Millward Appreciation

[BringTheNoise]

Just wanted to show some love for the great work Millward has done on the Recruitment & Retention front, working hard to rebuild the squad into a Premiership force.

Signing Ben Hunt to a long term multi-million dollar deal proved to be an absolute masterstroke after Ben Hunt made his 8 minute Origin debut this year. Also re-signed Widdop on huge money after a handful of good games for the club. Got rid of Packer and Dugan. Retained a heap of promising juniors to bolster our NSW Cup team while McGregor sticks to "safety first" first grade selections.

Plus we continue to be real movers and shakers on the open market. Can't wait for 2018. Top 4 for sure.

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Nothing this man does will ever be good enough.

You need a little bit of perspective here BTN, so let me give it to you.
- Losing Dugan sucked, sure, but the contract he was offered by Millward was sound. He was worth no more than 750k a season for the quality of player he is. Did Millward make a mistake by labelling Dugan as a centre? Yes he did. But ultimately, he f**king IS a centre, he doesn't have the body to maintain the intensity at fullback week in week out, his injuries come far too often and his lack of passing game stifles our backline shifts. Sharks swooped and offered more than he is worth, a big loss but a fair loss.
- We were outbid for Packer. The Tigers are desperate and offered Packer MASSIVE overs. There is absolutely no way we could and/or should have matched it. Besides he had the extra incentive of joining his old coach and best mate in Matulino. Packer's management negotiated with the club that they weren't interested in rushing into re-signing the contract, therefore keeping their options open. It was a fair loss, out of Millward's control.
- Hunt was a massive coup and you know it, don't even pretend he wasn't. Are you really expecting him to make a serious Origin debut with Thurston and Cronk in his way? He was out of the game for 8 weeks this year and has been playing himself back into form whilst guys like DCE and Munster have been on an absolute roll, give him a break. Did we pay slight overs? Perhaps, who knows. If you believe everything you read in the papers then maybe, but Millward made it clear that the numbers talked about in the media were way off the mark. We needed a halfback and he was the best on the market. Period.
- We've retain Widdop who has been instrumental in our top 8 surge so far this year and alongside a natural halfback in Hunt he will flourish, De Belin who played himself into the NSW squad, Frizell who is a current Australian/NSW player, Kurt Mann after everyone was on Millward's back to re-sign him, he picked up Paul Vaughan who should have played for NSW this year, he signed McInnes who almost played himself into NSW selection and has completely straightened up our attack, re-signed Lafai who has completed turned his form around this year (and even though he's plateaued a little in recent weeks, his stats and performance on field are still impressive), and promising juniors in Host/Lawrie/Leilua/Field/Aitken/Lomax etc.
- There is currently NOBODY on the open market. Millward said in the latest recruitment update that there are no front rowers out there that fit their criteria and I agree completely. All that is left is deadwood. Being patient is the right decision because you will find that teams have overestimated the cap and will need to shed players as a result, that is where we swoop. It happened with Vaughan, and look how that ended up for us, best signing of 2017.

Has Millward make some mistakes? Sure, but plenty of other clubs are losing quality players as well. So before you get on your high horse, think about what you're saying and read into it a little bit more rather than being so glass half empty.

 

[Objective View]

Just wanted to show some love for the great work Millward has done on the Recruitment & Retention front, working hard to rebuild the squad into a Premiership force.

Signing Ben Hunt to a long term multi-million dollar deal proved to be an absolute masterstroke after Ben Hunt made his 8 minute Origin debut this year. Also re-signed Widdop on huge money after a handful of good games for the club. Got rid of Packer and Dugan. Retained a heap of promising juniors to bolster our NSW Cup team while McGregor sticks to "safety first" first grade selections.

Plus we continue to be real movers and shakers on the open market. Can't wait for 2018. Top 4 for sure.

So good.

Straight Shooter

 

[Dragonsteve2]

Just wanted to show some love for the great work Millward has done on the Recruitment & Retention front, working hard to rebuild the squad into a Premiership force.

Signing Ben Hunt to a long term multi-million dollar deal proved to be an absolute masterstroke after Ben Hunt made his 8 minute Origin debut this year. Also re-signed Widdop on huge money after a handful of good games for the club. Got rid of Packer and Dugan. Retained a heap of promising juniors to bolster our NSW Cup team while McGregor sticks to "safety first" first grade selections.

Plus we continue to be real movers and shakers on the open market. Can't wait for 2018. Top 4 for sure.

BTN,
Several points come to mind on reading your post. Firstly I think the environment Millward has been working in has been especially difficult in the past six months. The NRL presumably regards itself as a professionally administered sporting organisation. Well what a joke that is when you consider at this late stage in preparing for season 2018 the exact value of the salary cap has not been settled nor the exact number of players.

The club has been in desperate need of a good half since Matthew Head's career ended prematurely. Ben Hornby did a great job in a makeshift capacity but ever since Head's demise we have only really had stopgaps, Nathan Fien, Benji and now Josh McCrone being amongst them. At least even if Millward had to bid high for Hunt we do have the prospect of a better organised attack and kicking game to look forward next season.

You refer to Widdop being re-signed on huge money after "a handful of good games for the club". In that period Widdop was on fire. If he had been allowed to sign for the Tigers at that point the uproar from Dragons' supporters would have been absolutely deafening.

Now I can come to some areas of agreement with you. One can only imagine that the savings in not re-signing Packer and especially Duges would be substantial. So where now is that money? Or had it already been spent on Hunt and Widdop and therefore the whole fullback/centre saga in relation to Dugan was just a smokescreen?

Given that the club was committed to Mary for 2017 I think it was a good move to divorce Mary from recruitment. However the position needed to go to someone who could work well with the coach. Signing and lauding junior players is counter-productive if the Head Coach has no idea how to gradually bring some of them into the NRL team. Mary has done a satisfactory job with the young forwards Host, Sele and Lawrie, though I would have given Host priority over Sele. However in terms of the backs his record is dismal. His treatment of Field reveals such a lack of judgment and Field has suffered as a result. Dufty has at least been allowed to progress in the NSW Cup but having proved himself there by mid-season his development and value has been ignored in favour of the departing Milne. How useful Dufty could have been off the bench in the latter stages of the game against the Raiders.

 

[Dragonslayer]

Nothing this man does will ever be good enough.

You need a little bit of perspective here BTN, so let me give it to you.
- Losing Dugan sucked, sure, but the contract he was offered by Millward was sound. He was worth no more than 750k a season for the quality of player he is. Did Millward make a mistake by labelling Dugan as a centre? Yes he did. But ultimately, he f**king IS a centre, he doesn't have the body to maintain the intensity at fullback week in week out, his injuries come far too often and his lack of passing game stifles our backline shifts. Sharks swooped and offered more than he is worth, a big loss but a fair loss.
- We were outbid for Packer. The Tigers are desperate and offered Packer MASSIVE overs. There is absolutely no way we could and/or should have matched it. Besides he had the extra incentive of joining his old coach and best mate in Matulino. Packer's management negotiated with the club that they weren't interested in rushing into re-signing the contract, therefore keeping their options open. It was a fair loss, out of Millward's control.
- Hunt was a massive coup and you know it, don't even pretend he wasn't. Are you really expecting him to make a serious Origin debut with Thurston and Cronk in his way? He was out of the game for 8 weeks this year and has been playing himself back into form whilst guys like DCE and Munster have been on an absolute roll, give him a break. Did we pay slight overs? Perhaps, who knows. If you believe everything you read in the papers then maybe, but Millward made it clear that the numbers talked about in the media were way off the mark. We needed a halfback and he was the best on the market. Period.
- We've retain Widdop who has been instrumental in our top 8 surge so far this year and alongside a natural halfback in Hunt he will flourish, De Belin who played himself into the NSW squad, Frizell who is a current Australian/NSW player, Kurt Mann after everyone was on Millward's back to re-sign him, Paul Vaughan who should have played for NSW this year, Lafai who has completed turned his form around this year (and even though he's plateaued a little in recent weeks, his stats and performance on field are still impressive), and promising juniors in Host/Lawrie/Leilua/Field/Aitken/Lomax etc.
- There is currently NOBODY on the open market. Millward said in the latest recruitment update that there are no front rowers out there that fit their criteria and I agree completely. All that is left is deadwood. Being patient is the right decision because you will find that teams have overestimated the cap and will need to shed players as a result, that is where we swoop. It happened with Vaughan, and look how that ended up for us, best signing of 2017.

Has Millward make some mistakes? Sure, but plenty of other clubs are losing quality players as well. So before you get on your high horse, think about what you're saying and read into it a little bit more rather than being so glass half empty.

Great post TRVR

 

[Spudd]

Nothing this man does will ever be good enough.

You need a little bit of perspective here BTN, so let me give it to you.
- Losing Dugan sucked, sure, but the contract he was offered by Millward was sound. He was worth no more than 750k a season for the quality of player he is. Did Millward make a mistake by labelling Dugan as a centre? Yes he did. But ultimately, he f**king IS a centre, he doesn't have the body to maintain the intensity at fullback week in week out, his injuries come far too often and his lack of passing game stifles our backline shifts. Sharks swooped and offered more than he is worth, a big loss but a fair loss.
- We were outbid for Packer. The Tigers are desperate and offered Packer MASSIVE overs. There is absolutely no way we could and/or should have matched it. Besides he had the extra incentive of joining his old coach and best mate in Matulino. Packer's management negotiated with the club that they weren't interested in rushing into re-signing the contract, therefore keeping their options open. It was a fair loss, out of Millward's control.
- Hunt was a massive coup and you know it, don't even pretend he wasn't. Are you really expecting him to make a serious Origin debut with Thurston and Cronk in his way? He was out of the game for 8 weeks this year and has been playing himself back into form whilst guys like DCE and Munster have been on an absolute roll, give him a break. Did we pay slight overs? Perhaps, who knows. If you believe everything you read in the papers then maybe, but Millward made it clear that the numbers talked about in the media were way off the mark. We needed a halfback and he was the best on the market. Period.
- We've retain Widdop who has been instrumental in our top 8 surge so far this year and alongside a natural halfback in Hunt he will flourish, De Belin who played himself into the NSW squad, Frizell who is a current Australian/NSW player, Kurt Mann after everyone was on Millward's back to re-sign him, Paul Vaughan who should have played for NSW this year, Lafai who has completed turned his form around this year (and even though he's plateaued a little in recent weeks, his stats and performance on field are still impressive), and promising juniors in Host/Lawrie/Leilua/Field/Aitken/Lomax etc.
- There is currently NOBODY on the open market. Millward said in the latest recruitment update that there are no front rowers out there that fit their criteria and I agree completely. All that is left is deadwood. Being patient is the right decision because you will find that teams have overestimated the cap and will need to shed players as a result, that is where we swoop. It happened with Vaughan, and look how that ended up for us, best signing of 2017.

Has Millward make some mistakes? Sure, but plenty of other clubs are losing quality players as well. So before you get on your high horse, think about what you're saying and read into it a little bit more rather than being so glass half empty.

So good.

Spudd

 

[BankstownDragon]

Just wanted to show some love for the great work Millward has done on the Recruitment & Retention front, working hard to rebuild the squad into a Premiership force.

Signing Ben Hunt to a long term multi-million dollar deal proved to be an absolute masterstroke after Ben Hunt made his 8 minute Origin debut this year. Also re-signed Widdop on huge money after a handful of good games for the club. Got rid of Packer and Dugan. Retained a heap of promising juniors to bolster our NSW Cup team while McGregor sticks to "safety first" first grade selections.

Plus we continue to be real movers and shakers on the open market. Can't wait for 2018. Top 4 for sure.

Agree he has been fantastic considering his limitations and lack of IQ.
Millwards performance goes far beyond his last couple of plays on the chess board.
Loosing Dugan was less to do with Money and more to do with the disrespect shown to him by Millward and the club.
This is and continues to be a problem for us, no one seems to want to come aboard unless its for the money....and no one will stay for less money as there is little incentive.
A coach who will NEVER be succesfull.
A recruitment manager unsuited to the role, with a personality of a concrete column.
A football staff that is basically just a "old boys club"....constantly patting each other on the back whilst lowering the KPI bar another inch.

A lot has been said about the "bro culture" at the Warriors. Thier playing group dont want to make each other look bad, so no one pushes the other too hard, and thats reflected in thier results and development of some of thier stars.
We have the same thing IMHO at the Dragons...but apply this to our football staff. No one is accountable, no one is under any pressure, everyone keeps thier job, NOTHING to see here.
Its soooooo obvious whats happening and its very very sad that supporters still try to justify and back this rabble.

So, yeah, Millward is doing fuc**n fantastic.

 

[BennyV]

Millward has done brilliantly to position himself in such a high-power role that he is dramatically under qualified for. He has utilised stakeholder relationships available to him (ie 'Daddy') to secure the future for him and his family to the detriment of what should be the greatest rugby league club in the country, following a long line of under qualified management position-holders within the club. His efforts, despite his own mediocrity, should be applauded and I wish I have the opportunity (and the balls) to accept a position in such a manner.

 

[giboz71]

I'll reserve judgement till mid 2018 with regards to Millward.

With the arrival of Ben Hunt and the departure of Duges and Packer, we're going to have very different line up next year, including 3 new spine members. I also expect 2-3 of the younger brigade to be FG regulars by mid next year.

And it's still 8 months till the beginning of 2018, still expecting a new prop and winger hopefully. And BTN, respect your opinion mate and we do suck right now but is it really helpful to death ride is for next year as well?

 

[red rocket]

Nothing this man does will ever be good enough.

You need a little bit of perspective here BTN, so let me give it to you.
- Losing Dugan sucked, sure, but the contract he was offered by Millward was sound. He was worth no more than 750k a season for the quality of player he is. Did Millward make a mistake by labelling Dugan as a centre? Yes he did. But ultimately, he f**king IS a centre, he doesn't have the body to maintain the intensity at fullback week in week out, his injuries come far too often and his lack of passing game stifles our backline shifts. Sharks swooped and offered more than he is worth, a big loss but a fair loss.
- We were outbid for Packer. The Tigers are desperate and offered Packer MASSIVE overs. There is absolutely no way we could and/or should have matched it. Besides he had the extra incentive of joining his old coach and best mate in Matulino. Packer's management negotiated with the club that they weren't interested in rushing into re-signing the contract, therefore keeping their options open. It was a fair loss, out of Millward's control.
- Hunt was a massive coup and you know it, don't even pretend he wasn't. Are you really expecting him to make a serious Origin debut with Thurston and Cronk in his way? He was out of the game for 8 weeks this year and has been playing himself back into form whilst guys like DCE and Munster have been on an absolute roll, give him a break. Did we pay slight overs? Perhaps, who knows. If you believe everything you read in the papers then maybe, but Millward made it clear that the numbers talked about in the media were way off the mark. We needed a halfback and he was the best on the market. Period.
- We've retain Widdop who has been instrumental in our top 8 surge so far this year and alongside a natural halfback in Hunt he will flourish, De Belin who played himself into the NSW squad, Frizell who is a current Australian/NSW player, Kurt Mann after everyone was on Millward's back to re-sign him, Paul Vaughan who should have played for NSW this year, Lafai who has completed turned his form around this year (and even though he's plateaued a little in recent weeks, his stats and performance on field are still impressive), and promising juniors in Host/Lawrie/Leilua/Field/Aitken/Lomax etc.
- There is currently NOBODY on the open market. Millward said in the latest recruitment update that there are no front rowers out there that fit their criteria and I agree completely. All that is left is deadwood. Being patient is the right decision because you will find that teams have overestimated the cap and will need to shed players as a result, that is where we swoop. It happened with Vaughan, and look how that ended up for us, best signing of 2017.

Has Millward make some mistakes? Sure, but plenty of other clubs are losing quality players as well. So before you get on your high horse, think about what you're saying and read into it a little bit more rather than being so glass half empty.

Great post tom river don't be surpri

 

[watatank]

We haven't even finished recruiting yet. We got McInnes and Vaughan well after this time last year. Time will tell.

 

[2010]

Milwards signing of Hunt has to be applauded. For myself this signing will be a game changer for years to come.
Whatever his contract is worth we probably got a bargain if you see the reported sums being offered to players like Woods. We have got a bargain.
Of course we want a few more holes to fill but for the moment he is doing ok.

 

[Frank Facer]

Nothing this man does will ever be good enough.

You need a little bit of perspective here BTN, so let me give it to you.
- Losing Dugan sucked, sure, but the contract he was offered by Millward was sound. He was worth no more than 750k a season for the quality of player he is. Did Millward make a mistake by labelling Dugan as a centre? Yes he did. But ultimately, he f**king IS a centre, he doesn't have the body to maintain the intensity at fullback week in week out, his injuries come far too often and his lack of passing game stifles our backline shifts. Sharks swooped and offered more than he is worth, a big loss but a fair loss.
- We were outbid for Packer. The Tigers are desperate and offered Packer MASSIVE overs. There is absolutely no way we could and/or should have matched it. Besides he had the extra incentive of joining his old coach and best mate in Matulino. Packer's management negotiated with the club that they weren't interested in rushing into re-signing the contract, therefore keeping their options open. It was a fair loss, out of Millward's control.
- Hunt was a massive coup and you know it, don't even pretend he wasn't. Are you really expecting him to make a serious Origin debut with Thurston and Cronk in his way? He was out of the game for 8 weeks this year and has been playing himself back into form whilst guys like DCE and Munster have been on an absolute roll, give him a break. Did we pay slight overs? Perhaps, who knows. If you believe everything you read in the papers then maybe, but Millward made it clear that the numbers talked about in the media were way off the mark. We needed a halfback and he was the best on the market. Period.
- We've retain Widdop who has been instrumental in our top 8 surge so far this year and alongside a natural halfback in Hunt he will flourish, De Belin who played himself into the NSW squad, Frizell who is a current Australian/NSW player, Kurt Mann after everyone was on Millward's back to re-sign him, he picked up Paul Vaughan who should have played for NSW this year, he signed McInnes who almost played himself into NSW selection and has completely straightened up our attack, re-signed Lafai who has completed turned his form around this year (and even though he's plateaued a little in recent weeks, his stats and performance on field are still impressive), and promising juniors in Host/Lawrie/Leilua/Field/Aitken/Lomax etc.
- There is currently NOBODY on the open market. Millward said in the latest recruitment update that there are no front rowers out there that fit their criteria and I agree completely. All that is left is deadwood. Being patient is the right decision because you will find that teams have overestimated the cap and will need to shed players as a result, that is where we swoop. It happened with Vaughan, and look how that ended up for us, best signing of 2017.

Has Millward make some mistakes? Sure, but plenty of other clubs are losing quality players as well. So before you get on your high horse, think about what you're saying and read into it a little bit more rather than being so glass half empty.

I have to say, that was a great reply. lol I don't have to bother posting a reply myself as you said it all.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

I'm with Tom River on this one. I don't think Millward is doing badly at all. He signed Vaughn, McInnis, Leilua; resigned deBelin, Widdop, Frizzel, Mann. I admit to being critical of Millward in the past, but in the recruitment role he's going OK.

 

[j0nesy]

Millward is not the problem, Mary is.

 

[BankstownDragon]

Millward is not the problem, Mary is.

Agree Mary is the main problem.
But Millward is another problem aswell.
Just my opinion based on what Ivr seen, his over all net results and especially my conversations with him.

 

[j0nesy]

Agree Mary is the main problem.
But Millward is another problem aswell.
Just my opinion based on what Ivr seen, his over all net results and especially my conversations with him.

Fair enough, you're entitled to your opinion. My opinion of Millward is purely based on the choices he has made, based on my understanding of the circumstances surrounding each choice I would have done similar. The only thing I think he could have handled better was the public announcement of Dugan as a centre amidst contract negotiations. I'd be interested to hear about what you picked up in conversation with him.

 

[Spudd]

The only thing I think he could have handled better was the public announcement of Dugan as a centre amidst contract negotiations.

To be fair Dugan IS more a centre than fullback these days.
That was a storm in a teacup.

 

[monsterkev]

Please stop these appreciation threads I want to vomit and shit myself at the same time
im starting to feel nauseated

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Please stop these appreciation threads I want to vomit and shit myself at the same time
im starting to feel nauseated

You having been drinking Fosters again have you?