Manly in the gong.

[justadragon]

Honestly, if everything goes according to plan next game , we may already find ourselves equal last with only F+A the difference. My prediction is our season will be decided by RD 7. And if this is whinging then so be it, I prefer to call it reality.

 

[Dragon David]

Honestly, if everything goes according to plan next game , we may already find ourselves equal last with only F+A the difference. My prediction is our season will be decided by RD 7. And if this is whinging then so be it, I prefer to call it reality.

We have played in 5 games this year - 2 trials and 3 comp games. In all 5 games we saw improvement in say 4 of the games (the game against the Dolphins being the worst one and we showed how we could be beaten in that game). In the game against the Cowboys, with an ounce of better fortune we score 3 more tries - say 18 points and eliminate the 12 point turnarounds, we could have won but wasn't to be but there was improvement in the attack, but miserable defence.

Beating the Titans was very good, but the Titans were woeful and that club had a further bad loss against the Bulldogs after they had their bye. To me it means that win against the Titans while it was great, it was against a team likely to be at the bottom part of the ladder throughout this year seeing that their captain,Tino, will be out for the rest of the year with an ACL tear of his right knee.

We next play Manly who got done by the Eels and we do have a chance in this game at WIN as Manly's defence hasn't been great. Game 5 against the Knights away will be a tough one. They have been playing well and will be hard to beat. Game 6 will be against the Tigers away and they have shown that they can play and will want to reverse the win by us in the trials at Mudgee. Game 7 will be against the Warriors at home which we could win.

Manly, Knights,Tigers and Warriors - If we can win 3 of those games, then we will be doing well.

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

Can the team fake a bus crash or something and forfeit the game?

 

[justadragon]

We have played in 5 games this year - 2 trials and 3 comp games. In all 5 games we saw improvement in say 4 of the games (the game against the Dolphins being the worst one and we showed how we could be beaten in that game). In the game against the Cowboys, with an ounce of better fortune we score 3 more tries - say 18 points and eliminate the 12 point turnarounds, we could have won but wasn't to be but there was improvement in the attack, but miserable defence.

Beating the Titans was very good, but the Titans were woeful and that club had a further bad loss against the Bulldogs after they had their bye. To me it means that win against the Titans while it was great, it was against a team likely to be at the bottom part of the ladder throughout this year seeing that their captain,Tino, will be out for the rest of the year with an ACL tear of his right knee.

We next play Manly who got done by the Eels and we do have a chance in this game at WIN as Manly's defence hasn't been great. Game 5 against the Knights away will be a tough one. They have been playing well and will be hard to beat. Game 6 will be against the Tigers away and they have shown that they can play and will want to reverse the win by us in the trials at Mudgee. Game 7 will be against the Warriors at home which we could win.

Manly, Knights,Tigers and Warriors - If we can win 3 of those games, then we will be doing well.

Agree Dave, thats why I said RD7, we win a couple maybe there will be a pulse, but if we finish RD 7 at 1-6, then our season is done and dusted and we can all hear its time to try a few things now.

 

[Dragon the chain]

I honestly think we were worse against Cowboys than against Dolphins. We were poor angainst Dolphins, but Dolphins were ruthless. They gave nothing away. And they were a bit lucky too. For example, their first try was a GENUINE 12 point turnaround.

All the talk of 12 point turnarounds in the Cowboys game is misleading. It makes it sound like they scored 4 length of the field intercept tries. None of those 4 tries the Cowboys scored were anything like an intercept try. On each occasion they had to go 80 meters or more against a set defence. We offered little resistance.

I agree that our attack looked better against the Cowboys, but the Cowboys were a lot sloppier than the Dolphins so it's hard to say how much our attack improved. I'm not too worried about our attack. If we get on top of the other team Liddle and Sloan will cut them to pieces up the middle. We won't have trouble scoring if we set the foundation.

I strongly agree that we will be doing well if we win 4 of our first 7. It's hard to win in the NRL so winning more games than we lose is a good result for a team looking to bounce back from last years disappointing season. I agree that winning 1 from 3 is not the end of the world. I would be confident of a good season if I were a Warriors fan because, although they've had bad moments, they still look like a team that competes hard. It's not the fact that we have only won one game that worries me.

I remember that, when he took over from Hook last year, Ryan Carr said there were going to be "non-negotiables", and that players would be held accountable to standards. I'm not sure that he completely followed through on this, but, by the end of the year, players like Dan Russell and Ryan Couchman got their debuts, played well, and tried their hardest to put the team in a position to win games. I think we lost most of those games, but I can remember blaming the results on bad refereeing and bad luck. When a biased fan like me is not blaming referees or luck, it's a sign that the team is not committed to the effort areas.

 

[Macedonian Dragon]

Our outside backs are too slow. Bird has to play utility, Lomax to centre and Finau on the wing. If Liddle, Sua, F. Molo and Sele are all available to play it'll be a massive boost.

 

[SEAT 1A]

Manly, Knights,Tigers and Warriors - If we can win 3 of those games, then we will be doing well.

Need to get over Manly this weekend.

NZ (2) V Knights (2), Souths (0) V Dogs (2), BNE (2) V Cows (6) and Tit's (2) V Fins (4).

If we can jag a few more wins and get our best 17 on the park for a few weeks, should be in a better position.

After that, we will see.

 

[SBD82]

I didn’t realise this was a game thread.

I read the title and thought someone had leaked my memoirs.

 

[Super Owl]

I honestly think we were worse against Cowboys than against Dolphins. We were poor angainst Dolphins, but Dolphins were ruthless. They gave nothing away. And they were a bit lucky too. For example, their first try was a GENUINE 12 point turnaround.

All the talk of 12 point turnarounds in the Cowboys game is misleading. It makes it sound like they scored 4 length of the field intercept tries. None of those 4 tries the Cowboys scored were anything like an intercept try. On each occasion they had to go 80 meters or more against a set defence. We offered little resistance.

I agree that our attack looked better against the Cowboys, but the Cowboys were a lot sloppier than the Dolphins so it's hard to say how much our attack improved. I'm not too worried about our attack. If we get on top of the other team Liddle and Sloan will cut them to pieces up the middle. We won't have trouble scoring if we set the foundation.

I strongly agree that we will be doing well if we win 4 of our first 7. It's hard to win in the NRL so winning more games than we lose is a good result for a team looking to bounce back from last years disappointing season. I agree that winning 1 from 3 is not the end of the world. I would be confident of a good season if I were a Warriors fan because, although they've had bad moments, they still look like a team that competes hard. It's not the fact that we have only won one game that worries me.

I remember that, when he took over from Hook last year, Ryan Carr said there were going to be "non-negotiables", and that players would be held accountable to standards. I'm not sure that he completely followed through on this, but, by the end of the year, players like Dan Russell and Ryan Couchman got their debuts, played well, and tried their hardest to put the team in a position to win games. I think we lost most of those games, but I can remember blaming the results on bad refereeing and bad luck. When a biased fan like me is not blaming referees or luck, it's a sign that the team is not committed to the effort areas.

On the 12 point turn-around. Yes they marched 80 meters - but Belinda Sharpe was giving out late set ruck penalties each time too. We may have won under a different ref.

 

[justadragon]

On the 12 point turn-around. Yes they marched 80 meters - but Belinda Sharpe was giving out late set ruck penalties each time too. We may have won under a different ref.

There is no way I blame the ref for that shit show, she wasnt the one bombing trys, missing tackles and purely ball watching, We finished ahead in penalties 7-4, had 1 ruck infringement, and the cows had 1 10 meter infringement. We were a shit show and the blame is totally on us.

 

[jeffdragon]

We have played in 5 games this year - 2 trials and 3 comp games. In all 5 games we saw improvement in say 4 of the games (the game against the Dolphins being the worst one and we showed how we could be beaten in that game). In the game against the Cowboys, with an ounce of better fortune we score 3 more tries - say 18 points and eliminate the 12 point turnarounds, we could have won but wasn't to be but there was improvement in the attack, but miserable defence.

Beating the Titans was very good, but the Titans were woeful and that club had a further bad loss against the Bulldogs after they had their bye. To me it means that win against the Titans while it was great, it was against a team likely to be at the bottom part of the ladder throughout this year seeing that their captain,Tino, will be out for the rest of the year with an ACL tear of his right knee.

We next play Manly who got done by the Eels and we do have a chance in this game at WIN as Manly's defence hasn't been great. Game 5 against the Knights away will be a tough one. They have been playing well and will be hard to beat. Game 6 will be against the Tigers away and they have shown that they can play and will want to reverse the win by us in the trials at Mudgee. Game 7 will be against the Warriors at home which we could win.

Manly, Knights,Tigers and Warriors - If we can win 3 of those games, then we will be doing well.

We've played 3 qld teams realistically only Nth Qld are a good side.
We were in a top position and then RFM stuffed it.
We don't often get in a position of strength in a game.
We need to win them and Saturday was a huge chance missed,which we aren't good enough to pass up.

 

[jeffdragon]

Honestly, if everything goes according to plan next game , we may already find ourselves equal last with only F+A the difference. My prediction is our season will be decided by RD 7. And if this is whinging then so be it, I prefer to call it reality.

Realistic post.
Some others are in denial.

 

[justadragon]

Realistic post.
Some others are in denial.

Thanks mate, the way I see it is when someone like Townsend can carry 3 of our players 6-10 meters to score, one would think that we should be very realistic about how good we are as a NRL side.

 

[jeffdragon]

Thanks mate, the way I see it is when someone like Townsend can carry 3 of our players 6-10 meters to score, one would think that we should be very realistic about how good we are as a NRL side.

I just remembered that try.
It wasn't so much their big forwards in name, it was McIntyre and Neane who made us look pedestrian.
That ads insult to injury..

 

[matPORTS]

OT first:

Nathan Cleary out for 4-6 weeks

Mitchell Moses out for 6-12 weeks

Titans have lost big Tino for the season

Broncos going to be missing Walsh for a while, and a fitness cloud over Reynolds

Souths massively unsettled

Among other dramas across several other clubs

We have Liddle, Su'a, F Molo & Sele all possibly coming back on board this week. All four will be in the 17.

Coming up against a Sea Eagles team with a pretty poor record down in Wollongong.

While we still need to be patient and not get too carried away, I feel like the season will come to us as long as we get settled on who is our best 17, are able to keep the same team fit & on the paddock, and quickly get their heads around the way that Flanno ultimately wants them to play.

The biggest problem so far is that we are yet to start with the same forward pack as the previous game (and that even includes going back through the trials). We are not settled.

The Bird in the #4 experiment has failed and we probably need to make this change sooner rather than later in the name of trying to settle on what is our best 17... Lomax back to centre and that also includes getting Ravalawa back out to the right wing. But that now also makes me unsure as to where Bird fits into 17 and feel it will ultimately come down to him or RFM for the final bench spot.

1. Sloan
2. Tuipulotu
3. Suli
4. Lomax
5. Ravalawa

6. K Flanno
7. Hunt

8. F Molo
9. Liddle
10. Lawrie
11. Leilua
12. Su'a
13. de Belin

14. Marschke
15. Eisenhuth
16. Sele
17. Bird / RFM

 

[TheRev]

Agree with that MatPorts.. I dunno if Bird is gone this week, but if/when he does.. its going to cause a large re-shuffle.. and I hope we can sort that out and try to just stick with the same backline as much as possible.. noting that we have had no back injuries thus far (ignoring Allan)... we won't always be that lucky.

Forwards we still dont know who belongs where... but to be fair thats been a mix of multiple injuries, suspension and leilua's late arrival.. but our 1 decent middle signing Sele.. still yet to play a game.. that has definitely cost us.. he should be our best prop.. noting that im not sure how fit hes going to be or how hard he will be able to push himself.. that means it could be a few weeks before we get the Sele we are after.. Su'a might not be 100% either..

With the lack of roster quality and depth.. we just need some things to go our way with injury...

 

[Crush]

Geez there's some miserable sods on this thread. It's round 3. Calm down. Things will turn around, just not at the speed some people here want. Blame the board and the previous three idiotic coaching appointments in a row for the spot we're in now. Flanagan will turn this around. But hey, it's going to take time.
I already like the 2024 Dragons more than the 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 versions.
Dragons by 6.

I agree with all of this but your last point.
Dragons by 13+

 

[since77]

I agree with all of this but your last point.
Dragons by 13+

That would be awesome. Hope you're right!

 

[thebigredv]

Bit tired of pinning hopes on certain versions of our team turning up but I think if we can find the kind of play that we saw against the Tigers (trial) and Titans / first 20 minutes of Cowboys then we can give Sea Eagles a bit of a run for their money. Crowd gets into then and you just don't know.

Except that it feels like you kind of do know with this Dragons. Oppositions lifts and we have nothing.

They'll be up for exploiting our slowness/ stagnant defence but surely we are doing something to eliminate this right now at training. Flanagan will have some good understanding of the Manly play book. It's unlikely but the team need to give the fans a win at home here.

Just get it done.

 

[hewi]

Bottom line there is no place for Bird in the team.