Russell Packer

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

New to the group and a 40 year dragons supporter.... Would like Russell to stay for a number of reason . Apart from his form being on the improve almost every game he is also very durable , rarely injured and his story with saints is a remarkable one..Nonetheless if he goes wish him well then top up Duges and get on with it.

Welcome to the forum, mate .............. hope you enjoy your time here with like minded individuals.

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

He has signed with the NFL team Green Bay. He has accepted less money after team management said they will change team name to Green Bay Packers

They don't make chocolate fudge do they?
Sorry ............ l'll get my coat!

 

[BennyV]

Adding on to the 700k a season for Mautalino, 750k for Reynolds and the reported 600k a season offer for Lolohea, they're really not fixing their issues by paying overs for mid range players.

Ivan's got a big task ahead of him

While the figures are inflated (media will always add 10-20% to contract values, unless its for Storm/Broncos/Roosters where they remove 20-30%) the difference is the Tigpies are now spending money in the right places, particularly for intangibles. Before, they were shelling out huge dollars for potential (Brooks, Moses), often injured players (Lawrence, Teddy) or players playing at other clubs (Fifita, Heighington, Farah). Then there's monstrous asking prices of an above-average prop like Woods. They werent getting value for their money.

Spending medium-to-big money on forward leaders like Packer and Matulino, as well as passionate drivers like Reynolds (for all his idiocy and average playing skills, the merkin has a drive to win) brings more to the team than the other 3 of the Medium 4 ever would. Group that in with some medium-risk, high-reward spine players ($500k and $600k for a halfback and fullback is a bargain if they reach their potential), a bunch of tradesmen who know their role (Taylor, McQueen, etc) and young outside backs (Nofo, Suli, etc) and you have the recipe for rebuilding a club. It's a Cleary special, almost identical to what he did at Penrith (signings like Whare, Taylor, Brown, Sowie, Wallace, etc).

The guy knows what he's doing and in 2-3 years under him, Tigpies will be sitting a lot better than what they are now.

 

[The calm one]

So far the retention team is doing a great job and they have signed up everyone we wanted to keep.

If they lose Duges or Packer (or both) I think it won't be the end of the world as they will have another player in mind. Of the 2 I would rather lose Packer. Saints have cover for him, where as Duges is closer to an elite player than Packer will be. Duges has the makings of a great centre. Proof of that is in the test/origin games.

Please tell me who is the cover for Packer?????

 

[ALSGI]

Please tell me who is the cover for Packer?????

Has anyone checked the Canberra reserve grade forwards pack? Might be another Vaughan running around?

 

[Gareth67]

Let's not go pulling our hair out just yet gents ( as I can assure you that once it's gone , it's gone for good ) . At this point this is media speculation , a contract has more than likely been offered , however until Big Russ has actually come out and said that he will be leaving , he is still a Dragon .

I am sure that there will be room for upgrading our offer in some manner , wether that be by adding an extra year or perhaps by back ending the contract with a few extra dollars . Don't forget , that Keiran Foran had supposedly signed a contact with the Bullgrubs and yet ? ? ?

 

[Eatons Hill Dragon]

Has anyone checked the Canberra reserve grade forwards pack? Might be another Vaughan running around?

SOS to Luke Paige again

 

[possm]

I've said all along that Millward would deliver a mess. It would have been good to sign our marquee players first and then our first grade player next followed by fringe first graders and juniors.

If this would have happened, we would not now be in this mess With players and coaching staff all confident that the new game style developed prior to Christmas was going to make things much better, it was time to for Millward to made some decisions. Sims, McInnes and Vaughan already signed.

Hunt
Priority 1 - January, week 1
Price? 900k
Alternative? Yes

Widdop
Priority 2 - January, week 1
Price 750k
Alternative Yes

Dugan
Priority 3 - January, week 1
Price 750k
Alternative Yes

Packer
Priority 4 - January, week 1
Price 500k
Alternative Yes

Remaining First Grade Players
Priority 5 - January, weeks 2-4

Promising Juniors
Priority 6 - February, week 1

Fringe First Graders
Priority 7 - February, week 2

By season start we would have locked up all the players we wanted to keep or we would be in the market to replace those we could not keep. As things have turned out, it is highly likely we would have been in a much better position cap wise if we followed the above method.

 

[monsterkev]

If the figure of $700,000 is correct I think it is way too high
1 game for nz in how many years

 

[Eatons Hill Dragon]

Ive said repeatably Dugan and Packer will stay....was right with Widdop and soon with the other pair

Blood Shot Eyes, do you have any updates on both Rusty and Duges.

You seem to know a little more than most of us (probably most topics inc).

 

[Nich]

I've said all along that Millward would deliver a mess. It would have been good to sign our marquee players first and then our first grade player next followed by fringe first graders and juniors.

If this would have happened, we would not now be in this mess With players and coaching staff all confident that the new game style developed prior to Christmas was going to make things much better, it was time to for Millward to made some decisions. Sims, McInnes and Vaughan already signed.

Hunt
Priority 1 - January, week 1
Price? 900k
Alternative? Yes

Widdop
Priority 2 - January, week 1
Price 750k
Alternative Yes

Dugan
Priority 3 - January, week 1
Price 750k
Alternative Yes

Packer
Priority 4 - January, week 1
Price 500k
Alternative Yes

Remaining First Grade Players
Priority 5 - January, weeks 2-4

Promising Juniors
Priority 6 - February, week 1

Fringe First Graders
Priority 7 - February, week 2

By season start we would have locked up all the players we wanted to keep or we would be in the market to replace those we could not keep. As things have turned out, it is highly likely we would have been in a much better position cap wise if we followed the above method.

In an ideal world this would work. No way in hell a half decent player manager would be in a rush to sign a player with so many unknowns.

Don't forget we where tipped to come last. Not a great selling point.

 

[possm]

In an ideal world this would work. No way in hell a half decent player manager would be in a rush to sign a player with so many unknowns.

Don't forget we where tipped to come last. Not a great selling point.

Selling points are:
The players believe their new playing style would deliver success.
The players told you had a bad year, sign now because we want to put our squad together.
The players told If you can't sign now, we're shopping for some alternative.
Regarding price, the players told, you had a bad year in 2016 but we have faith in you.

 

[TomRedVRiver]

People need to understand that Packer, Dugan and Widdop have the same manager.
Millward made it clear that they wanted to get Widdop and Duges sorted so they knew where they stood with the Packer negotiations. This was the request of the manager who is juggling all of these players and wanted to sort these guys out one at a time.

To be calling out Millward saying he's made a mess of these negotiations is ridiculous. I was sceptical of him at first but look at what he's managed to pull off in regards to big signings and re-signings.
Negotiations with the priority players take time because of the competition with other clubs, Millward has to keep the cap in mind, otherwise in a few years time we will have a situation where we could lose about 5 or 6 players because their prices have rose too much.

 

[SaintElroy]

Oh please if we signed those guys in January the place would have had a meltdown. Good chance the players were told to perform or we wouldn't be entertaining the thought of resigning. To the lads credit they lifted. Shame they didn't last year but theme the breaks. We haven't lost anyone yet. We are negotiating, it's a good thing. If we lose anyone by not paying overs so be it. But any of those signings on last years form would have been overs anyway.

 

[Old Timer]

How many other clubs have their recruitment people saying what position people will be playing?
The disharmony with Dugan came after Millward getting in front of the cameras making statements that were not required and it proved destabilising.
People now blaming Dugan which is bull shit as he merely defended his position as to playing FB which was also confirmed by the coach.
Millward should just stay in the background and do his work and say absolutely nothing.

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Oh please if we signed those guys in January the place would have had a meltdown. Good chance the players were told to perform or we wouldn't be entertaining the thought of resigning. To the lads credit they lifted. Shame they didn't last year but theme the breaks. We haven't lost anyone yet. We are negotiating, it's a good thing. If we lose anyone by not paying overs so be it. But any of those signings on last years form would have been overs anyway.

Hindsight is everything isn't it.

I'm all for a little speculation and rumour, but to be creating a fantasy world where people are claiming to have legitimate information about what is going on within the club is crazy.

 

[mobels]

Hate to burst your bubble but tigers still have plenty of room left.

Don't forget we still have Farah and sironens contract to pay off still which is close to a mil for 2 players, which of course will be null next year onwards

Plus the 2.5mil+ we were about to spend on the small 3

Also the matulino contract was confirmed 475k

Haven't really been paying attention to the 'confirmed' figures only going off whats been reported. Just in my opinion some of the figures been thrown around for some of the guys your after is overs compared to what they're worth.

But since theres not much on the market, I guess you guys have to pay overs in order to field a decent team next year.

 

[Clifferd]

Haven't really been paying attention to the 'confirmed' figures only going off whats been reported. Just in my opinion some of the figures been thrown around for some of the guys you after is overs compared to what they're worth.

But since theres not much on the market, I guess you guys have to pay overs in order to field a decent team next year.

Yeah I feel for you guys don't worry. But money talks in RL these days

Dragons on the way up, and looks like they'll be losing a couple players that helped you guys get up there to begin with

 

[possm]

Oh please if we signed those guys in January the place would have had a meltdown. Good chance the players were told to perform or we wouldn't be entertaining the thought of resigning. To the lads credit they lifted. Shame they didn't last year but theme the breaks. We haven't lost anyone yet. We are negotiating, it's a good thing. If we lose anyone by not paying overs so be it. But any of those signings on last years form would have been overs anyway.

What meltdown? Meltdown of forum members, fans, RedV members or Board members. The recruitment manager is not to be sensitive to people having meltdowns over his decisions.

Millward just needed to do his homework and decide who he wants to keep and at what price. Granted the team performed poorly in 2016 however, Mary and his senior players put the case that things would be much better in 2017. So the Club needed to make a call and tie up those players that want and who wanted to stay. Then proceed to sign the top priority players - marquee players and move down the list accordingly.

The result of doing the alternative is what is happening to the Dragons now. Delays and uncertainty in signings for the long term, not to say having to pay a premium in order to retain our key players. The recruitment method employed by Millward is likely to cost the Club extra hundreds of thousands of dollars cap space. The results speak for themselves.

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Haven't really been paying attention to the 'confirmed' figures only going off whats been reported. Just in my opinion some of the figures been thrown around for some of the guys you after is overs compared to what they're worth.

But since theres not much on the market, I guess you guys have to pay overs in order to field a decent team next year.

It's only the Tigers who have to pay overs right now to be fair. Their fans are praising their recruitment but to be honest, I don't think it's been that great. Packer is their first decent target.
Matulino - Hasn't been the same player he was in 2014. Can he really re-capture his best form?
McQueen - I'm sorry but I really don't rate this bloke at all, I think he is one of the biggest bums in the NRL
Reynolds - Tries hard, but he's far too rocks and diamonds, not to mention they paid him a ridiculous amount of money.
Losing Tedesco - Biggest loss in their club's history, he will go on to be one of the best fullbacks of all time with the Roosters.
Losing Moses - Moses is twice the player Brooks is.
Lolohea (speculation) - He's young, but he's also very average if we're being honest here. Nothing more than a decent winger right now, he's not the fullback to save them from the loss of Teddy.