Round 1 v Sharks

[possm]

I smell a late changeup.

I think most on here can see who we should let go at the end of this season but the real issu is, who should we replace these players with. We need to start signing players coming off contract at the end of 2021 very soon before other clubs beat us to it.

No matter De Belin is available, we need to sign B Smith and Creighton along with a top grade prop. I believe we have enough depth in the halves, two great centres in Lomax and Bird and a stack of depth in the back 3 positions. The jury is out on who should wear the number 1 jumper but I am leaning towards Ramsey. I know we have not even started our season as yet but I am already excited about the prospect of a new line up for 2022:

Run On 13
1. Ramsey
2. Matt Feagai
3. Lomax
4. Bird
5.. Max Feagai
6. Sullivan
7. Hunt
8. New top grade prop @ 600k
9. B Smith @ 500k
10. Vaughan
11. Sims
12. Creighton @ 650k
13. De Belin

Bench
14. McCullough
15. Kerr
16. Faamausili
17. Ford

Players Let Go
Britton, Dufty, Ellis, Fuimaono, Norman, Pereira, Williame

 

[muzby]

Can we at least let our 2021 season begin before we start posting 2022 team lists?

 

[Crush]

Well just about everyone has written us off, not just for this game but for the whole season and has us fighting it out for the spoon, so this game is so important to make a statement.
I think it's good then that our first up opponents are the Sharkies at home, a game we should win.
We played them twice last year, beating them in round 5 ( 30-16 ) and losing to them in round 11 ( 28-24 ) courtesy of an incorrect Bunker call when they awarded Cronulla a try that replays show was clearly grounded in goal by Dufty ( not only did that lose us the game but saw us finish 12th on the ladder instead of 10th ) - one bad call. We bombed a couple of tries as well.
Also in that Round 11 clash we lost our 7, Clune for the second half and Merrin only played 6 minutes before going off injured. There will be some personnel changes for this Sunday, most notably no McInnes for us and no Shaun Johnson for them, among others. The Sharkies will have almost the same team otherwise. They'll have Moylan in for Johnson who is capable of some spectacular brain explosions ( fingers crossed ) and we'll have McC in the 9, Griffin's 31 year old wunderkind to the rescue.
If our new guys put in good performances in our first home game we should get a win against the Sharks with no Johnson running the show and laying on most of their points as usual.

No A. Fifita I notice. If they don't want him we'll take him, Kerr needs a worthy back row partner. ; ) .

Go Saints !

The gap in the NRL is as big as I can remember at the moment. That game last night was incredible. Storms forwards were immense. What impressed me was the effort their players put in. They were playing like everything was on the line.
Thats what I want to see from SGI. I dont expect them to win very often but I expect them to play like it means something.
This is a game that we can win if our intensity is high and we play like it means something. If we dont then Sharks will just roll up their sleeves through the middle and get the job done without much fuss.

 

[Crush]

Can we at least let our 2021 season begin before we start posting 2022 team lists?

Whos your fullback for 2023?
Gotta be Schiller?

 

[Inisai Toga]

Can we at least let our 2021 season begin before we start posting 2022 team lists?

..at least until half time in the Sharks game..

 

[muzby]

Whos your fullback for 2023?
Gotta be Schiller?

Brampton from the Cowboys u/17’s

 

[2218]

I think most on here can see who we should let go at the end of this season but the real issu is, who should we replace these players with. We need to start signing players coming off contract at the end of 2021 very soon before other clubs beat us to it.

No matter is De Belin is available, we need to sign B Smith and Creighton along with a top grade prop. I believe we have enough depth in the halves, two great centres in Lomax and Bird and a stack of depth in the wingers department. The jury is out on who should wear the number 1 jumper but I am leaning towards Ramsey. I know we have not even started our season as yet but I am already excited about the prospect of a new line up for 2022:

Run On 13
1. Ramsey
2. Matt Feagai
3. Lomax
4. Bird
5.. Max Feagai
6. Sullivan
7. Hunt
8. New top grade prop @ 600k
9. B Smith @ 500k
10. Vaughan
11. Sims
12. Creighton @ 650k
13. De Belin

Bench
14. McCullough
15. Kerr
16. Faamausili
17. Ford

Players Let Go
Britton, Dufty, Ellis, Fuimaono, Norman, Pereira, William

I agree with your forward choices it shows that we are three big forward signings off being competitive. Not sold on the feagai boys enough to replace ravalawa or even perera. maybe they improve dramatically throughout the year.

 

[kit66]

The gap in the NRL is as big as I can remember at the moment. That game last night was incredible. Storms forwards were immense. What impressed me was the effort their players put in. They were playing like everything was on the line.
Thats what I want to see from SGI. I dont expect them to win very often but I expect them to play like it means something.
This is a game that we can win if our intensity is high and we play like it means something. If we dont then Sharks will just roll up their sleeves through the middle and get the job done without much fuss.

That was one of the most intense games of footy I've ever seen, the first half anyway. Melbourne played like men possessed, ( actually the second half was boring in comparison ), their big guys creating the momentum and the off-loads and crisp passes baffling the Bunnies.
I think the Storm just set the benchmark for how to play under the new rules and every other team will watch closely and try to emulate that. Many will fail. Saints are well off that pace at the moment but given our skill and pace out wide anything is possible. Can our forwards step up. Dufty is going to be so important this year - we need to re-sign him now, take that weight off his shoulders.
It's interesting that in last nights game, for the Storm anyway, their 6 & 7 weren't nearly as important of influential as their 1 & 9. The game is changing.

 

[Dragon David]

Reading Foxsports news and the reason Andrew Fifita was not picked to be in the 17 man squad. He is fitter with some weight loss but not better than those picked in the front/back row with most players who have been picked being more competitive as reported by Chad Townsend. They have been concentrating on defence so our attack needs to be spot on. We have got to score to be in the game, so its up to Hook and Co to get that right.

The big question though is can we defend as well as we need to against bigger and possibly more mobile Sharks forwards? Only time will tell.

 

[FlameThrower]

I think most on here can see who we should let go at the end of this season but the real issu is, who should we replace these players with. We need to start signing players coming off contract at the end of 2021 very soon before other clubs beat us to it.

No matter is De Belin is available, we need to sign B Smith and Creighton along with a top grade prop. I believe we have enough depth in the halves, two great centres in Lomax and Bird and a stack of depth in the wingers department. The jury is out on who should wear the number 1 jumper but I am leaning towards Ramsey. I know we have not even started our season as yet but I am already excited about the prospect of a new line up for 2022:

Run On 13
1. Ramsey
2. Matt Feagai
3. Lomax
4. Bird
5.. Max Feagai
6. Sullivan
7. Hunt
8. New top grade prop @ 600k
9. B Smith @ 500k
10. Vaughan
11. Sims
12. Creighton @ 650k
13. De Belin

Bench
14. McCullough
15. Kerr
16. Faamausili
17. Ford

Players Let Go
Britton, Dufty, Ellis, Fuimaono, Norman, Pereira, William

This is pure fantasy. We’ve just signed McCullough for 3 years! So we will sign another Hooker for $500K. ( that’s seems cheap too!!) considering he is on reported $475K !! Again with this Creighton chestnut. There is no way either these 2 would consider coming to the Dragons from being Top4 finals playing teams with arguably the best in resources and management to sleepy hollow of the Gong and our chook raffle BOD who can’t even attract 2nd tier players or any TPA’s!!

 

[FlameThrower]

That was one of the most intense games of footy I've ever seen, the first half anyway. Melbourne played like men possessed, ( actually the second half was boring in comparison ), their big guys creating the momentum and the off-loads and crisp passes baffling the Bunnies.
I think the Storm just set the benchmark for how to play under the new rules and every other team will watch closely and try to emulate that. Many will fail. Saints are well off that pace at the moment but given our skill and pace out wide anything is possible. Can our forwards step up. Dufty is going to be so important this year - we need to re-sign him now, take that weight off his shoulders.
It's interesting that in last nights game, for the Storm anyway, their 6 & 7 weren't nearly as important of influential as their 1 & 9. The game is changing.

Some crazy stat that Bellamy has not lost 1st round game in 18 years - that shows his unswerving ‘ take no prisoners’ attitude and 100% commitment. The players are all onboard with it. The Storm organisation is a machine and we can only dream to be anywhere near that, sorry to say.

 

[Dragon David]

This is pure fantasy. We’ve just signed McCullough for 3 years! So we will sign another Hooker for $500K. ( that’s seems cheap too!!) considering he is on reported $475K !! Again with this Creighton chestnut. There is no way either these 2 would consider coming to the Dragons from being Top4 finals playing teams with arguably the best in resources and management to sleepy hollow of the Gong and our chook raffle BOD who can’t even attract 2nd tier players or any TPA’s!!

This is it. All this wishing and hoping to get better players outside of what we have won't be getting us any. We have to do a lot of proving that we are a club worth coming to besides the money and term we can offer. For one, our coaching staff is new and players need to see how they have improved us if any improvement at all. Also, we should try and lower the tone of our history because that was a long time ago and players might fear pressure to live up to the former glory days.

Recent history is pitiful as we all know it and we have got to put it in a coffin and bury it deep in the strata of Mary's back yard.

It's hard for us to compete with clubs for good players like the Storm, who have made the top 8 from 1998 every year except for 2001, 2002 and 2010. Great results. The other powerhouse clubs like the Roosters, Souths, Broncos, Canberra etc seem to attract the better players as well. Now the clubs like the Bulldogs, Tigers and Titans are getting better players. Penrith are happy that they have their juniors.

So we just need to do a lot of proving that we are a club worth coming to as mentioned earlier and that is a big task.

 

[Como Connection]

This is it. All this wishing and hoping to get better players outside of what we have won't be getting us any. We have to do a lot of proving that we are a club worth coming to besides the money and term we can offer. For one, our coaching staff is new and players need to see how they have improved us if any improvement at all. Also, we should try and lower the tone of our history because that was a long time ago and players might fear pressure to live up to the former glory days.

Recent history is pitiful as we all know it and we have got to put it in a coffin and bury it deep in the strata of Mary's back yard.

It's hard for us to compete with clubs for good players like the Storm, who have made the top 8 from 1998 every year except for 2001, 2002 and 2010. Great results. The other powerhouse clubs like the Roosters, Souths, Broncos, Canberra etc seem to attract the better players as well. Now the clubs like the Bulldogs, Tigers and Titans are getting better players. Penrith are happy that they have their juniors.

So we just need to do a lot of proving that we are a club worth coming to as mentioned earlier and that is a big task.

100% DD, I expect a hurge improvement this year under the new very experienced coaching staff.
I will be very disappointed if this doesn't happen.
Must win first up at home.
CC

 

[epDragon62]

100% DD, I expect a hurge improvement this year under the new very experienced coaching staff.
I will be very disappointed if this doesn't happen.
Must win first up at home.
CC

Must compete and show signs of change - winning is good but not the most important thing we need right now.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

The gap in the NRL is as big as I can remember at the moment. That game last night was incredible. Storms forwards were immense. What impressed me was the effort their players put in. They were playing like everything was on the line.
Thats what I want to see from SGI. I dont expect them to win very often but I expect them to play like it means something.
This is a game that we can win if our intensity is high and we play like it means something. If we dont then Sharks will just roll up their sleeves through the middle and get the job done without much fuss.

I’m actually glad we are playing last. We get a good look at the quality required prior to playing. We have no excuses to be shell shocked in the way we were in the CC or Soufs were in the first half last night.

 

[SnowDragon]

You are forgetting the wonder kid Sir Chadley “the hair” Townsend. He’s got dis

mmm.... somebody sprinkle a few hairs around in his sink, and add so,e skin flakes on his shoulders... that should refocus and stress him

 

[Maddragon99]

I think most on here can see who we should let go at the end of this season but the real issu is, who should we replace these players with. We need to start signing players coming off contract at the end of 2021 very soon before other clubs beat us to it.

No matter is De Belin is available, we need to sign B Smith and Creighton along with a top grade prop. I believe we have enough depth in the halves, two great centres in Lomax and Bird and a stack of depth in the wingers department. The jury is out on who should wear the number 1 jumper but I am leaning towards Ramsey. I know we have not even started our season as yet but I am already excited about the prospect of a new line up for 2022:

Run On 13
1. Ramsey
2. Matt Feagai
3. Lomax
4. Bird
5.. Max Feagai
6. Sullivan
7. Hunt
8. New top grade prop @ 600k
9. B Smith @ 500k
10. Vaughan
11. Sims
12. Creighton @ 650k
13. De Belin

Bench
14. McCullough
15. Kerr
16. Faamausili
17. Ford

Players Let Go
Britton, Dufty, Ellis, Fuimaono, Norman, Pereira, William

$850-$950 for Crichton he’s plays for Easts remember
McCullough likely to retire end of 2021 playing 80mins every week this year will burn him out.
Bird likely to play Lock I don’t think de Belin will be back
Ravalawa on the right wing

 

[Maddragon99]

This is pure fantasy. We’ve just signed McCullough for 3 years! So we will sign another Hooker for $500K. ( that’s seems cheap too!!) considering he is on reported $475K !! Again with this Creighton chestnut. There is no way either these 2 would consider coming to the Dragons from being Top4 finals playing teams with arguably the best in resources and management to sleepy hollow of the Gong and our chook raffle BOD who can’t even attract 2nd tier players or any TPA’s!!

McCullough will retire & move to the super league at the end of this season. Opens the door for a play B Smith but you’d think we’d have to have an improved season probably top 8 to attract him. Same goes for Crichton.

 

[redv13]

McCullough will retire & move to the super league at the end of this season. Opens the door for a play B Smith but you’d think we’d have to have an improved season probably top 8 to attract him. Same goes for Crichton.

I’d be stunned ( but stoked ) if we signed either Critchon or B Smith. Just can’t see it happening regardless of the $$$ we offer them

 

[Maddragon99]

I’d be stunned ( but stoked ) if we signed either Critchon or B Smith. Just can’t see it happening regardless of the $$$ we offer them

I saw McCullough’s 3yr contact as a contingency should we miss out on a quality hooker for 2022 so we’d have the position covered. The other scenario is that Hunt is moved to dummyhalf full time from 2022 with Amone & Sullivan in the halves. That’s the benefit of having McCullough under contract it gives us options.