New recruits for 2023

[baggygreen man]

You can squarely blame our pathways for the way our players come through the grades, have a look at all the lower grades and its the same thing all the time, defence is a shocker !!!

You have it spot on jd. Seems our development coaches clearly favor nurturing attacking skills over defense. Makes you wonder why we employ defensive coaches across all levels. Another thing too, is R&R dismiss defensive records over offensive records when importing players. Other than one, Dan Russell, a Qld journeyman who clearly can tackle. We could do worse than give him a run in Firsts as defense is our achilles heel at present.

 

[baggygreen man]

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[baggygreen man]

Dufty was top try scorer , plus more try assists than Hunt

Yep Illusion, betting Hunt wont admit to it tho.
I often pondered why Dufty wasnt given a crack in the halves by Mary.

 

[Illusion]

Yep Illusion, betting Hunt wont admit to it tho.
I often pondered why Dufty wasnt given a crack in the halves by Mary.

Not sure about the halves , but having him come on when the game needs points , Dummy half , 7 at times as you say from scrums , set plays with Duff involved ....... If I was coaching Im sure I could have used him ..... As it is , the team is worst off , cant score points , leak point non stop , just my take on Dufty .......

 

[I'm Hornby]

I’ve seen examples of Sloan making some fine try saving tackles. He’s finding his feet in NRL, he’s worth persisting with while he works out the defensive side of things because of what he creates in attack, removing Sloan from the team leaves us with zero creativity.

Good for you making excuses for Sloan's mediocrity off the ball. Where were these 'fine try saving tackles' today mate? Or were you mistaking Sloan for Jahream Bula?

Sloan lacks all the off the ball skills that a young NRL standard fullback should have, these aren't things you just learn on the job unfortunately.

 

[Mojo]

Yep Illusion, betting Hunt wont admit to it tho.
I often pondered why Dufty wasnt given a crack in the halves by Mary.

Yep, IMO he‘s a 5/8

 

[Dorothy the Winowhore]

Would like us to spend the Ramsey money on a fullback. Manly NSW Cup fullback Jake Toby looks to have a heap of potential at fullback, and stuck behind Turbo, Garrick, and Weekes. The next Dylan Edwards?

 

[TheRev]

There are so many skillful young potential fullbacks out there.. gosh someone like Lachie Miller virtually displacing Ponga.. or maybe we could steal the next Jahream Bula before he gets his chance... but to get them out of those systems.. you'd probably need to offer them a crack at the 1st grade position.. or to play under a gun coach.. or both.

They would also want 2-3yrs.. which is all fair enough although a problem if Ramsey did return... and it would take some courage to make that signing with Sloan here.. even though I think we desperately need the competition.. im almost certain Stewart will be moved on also.

As soon as the coach is announced, hopefully we are on the phone trying to use this ramsey money.. if we dont use it.. we lose it.

 

[BTB]

I’ve seen examples of Sloan making some fine try saving tackles. He’s finding his feet in NRL, he’s worth persisting with while he works out the defensive side of things because of what he creates in attack, removing Sloan from the team leaves us with zero creativity.

I didn't say sack Sloane.

 

[baggygreen man]

Sloan is a grabber. Absolutely hopeless in defence. Looks like he is scared. Same under the bomb.

The kid is still on his learning wheels, but 'hopeless in defense and under the bomb', there are clear improvements in both that you seem to have missed. Sloan is being left with two, sometimes three to stop a try because of our poor reading in defense and missed tackles in the middle. We saw him pull off a good one on one in an attempt to save a try on Sunday but his small size on a bigger player worked against him. I have not seen him steer away from a bomb or spill one in at least his last three matches. Looks far more committed and confident than last year.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Sloan was one of the best on the field in Anzac day so he does have it in him to perform on the big stage. This should be his 2nd of 3rd full year but was in and out last season. If Hook stuck with him he would have had all these errors out of him by now. Sloan simply needs more game time like Dufty got and definitely a better defence ahead of him letting them run through. Dufty had a few years at FB and just did not work out. Defensively Dufty was extremely poor. Sloan is much better. For a start he won't try and go for an intercept or fall for a dummy most times to get out of tackling. Dufty belongs in England. He will be a star there. In NRL he is terrible. Dogs gave up on him after a handful of games hence how bad he was.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Sloan was one of the best on the field in Anzac day so he does have it in him to perform on the big stage. This should be his 2nd of 3rd full year but was in and out last season. If Hook stuck with him he would have had all these errors out of him by now. Sloan simply needs more game time like Dufty got and definitely a better defence ahead of him letting them run through. Dufty had a few years at FB and just did not work out. Defensively Dufty was extremely poor. Sloan is much better. For a start he won't try and go for an intercept or fall for a dummy most times to get out of tackling. Dufty belongs in England. He will be a star there. In NRL he is terrible. Dogs gave up on him after a handful of games hence how bad he was.

Still not convinced by Sloan. On Anzac Day everyone says how good he was. To me the game-changer was Liddle coming on. He had speed out of dummy half, the opposition didn't know whether he was going to pass or run and the defence hung back. That gave Sloan the room to move, but that room wasn't created by Sloane. In the last two games though, what has he done? Nothing. His defence may be better than Dufty's, but that's not saying much. Saying he doesn't drop bombs isn't saying much either if he doesn't go for them, but let's them bounce instead.

Gees I feel miserable. I think I'd better take a break from the forum.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Sloan is definitely not the only one that lets the bombs bounce. I have seen that by plenty of FB. It must be a new thing that coaches are ok with as I never saw this happen as much as it does now. Even commentators mention this when they see it during games. It is a very risky tactic as god knows how the ball will bounce.

 

[Mojo]

Sloan is definitely not the only one that lets the bombs bounce. I have seen that by plenty of FB. It must be a new thing that coaches are ok with as I never saw this happen as much as it does now. Even commentators mention this when they see it during games. It is a very risky tactic as god knows how the ball will bounce.

Everyone has been wetting themselves recently about Reece Walsh. The day after Sloan missed a couple in that game in pissing rain, I saw Walsh, in reasonable playing conditions, fail to commit to about ten bombs. Apparently, he was still a genius. Sloan has a blowtorch on his belly, that's for sure. It really gave me the shits too the way Hunt reamed him out for that missed catch. Hunt himself could have attempted to catch that one.
Anyway, It's mystifying. It used to be considered a footy mortal sin. These days it seems it's preferred to let the ball bounce than to attempt a difficult catch. I suppose scrambling in defence is preferred to defending a set play from a scrum. But, if that's the case, there's no point tearing strips off a fullback if he decides to let it bounce.

 

[SIR LANCELOT]

Hey Johnno , Chill out lad.It is not the end of the world .Yet! It will improve one day.Change for the better will come.Sit tight mate.

 

[Dragonslayer]

The question re: Sloan is would he be fullback if Ramsay wasn't unfortunately ill?

If not then where would you play him?

 

[blacksafake]

Still not convinced by Sloan. On Anzac Day everyone says how good he was. To me the game-changer was Liddle coming on. He had speed out of dummy half, the opposition didn't know whether he was going to pass or run and the defence hung back. That gave Sloan the room to move, but that room wasn't created by Sloane. In the last two games though, what has he done? Nothing. His defence may be better than Dufty's, but that's not saying much. Saying he doesn't drop bombs isn't saying much either if he doesn't go for them, but let's them bounce instead.

Gees I feel miserable. I think I'd better take a break from the forum.

You said it yourself, Liddle makes a difference yet he’s hardly been sighted since. The coach has NFI

 

[Rocket Rod]

So the new recruits I’m thinking are
A new coach
As many new players we can get !
Sack the majority
Keep a handful mainly the juniors
Create a new culture like the dolphins
The stench from the older brigade is creating a disease
I have never in my time following the dragons seen anything like this circus

 

[BTB]

The kid is still on his learning wheels, but 'hopeless in defense and under the bomb', there are clear improvements in both that you seem to have missed. Sloan is being left with two, sometimes three to stop a try because of our poor reading in defense and missed tackles in the middle. We saw him pull off a good one on one in an attempt to save a try on Sunday but his small size on a bigger player worked against him. I have not seen him steer away from a bomb or spill one in at least his last three matches. Looks far more committed and confident than last year.

Can't agree,
He needs to show us he's got some ticker. So when confronted by couple of attacking players, he needs to hammer at least one of them. Show us he can tackle head on. A prerequisite for a fullback.

 

[Gourley's Socks]

He tried to catch a few in a game last year and was banished for most of the season.

So he's clearly learnt his lesson that to stay a Dragons first-grader, you should let them bounce.