Matt Dufty

[Crush]

This is spot on. This is what people aren't seeing. Before this season it was obvious we didn't have the depth to cover any injuries and may people on here agreed we were thin on the ground. Now those injuries and suspensions have hit, there's complaining that we aren't performing. WTF?

It's not an excuse, it's reality. Once you take one NRL quality player out of our team, we don't have another waiting in the wings to replace him. That's the reality of it. Unlike other teams, who have been building depth for a number of seasons now, we are in a position with a new coach who is trying to turn that around. How anybody could expect that to have been resolved after 3 months is kidding themselves.

Numbers mean nothing when you just throw them out there without understanding what actually makes up those numbers.

On a separate note, as for Norman, yes, he needs some time on the sideline. But given Hooks reluctance to put Clune in, I'd guess that he sees Sullivan as a better option and has been biding his time until he is ready.

Once we played Storm and got all those injuries/suspensions I adjusted my expectations and faced facts, it’s a good opportunity to look at some of the kids and accept we may lose every game until we get our best troops back.
I’ve actually been enjoying the footy again. It’s good to see that they have been putting in 100%.
I hope they don’t rush Dufty back, I would like to see a bit more of Ramsay at fullback, even if it means losing more games. Thus far Dufty looks superior to Ramsay but I want to see what he does behind a more dominant forward effort.

 

[BLM01]

I just don’t understand why hook isn’t listening to the incredible footy mind of one the games greats and put Dufty at 5/8 and drop Norman.

Peter Tunks with another incredibly insightful rugby league suggestion

LOL..he hates St George and that is why he has never coached at anything apart from junior level.
Smart man maybe..with a lot of football and even running clubs experience but moving Dufty to 6 at NRL level is just another bandaid that wont solve our problems long term

 

[Dragon David]

Once we played Storm and got all those injuries/suspensions I adjusted my expectations and faced facts, it’s a good opportunity to look at some of the kids and accept we may lose every game until we get our best troops back.
I’ve actually been enjoying the footy again. It’s good to see that they have been putting in 100%.
I hope they don’t rush Dufty back, I would like to see a bit more of Ramsay at fullback, even if it means losing more games. Thus far Dufty looks superior to Ramsay but I want to see what he does behind a more dominant forward effort.

Yes, good thinking Crush.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

No

I really don't get what point you are trying to make. Are you saying we should accept poor performances because we have players out? Or are you saying we should accept poor performances because we have a poor roster? I'm saying you can't use the fact that our club has players out as an excuse for poor performance, because every club has players out. I don't know why some clubs handle this better than us. More salary cap? Better roster management? Better integration of Firsts and Reserves at training? Senior players who show more leadership? I don't know. That game against the Tigers we were totally un-competitive. But our spine was mostly intact, and we still had our best forwards on the park. Granted it wasn't our best back-line but the team shouldn't be immune from criticism just because players are out. If Melbourne and Roosters go OK with players out, we should be able to as well.

Getting back to the issue of Matt Dufty and what this thread is supposed to be about, if we have a weak roster then surely the thing to do is NOT get rid of one of our established first grade players.

No it was our worst performance by far and even with the roster could have been closer but to win would have been a monumental upset, they had speed and class to burn last night. I’m just being realistic we are down on troops and down on confidence I’m a realist and we are in a rebuild, there will be plenty more performances like that before we are a top 4 threat.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Th

I just don’t understand why hook isn’t listening to the incredible footy mind of one the games greats and put Dufty at 5/8 and drop Norman.

Peter Tunks with another incredibly insightful rugby league suggestion

That has been mentioned on this forum numerous times.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

No

No it was our worst performance by far and even with the roster could have been closer but to win would have been a monumental upset, they had speed and class to burn last night. I’m just being realistic we are down on troops and down on confidence I’m a realist and we are in a rebuild, there will be plenty more performances like that before we are a top 4 threat.

Fair enough. After our initial wins I foolishly got my hopes up. I originally had us pencilled in to finish 12th but after being beaten two games in a row by the team running 14th, it looks like I will be disappointed in even that humble ambition.

Tigers had more speed, but more importantly they had a lot more space. Our attack was flat, our forwards lethargic. Still don't think that is all down to the missing players. Let's see if the coaching team can get some improvement out of what they've got.

Re Dufty, Whatever team he ends up with I bet he ends up carving us up. I wonder if he is still the coach's first choice fullback this season, or will he persevere with Ramsey when Dufty comes back?

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

I

Fair enough. After our initial wins I foolishly got my hopes up. I originally had us pencilled in to finish 12th but after being beaten two games in a row by the team running 14th, it looks like I will be disappointed in even that humble ambition.

Tigers had more speed, but more importantly they had a lot more space. Our attack was flat, our forwards lethargic. Still don't think that is all down to the missing players. Let's see if the coaching team can get some improvement out of what they've got.

Re Dufty, Whatever team he ends up with I bet he ends up carving us up. I wonder if he is still the coach's first choice fullback this season, or will he persevere with Ramsey when Dufty comes back?

I would do one of two things depending on Dufty himself. The first would be continue to play Dufty at fullback as he is currently our best option and allow him to find a new club @ fullback. If this option was taken I’d be tempted to play Ramsey at 1 in reggies to learn the position further under less pressure l. The second option would be to change positions for Dufty in which case I would play him at 6 in cup and if he went alright we could drop Norman.

 

[BLM01]

Fair enough. After our initial wins I foolishly got my hopes up. I originally had us pencilled in to finish 12th but after being beaten two games in a row by the team running 14th, it looks like I will be disappointed in even that humble ambition.

Tigers had more speed, but more importantly they had a lot more space. Our attack was flat, our forwards lethargic. Still don't think that is all down to the missing players. Let's see if the coaching team can get some improvement out of what they've got.

Re Dufty, Whatever team he ends up with I bet he ends up carving us up. I wonder if he is still the coach's first choice fullback this season, or will he persevere with Ramsey when Dufty comes back?

Yes well said. Re the tigers they have been rebuilding for 5 years though, 2 under Cleary now 3-4 under madge with contract extensions. They are still behind us this year and yes may have more potency game than us but all year have not been decimated by players out

 

[BLM01]

I

I would do one of two things depending on Dufty himself. The first would be continue to play Dufty at fullback as he is currently our best option and allow him to find a new club @ fullback. If this option was taken I’d be tempted to play Ramsey at 1 in reggies to learn the position further under less pressure l. The second option would be to change positions for Dufty in which case I would play him at 6 in cup and if he went alright we could drop Norman.

What about Sullivan who is the one to push Norman out.
Dufty will play 1 when he is fit (if he wants too and is not sooking). Cody back to wing in 1sts.

 

[Dragon David]

I am prepared to wait until we get most if not all of the players back so that we are at full strength including the return of Dufty to see how the team is performing. The performance levels should be much more improved, however, if not, I'm going to be hitting the forum quite relentlessly to give my thoughts on the performances of our coaches who are the ones to work out the best way for us to get the jobs done with the players we have. If they are coached properly and proper game plans put in place for each game relative to the team they play, then performances and outcomes should be much better.

I'm so disappointed that with these current "harsh" rules, we continue to give so many repeats, penalties and make so many handling errors that if those error etc were miniscule, we would have had much more of a chance to win at least 3 more games. The Tragic Round, which was disastrous for us, was planned badly by the coaches. That is why we suffered in my opinion. We have continued to give a lot of possession to the opposition since then and Hook has identified this but has he and the other two coaches worked on improving this? I am doubtful.

The start of the season after the loss to the Sharks appeared to lift our spirits and gave us hope of having a good year especially after beating the Eels but that was before the new rules came into effect so we must now re-adjust accordingly to meet the new guidelines because we basically haven't done so very well to date. Our coaches have that responsibility so get out the butchers paper and drawing board Messrs Griffin, Elliott and Gentle to work out the strategies and get the players to do the right thing every week from now on.

 

[Gareth67]

I just don’t understand why hook isn’t listening to the incredible footy mind of one the games greats and put Dufty at 5/8 and drop Norman.

Peter Tunks with another incredibly insightful rugby league suggestion

Peter Tunks , did that bloke ever find his towel ? Running around starkers on national tele , he scared the hell out of me , not to mention my poor missus .

 

[TruSaint]

Tigers had more speed, but more importantly they had a lot more space. Our attack was flat, our forwards lethargic. Still don't think that is all down to the missing players. Let's see if the coaching team can get some improvement out of what they've got.

Agree, whilst the loss against the Tigers 2 days back was foreseen, apart from a flurry of points at the end for us, we still leaked 34 points. That's my concern.

As to the players out, lets not forget we lost to the same Tigers at home, in round 8 and we weren't as decimated, with inclusions like Lomax, Dufty, McGuire etc.

That's 2 losses each to the Sharks and Tigers.

I think your criticism is just.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

T

What about Sullivan who is the one to push Norman out.
Dufty will play 1 when he is fit (if he wants too and is not sooking). Cody back to wing in 1sts.

That’s what will happen but I’m divided whether Ramsey would be better served focusing exclusively at fullback in cup or getting first grade hardened on the wing. Either way I will trust Hook.

 

[Illusion]

T

That’s what will happen but I’m divided whether Ramsey would be better served focusing exclusively at fullback in cup or getting first grade hardened on the wing. Either way I will trust Hook.

Why put Duff at fullback if Cody is the one to be playing fullback ...... That's what Hook wants leave Cody there or does he want Dufty to play a few games so they snag a couple of wins ..... If they don't want Duff next year it doesn't make sense to move Cody ....

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Why put Duff at fullback if Cody is the one to be playing fullback ...... That's what Hook wants leave Cody there or does he want Dufty to play a few games so they snag a couple of wins ..... If they don't want Duff next year it doesn't make sense to move Cody ....

Time will tell I guess and it will make it worth watching with intrigue. Even though Hook may not see Dufty as the future we are still on the cusp of the 8 and Dufty in 2021 is better than Ramsey or Sloan in 2021, this may not be the case in 2023. I would say the smart money is on Ramsey back to the wing unless he really puts his case forward prior to Dufty’s return. But as I said if Ramsey gets say 5 weeks and then returns to cup to hone what he learned on lesser opposition it’s also an option.

 

[Dragon David]

The saying is great defence wins you most games, however, that's all well and good if you have scored points to have purpose to defend them.

Just seeing some of the recent tries being scored by several teams and there have been many that have been well constructed and executed and I am so envious of this. I'm not talking about the high bombs that is a lottery to score off, but the razzle dazzle run and pass ones.

I can remember we used to be able to score fantastic tries years ago but lately, even with the usual guys playing, we score but not with that precision we use to.

With no Dufty, we have to grind away in attack and if we do score a try it generally comes against the run of play.

I would like to see our attacking coach work on how we can score tries that can be well rehearsed and fine tuned and bring back excitement to our performance. Once we can score a few then we have to defend the points, so that is also an area we have to improve on.

 

[Como Connection]

The saying is great defence wins you most games, however, that's all well and good if you have scored points to have purpose to defend them.

Just seeing some of the recent tries being scored by several teams and there have been many that have been well constructed and executed and I am so envious of this. I'm not talking about the high bombs that is a lottery to score off, but the razzle dazzle run and pass ones.

I can remember we used to be able to score fantastic tries years ago but lately, even with the usual guys playing, we score but not with that precision we use to.

With no Dufty, we have to grind away in attack and if we do score a try it generally comes against the run of play.

I would like to see our attacking coach work on how we can score tries that can be well rehearsed and fine tuned and bring back excitement to our performance. Once we can score a few then we have to defend the points, so that is also an area we have to improve on.

Dragons have been hopeless in the oppositions 30 in attack for years.
They have no idea how to score a structured try.
CC

 

[Inisai Toga]

Dragons have been hopeless in the oppositions 30 in attack for years.
They have no idea how to score a structured try.
CC

They scored a beautiful one against Canterbury then put the queue back in the rack.

 

[Dragon David]

They scored a beautiful one against Canterbury then put the queue back in the rack.

What gets me is if they can score a beauty then why don't they look at the video and emulate it in more games. When we had Boyd at fullback in the Bennett days, he would come in to make the extra man and Hornby would pass to him and then to Brett Morris to score and they used that move a lot of the times because they practised it and fine tuned it. Just simple architecture designed to construct a well rehearsed try.

How has Matt Elliott been with this type of set play? I've yet to see any constructive purposely designed form of try that bamboozles the opposition in a consistent way this year. We have also missed so many games without that cut out pass that Dufty was good at doing. Now that is something that the team needs to bring back in but do we now have that player?

 

[boardlumps62]

Fair enough. After our initial wins I foolishly got my hopes up. I originally had us pencilled in to finish 12th but after being beaten two games in a row by the team running 14th, it looks like I will be disappointed in even that humble ambition.

Tigers had more speed, but more importantly they had a lot more space. Our attack was flat, our forwards lethargic. Still don't think that is all down to the missing players. Let's see if the coaching team can get some improvement out of what they've got.

Re Dufty, Whatever team he ends up with I bet he ends up carving us up. I wonder if he is still the coach's first choice fullback this season, or will he persevere with Ramsey when Dufty comes back?

Can't flog a dead horse and expect him to perform. But what about Newcastle speaking of a dead horse .