Round 5 Vs Cowboys

[R&WTILLIDIE]

Both Gutho and Holmes look off the pace in 2026. Its not uncommon for older players to literally fall off a cliff when the time comes. Suspect both have gone one season to many and / or carrying injury.

Except for VH. No matter how shit he is for the dragons, he grows an extra leg when he plays for QLD

 

[I'm faster than Lawrie]

Except for VH. No matter how shit he is for the dragons, he grows an extra leg when he plays for QLD

Yeah, its so annoying. Maybe get him to put a maroons jersey underneath his dragons one?

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

Yeah, its so annoying. Maybe get him to put a maroons jersey underneath his dragons one?

Nah. The dragons cursed jersey would taint the qld jersey.

 

[John moz]

The team yesterday had spoken on that performance they dished out in front of a home crowd.
Coaching staff to be let go immediately or we are looking at wooden spoon 2026.

 

[getsmarty]

One of their 2nd rowers was faster than our outside backs.... Break in the 2nd half on Our Left Edge...

We have NO SPEED., Zero players who can create anything off the cuff , and our defence is soft.

How did we not score any points with a Cows player in the bin, and conceded a try ?

As I stated a Few weeks ago, this is the worst Dragons Team I have witnessed in Decades...

 

[Dragonssupporter]

This is very significant to me.

The stupid boot to the face led to a try seconds out from halftime which put them in an unassailable lead...only to do one better with LKT horrendous intercept clunk of a pass with a 13 on 12 advantage. Two players given a chance to grab a spot in the team and they do that. And then somehow it just got worse from there.

My point is it really makes sense now Flanagan calling this group no chance of winning before a match was played. They are trying hard on face value but they are like little boys mentally. Gutherson is done in mind and body, Liddle looks unhappy and out of favour and good old Blake Lawrie...I don't even know what to say about him. Just a snapshot.

SG's 100% lost the playing group and helped create this tragedy but also, I'm keeping Stewart, Sua and a Couchman and sending every other player out there today on their way. Standards should be way higher.

How insulting to serve this up to start a season, and yet it's better we don't win right now because if there's one thing our leaders like it is hiding behind the odd meaningless victory that we've previously managed. Cold comfort I know.

I know in my heart that booing is bad sportsmanship, but I get it 100% and I suggest those same fans stop attending games from here on in and send the club a message to the purse, which is the thing they actually care about.

Unfortunately lots of people are like me and have season tickets which weve already paid for so we cant hurt them money wise. However ive never seen so many empty season ticket seats as last night. Behind me in the lower grandstand was basically empty last night. Its up to Flanno to do what has to be done and drop Cook, Val , Gutho , Blocker and bring new people in before we start losing all our juniors. Im thinking LPT in particular. Liddle has to be run on as well. My daughter is a Roosters supporter but comes to all the Dragons games. The last few Anzac Days have been a disaster but this year is looking the worst ever, and if it is a complete bloodbath even this game will loose its popularity. The board need to act now because i thought the nepotism had finished after having 3 previous coaches guilty of it, but it carries on even now. Im sick of us being the laughing stock of the NRL. It used to be the Tigers but theyve gone up as we go down. Ive never seen it so bad in 66 yrs of supporting the Saints. The booing which i joined in on was the worst ive ever heard and it was awful but necessary. Hopefully someone in power noticed

 

[Dragons4me]

Unfortunately lots of people are like me and have season tickets which weve already paid for so we cant hurt them money wise. However ive never seen so many empty season ticket seats as last night. Behind me in the lower grandstand was basically empty last night. Its up to Flanno to do what has to be done and drop Cook, Val , Gutho , Blocker and bring new people in before we start losing all our juniors. Im thinking LPT in particular. Liddle has to be run on as well. My daughter is a Roosters supporter but comes to all the Dragons games. The last few Anzac Days have been a disaster but this year is looking the worst ever, and if it is a complete bloodbath even this game will loose its popularity. The board need to act now because i thought the nepotism had finished after having 3 previous coaches guilty of it, but it carries on even now. Im sick of us being the laughing stock of the NRL. It used to be the Tigers but theyve gone up as we go down. Ive never seen it so bad in 66 yrs of supporting the Saints. The booing which i joined in on was the worst ive ever heard and it was awful but necessary. Hopefully someone in power noticed

So what will happen? What can they do? Interesting (but definitely not) fun times.

 

[ragzouken]

At the ground was extremely flat from everyone yesterday a wash of apathy across the ground, team gave supporters nothing to cheer about outside the odd sputter, team looks slow and weak across the board, extremely evident on the Purdue break.

the onetime they had a try in front of them fale was too slow to use the space available, Atkinson continues to unimpress inside the 20 the kicks there but no one chases it because they are gassed from even getting to the other side of field

Don’t know if coach is the problem the club is way down there at the moment and hasn’t done anything to improve it, the latest fluke of juniors won’t amount to anything much the same as Sloan, Sullivan or dufty didn’t

 

[I'm faster than Lawrie]

Just saw the Cowboys squad in the Sydney Qantas lounge. Understandably all looked very relaxed. Payton looked to be going over yesterday's game on his laptop. I think he was trying to work out how a first grade team could be so crap.

 

[getsmarty]

This

 

[ralph18]

Take a look at the speed of the warriors sharks game today and compare that to the rubbish from the dragons last night.

Depressing stuff.

 

[Dragonssupporter]

So what will happen? What can they do? Interesting (but definitely not) fun times.

I definitely don’t know as much as a lot of people on here about positions and who goes where and does what etc. All i know after watching for 66 yrs is what i see.
Both our wingers last night are too slow.
Gutho, Holmes and Cook are too slow compared to how they used to be.
Blocker cant pass a football.
Our wingers rarely see the ball anyway due to how slow our ball movement is.
When we make any sort of break theres no backup there to keep it going.
Atkinson isnt a halfback and should never be playing there.
Our game plan seems to be etched in stone from 15 yrs ago because we keep doing 4 forwards running one up for 4 tackles, slowly pass it wide on the 5th , then kick on the 6th. Its been consistent forever now.
There seems to be no fear that if you play badly you'll get dropped except if you’re Sloan who i have stated many times i think is useless but maybe im wrong. At least he scores tries which the rest of the team seem incapable of doing.
Im certainly no expert but im sure there’s other on here who are , and can identify what needs to change.
We need to do it now before the season is lost for good.
And im definitely really considering whether id bother resigning next year for very expensive seats. Maybe decide each week whether id bother going and buying the cheapest seats going because as a pensioner this is currently a big waste of money paying to make myself cranky watching this drivel

 

[twinkletoes]

On another happy note..: Dragons have second worst points for and points against…. and have the worst differential of any team. There is nothing this team is doing g which gives any glimmer of hope I to the fiture

 

[Lovemedragons]

Cook should of passed it overlap.
Then atko kicks it later in the same scenario.

It’s almost like they were scared to score a try, very odd.

 

[Inisai Toga]

Usually recruitment would be done by the recruitment team but ultimately the coach has final say outside of the rare situation where the board might intervene.

Looking at the make up of our side, its clear the recruiters and Flanno have targeted big, powerful players at the expense of faster, skilful types. Given all the rule changes of late have been about making the game faster, this is just pure neglect by our management and coach.

On another happy note..: Dragons have second worst points for and points against…. and have the worst differential of any team. There is nothing this team is doing g which gives any glimmer of hope I to the fiture

Manly thought the same last week

 

[Gourley's Socks]

It struck me as particularly odd in the pregame interview yesterday that when asked about ruck speed, SF identified that as being the role of the back five. It seemed an admission that the pack can't get over the advantage line.

Given the failed attempts to bolster the forwards, I don't fully blame SF for this. But it struck me that we're playing a brand of football for the squad we wish we had rather than for the squad we do have. And that is entirely SF's fault.

I'm not convinced that the power game would work under today's rules at all but it is absolutely guaranteed not to work when you don't have the cattle for it. And while the board must bear significant responsibility for failing to be an attractive place for top-tier recruits, that we keep trying to employ a style of football for which we're horribly unsuited can only be on SF.

Perhaps it's being old-fashioned or stubbornness or just a lack of creativity but in any case, it's just not good enough because it's clear that the team have been told to play a certain way that just isn't working.

And that's a shame because I was really hopeful that the signing of SF would be a departure from the miserable Hook era whereas it appears to simply be more of the same.

 

[I'm Hornby]

It struck me as particularly odd in the pregame interview yesterday that when asked about ruck speed, SF identified that as being the role of the back five. It seemed an admission that the pack can't get over the advantage line.

Given the failed attempts to bolster the forwards, I don't fully blame SF for this. But it struck me that we're playing a brand of football for the squad we wish we had rather than for the squad we do have. And that is entirely SF's fault.

I'm not convinced that the power game would work under today's rules at all but it is absolutely guaranteed not to work when you don't have the cattle for it. And while the board must bear significant responsibility for failing to be an attractive place for top-tier recruits, that we keep trying to employ a style of football for which we're horribly unsuited can only be on SF.

Perhaps it's being old-fashioned or stubbornness or just a lack of creativity but in any case, it's just not good enough because it's clear that the team have been told to play a certain way that just isn't working.

And that's a shame because I was really hopeful that the signing of SF would be a departure from the miserable Hook era whereas it appears to simply be more of the same.

Great post and great observation, I found myself wondering the same thing when hearing Flanagan say that same thing pre game.

The only thing I disagree with is more of the same. Flanagan so far has coached 5 games less than Hook did, even if we win 5/5, Flanagan's win loss record as head coach will still be worse than Griffin's was at the point he was sacked.

Surely this appalling brand of Rugby League being produced with Flanagan as coach is in its last days, as we can see, our previous coaches were sacked for much less than what we're witnessing at the moment.

 

[sammymills]

mate, please can you delete this? It is pretty offensive especially on what one of our most sacred days.

 

[redVbull]

Ow thing stood out was when a forward made a good run there was not a player within 5 metres to take an offload if there was one.

Forwards making meters seems all its about. Not looking to offload. No improvisation.

 

[This Year?]

mate, please can you delete this? It is pretty offensive especially on what one of our most sacred days.

Done. I don't want to offend anyone. The intention was to try to bring humour to a horrible situation and I apologise to anyone that got offended.