JOEL THOMPSON TO MANLY?

[MrDragon007]

It's easy to say he's chasing the money, but he has made some astute decisions. Already played SOO and won a premiership early in his career. Left the Sharks and joined another powerhouse club to develop his game under arguably one of the best coaches of all time. And he's getting paid handsomely to do it.

None of that would have been an option had he stayed with us. We couldn't even guarantee him a first grade spot.

Plus I'm willing to bet he wins more premierships than the Dragons do over the span of his career. He's already up 1-0.

Not having a dig Lad but i see a little contradiction in your post.
Bird left us and went on to be a SOO player, and won a premiership. Correct. Flannigan may not be a Bennett coach but he is certainly a very good coach, his record speaks for itself.
Bird left to develop his game under one of the best coaches is not correct. He left a coach that got him to SOO level, and a coach that is a premiership winner, a coach that is a very good coach.
He left for the money, that simple.
He even stated that, that with his medical needs he needs to make the most financially out of the game to secure his future.
Nothing wrong with that, i actually applaud him for being honest enough to say that the money aspect played a big part in his decision.

 

[MrDragon007]

What goes on in people's heads when they list their team for next year and have Cooper Cronk in the 7? Just curious...

Wishfull thinking id say. We have Hunt, he will be our 7 for quiet a number of years. Some on here will refuse to give the club any credit for signing a champion 7, because they feel if they do, it means they support the club and accept mediocracy etc etc....
I agree the Board and CEO and the coach need to go, but the fact they are still there doesnt mean we cant say Millward has been doing a very good job with recruitment and retention.
Hats off to Millward, he has done a very good job to date imo.

 

[Old Timer]

Wishfull thinking id say. We have Hunt, he will be our 7 for quiet a number of years. Some on here will refuse to give the club any credit for signing a champion 7, because they feel if they do, it means they support the club and accept mediocracy etc etc....
I agree the Board and CEO and the coach need to go, but the fact they are still there doesnt mean we cant say Millward has been doing a very good job with recruitment and retention.
Hats off to Millward, he has done a very good job to date imo.

You can only say he has done a good job when the players actually signed perform to their expected level.
Hunt and Graham for that matter are yet to play 1 game for us so if they do play well then all credit to Millward however the fat lady is yet to sing and there have been several cases of high profile players not actually working out for clubs that paid big money for them.
Foran at Warriors and Hayne at Titans are 2 examples of supposed good purchases not proving to be so great.

 

[ouryear]

You can only say he has done a good job when the players actually signed perform to their expected level.
Hunt and Graham for that matter are yet to play 1 game for us so if they do play well then all credit to Millward however the fat lady is yet to sing and there have been several cases of high profile players not actually working out for clubs that paid big money for them.
Foran at Warriors and Hayne at Titans are 2 examples of supposed good purchases not proving to be so great.

Hard to blame Millard for Mary being a goose....if these 2 new guys dont hit their straps.
Can lead a horse to water......

 

[MrDragon007]

You can only say he has done a good job when the players actually signed perform to their expected level.
Hunt and Graham for that matter are yet to play 1 game for us so if they do play well then all credit to Millward however the fat lady is yet to sing and there have been several cases of high profile players not actually working out for clubs that paid big money for them.
Foran at Warriors and Hayne at Titans are 2 examples of supposed good purchases not proving to be so great.

I agree 100% OT. But on the other side of the coin, Vaughan was a standout, McInnes, although he wasnt a cameron smith, he was a nice upgrade on Rein. Some will be duds, some will shine.
2 points, if its a dud signing, it comes down to coach, not recruitment. Millward, to his credit, has identified positions that needed strengthening and did something about it.
Off season i was excited about the MacDonald signing, we needed a big winger with speed and we signed one. He turned out to be a flop, true, but when we actually signed him big things were expected from him after the year he had with the Titans.
Millward has identified the juniors with potential and signed them also, a big improvement considering how things were looking when we lost Bird.
Two sides to every coin, The coaching sux, but recruitment has been well.
Halfbacks, outside of Thurston and Cronk, id put Hunt as the next in line. He is a gun, best available and we got him.
we could have gone for cronk, but that would be a 2 year fix maximun, with Hunt we have a 5 year fix if it goes to plan.

 

[BringTheNoise]

Not having a dig Lad but i see a little contradiction in your post.
Bird left us and went on to be a SOO player, and won a premiership. Correct. Flannigan may not be a Bennett coach but he is certainly a very good coach, his record speaks for itself.
Bird left to develop his game under one of the best coaches is not correct. He left a coach that got him to SOO level, and a coach that is a premiership winner, a coach that is a very good coach.
He left for the money, that simple.
He even stated that, that with his medical needs he needs to make the most financially out of the game to secure his future.
Nothing wrong with that, i actually applaud him for being honest enough to say that the money aspect played a big part in his decision.

Not sure where I've contradicted myself? I never denied money would have played a factor, I simply stated he made some astute decisions along the way and his career has paid dividends because of it.

 

[possm]

Regarding Bird, which was a major stuff up, if he stayed, he would have left us anyway, he is after the money & will go to the highest bidder, no way do we compete with Broncos , we would all be fuming that we lost him and Millward would be a hunted man...

If the dopes at our Club would have signed him for 3 years, put him at right center or even five eighteh with Widdop at half or at fullback with Dugan at right centre, we would have kept him for at least the term of his contract. We needed a player like Bird and stubbern fulls just could not get it done.

 

[possm]

I agree 100% OT. But on the other side of the coin, Vaughan was a standout, McInnes, although he wasnt a cameron smith, he was a nice upgrade on Rein. Some will be duds, some will shine.
2 points, if its a dud signing, it comes down to coach, not recruitment. Millward, to his credit, has identified positions that needed strengthening and did something about it.
Off season i was excited about the MacDonald signing, we needed a big winger with speed and we signed one. He turned out to be a flop, true, but when we actually signed him big things were expected from him after the year he had with the Titans.
Millward has identified the juniors with potential and signed them also, a big improvement considering how things were looking when we lost Bird.
Two sides to every coin, The coaching sux, but recruitment has been well.
Halfbacks, outside of Thurston and Cronk, id put Hunt as the next in line. He is a gun, best available and we got him.
we could have gone for cronk, but that would be a 2 year fix maximun, with Hunt we have a 5 year fix if it goes to plan.

The current structure adds to the problem, doesn't solve anything. Millward should be reporting to Mary and together with the coaching staff should be making recommendations to Mary for a decision or to Doust for a decision/recommendation to the Board. If Mary is not up to managing the recruitment officer, he should not hold the head coach job.

 

[ouryear]

If the dopes at our Club would have signed him for 3 years, put him at right center or even five eighteh with Widdop at half or at fullback with Dugan at right centre, we would have kept him for at least the term of his contract. We needed a player like Bird and stubbern fulls just could not get it done.

The issue was they did not recognise his talent and kept telling Birdy he was not ready.
He was told up to 2 more seasons before first grade.
A young man with great talent wont wait.

Our club is run by D grade junior officials, along with the entire 1st grade coaching staff.
JD had a big influence moving bird to the donkeys

 

[Batman251]

Our club is run by D grade junior officials, along with the entire 1st grade coaching staff.
JD had a big influence moving bird to the donkeys

JD - The man who should have been the coach

 

[blacksafake]

The Cronk rumour is a joke.

The Thompson moving on doesn't seem to have alot of legs either.

Thompson on twitter stated he was meeting with his manager this week at which point he'll have a better idea of whats going to happen.

 

[SGMax]

Just trying to make sense of all this....
I'm sure that Thompson has either asked for an upgrade or an extension and realised he wasn't going to get a sweetened deal.
Out of kindness for past services and for the type of bloke he is, the Dragons have allowed him to look for a better deal to finish off his career even if he has to leave a year early to get it.

As many here have said, the 2nd row is well covered with Simms, Host, Leilua and others.
We need another top line front rower and some quality fast backs.
Thompson leaving may end up helping the team balance the talent.

 

[possm]

Just trying to make sense of all this....
I'm sure that Thompson has either asked for an upgrade or an extension and realised he wasn't going to get a sweetened deal.
Out of kindness for past services and for the type of bloke he is, the Dragons have allowed him to look for a better deal to finish off his career even if he has to leave a year early to get it.

As many here have said, the 2nd row is well covered with Simms, Host, Leilua and others.
We need another top line front rower and some quality fast backs.
Thompson leaving may end up helping the team balance the talent.

You are probably right but I don't think Millward is that generous. I'd say he would be happy to let Thompson go in order to open te door for Leilua who would be hard to hold if he isn't getting a go in first grade.

Would love to think we have an eye on Cronk.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Millward is there to provide Mary the best roster he can and he has. He has also retained the juniors they needed to. Apart from Carr who I think went to the Dogs he has more or less kept them all.

What Mary does with this roster is not Millward's fault at all. I also think if Millward was in charge of retention at the time Bird left he would have found a way to keep him but unfortunately I think that was Mullholland or the guy before him who stuffed that up? Was that during the Price years? THat was the darkest period in our history so I would assume so.

 

[getsmarty]

Millward is there to provide Mary the best roster he can and he has. He has also retained the juniors they needed to. Apart from Carr who I think went to the Dogs he has more or less kept them all.

What Mary does with this roster is not Millward's fault at all. I also think if Millward was in charge of retention at the time Bird left he would have found a way to keep him but unfortunately I think that was Mullholland or the guy before him who stuffed that up? Was that during the Price years? THat was the darkest period in our history so I would assume so.

If I remember correctly the damage was allegedly done prior to Mullholland in regards to J. Bird.

 

[TheOnlyTeam]

Not a Millward fan but, getting anyone to come to the dragons with this coach and administration is a pretty mean feat.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

If I remember correctly the damage was allegedly done prior to Mullholland in regards to J. Bird.

you're correct, if Mulholland had come in a few weeks earlier we may have kept him, Bird originally didnt want to leave, the rest is history as they say...

 

[Old Timer]

Millward is there to provide Mary the best roster he can and he has. He has also retained the juniors they needed to. Apart from Carr who I think went to the Dogs he has more or less kept them all.

What Mary does with this roster is not Millward's fault at all. I also think if Millward was in charge of retention at the time Bird left he would have found a way to keep him but unfortunately I think that was Mullholland or the guy before him who stuffed that up? Was that during the Price years? THat was the darkest period in our history so I would assume so.

The too & fro between Millward & Mc Fookknuckle over Dugan highlights the coach has little say and the recruitment manager to much say.
Also highlighted in the Millward statement re Field being the FB going forward.
For our coach to be so isolated from recruitment means that the notion that Millward gives him the best roster he can is not correct.
Millard gives him the roster he wants to give him and the coach has to suck it up.
That is the truth and shows how dysfunctional we are as a club.
Regardless of what Mc Fookknuckle does with his roster he should have what he wants not what he is given.

 

[Objective View]

I agree the Board and CEO and the coach need to go, but the fact they are still there doesnt mean we cant say Millward has been doing a very good job with recruitment and retention.
Hats off to Millward, he has done a very good job to date imo.

Welcome to the forum, Ian.

Straight Shooter

 

[dragonssamy61]

If I remember correctly the damage was allegedly done prior to Mullholland in regards to J. Bird.

You are correct