Rd3: Parra v Dogs GAME DAY THREAD @ Commbank Stadium 23/3/25

[84 Baby]

Two things on this.

1. I was talking about people wanting him to leave the club today. That's dumb.
2. If you want to drop him to reggies then you best find someone better to take his place. Is that Josh Lynn or one of 4 other rookies ? Manly are already a 5 try better team than us. At least Dylan will tackle.

1. Why? At the moment he is playing shit even in the role he’s meant to be doing, let alone the role he needs to do sans Moses. The chances are he isn’t going to improve drastically before end of season. Even if he does improve the further we get into season, the already infinitesimally small chance we’re relevant this season means all that does is help Newcastle with an improved Brown for next year. Whether vindictive on his part or not, the only impact Brown has shown is in the negative. His absolute only saving grace is yes if we but in a rookie to a team getting hammered that may negatively impact their development HOWEVER we’re already overloaded with rookies so what’s one more to the fire?
2. Mostly answered above but the Manly comment, second half this week and patches last week our defence was fine. The larger problem was inability to control the game in attack. Sure you need to be able to defend but if you can control position or even better put points on the board then that takes dictation out of opposition hands.

 

[84 Baby]

Anyway the most pleasing thing from yesterday and I honestly can’t remember a Parra team ever doing it was the defence in the second half in spite of the lack of scoring. Give it to Dogs they didn’t collapse either, but that only makes me think better of our effort. In years gone by we may have had a couple of sets smashing the opponent in their own half, but after a period of time failing to score, we’d give up/clock off/take a breather and the opposition would go 100 and score easily. But yesterday despite struggling to score, we kept f**ken at them in defence. I thought Smith (he looked cooked post game) & Junior were massive in that regard. The biggest test is going to be doing that consistently going forward.
Manly will be huge test because they won’t try to beat us up the middle as much

 

[Joshuatheeel]

I doubt we have anyone at the club who is going to do a better job then what Drown is doing at the moment (it's not that he is playing crap as such, it's just his performance isn't matching his contract).

However once Moses comes back, if the club is looking at an internal option in the halves for next year like papa, I wouldn't be against dropping Drown, if finals aren't looking likely.

 

[Gherkin]

if finals aren't looking likely.

I think we can already confirm this

 

[Lemon Squash]

Zac Lomax given 2 Dally M Points... robbed, he was the best player on the field by a country mile.

 

[Angry_eel]

D Brown has 126 games under his belt already. He's played double the average games of a player who plays in the NRL. God knows where that experience has gone.

 

[hineyrulz]

D Brown has 126 games under his belt already. He's played double the average games of a player who plays in the NRL. God knows where that experience has gone.

To Newcastle, he’s there already by the looks.

 

[JokerEel]

I thought that the Dogs supporters may have equalled or even out numbered us yesterday. They were even sitting in the new SWARM corner. How TF does that happen.

The general consensus of the peeps sitting around us was that if Gutho played yesterday, we win. We just lacked someone to jump in and sweep and draw a man. Maybe force some shape.

I know that Dylan is playing like dogshit (personally I think he’s in shock about the surreal nature of the deal and the not negotiable baggage and growing up that comes with it), but he will soon put that behind him and up his game. Anyone who thinks he should “go now” and be replaced by yet another rookie, has killled too many brain cells in their youth.

Dogs fan just sat wherever the f**k they wanted yesterday.
First half randoms all around us in members areas then in the second half a new bunch of randoms...

 

[Gronk]

Dogs fan just sat wherever the f**k they wanted yesterday.
First half randoms all around us in members areas then in the second half a new bunch of randoms...

Yeah there were a few of those.

 

[84 Baby]

I doubt we have anyone at the club who is going to do a better job then what Drown is doing at the moment (it's not that he is playing crap as such, it's just his performance isn't matching his contract).

However once Moses comes back, if the club is looking at an internal option in the halves for next year like papa, I wouldn't be against dropping Drown, if finals aren't looking likely.

Yep pretty much this

 

[Twizzle]

Dylbo is not the guy to talk things up in the huddle, thats just not his game, which is why he's not a no 7. 6 is his thing and there is no way the Knights will turn him into a no 7, imo.

 

[T.S Quint]

1. Thank f**k it wasn’t 36 degrees again yesterday. Last week was horrible.

2. A loss always sucks. A loss to the Dogs ten times as much. However, I was happy we at least put up somewhat of a fight and didn’t make it easy for them.

3. If Dylan Brown couldn’t tackle I’d be dropping him. He is a passenger out there in attack. Yesterday was the kind of game where he should have over 20 runs, especially close to the line.

4. It’s nice to not have 30+ points scored on us for once, even if we did still lose.

5. We were f**king terrible in second halves last year. This year so far we are much better in second halves of games.

6. Zac Lomax is awesome and tries his heart out. More players like that please.

7. Lining up for hot chips at halftime took forever. I more blame my kid who had to eat something. Bloody kids.

8. There were some absolute deadshit Dogs fans around us where we were sitting. One actually had to get told off by some Parra fans for screaming in a young girl’s face when the dogs scored a try. Looked like the kind of bloke who only began following them again last year because they weren’t shit anymore.

9. We might not be able to win it this year…but we can still make the finals. Go Parra.

10. f**k Canterbury.

 

[Eelementary]

As others have mentioned I think there's been a big improvement in Doorey's game. I had marked his cards to never play again after some of his efforts last year, but so far his defence seems to have improved a lot and he's carrying the ball well.
Still just a bench option, ideally 5th in the middle rotation. But good to see some improvement from a playing that has been struggling the last few years.

I agree.

He's always had line-breaking ability, and ball-playing skill, but his fitness, and defence, let him down.

It's pleasing to see that he has improved.

If he keeps improving, I'd throw him one of our second row jumpers - I don't think he'd put us down.

 

[Angry_eel]

9. We might not be able to win it this year…but we can still make the finals. Go Parra.

That's not happening. The team is good but there's some major holes. Especially Moses missing after coming back due to Origin.

 

[Eelementary]

That's not happening. The team is good but there's some major holes. Especially Moses missing after coming back due to Origin.

I think we've also lost too much momentum - starting the season 0-and-3 with a points differential of almost -100 really puts us on the back foot.

At this point, I'd be happy if we finish the season with a winning record.

I doubt we play Finals this year.

 

[T.S Quint]

That's not happening. The team is good but there's some major holes. Especially Moses missing after coming back due to Origin.

Hey, f**k off!
We just lost to the scum of the league. I'm trying to be positive!

 

[T.S Quint]

I think we've also lost too much momentum - starting the season 0-and-3 with a points differential of almost -100 really puts us on the back foot.

At this point, I'd be happy if we finish the season with a winning record.

I doubt we play Finals this year.

I'd also tell you to f**k off, but I just can't do it to you mate.
f**k you for being so nice @Eelementary.

 

[eels_fan]

The only chance of us snagging a finals spot from here relies on us getting 2-3 wins in the next 5 before Moses returns, and him making himself unavailable for origin (which won’t happen) and then staying injury free.

I saw enough in our game yesterday to think with Moses class we could compete with most teams bar Melb, Penrith and possibly Brisbane who just have too much class across the park for us at present.

I don’t think we make the 8, I’m pretty sure we’ll be 0-4 to start the year, but if we can climb out of bottom 4-5 after this start, get valuable experience into our team and recruit well with Browns money, then 2026 looks promising

 

[84 Baby]

Dylbo is not the guy to talk things up in the huddle, thats just not his game, which is why he's not a no 7. 6 is his thing and there is no way the Knights will turn him into a no 7, imo.

But I don’t think it’s unreasonable given his role and pay cheque to expect him to at least try to lead. It’s not like it’s just been a one-off occurence

 

[84 Baby]

The only chance of us snagging a finals spot from here relies on us getting 2-3 wins in the next 5 before Moses returns, and him making himself unavailable for origin (which won’t happen) and then staying injury free.

I saw enough in our game yesterday to think with Moses class we could compete with most teams bar Melb, Penrith and possibly Brisbane who just have too much class across the park for us at present.

I don’t think we make the 8, I’m pretty sure we’ll be 0-4 to start the year, but if we can climb out of bottom 4-5 after this start, got valuable experience into our team and recruit well with Browns money, then 2026 looks promising

At the moment Moses doesn’t need to make himself unavailable for Origin.
Chinry will be picked and until Moses returns and shows form, Luai, Galvin and maybe even Hynes (at least to selectors) are ahead of him.
Lomax is the one we’ll lose to Origin.

In terms of shitty goals for this season, I agree if we can lift to 12th (it feels f**ked even saying it) that’ll be step in right direction it feels like. But I still want us to win the f**ken premiership. There’s no law written that says we f**ken can’t