Jonus Pearson

[Old Timer]

Why aren't we linked to SOO players?
Geez, pretty sure we had more origin players in this years series than any other team?
Anyway, big signings just around the corner, I know because I read it on the rumours thread.
Corey Oates will look great on the wing.

Stop soft cocking the issue.
Plenty of high quality & SOO quality player changing clubs and we still have several weakness's and we are waxing about Neville's.
If Oates comes then I'll change my stand but if he doesn't will you change yours?
I respectfully advise you, that by you thinking we are doing well is how you end up in a world of pain at the end of a season that should have promised much more.
I am totally resolved to the fact that our squad is still not strong enough, our coach is shit and the lack of high quality recruitment means more of the same coming up.

 

[Crush]

Stop soft cocking the issue.
Plenty of high quality & SOO quality player changing clubs and we still have several weakness's and we are waxing about Neville's.
If Oates comes then I'll change my stand but if he doesn't will you change yours?
I respectfully advise you, that by you thinking we are doing well is how you end up in a world of pain at the end of a season that should have promised much more.
I am totally resolved to the fact that our squad is still not strong enough, our coach is shit and the lack of high quality recruitment means more of the same coming up.

Our roster is excellent. All we need is a bolster to our outside backs and a new coach.
If Millward doesn't obtain a top line winger/centre before 2019 kicks off I'll admit he has failed in that instance.

 

[Saints Forever]

Our roster is excellent. All we need is a bolster to our outside backs and a new coach.
If Millward doesn't obtain a top line winger/centre before 2019 kicks off I'll admit he has failed in that instance.

At the moment our props are:

Graham (1 year older)
Vaughan (assuming he is not leaving for any reason)
Korbin Sims
Blake Lawrie
Latimore (Should be ISP only in 2019)
Kerr (Not sure he is going to make FG anywhere)

We need 2 gun props

We need at least 1 gun outside back (Lomax is ready to play centre, and I am assuming McDonald stays)

Our power house back row was fantastic this season but we need more mongrel.

 

[Belta]

Crush said;

“...pretty sure we had more origin players in this years series than other team...”

Sure we have some great players but we are not the complete package and will struggle to compete without recruiting a few more high quality players to balance the side and give us some depth. To be honest our Origin players were cactus ‘again’ this year due to poor management and depth. Thier form went south in the games that ‘matter’.

As previously stated the Broncos win has masked our poor end of season. IMO the dragons (and some fans) are keeping thier heads in the sand which will ultimately see us flailing away in the business end of every preceding season. We aren’t building as some suggest, we are treading water. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Dragonslayer]

Well it seems amost certain that Nene is gone. Several people have now confirmed it.

So replacements: could this be what the rumour is all about, us cgasing a high profile NRL player for Nene's spot.
2 come to mind:
1. Corey Oates - remains unsigned by the Broncos and would be my #1choice.
2. Daniel Tupou - could be squeezed out at the Roosters with Hall and Morris

Would take both

 

[Frank Facer]

I like the idea of Oates too, but at what price. I don't like the idea of having one of our highest paid players on the wing.

I would rather Pangai than Oates too.

 

[dragon thomo]

Hethrington from penrith would be a good buy. Big and aggressive and would learn a lot from Graham.
Oats would be a good pick up for around $600 000 but i dont know if we would get him for that.

 

[dragon thomo]

Actually with our fabulous new owners and there connections lets have Oats and Panghi on some third parties.

 

[Old Timer]

Our roster is excellent. All we need is a bolster to our outside backs and a new coach.
If Millward doesn't obtain a top line winger/centre before 2019 kicks off I'll admit he has failed in that instance.

I am not sure how you come to that conclusion about the roster.
We have a real weakness in outside backs and that will be magnified if Nene leaves and that is being kind to Nene so the rest must be bog average and not on the radar of other clubs (save Lomax & Mann).
We have no back up halves of any quality.
We have pensioners like Lattimore & Graham who already have low leg speed and will be a year older.
We lost LAM & signed K Sims who in my book is a downgrade.
Millward resigned Aitken & Lafai who are well down the list of top centres and they will yet again be a fixture in 1st grade and whilst that is largely the domain of the coach if the recruitment officer had made significant quality signing instead of them then the coach would have better catch to pick from.
Don't forget Millward along with Mc Fookknuckle also offered Nighty the option to stay on yet again.

 

[WepnutV]

How do you know that you are nothing like them? How do you even know who they were unless you have been on this forum under different alias's. I don't even know who those people were, unless Mrs Gasnier was My Man Gasnier, or what ever he called himself, and I have been on this site for almost 2 years now.

I have wondered if you are an alias of Lizzy who was/is a Mary fan. lol

Because I read evrything and forget nothing.. Yea that's the one. my man gasnier. 100% not me.. I rep myself. The only other alias iv used is my misses account wich is Lizzie the dragon..

 

[WoyD4LWoy]

Back in August Nene said he wanted remain at club past 2019 season. He is staying.
https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/08/17...ge-illawarra-dragons-and-keen-to-extend-stay/

 

[possm]

Thats very harsh IMO.
We are on top of the dung pile?
Cmon, Millward isn't the problem at all. He has done a very good job at recruitment over the past couple of seasons.
Why you hating on Korbin Sims already? He'll be a fine addition, just wait.
All you have done above is highlighted some of our weaker recruits against some of the biggest players in the game. Munster, Holmes, who have they signed with? Are they on the market?
And Barba? Why would we want that dropkick? Dumbest player ever.

Our recruitment isn't perfect but its been very good. Hopefully we pick up a topline outside back in the off season and 2019 is looking like a very good roster.

Crush, Millward has had us sitting on Thompson's salary cap and more when we desperately needed another top grade prop for our rotation. That one extra prop would have made the difference.

When you look at our backline for most of the year: Dufty, Macdonald, Lafai, Aitken and Nightingale, anyone could see that we are lacking speed and talent.

So, you just have to look at the improvement in our right side defence when Nightingale and Aitken were out. Macdonald and Lomax plugged that leaky right hand edge.

Wingers
Just imagine Oats on the right, Macdonald on the left

Centres
Tell me that a centre combination of Lomax and Herbert would not be superior to the Aitken and Lafai pairing. Lomax and Herbert are the ISP centres of the year. They are our young juniors with speed, elusiveness and good defensive skills. For me there is absolutely no contest.

Fullback
Dufty did some good things this season but he has shown poor defensive and positioning skills. For me he will need to have an outstanding off-season to hold his spot and to be honest, I would prefer a bigger fullback with good defensive skills.

Millward signed Aitken and Lafai long term leaving our club little option but to stick with them until a couple of our juniors could challenge them for their spot. Nightingale was kept a season too long and blocked the pathway for a young gun to be groomed on the wing. Lomax on the wing in the early season would have given him a great opportunity to gain experience and to show the club what he is capable of. Mary might have replaced Aitken earlier if Lomax was killing it in first grade.

 

[possm]

Our roster is excellent. All we need is a bolster to our outside backs and a new coach.
If Millward doesn't obtain a top line winger/centre before 2019 kicks off I'll admit he has failed in that instance.

Crush, who in our backline would you replace?

 

[WepnutV]

I think I have been more than patient with Mary. I even believe that I have given him more than a chance to succeed, but he has so far failed to deliver.

So you do believe that Mary selects the best team at his disposal? So you think that Aitken and Nightingale should have been picked all of this year and you think that Lomax should have stayed in reserve grade, while Nightingale and Aitken continued to be selected. So you think that Mary shouldn't have dropped Lafai, in 2016, when his form was pathetic all year? So you think that Mary should have selected Mcrone at halfback all last year?

Please tell me the under performing players that Mary has dropped over the last 3 years?y

Please give me some examples of imaginative coaching that Mary has implemented? BTW the power game is not imaginative. Souths were playing the power game when they won the comp. We were playing the power game when we last won a comp too.

Mary has now had 4 and half years at the helm of our club. He has so far made the semi's twice, being knocked out in the first week once and knocked out in the second week once. How long do you think that Mary should be given to win us a comp? Do you actually think that we will win a comp with Mary as coach? Many on this forum don't. As I previously said, many other coaches have been sacked after taking their teams to premiership victories or grand finals. What has Mary done to even deserve a first grappyde coaching position, let alone continue as our head coach?

Our fall from grace in 15, 17 and 18 is now an alarming pattern. It has all happened under Mary's watch. We were not great to watch in the second half of the season. We lost 7 of our last 11 games after leading the comp.

Do you seriously believe that any other NRL clubs would be interested in signing him up to be their first grade coach?

Do you think that Mary is better than most of the other NRL coaches and if so, what makes you believe this to be so?

Are you related to Mary?

time to succeed haha iv said it already . It took Wayne Bennett five years to win a comp at Brisbane with luxuries Mary can only dream of.
Mate if you want to nick pick and find faults in someone you will finds faults in Anyone and everyone but answer all what I can. There are things I agree with Mary on there are things I don't. And yes I did agree with most of them decisions. I think lafai should of got dropped, but hey maybe mary made the right call in keeping faith in him.. Mate he picked Lomax over Aitken in a semi.. Shows he got the balls to make the big calls.. We are a strong team getting stronger and are good chance of winning the comp over the next 4 years with Mary at the helm.. I dont think Mary is interested in coaching anyone else so why would they be interested, but he he prob would get approached from other clubs. Can you explain what your talking about when you say power game? Well Mary has put us in a position where we are now a legitimate threat. Why does Mary deserve to stay on you say, because any one with a brain can see what he is doing at our club and the change of direction the club has gone since he took over. He is a work in process at the beginning of his coaching career that is still learning, but showing all the signs of a coach that is going to win comps for us.. Bennett is a quick fix solution that may result in a wooden spoon once he's gone. Haha my mate sitting next to me just told me it took Bellamy five years to win the comp, but they where rorting the salary cap so it really took him 9 years to win.. As he is considered the best coach in the game Mary should get given 9 years to win a comp.. How much rugby league have you played? No I'm not related to Mary.

 

[Old Timer]

time to succeed haha iv said it already . It took Wayne Bennett five years to win a comp at Brisbane with luxuries Mary can only dream of.
Mate if you want to nick pick and find faults in someone you will finds faults in Anyone and everyone but answer all what I can. There are things I agree with Mary on there are things I don't. And yes I did agree with most of them decisions. I think lafai should of got dropped, but hey maybe mary made the right call in keeping faith in him.. Mate he picked Lomax over Aitken in a semi.. Shows he got the balls to make the big calls.. We are a strong team getting stronger and are good chance of winning the comp over the next 4 years with Mary at the helm.. I dont think Mary is interested in coaching anyone else so why would they be interested, but he he prob would get approached from other clubs. Can you explain what your talking about when you say power game? Well Mary has put us in a position where we are now a legitimate threat. Why does Mary deserve to stay on you say, because any one with a brain can see what he is doing at our club and the change of direction the club has gone since he took over. He is a work in process at the beginning of his coaching career that is still learning, but showing all the signs of a coach that is going to win comps for us.. Bennett is a quick fix solution that may result in a wooden spoon once he's gone. Haha my mate sitting next to me just told me it took Bellamy five years to win the comp, but they where rorting the salary cap so it really took him 9 years to win.. As he is considered the best coach in the game Mary should get given 9 years to win a comp.. How much rugby league have you played? No I'm not related to Mary.

He never picked Lomax over Aitken only injury forced the issue so he didn’t make a big call at all.
Aitken lost match fitness at the end of the season and there was no way back back for him
Wait and see if he starts 2019 in the right centre position and then come back to us.
Whilst the other coaches did take time to initially win a comp they learnt from their mistakes and didn’t keep repeating them like Mc Fookknuckle does.
Some coaches reach their Zenith early and Mc Fookknuckle is one of them.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

I Agree his price tag will be big and we will have to pay overs for any quality player . Unfortunately because of our management and coaching staff we are no longer a desirable club to be at for high quality players . Money is the only reason you would come to the Dragons at the moment .

I think if we are to persist with a small fullback we need big powerful wingers to bring the ball back. Oates and Nene . Also with wingers of that size a half decent coach could utilise there size ( but that also requires a kicking game of quality ) .

I don't have a problem paying a winger well if he is one of our best players . And if you look at our current 1 to 5 players he laps what we have . I think we would get great value out of Oates rather than signing a bunch of reserve graders . Sign him then work out who needs to go to keep us under the cap .

As the actress said to the Archbishop- size is everything. Compare the size of the Roosters back five to ever other NRL backline- Ferguson, Manu and Mitchell are all tall, strongly built and quick- Tupou and Teddy tick two of those three boxes-Only Nene could be considered to tick all three boxes for SGI and it appears he's leaving (Lomax doesn't appear all that quick to me). Dufty, in particular, for all his speed, would blow away in a strong breeze.

So the bad news dear readers is that while our forwards may continue to dominate most packs, due to our uninspired backline recruitment, our backs will continue to struggle against Souths, the Roosters, Melbourne etc and we can look forward to that old familiar feeling of deja vu at this time next year

 

[Carlton]

As the actress said to the Archbishop- size is everything. Compare the size of the Roosters back five to ever other NRL backline- Ferguson, Manu and Mitchell are all tall, strongly built and quick- Tupou and Teddy tick two of those three boxes-Only Nene could be considered to tick all three boxes for SGI and it appears he's leaving (Lomax doesn't appear all that quick to me). Dufty, in particular, for all his speed, would blow away in a strong breeze.

So the bad news dear readers is that while our forwards may continue to dominate most packs, due to our uninspired backline recruitment, our backs will continue to struggle against Souths, the Roosters, Melbourne etc and we can look forward to that old familiar feeling of deja vu at this time next year

I dont believe these days you can carry a "small" player in the back three. The wingers now are built like second rowers and good fullbacks are built like what centres were a few years ago, approx. 95 kg, fast, fit and very physical.

The sets start with the back three and they all need to be able to make hard metres.

 

[Crush]

Crush, who in our backline would you replace?

Lafai and Pereira.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

Lafai and Pereira.

I have to admit that as much as I wish that Pereira was 195 cms tall and quicker than he is, I kind of like him as a player. Like Nighty, he's safe, fearless and very strong. Despite him not being the prototype tall, fast and powerful winger in the Oates mould, we might be able to accommodate him- however we definitely need more height, strength and speed in the other four back positions.

 

[Frank Facer]

time to succeed haha iv said it already . It took Wayne Bennett five years to win a comp at Brisbane with luxuries Mary can only dream of.
Mate if you want to nick pick and find faults in someone you will finds faults in Anyone and everyone but answer all what I can. There are things I agree with Mary on there are things I don't. And yes I did agree with most of them decisions. I think lafai should of got dropped, but hey maybe mary made the right call in keeping faith in him.. Mate he picked Lomax over Aitken in a semi.. Shows he got the balls to make the big calls.. We are a strong team getting stronger and are good chance of winning the comp over the next 4 years with Mary at the helm.. I dont think Mary is interested in coaching anyone else so why would they be interested, but he he prob would get approached from other clubs. Can you explain what your talking about when you say power game? Well Mary has put us in a position where we are now a legitimate threat. Why does Mary deserve to stay on you say, because any one with a brain can see what he is doing at our club and the change of direction the club has gone since he took over. He is a work in process at the beginning of his coaching career that is still learning, but showing all the signs of a coach that is going to win comps for us.. Bennett is a quick fix solution that may result in a wooden spoon once he's gone. Haha my mate sitting next to me just told me it took Bellamy five years to win the comp, but they where rorting the salary cap so it really took him 9 years to win.. As he is considered the best coach in the game Mary should get given 9 years to win a comp.. How much rugby league have you played? No I'm not related to Mary.

I played footy for the club and for the school while growing up, until I left school in year 12, but I was no star or anything. I am and always have been a great student of the game. As I have said previously, I have a mate who played very little footy, only in year 12 at school, who has a much better perspective on the game and is a much better at identifying talent, than other mates who played lots of junior reps and even coached junior teams.

So you basically think that Mary should be given the job of coaching us unconditionally until he wins a comp and then you think he should continue to be our coach unconditionally because he finally won us a comp, that is if he finally wins us a comp?

You don't think that there are better options available to us?

You think that Mary is the best coach in the comp?

I have disagreed with many of Mary's selections.

Mary's refusal to drop players, or to basically continue to select the same players is a concern to say the least.

Our falls from grace is now a pattern, that one can not ignore.

I think a new coach is some new fresh ideas is what is needed.

I think Mary is more than lucky to have had this much time as our first grade coach.