Round 2 v Cowboys

[Dragonslayer]

Ford for Williame

he is fast enough to fill in at centre and can play some minutes on the edge

I think there are a few factors involved with it, and mind you I'm not a fan of Williame, however:
Ford has been pretty average in the trial games and didnt have an outstanding game in reserve grade last week.
Williame is a 'specialist' left side player, Ford is not. Max F could play there.
Williame is covering for Bird (or maybe even Ramsey given his injury, both are on the left)
Given the point above, Williame is seen as a better option than JP.
We also dont know how they execute plays at training and it could be as simple as not trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Again, I'm no fan of Williame, however, in these early rounds, and whilst Bird gets fitter each game, his selection is understandable.

 

[BLM01]

Yes.
And it’s instructive to read of the Bronco issues, which are not dissimilar to ours:

“You go across that whole list, no matter who’s injured and who’s not, there’s not a player that would grab that team by the scruff of the neck after 50 minutes and say ‘hey listen, follow me, this is how we change the direction of this game“

IMO Milford has been the rotten apple in that barrel

...& we’ve had 2 in our halves longterm

... and excruciatingly prolonged now by Hook’s misjudgments
- hopefully temporary, but at what cost we’ve yet to see.

Thankfully Vaughan pulled his finger out last week

I think you are too hard too early on Hook
What has he misjudged?
I think he has the best side possible ATM barring injury to the likes of Sullo, Sloan & JDB missing
Feagai's are not ready and proved that in their below standard offseason (reportedly not impressing)
Our cap was in a mess in regards to recruiting deadwood that are still on our books for this / next year and paying overs thanks to McHopeless reaching out to anyone...attracting no-one at market value or reliance the hand in the rubbish bin lucky dip.

It wont be till next year we can start building and assembling a better squad of letting plenty of discards go
It will be a couple of years before we have a Top 8 squad at earliest..look at Tigers and look at the other clubs that have now rebuilt like Canberra, how long did it take Sticky to have a Top 8 squad.
What am I missing?..we know were we are lacking!

 

[Crush]

I think you are too hard too early on Hook
What has he misjudged?
I think he has the best side possible ATM barring injury to the likes of Sullo, Sloan & JDB missing
Feagai's are not ready and proved that in their below standard offseason (reportedly not impressing)
Our cap was in a mess in regards to recruiting deadwood that are still on our books for this / next year and paying overs thanks to McHopeless reaching out to anyone...attracting no-one at market value or reliance the hand in the rubbish bin lucky dip.

It wont be till next year we can start building and assembling a better squad of letting plenty of discards go
It will be a couple of years before we have a Top 8 squad at earliest..look at Tigers and look at the other clubs that have now rebuilt like Canberra, how long did it take Sticky to have a Top 8 squad.
What am I missing?..we know were we are lacking!

Ricky finished 15th in his first year with Raiders. 2 seasons later they finished 2nd.

 

[Old Timer]

So

Ricky finished 15th in his first year with Raiders. 2 seasons later they finished 2nd.

So get back to us in 2023.

 

[BLM01]

Ricky finished 15th in his first year with Raiders. 2 seasons later they finished 2nd.

Good point then after that 2nd..they had a further 2 years not making the semis
Very Mary like..but he basically taken 5 years to get them to be a regular Top 8 side

 

[Dragons 09]

Anyone confident tonight?
I was but I am not anymore.
I saw on the news during the week, the breaking sports news was that Dragons boosted this week by the return of Corey Norman!
Is he going to boost the team?
Geez I hope he does but I have serious doubts. We cannot carry Norman again this year if he is going to be a passenger.
If he isn’t running at full tilt and playing like his livelihood depends on it then I don’t want to see him next week.

Saints NEED to win this game or it’s bottom 4. Dramatic I know but true.

Yep, I'm in the quietly confident boat.

If anyone watched our game last week without any emotion and could put aside the failings of the last 9 years, there was enough on show to get a glimpse of what Hook is trying to achieve from this squad. Obviously the squad has to execute, but i saw enough to believe they have bought into the plan at least for now and should improve incrementally each week. The cows are a genuine bottom 8 side and now without their best player and a new coach that i am not convinced is worthy of all the hype just yet.

I actually think Norman will compliment the plan better than Clune does and if he does what is asked of him, Hunt's game will also benefit from it. I'm not expecting a "wow, where did that come from" performance, but i do expect us to be too strong for the Cow's, Dragons by 10.

 

[TruSaint]

Cautiously optimistic I am.

I know its only round 2, but this mob we should beat.

Esp without their best player.

 

[BLM01]

Yep, I'm in the quietly confident boat.

If anyone watched our game last week without any emotion and could put aside the failings of the last 9 years, there was enough on show to get a glimpse of what Hook is trying to achieve from this squad. Obviously the squad has to execute, but i saw enough to believe they have bought into the plan at least for now and should improve incrementally each week. The cows are a genuine bottom 8 side and now without their best player and a new coach that i am not convinced is worthy of all the hype just yet.

I actually think Norman will compliment the plan better than Clune does and if he does what is asked of him, Hunt's game will also benefit from it. I'm not expecting a "wow, where did that come from" performance, but i do expect us to be too strong for the Cow's, Dragons by 10.

The Dean Young influence?

 

[Crush]

So

So get back to us in 2023.

Huh? Geez you are sensitive when you think anyone is being critical of Hook.
BLM asked the question how long did it take for Ricky to turn his team into a top 8 team. I responded, they finished 2nd in his 3rd season.
Why do I need to get back to you?

 

[Gippsy]

Sadly, at the moment I'm not confident about any of our games.

Oh, for the Bennett years when we knew we were going to be hard to beat, regardless of the opposition.

 

[TruSaint]

Sadly, at the moment I'm not confident about any of our games.

Oh, for the Bennett years when we knew we were going to be hard to beat, regardless of the opposition.

Chin up mate.

Know your feelings, but lets see what pans out.

 

[Crush]

Yep, I'm in the quietly confident boat.

If anyone watched our game last week without any emotion and could put aside the failings of the last 9 years, there was enough on show to get a glimpse of what Hook is trying to achieve from this squad. Obviously the squad has to execute, but i saw enough to believe they have bought into the plan at least for now and should improve incrementally each week. The cows are a genuine bottom 8 side and now without their best player and a new coach that i am not convinced is worthy of all the hype just yet.

I actually think Norman will compliment the plan better than Clune does and if he does what is asked of him, Hunt's game will also benefit from it. I'm not expecting a "wow, where did that come from" performance, but i do expect us to be too strong for the Cow's, Dragons by 10.

If Dragons beat the Cows by 10 I will be saying “wow, where did that come from”
Lol

 

[Old Timer]

Huh? Geez you are sensitive when you think anyone is being critical of Hook.
BLM asked the question how long did it take for Ricky to turn his team into a top 8 team. I responded, they finished 2nd in his 3rd season.
Why do I need to get back to you?

Not being sensitive about Hook at all and fair to say I should have included BLM 01 in my response that was my error.

I am merely pointing out that of the answer is it takes 2 - 3 years to get over the horror you inherit then best we talk about it then rather than all the ad infinitum that somehow because Mc Fookknuckle is gone this should turn around in some short period of time especially looking at the squad and the lack of confidence in the playing group.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Cautiously optimistic I am.

I know its only round 2, but this mob we should beat.

Esp without their best player.

Not to mention if ever there was a weekend to want to get as far away from NSW this would be it with all the storms and stuff.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Well it's onto the next. Cowboys are very gettable, and we'll know a bit more about our side on a dry, fast track. Let's see if there's anything different to the plod ups and a kick and hope.

Unfortunately Norman will be back, I'd stick with Hunt in the 7, but I'd be very tempted to give Amone a run at 6. We'll need to score north of 24 points to win this one I feel, and I can't see yesterday's backline minus Clune, add Norman achieving that.

Amone? He didn’t even play reserve grade last week.

 

[Gareth67]

Would very much like a good win tonight and I believe that if they put their heads down and their rear ends up and get stuck into the job at hand , then the boys will come away with the 2 competition points .

However I believe that if the team shows consistency on a weekly basis , that they improve in each game and finally get rid of the fundamental errors that have cost them points , or have gifted their opponents points then our chances will improve dramatically .

When they have accomplished those basics ( as most other teams do ) then I will become more confident of a victory , I will know that they have finally gelled as a team .

 

[Crush]

Watching the Panthers play, if we could add Luai at 6 and Kikau at 11 I think we could almost finish top 4.
Those two kids are exceptionally talented.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Watching the Panthers play, if we could add Luai at 6 and Kikau at 11 I think we could almost finish top 4.
Those two kids are exceptionally talented.

Luai is a freak, he’s so slick. They need to play him in origin, ready made combo.

 

[Crush]

Luai is a freak, he’s so slick. They need to play him in origin, ready made combo.

How good is Kikau too?
Sims should watch this kid play and try to learn a few things.
And he’s only 25!

 

[Dragsters]

Anyone confident tonight?
I was but I am not anymore.
I saw on the news during the week, the breaking sports news was that Dragons boosted this week by the return of Corey Norman!
Is he going to boost the team?
Geez I hope he does but I have serious doubts. We cannot carry Norman again this year if he is going to be a passenger.
If he isn’t running at full tilt and playing like his livelihood depends on it then I don’t want to see him next week.

Saints NEED to win this game or it’s bottom 4. Dramatic I know but true.

Same, confidence dwindling as kick off approaches.

Still think we can get it done!

Yep, Norman's reckoning I reckon...