Replacing Packer...

[coast_dragons]

Morgan Boyle is who they should go after.

Off contract and a Bega lad so he would be closer living in Wollongong to home.

 

[Dragons 09]

Morgan Boyle is who they should go after.

Off contract and a Bega lad so he would be closer living in Wollongong to home.

Good prospect, but i've heard the Tigers have offered him ridiculous money. They are likely to beat most other offers if he only has dollars on his mind unfortunately.

 

[coast_dragons]

Good prospect, but i've heard the Tigers have offered him ridiculous money. They are likely to beat most other offers if he only has dollars on his mind unfortunately.

Was stated he was happy to say with the Titans but a move closer to home was also an option and not back to the Raiders where he played under 20's.

 

[possm]

Possm mate, Packer was offered massive overs by the Tigers. Absolutely outrageous money. There was no way we could match that. It wasn't incompetence, we just got outbid, that's literally all it was. Not to mention Packer knows Cleary well and his best mate in Ben Matulino has joined the club.

You might argue that we should have signed him up earlier before other teams swooped, but i'm telling you, what players and their managers do is they let offers sit on the table for a while and explore their options in the meantime. I would imagine that the club put in an offer for Packer some time ago but his manager would have got in his ear to keep his options open until an offer like the Tigers' came along. Much like what Dugan did to us when we started negotiations in November last year.

There was nothing more we could do. Fact. Not a mess.

All good, but keep in mind that most of our forwards were retained prior to the time that Cleary took over as head coach of the Tigers and Wood announcing he is going to the Dogs.

The simple thing is that Millward could have signed Packer during the period Nov 2016 - Apr 2017 for 450k - 550k x 3 years. It was only when Woods announced his move to the Dogs that Packer became a target of the Tigers.
Millward Mess, a real big mess.

 

[Walpole]

Morgan Boyle is who they should go after.

Off contract and a Bega lad so he would be closer living in Wollongong to home.

How much better is Boyle than Blake Lawrie?

 

[WardyRedV]

All good, but keep in mind that most of our forwards were retained prior to the time that Cleary took over as head coach of the Tigers and Wood announcing he is going to the Dogs.

The simple thing is that Millward could have signed Packer during the period Nov 2016 - Apr 2017 for 450k - 550k x 3 years. It was only when Woods announced his move to the Dogs that Packer became a target of the Tigers.
Millward Mess, a real big mess.

His manger and the club prioritised Widdop and Dugan. Too manly quality players to one manager creates drama.. like we saw at the Tigers.

 

[TomRedVRiver]

How much better is Boyle than Blake Lawrie?

This.

It would be counter-productive to replace Packer with another 20 year old, unless it's someone like Nelson Asofa-Solomona. We need an established first grader not another promising junior.
Boyle doesn't seem to be setting the world alight either.

 

[coast_dragons]

Any forward they are going to get isn't going to be an international at this stage.

If people are expecting that they will be disappointed as the players available are how do you say solid at best.

Tagatese is the better one of the guys who are off contract he has established himself with the Sharks and he has started at various stages and with Ava from the Tigers joining them he may find is way out the door or it maybe Latimore.

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Any forward they are going to get isn't going to be an international at this stage.

If people are expecting that they will be disappointed as the players available are how do you say solid at best.

Tagatese is the better one of the guys who are off contract he has established himself with the Sharks and he has started at various stages and with Ava from the Tigers joining them he may find is way out the door or it maybe Latimore.

I would take Blair, Paasi, Boyle, NAS and Ofahengaue over Tagatese.

 

[coast_dragons]

The Dragons will end up with none of them imo.

 

[FlameThrower]

The Dragons will end up with none of them imo.

That's the spirit...stay positive..

 

[Mickthedragon]

What's Kalisse Kaufusi's contract status with storm like?
We can always dream

 

[TomRedVRiver]

What's Kalisse Kaufusi's contract status with storm like?
We can always dream

Under contract until the end of 2019. He re-signed in April this year.
He's a right second rower anyway, Frizell has that position locked down for us for a while.

 

[Gareth67]

Had to have a bit of a laugh when Millward said that the club will not be rushed into finding big Russ's replacement . For pity sake that is how we lost him , if they had made the man a decent offer during the off-season we wouldn't need to find ourselves another prop .

It seems that the Dragons wait until the last possible moment in making a concrete
offer to players that they are interested in , by which time they are about to sign with another team . Perhaps all chairs should be removed from Millwards office during all recruitment until the prospective player has had an offer placed before him .

 

[MilanDragon]

Had to have a bit of a laugh when Millward said that the club will not be rushed into finding big Russ's replacement . For pity sake that is how we lost him , if they had made the man a decent offer during the off-season we wouldn't need to find ourselves another prop .

It seems that the Dragons wait until the last possible moment in making a concrete
offer to players that they are interested in , by which time they are about to sign with another team . Perhaps all chairs should be removed from Millwards office during all recruitment until the prospective player has had an offer placed before him .

I have no doubt we had a good offer out on Packer but his agent knew the woods situation and was teeing up the move to the tigers well in advance.

For me Vaughan brings more to the table than Packer, but yet the tigers offered Packer over 100k then what Vaughan is on, no way I'm doing that if I'm the dragons

 

[possm]

Had to have a bit of a laugh when Millward said that the club will not be rushed into finding big Russ's replacement . For pity sake that is how we lost him , if they had made the man a decent offer during the off-season we wouldn't need to find ourselves another prop .

It seems that the Dragons wait until the last possible moment in making a concrete
offer to players that they are interested in , by which time they are about to sign with another team . Perhaps all chairs should be removed from Millwards office during all recruitment until the prospective player has had an offer placed before him .

Maybe cash in the whiteboard and buy a recruitment officer who is up to the job.
Mess

 

[possm]

I have no doubt we had a good offer out on Packer but his agent knew the woods situation and was teeing up the move to the tigers well in advance.

For me Vaughan brings more to the table than Packer, but yet the tigers offered Packer over 100k then what Vaughan is on, no way I'm doing that if I'm the dragons

I think Cleary will get a lot more out of Packer than Mary has been able to do.

 

[Gareth67]

I have no doubt we had a good offer out on Packer but his agent knew the woods situation and was teeing up the move to the tigers well in advance.

For me Vaughan brings more to the table than Packer, but yet the tigers offered Packer over 100k then what Vaughan is on, no way I'm doing that if I'm the dragons

I did not realise that his agent had done so , the fact that he knew about a Woods moving on during the off-season and undoubtedly Packer would had taken the larger offer in that case .
I think it's just that I am still somewhat disappointed with his move and yes I agree that the money that the Tigers offered was overs in his case . Hopefully Millward will sign a suitable replacement , however I believe that he may need to look overseas for the prop , wether that be New Zealand or in the ESLeague .

 

[coast_dragons]

The way Packer has played lately he is either injured or he has lost interest because he has been crap.

Its a shame Masoe wasn't able to come back to at least a first grade standard player hell he can barely make Illawarra's bench and has been out played by Lawrie, Kerr and Hind.

 

[Forster Dragon]

Packer needs to lift his game even though he is going,just as a repayment for our efforts in getting his life back on track.