Matt Dufty

[Ghostrider22]

We have got to have someone at least in the team that has speed. There are a few fullbacks in other teams with slower speed than Dufty, however, this is countered by their wingers or halves who have such speed. I'd say Dufty is faster than Tedesco but Tedesco has a winger like Brett Morris who is fast. Manly have Turbo who is reasonably fast but they have Saab who is a flyer as well.

Not only does a team need a couple of speedy players, they need the players overall to do things with speed in both attack and defence - its as simple as that and you would win more games and even not lose any - just like Penrith are doing now. Speed, speed, speed.

Dragon Dave why

I’m a fan of Matt Dufty & will be sad to see him depart. Sure he has some deficiencies, but he’s an excitement machine for the Dragons and has been my favourite player for the last few lean years of dribble attack.
Can you imagine how good he would be in a team like the Storm or Panthers, backing up with his acceleration & pace.
I feel sorry for the young man, being previously coached by the Peanut McJetski. How can you fly like an Eagle when your surrounded with Turkeys.
I’d still rather have a small half arsed fullback with blinding speed, than a big lazy full arsed 5/8 with no heart to run in a forward direction.

We had back in the day lightning fast half back Steve Morris, the coach Roy Masters thought at the time Steve would be better for the team as a winger, not at half. History shows how good Slippery was, what a player.

Why can’t it be possible to do the same with Duff to fit him into the team to be the X factor Jeez there 3 coaches what are they doing. No instead they get rid of him to easy. There must be something underlying????????

 

[blaza88z]

He must have shagged someone's missus, as a neutral watching Dufty play he is quite the weapon in attack

 

[Dragon David]

Dragon Dave why

We had back in the day lightning fast half back Steve Morris, the coach Roy Masters thought at the time Steve would be better for the team as a winger, not at half. History shows how good Slippery was, what a player.

Why can’t it be possible to do the same with Duff to fit him into the team to be the X factor Jeez there 3 coaches what are they doing. No instead they get rid of him to easy. There must be something underlying????????

I agree. I'm saying that if we don't have Dufty, they need to make sure that we do have a flyer somewhere on the field, maybe even switching Dufty to the wing like Slippery. Slippery did have zip, speed, guile and finesse and was pretty hard to tackle and defended stoutly for a smaller player in the mould of Dufty. I chatted with Slippery several times when he used to come to the club with Brett and Josh when they were 6 year old kids where I was playing in a band at the club.

 

[Ghostrider22]

I agree. I'm saying that if we don't have Dufty, they need to make sure that we do have a flyer somewhere on the field, maybe even switching Dufty to the wing like Slippery. Slippery did have zip, speed, guile and finesse and was pretty hard to tackle and defended stoutly for a smaller player in the mould of Dufty. I chatted with Slippery several times when he used to come to the club with Brett and Josh when they were 6 year old kids where I was playing in a band at the club.

Slippery was a great player and great to chat to, just a nice bloke. He was very proud when Brett and Josh made grade and when Brett played the GF not many fathers and sons get to play in.

 

[Gareth67]

I agree. I'm saying that if we don't have Dufty, they need to make sure that we do have a flyer somewhere on the field, maybe even switching Dufty to the wing like Slippery. Slippery did have zip, speed, guile and finesse and was pretty hard to tackle and defended stoutly for a smaller player in the mould of Dufty. I chatted with Slippery several times when he used to come to the club with Brett and Josh when they were 6 year old kids where I was playing in a band at the club.

Agree Dave , hopefully Griffin has a rethink about the situation and decides to keep him and play him elsewhere in the team .

 

[Pro Dragons]

After watching last night’s game we have nothing in attack without Dufty. It is puzzling why Hook wants him gone when we struggle to score without him.

 

[Lovemedragons]

After watching last night’s game we have nothing in attack without Dufty. It is puzzling why Hook wants him gone when we struggle to score without him.

You’d have wanted to see the ‘preferred’ others to step into the void left by Dufty’s enforced absence but NOTHING special at all from Hunt, Norman or Ramsay, nothing in 2 1/2 games. Ramsay is green and can be given more time, the other two have not stood up at all. Coach is seeing things not visible to me.

 

[LINESPEED]

He must have shagged someone's missus, as a neutral watching Dufty play he is quite the weapon in attack

For me Hook has poor judgment across the board.

This game has passed him by -

and the commentators last night quietly, but repeatedly noted the poor game strategies.

We have by far the worst backline ball movement in the NRL.

Gould sure got it right with Cleary ...

And our chance for a better coach earlier in 2020 was lost in Admin incompetence

 

[mickeylane]

Surely the combined experience of Hook, Matt Elliott, and Peter Gentle can't be wrong about releasing Matt Dufty....and surely the CEO must have been brought into the conversation prior to this decision being made public to let him know of the coaching staffs contingency knowing the backlash that would come from the supporters and sections of the media... surely as believed in here by a few neither Ramsay or Sloan are his replacement...

There's something afoot here w another target and as Hook said in his interview anything can change w the salary cap...

Surely....

 

[getsmarty]

No....forward planning....

 

[Dragonslayer]

The 3 experienced coaches can't see any further development in Duff, he is what he is.

Whether it's Ramsey, Sloan or someone else, they see upside in development rather than keeping the status quo.

 

[boardlumps62]

The 3 experienced coaches can't see any further development in Duff, he is what he is.

Whether it's Ramsey, Sloan or someone else, they see upside in development rather than keeping the status quo.

Ok I want development too just test their speed before we invest hugely. Example was Lawrie burning Ramsey for speed when he gave up.

 

[Slippery Morris]

As I mentioned in another post, Hook did not want Moylan at Panthers which was unpopular by fans but had a good plan B in Edwards and that worked a treat. Maybe he has the same idea for Dufty. Either Ramsey or Hynes to be FB as they are the complete package not just good in attack. Dufty has had a few years to work on catching bombs and still lets them bounce more than he should. Saints cannot afford to have an weakness in their game which teams can easily exploit like they now do with Dufty. When in doubt, bomb to Dufty and put pressure on him and they get a very good chance of an error. Saints cannot protect him now as they will get penalised for escorting if they put players around Dufty.

Are you guys confident when a bomb goes up and Dufty is underneath with the opposition players close to him? I definitely am not and he has been given way too many games to fix this.

 

[rasaint]

Mickey and Slippery,

plenty of us on the forum have played RL and been around watching all our lives.The 3 experienced coaches are just human. None have won a comp, but probably haven’t had the cattle to do so anyway. They hold opinions of players as all of us do. We differ ourselves sometimes significantly.

Me example; from the get go I felt Zac Lomax was overhyped and not even near as good as some rated him. Of course, others differed and still call him a SOO player. Brad Fitler described him as the gifted one.( I have a personal suspicion that any dragons player talked up by Gus etc, will be ordinary just trying to spook dragons into paying inflated long term contracts). I believe Zac is simply an unremarkable NRL player and on the lower tier of NRL players. You can’t coach speed. Still many on forum would disagree and say that locking in a 6 year $500k year contract was good business.

I have been cautious about Cody Ramsey. Again he has carried much hype. He is reasonably quick but not NRL express speed. In the NRL he does not have a great impact as he did in lower competitions.He is not busting the line with pace, power and fend. A lower tier NRL player I fear recently contracted long term.

I never wanted the McGuire recruitment ( 3 years end of 2023 I think). He seemed to arrive and play ok but other forwards just appeared to ‘drop their bundle’ after his arriving.

Matt Dufty is not an elite player. However, he sniffs out a break and his blistering NRL level express speed has carried him to 40 plus NRL trys in under 4 actual years. Some of his trys are individual efforts so sublime that they are almost unique. Generally he catches the high balls but his lack of size finds him jostled in those close contests. His defence is OK not great. Unless this ‘secret amazing player purchase’ is Teddy, Paps or Turbo at fullback, keep him for another two years if $400k or less. IMO Cody Ramsey hasn’t got it guys and gals for NRL fullback. Maybe Sloan or other names that Possm throws up may but who knows?

Whilst I am getting sick of Hook and his dads army ( I gather he is signing off recruitment) in fairness we are desperately under strength due to tragic round brunt of heavy suspensions and the dreaded injury stick. Once we get most of the team back we will be much more competitive.

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

Question of the year !!!

 

[BLM01]

Surely the combined experience of Hook, Matt Elliott, and Peter Gentle can't be wrong about releasing Matt Dufty....and surely the CEO must have been brought into the conversation prior to this decision being made public to let him know of the coaching staffs contingency knowing the backlash that would come from the supporters and sections of the media... surely as believed in here by a few neither Ramsay or Sloan are his replacement...

There's something afoot here w another target and as Hook said in his interview anything can change w the salary cap...

Surely....

One thing is for sure hook will not give any direct info or bait to the media. Just got to listen to the carefully constructed spin in his words. I like it.

No....forward planning....

Correct

 

[Gareth67]

I am wondering just what , if anything , the Dragons have left in the kitty to buy a couple of truly decent replacements , more so now that JDB is returning .

Should there actually be money available then the next trick is to lure them down South to a team whose premiership prospects are not that bright .

Griffin will need to work hard to find a solution to that problem , as the team undoubtedly requires the services of a couple of quality players to enhance our trophy prospects .

 

[BLM01]

Ok I want development too just test their speed before we invest hugely. Example was Lawrie burning Ramsey for speed when he gave up.

Untrue...Ramsay had to turn and chase, big difference running onto a ball,
something our players dont do enough of as are too flat and not moving quickly when we get the ball, that is if it is not past behind their shoulder or side.
We invariablty out wide can not pass out in front at pace

 

[getsmarty]

One thing is for sure hook will not give any direct info or bait to the media. Just got to listen to the carefully constructed spin in his words. I like it.

Correct

110% this.... very few leaks to the media unlike in the past....Its called keeping your cards close to your chest....Griffin knows what he is doing....

Re Dufty....agree with many of the comments on here....BUT he has had roughly 5 years in the top grade...Still rocks and diamonds...Comparing him to Ramsey who has played less then a few games @ Fullback is ridiculous.

There are reasons why he is being let go...let me hypothesize..

1/. Wants an upgrade
2/. After 5 years still a liability in defense
3/. We need to make a decision in regards to who we want to keep with guys like sloan/ramsey having a pathway...

just off the top of my head....not fact...I am sure there are more....

 

[Dragon David]

All I will say is we will lose a lot once Dufty is gone. However, if Hook and Co. are not happy with him to be our fullback because he doesn't fit the total fullback bill, then whomever takes his spot MUST have those total fullback qualifications NOW, not to work on and develop and be given a chance in first grade but NOW.