 13..then we have Ford. No room for Host IMO and as someone mentioned earlier offered around to clubs with no decent bite. That has got to say something about his worth and we have no room for him ATM...only in reggies..buying his time waiting for a spot and in the mean time bulking up a bit more. I met him last year at the state election polling booth in March and no doubt fit, but still a bit leanish for me for edge back row in todays game.
I believe they are the facts and I watched him closely in reggies late last year where he was used more as a No 13 battering ram but did not excel IMO but as I said no doubt fit.

While I agree with most of what you say.
Size is not his problem he is 102 kg Frizz 106 t Sims 104kg so not much between them.
I thinks he needs to improve his upper body strength and surely that is what they're working on. I think he will do ok but agree with you he is behind all those other players. Ford is good young player with many ups but he's very lightweight only 98 kilos if I'm correct so he needs to bulk up a bit and hopefully they're doing something about that as well. But you never know.
 

SAP58

Juniors
Messages
1,788
Problem is Samy we have 2 very good fringe backrowers in front of him and should encourage them to stay both play left and right in Frizz & Sims and both should play in their rightful position. If JDB comes we have LUC or McInnes who can play 13..then we have Ford. No room for Host IMO and as someone mentioned earlier offered around to clubs with no decent bite. That has got to say something about his worth and we have no room for him ATM...only in reggies..buying his time waiting for a spot and in the mean time bulking up a bit more. I met him last year at the state election polling booth in March and no doubt fit, but still a bit leanish for me for edge back row in todays game.
I believe they are the facts and I watched him closely in reggies late last year where he was used more as a No 13 battering ram but did not excel IMO but as I said no doubt fit.
I hope he can prove us wrong, bulk up a bit more and get more involved & play to his strengths (if he is allowed to). However if Flanno’s involvement is restricted to “defensive coach” we will stop leaking as many points BUT we will still struggle to score due to the unstructured attacking style used by McGregor & the way he uses players like Host & the bench players. I guess I am saying nothing will change IMO while McGregor is involved.
 

Old Timer

Coach
Messages
16,914
We will always be musing over the young players at our club as there is no pathway to ensure they progress correctly
Our method is always neither nor and Lawrie is a great example of that lock one game prop the next game, Host starting edge 1 game, bench middle the next game, reggies battering ram the game after.
Frizell lock, then edge and then time in the middle.
Wingers left side then right side, Lomax centre, bench wing, Norman & Widdop 5/8 & FB
The club &?coach are completely f**ked and clueless.
People talking up Ford as a better prospect are premature as he is yet to play enough Dragon Footy to pick up a recurring injury that will hound him into submission and at < 100kg it will happen sooner rather than later and already in 1 game last year he cried out for a rest and he was left in the paddock.
Look at all the injuries our forwards pick up and what happens to them as the season wears on and none are immune from it.
 

redVinme

Juniors
Messages
2,427
Last couple of years there was talk that sharks were chasing host so hopefully it was flanno himself and is keen to work with him. Host though physically I think he has it may be a little to clever to throw his body around like some of the nut jobs. Similar to Ben creigh.
 

BLM01

First Grade
Messages
8,938
I hope he can prove us wrong, bulk up a bit more and get more involved & play to his strengths (if he is allowed to). However if Flanno’s involvement is restricted to “defensive coach” we will stop leaking as many points BUT we will still struggle to score due to the unstructured attacking style used by McGregor & the way he uses players like Host & the bench players. I guess I am saying nothing will change IMO while McGregor is involved.
Dont kid yourself...Flanno is that by title only. He will definitely have a say on the other cause the club sacked their attacking and defensive coaches but spared the puppeteer...only becuase of $$$..ATM.
 

Slippery Morris

First Grade
Messages
7,395
Hey Possm, Cook was let go during Price's tenure not Mary. AFB was let go due to disciplanry reasons. Garrick was Mary ignoring him for Lafai/Aitken. But saying that Saints let go of Josh Morris during the Bennett years cause Bennett thought he was a winger not a centre so it can happen to the best of them.
 

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