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New recruits for 2023

denis preston

First Grade
Messages
8,226
Gee Dave will have to pull up the Wheres Ryan thread again . to get some action . Active readers of these threads .But be careful mate , some of the bed wetters on here get a bit agitated when you start criticising RW in particular
And some on here poop their pants when anyone praises the club for doing something well.
 

Dragonsteve2

Juniors
Messages
545
Come on guys. Everyone is sounding very depressed. I remain optimistic right up until the time it all goes to sh!t. When is the Charity Shield on?
OEDragon, you are certainly correct on the level of depression on the Forum. So let me try to lighten the mood a bit. Firstly, as limited as recruitment has been, we are still better off than in the preseason of 2007 when the squad of 25 as the number was then did not even have 17 players who had played a single NRL match. Just as now we were especially light on in the back row. 2007 was not a great year but we were at least clear of the dreaded spoon. Secondly it's about 10 weeks since we have lost a game and at least another 12-13 before we have to face another loss. Yes, the preseason - it should be the happiest time of the year for Dragons' supporters. After all, the boys will soon be breaking for Christmas when we should hear some soothing remarks like "the toughest preseason ever!" Absolute music to our ears and as regular as our favourite Christmas carols at the Domain or Myer Bowl. Finally, if I am yet to cheer you up, consider the preseason leading into 2022. A cleanout of ordinary performers and the addition of a few quality recruits like Sua and Suli and a punt on big George Burgess led to some hopes for a better year. But the preseason optimism soon turned to the usual despair. Well, I for one, won't fall for that one again. We can be happy that this preseason is not producing any false hopes. So fellow supporters enjoy this time for what it is - a break from the regular disappointments of March to August. There will be enough time for depression once the footy gets underway.
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,518
We laugh but this is just pathetic.
A Raiders mate sent me a message this morning just saying what is happening to the dragons? Why is this happening? Raiders can seemingly sign anyone they want, Dogs are all set now, even Tigers have managed to get a couple of players.
On the other hand we have let 7 forwards go and have signed what? Liu-Toso and Musgrove? How does that happen?
What kind of business is this?
Latest headline - dragons getting desperate for signings, especially middle forwards.
Way to go dragons!
 

qld redvee

Juniors
Messages
1,343
We laugh but this is just pathetic.
A Raiders mate sent me a message this morning just saying what is happening to the dragons? Why is this happening? Raiders can seemingly sign anyone they want, Dogs are all set now, even Tigers have managed to get a couple of players.
On the other hand we have let 7 forwards go and have signed what? Liu-Toso and Musgrove? How does that happen?
What kind of business is this?
Latest headline - dragons getting desperate for signings, especially middle forwards.
Way to go dragons!
Crush 100% agree .. What is just hard to wrap head around is that we all hear that the roster is looked at moving forward with salary cap . Now we have coach , flanno , haran who should be deciding where our roster is lacking , change of direction ( simms) players that just havent got it . So what have our brains trust done ... made decisions to get rid of non performing players BUT FAILED to sign replacements before cutting them loose. Surely we should have signed a simms replacement lets say months ago but nah lets put an add on gumtree that will do the trick. Now we are scrambling for players and as all the good ones have gone lets go back to the reject shop ...... As geoff Toovey sprouts " theres got to be an investigation into this " - how do we have people in power and they all sit on their hands believing that the other guy has things covered ...
Love to be at the Qld supporters do on the weekend and ask Ryan about our signings or lack of
The way we are going we will take a busted up Frizzell off newcastles hands on Simms money
 

The Word

Juniors
Messages
251
We laugh but this is just pathetic.
A Raiders mate sent me a message this morning just saying what is happening to the dragons? Why is this happening? Raiders can seemingly sign anyone they want, Dogs are all set now, even Tigers have managed to get a couple of players.
On the other hand we have let 7 forwards go and have signed what? Liu-Toso and Musgrove? How does that happen?
What kind of business is this?
Latest headline - dragons getting desperate for signings, especially middle forwards.
Way to go dragons!
Raiders can sign anyone they want? Really? They're talking to Fifita. As are a few clubs. Other than that who have they signed of note?
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,518
Don't mind this. We're obviously struggling to recruit in that spot. Shake the tree and see if anyone decent wants a change.
Yeah that's elite recruitment strategy right there, advertising on gumtree, see what gems we can find.
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,518
Raiders can sign anyone they want? Really? They're talking to Fifita. As are a few clubs. Other than that who have they signed of note?
Raiders are pretty happy with the 17 they've assembled I reckon.
They have recruited very well over the past few years.
Do you want me to list their forward pack next to ours?
 

The Word

Juniors
Messages
251
Yeah that's elite recruitment strategy right there, advertising on gumtree, see what gems we can find.
Sorry must've missed the gumtree ad. I was reading the bit that said we were actively contacting player managers. My bad.
 
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The Word

Juniors
Messages
251
Raiders are pretty happy with the 17 they've assembled I reckon.
They have recruited very well over the past few years.
Do you want me to list their forward pack next to ours?
Not really Crush. Just took exception to your mate taking the piss lol. Can't see them doing much better than us this year. They finished with 2 more wins than us and scraped into the 8 last year. I'm probably getting a bit tetchy like everyone else with the lack of signings, trying to stay positive but it's not easy.
 

Old Timer

Coach
Messages
16,945
In respect of letting players go & recruitment I think some in here are missing a vital point.

If you have players on your books that you wish to move on then you have to let them go at a time that the player market is a little bit bare otherwise you have to pay excessive amounts to entice someone else to take them.

Recruitment means you have to get your roster and cap sorted namely get rid of the lemons, planks and dead wood to take advantage of the pool of proven quality players when they come onto the market and that obviously is not every year. It should also be remembered that sometimes certain playing positions are very light on as to the quality that is available as the system is not always flush with talent all the time.

While that is happening you have to juggle the issue of retention and upgrades of your best / most promising juniors.

Let's not forget that in the meantime you also have to try and retain a couple of "senior" / "older" players to help guide the young blokes in reserve grade and those "senior" players need to be good quality human beings so as to instill some good ethics and values into the youngsters.

At different times of the cycles this will all go pear shape as clubs pay overs to recruit or retain or clubs will possibly let the wrong juniors go or unfortunate injuries and / or suspensions lay waste to your already thin roster.

I see the above all very much applies to us and many other clubs but I can see some light at the end of the tunnel for us as we are getting ourselves into a position to take on some better quality players just as some of our best juniors start finding their feet in 1st grade.

So this next year may be a struggle but in all honesty so many of the players on offer this year are either on the older side or come with a lot of baggage or some serious questions hanging over their ability to perform week in week out and to be a game changer.

Is it that terrible "rebuilding" theory well yes it is but as long as we don't sign some overpriced planks on multi year with player options deals I'll be able to cope with it.
 

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