Matt Dufty

[hazzbeen]

With a strong forward pack , which is how we play power game as Mary calls it , and another season Dufty will continue to improve .... We have been calling out for speed in our back line and someone that can score a long range try , or be unpredictable , score a try from nothing , we finally get someone , and we then want to high light his deficiencies .... Yea he needs to improve with his defensive positioning and tackling , but for me his try scoring ability out weighs the other ....

 

[dragonssamy61]

With a strong forward pack , which is how we play power game as Mary calls it , and another season Dufty will continue to improve .... We have been calling out for speed in our back line and someone that can score a long range try , or be unpredictable , score a try from nothing , we finally get someone , and we then want to high light his deficiencies .... Yea he needs to improve with his defensive positioning and tackling , but for me his try scoring ability out weighs the other ....

Well said hazz.
The figures being stated by the media are bs.

 

[Rob Dragon]

OK, so the best full-back of all time has just retired. Before entering the NRL he was a track work jockey. That means he is pretty small. We have a small fullback so why not offer Billy Slater a $100K specialist coaching gig to work with Dufty, Masters, Field etc? Just saying. The current coaches don't appear able to teach Dufty to tackle and find comfort under the high ball so why not pay a legendary player to do so? I bet Mr Dufty's smart attitude wouldn't get much of a run with Slater. Just saying!

 

[possm]

Without Dufty in 2018 and Mann in 2016 (also part of 2017) our attack would have been totally listless and fans would have had their heads down between their knees saying continuing to say woe is me.
They provided spark and finishing that had been sadly lacking and gave fans a reason to get on their feet and now both are the whipping boys for many on the forum.
Without these players we would have still been down with the also rans but because they slightly elevated our performances and people could then see a ray of sunshine and some potential, they now wish to be super critical of the very people who gave us that.
What makes anyone even remotely think that unless a couple of absolute superstar comes to this club and completely ignore all of the coaching staff, that anyone is going to get us a better result than what we currently achieve?
Jarryd Hayne FMD schooled us in 1 game and played 2 or 3 other good games and for some a must sign whilst they ignore the obvious deficiencies about him, so easily pleased such a shame.

I'm not sure about that for example, if we did not promote Dufty and instead recruited one of the many successful fullbacks that were available at the time, we could very well have performed much better. The Roosters, Warriors, Newcastle and even Parramatta did this and it worked out for them.

 

[possm]

OK, so the best full-back of all time has just retired. Before entering the NRL he was a track work jockey. That means he is pretty small. We have a small fullback so why not offer Billy Slater a $100K specialist coaching gig to work with Dufty, Masters, Field etc? Just saying. The current coaches don't appear able to teach Dufty to tackle and find comfort under the high ball so why not pay a legendary player to do so? I bet Mr Dufty's smart attitude wouldn't get much of a run with Slater. Just saying!

It's not the coaching it is the selection process that is the problem. Millward has ushered too many small junior through to the first grade pipeline. Ok for the 6 and 7 position but these days they all need to be tall, solid and strong with speed.

The trick will be to add bulk without losing speed and only those youngsters with a big frame have a chance to do this. The bulking up and displaying the ability to defend should be a prerequisite to being available to join the top 30.

 

[Old Timer]

I'm not sure about that for example, if we did not promote Dufty and instead recruited one of the many successful fullbacks that were available at the time, we could very well have performed much better. The Roosters, Warriors, Newcastle and even Parramatta did this and it worked out for them.

Possm,
The example is perfectly legitimate as we had a very ordinary attack and those 2 players made our attack much more potent.
Every one was basking in how many more points we were scoring and the ability to again score long range tries.
People, you included are now looking to find out how to progress yet saying our 2 leading lights are the issue.
FMD idiotic coaching and selection coupled with a complete inability to teach anyone anything are the reason why we are not pushing for the comp not Dufty & Mann.
You suggest we could have gone better with a big name at FB well we have signed 1 big name in 10 years and even that is questionable as to how big that name is and he struggled for more than half of 2018. We don't sign "big names" so stop putting things into the equation that are irrelevant.

 

[possm]

Possm,
The example is perfectly legitimate as we had a very ordinary attack and those 2 players made our attack much more potent.
Every one was basking in how many more points we were scoring and the ability to again score long range tries.
People you included are now looking to fins out how to progress and saying our 2 leading lights are the issue.
FMD idiotic coaching and selection coupled with a complete inability to teach anyone anything are the reason why we are not pushing for the comp not Dufty & Mann.
You suggest we could have gone better with a big name at FB well we have signed 1 big name in 10 years and even that is questionable as to how big that name is and he struggled for more than half of 2018. We don't sign "big names" so stop putting things into the equation that are irrelevant.

We have so many inept management staff at SGI that it is impossible to see a way through all of this. As far as I am concerned we still need a cleanout before we will rise to be the real big red V again.

 

[watatank]

OK, so the best full-back of all time has just retired. Before entering the NRL he was a track work jockey. That means he is pretty small. We have a small fullback so why not offer Billy Slater a $100K specialist coaching gig to work with Dufty, Masters, Field etc? Just saying. The current coaches don't appear able to teach Dufty to tackle and find comfort under the high ball so why not pay a legendary player to do so? I bet Mr Dufty's smart attitude wouldn't get much of a run with Slater. Just saying!

We already have Ben Hornby that played fullback for NSW and Luke Phillips who was a premiership winning fullback, that's plenty. Maybe it's easy to say they can't coach, but maybe Dufty can't defend?

 

[Drakon]

Possm,
The example is perfectly legitimate as we had a very ordinary attack and those 2 players made our attack much more potent.
Every one was basking in how many more points we were scoring and the ability to again score long range tries.
People you included are now looking to fins out how to progress and saying our 2 leading lights are the issue.
FMD idiotic coaching and selection coupled with a complete inability to teach anyone anything are the reason why we are not pushing for the comp not Dufty & Mann.
You suggest we could have gone better with a big name at FB well we have signed 1 big name in 10 years and even that is questionable as to how big that name is and he struggled for more than half of 2018. We don't sign "big names" so stop putting things into the equation that are irrelevant.

One big name?

I can think of a few - Hunt, Widdop, Dugan, Tariq Sims. But if you're talking fullbacks - yes, we signed Dugan who played with us for the best part of 5 years out of those ten.

 

[Old Timer]

One big name?

I can think of a few - Hunt, Widdop, Dugan, Tariq Sims. But if you're talking fullbacks - yes, we signed Dugan who played with us for the best part of 5 years out of those ten.

Dugan, Widdop and Sims were not big names when they came to our club
They were well known names but were not big names in the sense of in the top 2 or 3 in their position
Widdop was not in the same breath as Slater, Smith, Cronk and Dugan was not in the top eschalon of FB’s and more known for his behaviour and Sims was a player recognised as not fulfilling his potential.
Hunt was again well known and his name and status grew on the back of the size of his contract with us & the fact we had finally signed a half back which was our nemesis position

 

[jak]

Dugan, Widdop and Sims were not big names when they came to our club
They were well known names but were not big names in the sense of in the top 2 or 3 in their position
Widdop was not in the same breath as Slater, Smith, Cronk and Dugan was not in the top eschalon of FB’s and more known for his behaviour and Sims was a player recognised as not fulfilling his potential.
Hunt was again well known and his name and status grew on the back of the size of his contract with us & the fact we had finally signed a half back which was our nemesis position

so what you are saying is that the COACH has fulfilled there potential?

 

[Old Timer]

so what you are saying is that the COACH

What a perceptive poster you are.

 

[possm]

In my opinion, Dufty is not the real deal at fullback right now and it does not seem that he can be placed in another position as well. That being the case he really needs to go back to ISP and train to rectify his problems and then return to first grade when he has sorted things out.

In the meantime, Hayne is our best option for 2019. If he gets injured, Dufty would be Hayne's logical replacement and hopefully rectified some of his major problems.

Just noticed that my post total has hit all the 7s

 

[Drakon]

Dugan, Widdop and Sims were not big names when they came to our club
They were well known names but were not big names in the sense of in the top 2 or 3 in their position
Widdop was not in the same breath as Slater, Smith, Cronk and Dugan was not in the top eschalon of FB’s and more known for his behaviour and Sims was a player recognised as not fulfilling his potential.
Hunt was again well known and his name and status grew on the back of the size of his contract with us & the fact we had finally signed a half back which was our nemesis position

Agree, 'not in the same breath as Slater, Smith and Cronk' - not many are in that 'eschalon'- not even in that echelon, but disagree still big names.

Sims had huge wraps on him but had suffered from 2 broken legs (same leg, same spot). He had represented Country and had been an emerging blue as well as 19th man for S.O.O and Widdop was and is a big name - a grand final winner and English international when he joined us. Dugan was a big name - already a S.O.O. player when he joined us.

 

[Belta]

Dufty has some amazing skills, and scored some electrifying tries. He’s had some shockers that highlighted glaring deficiencies, not just errors.

He’s very close but I’m not 100% sold, I’m YET to be convinced that he will contribute as much as the elite players ie Tedesco, Tommy T, Slater etc - bringing the ball back, catching bombs, commitment in defence/on line defence, supporting the forwards,

I do believe he’d be seeking around the 700 k mark which is close but I’d hope we could keep developing him and extend him for a little less than that, enough to show he’s valuable but at a value to reflect he is not YET at the top of his game

 

[Old Timer]

Agree, 'not in the same breath as Slater, Smith and Cronk' - not many are in that 'eschalon'- not even in that echelon, but disagree still big names.

Sims had huge wraps on him but had suffered from 2 broken legs (same leg, same spot). He had represented Country and had been an emerging blue as well as 19th man for S.O.O and Widdop was and is a big name - a grand final winner and English international when he joined us. Dugan was a big name - already a S.O.O. player when he joined us.

Big names for me are top 1-3 in a position and regularly selected at rep level in their favoured position.
Lots of so called "big names" bandied around many of which IMO are better quality club footballers but well short of my criteria for "big name".
Widdop when he came was looking for the "step up" to leadership group and proving himself away from the Storm system.
Dugan at best was an emerging player at best and we sure f**ked that up for him as far as FB goes.
Sims merely had unfilled potential and promise and it was suggested he might become a big name.
At the time of these players coming to St GI there were plenty who were going better than then in their positions at other clubs.
St GI fans have a bad habit of being overly generous in their appraisals of what we sign.

 

[possm]

In my opinion, Dufty still won't be ready at the end of pre-season traing or the end of the 2019 season however, he will sign for the highest bidder for 2020.

 

[Old Timer]

so what you are saying is that the COACH has fulfilled there potential?

Ah now we have the full post so I need to adjust my answer.
Widdop IMO has never played at his full potential and his days at Melbourne & in the Pommie side stand him in better stead to survive at our club.
Dugan was a massive fail and became a poor imitation of what he should have been but in the end a good player despite us.
Sims had mojo, lost it, got injured and is finding his way back and owes hell of a lot to being 18th man with the blues in 2017 and IMO has a fair bit to go to realise his full potential.
So NO the coach has not fulfilled their potential nor will he and thank god these players have had the influence of others on them during their time at our club.

 

[jak]

Ah now we have the full post so I need to adjust my answer.
Widdop IMO has never played at his full potential and his days at Melbourne & in the Pommie side stand him in better stead to survive at our club.
Dugan was a massive fail and became a poor imitation of what he should have been but in the end a good player despite us.
Sims had mojo, lost it, got injured and is finding his way back and owes hell of a lot to being 18th man with the blues in 2017 and IMO has a fair bit to go to realise his full potential.
So NO the coach has not fulfilled their potential nor will he and thank god these players have had the influence of others on them during their time at our club.

so just like you we all have our own opion.

 

[aquiin]

Slater is already part of the coaching set up for the Storm and St.Kilda in 2019.