Josh Dugan Told To Shop Himself Around - Not happy with the Dragons.

[TomRedVRiver]

I think it's great that Dugan wants to stay with the Dragons, but ultimately pretty much all players say that when they're in the negotiation stage for a new contract. As I said earlier, it would be silly to think that Dugan wouldn't want a pay rise, and when you're already on 800k a season there's not a lot of wiggle room.

BennyV what you were saying earlier about juniors, I understand where you're come from, in fact I could probably be seen on this forum in the past saying we should go for an established player if they are available over a junior. However Field and Dufty ooze potential, and by that logic.. Any junior that comes along is just completely obsolete when they have established players in the way. You're forgetting, every player starts somewhere, they don't just appear out of thin air.
As I said before, I WANT to retain Dugan, he's a phenomenal player and we've won games purely off him carrying us, just at the right price.

 

[Lewish33]

Both mate this is the world of the Third Party Agreement (TPD) which makes a mockery of the salary cap.
The clubs you mention have shrewd boards and in the case of the Chooks mates at the big end of town.
Sadly we aren't in that league or even close and no prospects of bridging the gap.
As for Duges they should keep him but not for this bogus $1.1M per year figure being tossed around as gospel. Modest upgrade for sure. Pissing Widdop off is the imperative based on what I saw in the Charity Shield free up some cash.
Does anyone think a new coach with some real idea could redeem Widdop??

Agree completely?
So many problems from the board down that we need to keep the good ones we have, while they still want to play for us.

Within reason of course, but I don't believe for a second the $1.1 mill figure being thrown about.

As for Widdop, it doesn't really look like he wants to be here now and his form shows that. Whether that's the coach or not, who knows but as it stands I'd be happy if he wasn't offered another contract with us.

 

[Gareth67]

We pay big money for one player (Hunt) and our salary cap suddenly turns to shit and we have to let our rep players go. Why do the Roosters, Broncos, Panthers then have no trouble picking them up with no such issues?

Is this good cap management by all other clubs or more likely inept management by ours?

Lewish33 , there are so many problems which have plagued this club over the last few years , however they all stem from the clubs inefficient board . The clubs that you have mentioned all have a history of being able to find money when they really need it . (?)
Nor are our clubs TPA,s on par with most other clubs and more unfortunately our leagues club is not able to inject as much capital into the football clubs coffers as it once did . Still I am sure that the Dragons can accommodate Duges if his price is not too high .

I certainly do not want him in another teams colours , as I like most would hope that some sort of compromise may yet be reached . Who really knows the correct asking price ? At this point it's all conjecture .
However , as I said in a post earlier this year , I just found it somewhat odd that he gave the Dragons a time limit for negotiations . To me that meant that he may have had a couple of irons in the fire .

There is another aspect to this also , and that is Hasler wanted Dugan at the Bulldogs when his stink with Brisbane first came up . However he chose the Dragons , I just hope that if there is any truth whatsoever to the Dessie rumour that , should , Dugan leave that will not upset any plans that he , Hasler , may have had for the Dragons ? Merely a thought , something to dwell upon .

 

[Priddle's Torpedoes]

Dugan is a big game player, but the reality is centres don't have the market value they once did.
I love him and we're unquestionably a better side with him in it but if he's not wearing the number 1, he's not worth 1 million a season.

Having said that, TomRedVRiver is correct when he says "Hardly realistic to think we will need to shell out millions in the next half decade for kids who haven't played a minute of first grade. "

Damien Chapman anyone?!

Although we're trading on speculation here, 1 million a year is too much, but offering him a pay cut is an insult. Be respectful and reasonable with an offer and put the ball in his court.

 

[BennyV]

I think it's great that Dugan wants to stay with the Dragons, but ultimately pretty much all players say that when they're in the negotiation stage for a new contract. As I said earlier, it would be silly to think that Dugan wouldn't want a pay rise, and when you're already on 800k a season there's not a lot of wiggle room.

BennyV what you were saying earlier about juniors, I understand where you're come from, in fact I could probably be seen on this forum in the past saying we should go for an established player if they are available over a junior. However Field and Dufty ooze potential, and by that logic.. Any junior that comes along is just completely obsolete when they have established players in the way. You're forgetting, every player starts somewhere, they don't just appear out of thin air.
As I said before, I WANT to retain Dugan, he's a phenomenal player and we've won games purely off him carrying us, just at the right price.

Just becomes a question of the right price. IMO, his current asking price (or equivalent under the new cap) is fair. As Priddle's says, a pay cut is an insult.

As for Dufty and Field - I'm not at all saying that juniors are obselete if they have established players in front of them. But we need to pan the pathways over a number of years (I'm obviously quite vocal about these kids needing time in Cutters before hitting firsts). It won't be until next year that these guys can handle a full 26 rounds in NRL, another year or two before they start thriving and then another couple of years before they have a real breakout. If we plan for that and communicate it to them, we won't have any issues with the guys in front of them. Yep, they ooze potential (although I still think Herbert and Host are our juniors most likely to achieve stardom) but it's likely that they won't fully consistently realise that potential in NRL for another 3-5 years. Meanwhile, would be handy to have an outside back of Digans calibre around!

 

[dragon thomo]

I feel we should offer Dugan $800 000 and the Captaincy as he leads by example. He is our best player as he always has a go when wearing the Red V.

 

[I Bleed Maroon]

I feel we should offer Dugan $800 000 and the Captaincy as he leads by example. He is our best player as he always has a go when wearing the Red V.

Dude you do know there's a reason why he plays Centre for NSW and not Fullback, right?

 

[coast_dragons]

what insight thank you so much.

 

[BennyV]

Dude you do know there's a reason why he plays Centre for NSW and not Fullback, right?

Surprised you've heard of the f**ker!

 

[Crush]

Crush
Him being injury prone is a myth.
A good post written earlier about this.
A broken jaw or injured vertebra from a crush tackle etc are from foul play not from being injury prone.

Old Timer
I'm sorry but I just couldn't leave this one alone. I did a little research.
I found an article released IN 2014 on the top 20 injury prone nrl players. Dugan ranked 14th with a total of 33.6% of time spent on the sidelines injured between his debut in 2009-2014.
Since then in 2015 he had hypertension of his knee in charity shield, an ankle injury in march in storm game, a knee injury in kangaroos vs NZ and at the end of the season had an operation for bulging disc in neck that caused problems with his arm.
In 2016 he hyperextended his elbow and then broke his jaw.

So I will stick to my original assessment that dugan, who misses 33.6 per cent of games, is worth no more than 700k as he is INJURY PRONE!!!!!

 

[Lewish33]

Old Timer
I'm sorry but I just couldn't leave this one alone. I did a little research.
I found an article released IN 2014 on the top 20 injury prone nrl players. Dugan ranked 14th with a total of 33.6% of time spent on the sidelines injured between his debut in 2009-2014.
Since then in 2015 he had hypertension of his knee in charity shield, an ankle injury in march in storm game, a knee injury in kangaroos vs NZ and at the end of the season had an operation for bulging disc in neck that caused problems with his arm.
In 2016 he hyperextended his elbow and then broke his jaw.

So I will stick to my original assessment that dugan, who misses 33.6 per cent of games, is worth no more than 700k as he is INJURY PRONE!!!!!

What is the percentage after he joined the Dragons,?

 

[Crush]

What is the percentage after he joined the Dragons,?

Don't know exactly but I guess you could easily work it out if you could be bothered.

 

[ALSGI]

Old Timer
I'm sorry but I just couldn't leave this one alone. I did a little research.
I found an article released IN 2014 on the top 20 injury prone nrl players. Dugan ranked 14th with a total of 33.6% of time spent on the sidelines injured between his debut in 2009-2014.
Since then in 2015 he had hypertension of his knee in charity shield, an ankle injury in march in storm game, a knee injury in kangaroos vs NZ and at the end of the season had an operation for bulging disc in neck that caused problems with his arm.
In 2016 he hyperextended his elbow and then broke his jaw.

So I will stick to my original assessment that dugan, who misses 33.6 per cent of games, is worth no more than 700k as he is INJURY PRONE!!!!!

crush. Good post, thanks for the info. His style of play, always putting his body on the line in both attack and defence will continue to result in injuries. Then there's the perception at least, that he constantly lies down injured in tackles, wonder how many times that actually hapens for the perception to exist.
Still a keeper imo, our best back last year, he's a leader, worth at least his current salary, and I'll say it again - we play better when he's on the field, plain and simple.
Widdop's a different story.

 

[Crush]

http://www.nrlceo.com/nrls-most-injury-prone-players/
Is the link if you are interested

 

[Old Timer]

Crush
My maths says that since Dugan arrived at our club he has been eligible to play 87 games and actually played 67 of them.
That is 23% out with injury.
The major injuries are a broken jaw and a crushed vertebra both from illegal plays and an elbow hyper extension which he actually got back from rather quicker than anticipated.
Not sure how many weeks the above total but suspect almost all of it.
Injury prone IMO means lots of intermittent missing of games from minor injuries or recurring injuries and this is clearly not the case with Dugan.
Calling him injury prone from a crusher tackle and a broken jaw courtesy of a GI shoulder charge is not a fair interpretation.
Just because he annoyingly takes time to get up off the ground as he seeks to remonstrate and get a penalty should not be confused with injury prone.

 

[Crush]

Crush
My maths says that since Dugan arrived at our club he has been eligible to play 87 games and actually played 67 of them.
That is 23% out with injury.
The major injuries are a broken jaw and a crushed vertebra both from illegal plays and an elbow hyper extension which he actually got back from rather quicker than anticipated.
Not sure how many weeks the above total but suspect almost all of it.
Injury prone IMO means lots of intermittent missing of games from minor injuries or recurring injuries and this is clearly not the case with Dugan.
Calling him injury prone from a crusher tackle and a broken jaw courtesy of a GI shoulder charge is not a fair interpretation.
Just because he annoyingly takes time to get up off the ground as he seeks to remonstrate and get a penalty should not be confused with injury prone.

OT, if you don't believe that he is injury prone then that is your opinion.
I have my opinion and I don't think that I am alone given the article about titled NRL MOST INJURY PRONE PLAYERS

 

[Crush]

crush. Good post, thanks for the info. His style of play, always putting his body on the line in both attack and defence will continue to result in injuries. Then there's the perception at least, that he constantly lies down injured in tackles, wonder how many times that actually hapens for the perception to exist.
Still a keeper imo, our best back last year, he's a leader, worth at least his current salary, and I'll say it again - we play better when he's on the field, plain and simple.
Widdop's a different story.

Completely agree. Great player and our best IMO. It's just a shame that he gets injured so often. And you are right, its the way he plays the game. He runs like a missile and puts his body on the line.

 

[ALSGI]

Crush
My maths says that since Dugan arrived at our club he has been eligible to play 87 games and actually played 67 of them.
That is 23% out with injury.
The major injuries are a broken jaw and a crushed vertebra both from illegal plays and an elbow hyper extension which he actually got back from rather quicker than anticipated.
Not sure how many weeks the above total but suspect almost all of it.
Injury prone IMO means lots of intermittent missing of games from minor injuries or recurring injuries and this is clearly not the case with Dugan.
Calling him injury prone from a crusher tackle and a broken jaw courtesy of a GI shoulder charge is not a fair interpretation.
Just because he annoyingly takes time to get up off the ground as he seeks to remonstrate and get a penalty should not be confused with injury prone.

OT
Also some good points, will be watching this closer now, just hope he continues to be one of our best during the contract headaches.

 

[hazzbeen]

Injury prone or not bottom line is Duges worth the money he is asking ? What is he worth to the team ? Are we any better with him playing his style of footy . Do we win more games when he plays ? Are we better off with another fullback that is on the same money that plays a different style ? IMO if we are going to pay Duges what he wants or buy another fullback or even use Duges as a center NONE OF THIS MATTERS IF MARY IS STILL COACH nothing will change the results will be the same . Need a clean out Doust , Mary ,Young ,Young JR, Hornby . Need a injection of something new , not the same old same old . So is anyone worth the money their on playing Dragons footy ? The point is we can pay top dollar or even play the whole Cutters side in first grade and we will get the same result .

 

[Old Timer]

OT, if you don't believe that he is injury prone then that is your opinion.
I have my opinion and I don't think that I am alone given the article about titled NRL MOST INJURY PRONE PLAYERS

Crush
I am merely trying to be objective re the case you presented.
Do you think an injury inflicted by illegal play counts for a player being injury prone?
If you do then I don't agree with that belief and if you don't you need to recalibrate Dugan's stats accordingly.
The article you are quoting is old, unfortunately has some obvious flaws and not completely accurate by its own admission.
PS: I hate Dugan rolling around on the ground carrying on and I think it detracts from him but I also believe he is a tough bastard and could have gone off on several occasions but stayed on and toughed it out.