Round 25 v Sharks

[TheRev]

Didnt see the game how did lkt play

imo he doesnt belong in 1st grade.. he is finding his way in nsw cup.. and even that is early days.. the only reason I think hes been our utility is having kyle, brown and marshke all out at once which is full on..... but I dont think hes particularly a threat in 1st grade.. if anything hes kind of a point of weakness.. maybe he could play a bit of hooker or something, but as a 5/8, the players dont really seem to connect well with him, its clunky and definitely not creating defensive mistakes.. and he doesnt have the youthful pace to scare teams either.

The question is whats the alternative.. Marshke maybe back this week, he could be a 14 (but he has not finished a game since like.. um.. like 2-3 months ago?). RFM could come back in, but he was pretty awful in cup.. but that frees up Leilua to be the 6 if we need it.. or Sua to centre..

Honestly I dont envy Flannos position, I hate that we dont have a speedy/skillful bloke to pull in.. I mean you could pull in Tamale or AlecT.. but why debut someone in a sudden death game, esp when theyre leaving anyway.. Fifita but hes been awful.. like its a rock and a hard place for Flanno here due to injuries.

 

[KogarahWarrior]

If we were to play a drinking game based on the number of times Hunt does a (hospital) short ball to Su'a, we'd all have to get our stomachs pumped.

 

[KogarahWarrior]

imo he doesnt belong in 1st grade.. he is finding his way in nsw cup.. and even that is early days.. the only reason I think hes been our utility is having kyle, brown and marshke all out at once which is full on..... but I dont think hes particularly a threat in 1st grade.. if anything hes kind of a point of weakness.. maybe he could play a bit of hooker or something, but as a 5/8, the players dont really seem to connect well with him, its clunky and definitely not creating defensive mistakes.. and he doesnt have the youthful pace to scare teams either.

The question is whats the alternative.. Marshke maybe back this week, he could be a 14 (but he has not finished a game since like.. um.. like 2-3 months ago?). RFM could come back in, but he was pretty awful in cup.. but that frees up Leilua to be the 6 if we need it.. or Sua to centre..

Honestly I dont envy Flannos position, I hate that we dont have a speedy/skillful bloke to pull in.. I mean you could pull in Tamale or AlecT.. but why debut someone in a sudden death game, esp when theyre leaving anyway.. Fifita but hes been awful.. like its a rock and a hard place for Flanno here due to injuries.

Rev, I love your posts mate but I think you're being really harsh on young LKT. He's played less than one half of footy in the top flight and in that time has only had one run and I think he really was dominating for a few weeks there in KOE. He also has a far more apt passing game than both of our other halves and actually hits the player quite nicely when he ball plays. I agree that he's not the fastest but he's also not painfully slow, also gotta keep in mind that he's young and players usually hit their peak speed in their mid 20s. I mean, Sam Walker is one of the slowest halves and he goes alright. I think the big test for LKT is going to be over the long term his kicking and organisational play. From what I've seen he has great short-range kicking but would love to see more of his long kicks

 

[TheRev]

Rev, I love your posts mate but I think you're being really harsh on young LKT. He's played less than one half of footy in the top flight and in that time has only had one run and I think he really was dominating for a few weeks there in KOE. He also has a far more apt passing game than both of our other halves and actually hits the player quite nicely when he ball plays. I agree that he's not the fastest but he's also not painfully slow, also gotta keep in mind that he's young and players usually hit their peak speed in their mid 20s. I mean, Sam Walker is one of the slowest halves and he goes alright. I think the big test for LKT is going to be over the long term his kicking and organisational play. From what I've seen he has great short-range kicking but would love to see more of his long kicks

This is similar to a post I made on Buchanan a while back... im not judging their career potential... but I think these kids have a journey ahead of them in nsw cup that still has to play out yet, thats where they learn to adapt to playing against men at a faster pace.....they can just skip into 1st grade..

I know across the NRL there are some teenagers tearing up the NRL.. but I dont believe we have that kid in our system (bar maybe Tamale, but hes had 2yrs of nsw cup).

I'd be picking Marshke as our utility if he is fit enough.. he has many many many years of experience that would be far more likely to pay dividends in these next 2 games, that are really finals games for us.

 

[Jersey No 14]

Hmmm
This or that. Him, or maybe him.
It always takes a few years turning these things around.
Whether we like it or not Saints are a few years behind teams like Cronulla and Canterbury so today was just a reality check.
All season we haven’t been able to tackle.
Remember ANZAC Day.
Sure I’m disappointed- maybe we make the 8 maybe we don’t.
This year gave been a God Send. From wooden spoon certs to Top 8 contenders
This is a stepping stone to greater things.
There are some guys in our team who need to deal there own reality check.
They are replaceable.
I just want to say thanks to Shane Flanagan.
After Mary, Griffin and that other clown post old man Bennett I fell out of Love with the Dragons.
Today I found patience with them.
The drive home wasn’t so bad.

 

[Dragon David]

NRL Round 25 Press Conference: Dragons vs Sharks | Dragons

Hear from Shane Flanagan and Ben Hunt following the side's clash against the Sharks.

www.dragons.com.au

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

FMD.....everything to play for at home and we concede 38 points .....seriously this team shits me to pieces.....that's my total comment contribution for this week

 

[Gardenia]

Flanno the experiment has failed . Bring back Rav man the try scoring machine . Move Lomax back to centre. and for gods sake drop the Feagai brothers.

 

[rasaint]

I note all the opinions and posts. My contribution;

The sharkes had our lack of speed in the backs a priority for attack. I have never understood why over the past 10 years odd we have not recruited speed ( Ramsey an exception). Matt and Max can carry strongly but are slow backs. Forget Zac to centre even slower imo. Tuipoluto is a strong but quite slow for a winger. In a way like Nene in contributing to strong carries; but without the genuine top level speed of Nene.

Tyrell Sloan has and will score some top NRL trys. He is at the high end of NRL speedsters. However, his game is lacking in other areas. He doesn’t catch that well in traffic. With all the best hopes for Tyrell I don’t think he will improve further. I have thought this all year.

Despite above comments, I would not be surprised if we win last 2 weeks. Even though soundly beaten today we bombed a couple of tries, ref got in the way of a try scoring pass and sharkes second last try way forward ( not even close to flat).

Young Marsche can play and maybe an inclusion this coming week.

 

[<StGeorgeDragons>]

People talking about the orchestration of the finals by the nrl but today, just like against the dogs a couple weeks ago we were given a prime opportunity and flopped big time. No one to blame but us. More or less has been the result in any big time match this year against credible opposition ie a flogging.

was embarrassing today. No excuses.

 

[Nutz]

Commiserations fellas. I won't add to your pain by saying something negative. On the bright side your team was expected by some journos to be at the bottom of the ladder at this point and you've proved them wrong.
If you can iron out some problems then it's not over, not until I sing anyway

 

[RedVee]

The top 5 teams are a level (or more) above what we can match. The others we have a chance with.

This has been a funny year, I go from (a little too) excited after our wins to (a lot too) despondent after our losses.

 

[Dragonssupporter]

Just my 2 bobs worth- I think Bird is doing great at 5/8 and id keep him there. He’s been trying really hard and i think he offers more than Flanagan does at the moment. Once again Hunt dropped the ball twice leading to 2 tries. I dont see why Marschke cant be our No 7 for the last 2 matches either. Hunt was disinterested today and offered zero leadership. Sloan still needs some lessons on how to play and also not to be outjumped.
Im just so sick of being beaten by Cronulla and it really irks me that we cant seem to play well against them. Of all teams to keep losing to , theyre the worst. I really thought we had a chance today, and then we dealt up this rubbish. It was just all mistakes and stupid decisions. As to the Gong being a fortress- well thats been destroyed with our last few loses. What a lousy way to finish the weekend after spending yesterday watching 2 A grade semi finals at Como, and today watching 4 U19s semi finals at Revesby- seeing guys really trying for the whole game , and then going home to watch the drivel we delivered.
Not happy Jan

 

[John moz]

Flanno hunt looked lost after the game speaking on fox . No idea what they will do next week we gave Newcastle Canberra dolfins a sniff to the finals .
Dragons choke now just to make the top 8 every season we looked like wooden spooners playing today .

 

[56to66]

This word Choke is a joke, these moronic journalists, had us wooden spooners, they don't want to look stupid, holding their soft Willie's, so let's bring out this choking card, Unbelievable, they're an absolute disgrace, keep your mouths shut or give credit for a great season, regardless whether we make the eight or not, well done so far Flanno, also it does not matter if you make 8th position, it actually doesn't matter where the F you come, historians only care who wins Premierships.

 

[since77]

Am I the only person who thought Bird stifled our attack? He’s so not a 5/8 IMO.

 

[redv13]

This word Choke is a joke, these moronic journalists, had us wooden spooners, they don't want to look stupid, holding their soft Willie's, so let's bring out this choking card, Unbelievable, they're an absolute disgrace, keep your mouths shut or give credit for a great season, regardless whether we make the eight or not, well done so far Flanno!

Yep most of these muppets had us running last or 2nd last at best. Absolute flogs. Not over baby, still in our hands whether the players want to play semi’s or not

 

[redv13]

Am I the only person who thought Bird stifled our attack? He’s so not a 5/8 IMO.

Tries hard but he’s no 5/8. Not many options at the moment. Marschke??

 

[56to66]

Common , dont worry about Hunt, Marschke, Bird or Flanno, without a great forward pack, it's hard for ppl like Hunt to do his work properly, seriously Scumulla forwards we're eating meters like there backsides were on fire, there play the balls were super quick, we need RCG for next year.