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Rumoured Targets 3

Messages
3,000
Bit of a concern with Ponga last night. Was left out there with one arm hanging for about 20 minutes either side of half time before being replaced.

Cowboys fans saying he's a whinger and can't play through any pain.

Hopefully not to serious but if it is minor he needs to work on body language and not making it so obvious he's injured.

If it's serious then Cowboys are a joke leaving him out there knowing its not their problem.
 

PhilGould

Bench
Messages
3,348

Here's a clip of the injury, though not from a good angle. Could tell straight away watching it live that he landed on it awkwardly. This was 5 minutes into the game and he played until about 10 minutes into the second half basically with 1 arm.

I've seen a lot of comments from Cowboys fans saying he was faking and needs to just suck it up, surprisingly they weren't as harsh on any of the injured players that aren't leaving them.
 

Spot On

Coach
Messages
13,902
If we want a young centre with incredible upside that seems to be adjusting to first grade as well as any other young centre then we could do a lot worse than Mlb centre Curtis Scott. Kid goes hard.
 

PhilGould

Bench
Messages
3,348
Not much new from Toohey today.
  • Knights are awaiting Slade Griffin's medical report before they open negotiations but it seems likely we'll get him.
  • Jeremy Smith showed Adam Blair around whilst he was in town, says he thinks Blair is keen. Blair met with the Dragons during the week but no decision has been made.
  • Knights have met with an outside back from a rival club.
  • Wayne Bennet is a big fan of Josh King and has privately let him know he would love to have him in Brisbane once his deal expires in 2018. Knights are aware of the interest and will likely extend King's deal before Brisbane have a chance to pounce.
 

Johns Magic

Referee
Messages
21,654
Not at all a Knights article but pretty fascinating. Relevant to the recent focus on stats for Blair.

WILLIE Mason said he could have finished his career with a fairytale swansong at the Bulldogs last season - if not for a mind-boggling meeting with Des Hasler.

Mason was coming off a season at Manly in 2015 and met with Hasler to discuss a contract - only to be left baffled by the embattled coach’s obsession with statistics.

“I was keen, it sounded really good on paper: Go back, play your 300th game for the club, OK, let’s talk a bit of footy,” Mason said on his Skipi TV show ‘Unfiltered’.

“I met Des in Darling Harbour and we had a coffee and started talking about football and life in general. Then he just, bang, put out this big book with stats on everything. On everything. From f***ing day dot.

“In his eyes, I don’t know if they are twisted or football has just got to him but Aiden Tolman was the best prop in the game. But to me, no disrespect to Aiden, [but] I was 35 and I’d still dust him up.

“In my eyes, I’m like, ‘No Sam Burgess [was the best], or George Burgess at that time - they were killing it. I said, ‘Do you ever go by the eye test Des and look at what he brings and what sort of emotion and physical presence, and how much drive he has on the field and how much he can get people going with him, and the leadership skills, instead of finding your front of the play the ball, tackling 45 times?’

“There’s a reason why you tackle 45 times if you’re a front-rower: Because you’re a spot player. I don’t get run at 50 times a game, because I’d hope to think that I can actually tackle all right.

“At that stage it really put me off rugby league and pretty much forced me to France. It did my head in. I was thinking, ‘I don’t know how to play football anymore. France seems so good right now’.

“The best thing Des said was go to France and enjoy the last year. I’ve got so much respect for Des, but that was the best thing he said in the entire meeting.”

Another Bulldog appearing on Unfiltered, Reni Maitua, won a Canterbury premiership alongside Mason in 2004 and returned to the club in 2014. He did not recognise the place, accusing Hasler of completely changing the culture - an oft-repeated criticism from former Bulldogs as the coach fights to keep his job.

“The work ethic was still the same but from someone who had played 100 first grade games, plus 50 Flegg and reserve grade games there, I came back and I felt like a complete outsider,” Maitua said.

“That wasn’t because of not being accepted by the players or anything like that — the place had changed. It was just not the Bulldog culture that was bred into me.

“When I came to the club as a Souths junior, it wasn’t long before I bought into the Bulldogs environment and culture. I knew everything about every ex player. I knew what every player did throughout the 80s and the legacy they built in the 90s and into the early 2000s.

“I was lucky enough to come into a system in the ‘04 season and win the grand final but Canterbury had been building towards that.

“But when I went back in 2014, it was like I’d never played there before.”

Maitua says Hasler, who coached two premierships at Manly, will never be a real Bulldog.

“Des is a Manly person with a Bulldogs shirt on,” he said. “I don’t think they wanted to have any sort of history with the club.

“That is his vehicle to be successful as a coach to be at Canterbury but he will always be Manly. If you take him into a room and held him at gunpoint and said, ‘Who do you go for? he is going to say I’m a Manly person.”

Maitua said he believed Hasler was too smart for rugby league, as he overloaded players with complicated information.

https://tags.news.com.au/prod/newsk...110ba46aa5527c88aa8272a1&15031834891587690515
 

Hardcore_Fan

Juniors
Messages
1,489
Gotta get someone in halves, with experience, will have Hodko next year along with inexperienced, Watson, Lamb, Cogger, Pythian, probably not Feeney and Pearsell. With injuries and Hodko not making many happy,,doubts about Pythian fitness we could end up in trouble over the season. One good halve like Maloney could solve a lot of problems.

I'd leave Pythian out of any equation for 2018. He only just had surgery. I'd be amazed to see him play again at any level next season
 

Pedge1971

First Grade
Messages
5,898

Interesting. Thanks for posting. Says more about Des' failings as a coach than anything else. Particularly find Willie's comments about Tolman interesting and logical when you think about it.
 

Spot On

Coach
Messages
13,902
Not much new from Toohey today.
  • Knights are awaiting Slade Griffin's medical report before they open negotiations but it seems likely we'll get him.
  • Jeremy Smith showed Adam Blair around whilst he was in town, says he thinks Blair is keen. Blair met with the Dragons during the week but no decision has been made.
  • Knights have met with an outside back from a rival club.
  • Wayne Bennet is a big fan of Josh King and has privately let him know he would love to have him in Brisbane once his deal expires in 2018. Knights are aware of the interest and will likely extend King's deal before Brisbane have a chance to pounce.

Hi Josh, it's Big Wayno.

You know, the bloke that left the toxic wasteland at your current club that is now being cleaned up by Browny. The mess that saw you thrown into firsts before you were ready. Yep you have me to thank for your debut!

Just callin' to let you know I'm a big fan of yours.

I see your deal is up in 2018. Love to have ya up here at the mighty Broncos after that.

I understand Browny has looked after you very well. Encouraged you to finish your apprenticeship and helped you juggle that and training. Really has gone out of his way to ensure your future was looked after and gave good guidance to you along the way.

How about I give you minimum wage and you come up and play for the feeder club until we lose a few troops to injury or origin and you'll probably get a couple runs in firsts here or there, just to keep you thinking you'll make it into firsts eventually. You can continue to play ISC with the other dozen or so props we are 'nurturing' until we lose a bloke to retirement and if you do cut the mustard I usually give our frontrowers 150K or so to join the top squad to play prop in the big show.

I don't like to give our props big money as you probably know, but hey - it's me - Wayno and you'd be part of the Broncs family and all the benefits that go with it.

How's that sound?
 
Last edited:

Old dog

Bench
Messages
2,540
Not a Mas


Hi Josh, it's Big Wayno.

Just callin' to let you know I'm a big fan of yours.

I see your deal is up in 2018. Love to have ya up here at the mighty Broncos after that.

I understand Browny has looked after you very well. Encouraged you to finish your apprenticeship and helped you juggle that and training. Really has gone out of his way to ensure your future was looked after and gave good guidance to you along the way.

How about I give you minimum wage and you come up and play for the feeder club until we lose a few troops to injury or origin and you'll probably get a couple runs in firsts here or there, just to keep you thinking you'll make it into firsts eventually. You can continue to play ISC with the other dozen or so props we are 'nurturing' until we lose a bloke to retirement and then I usually give our frontrowers 150K or so to join the top squad to play prop in the big show.

I don't like to give our props big money as you probably know, but hey - it's me - Wayno and you'd be part of the Broncs family and all the benefits that go with it.

How's that sound?
Better sign King NOW, he'd be jumping at that offer, it's a "I can't refuse"
 

Spot On

Coach
Messages
13,902
Just had to tidy that post up a bit OD.

But yes, you are right, why wouldn't all front rowers jump at the chance to play for half what they could earn elsewhere???
 

Sacrolishes

Juniors
Messages
602
A loss like that puts things in perspective. In a good way though. Lamb and Watson will be a great pairing, but Maloney teaching Lamb/Watson for the next 2-3 years is just the ultimate. Add Blair and we speed up the process of the team and younger players learning how to train to play teams like Melbourne and eventually competing for top 4.
 

Zoidberg

First Grade
Messages
6,271
From inside his own half, Moga put Milford away down the left wing at one stage last night. Brisbane made 40 or so metres and were unlucky not to score.
Loved how the commentators praised Milf for cutting the dragons to pieces there, he got a great ball from Moga with no-one in front of him for 20m.
 
Messages
3,000
Could also throw in this paragraph

"I've always been a great supporter of blokes coming through the grades working in the mines so they have something to fall back on. Just ask Rossdog"




Hi Josh, it's Big Wayno.

You know, the bloke that left the toxic wasteland at your current club that is now being cleaned up by Browny. The mess that saw you thrown into firsts before you were ready. Yep you have me to thank for your debut!

Just callin' to let you know I'm a big fan of yours.

I see your deal is up in 2018. Love to have ya up here at the mighty Broncos after that.

I understand Browny has looked after you very well. Encouraged you to finish your apprenticeship and helped you juggle that and training. Really has gone out of his way to ensure your future was looked after and gave good guidance to you along the way.

How about I give you minimum wage and you come up and play for the feeder club until we lose a few troops to injury or origin and you'll probably get a couple runs in firsts here or there, just to keep you thinking you'll make it into firsts eventually. You can continue to play ISC with the other dozen or so props we are 'nurturing' until we lose a bloke to retirement and if you do cut the mustard I usually give our frontrowers 150K or so to join the top squad to play prop in the big show.

I don't like to give our props big money as you probably know, but hey - it's me - Wayno and you'd be part of the Broncs family and all the benefits that go with it.

How's that sound?
 

mozza91

Coach
Messages
13,164
Could also throw in this paragraph

"I've always been a great supporter of blokes coming through the grades working in the mines so they have something to fall back on. Just ask Rossdog"
He probably started with:
"You may not remember me as I never paid any attention to you, any of the 20's or NSW Cup players but I was coach at Newcastle in 2014".
 
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