Russell Packer

[Gm5]

Trying to soften the blow it seems, but wasn't this announced weeks ago?


http://www.dragons.com.au/news/2017/05/16/vaughan_extends_drag.af_video.html

Vaughan extends Dragons contract

St George Illawarra have announced that Paul Vaughan has extended his stay at the Dragons until the end of the 2021 NRL Telstra Premiership season.

Vaughan has played every game for the Dragons since joining at the beginning of the year, having played 95 games in the NRL overall.

The Italian international's strong season so far has seen him play for the NRL All Stars and Country Origin, while he remains in contention to play State of Origin for New South Wales in the coming weeks.

The 26-year-old said re-signing so soon after joining the Dragons has done wonders for his confidence.

"At the start of the season I wanted to start afresh and prove myself all over again. That was one of the biggest things I needed to do," Vaughan said.

"I think I'm halfway to doing that – I just need to keep playing consistent football.

"I've always said I wanted to stay here for as long as I can so with this deal I won't be off-contract again until I'm in my 30s."

St George Illawarra Director of Rugby League Pathways Ian Millward said Vaughan's extension was crucial for future success.

"We've identified him as a future leader and we've also been impressed by the way he's integrated and interacted with the younger forwards," Millward said.

"Paul has been a tremendous acquisition to the Dragons. By re-signing him, it was a good opportunity to get stability in our forward pack and have that platform there for our halves."

Vaughan's re-signing is an additional positive for the Dragons following Russell Packer's decision to take up a four-year deal at another NRL club from next season.

Millward said the Dragons' decision not to match the four-year deal was largely due to the younger players coming through the club’s development pathways.

Vaughan's decision to remain follows the likes of Jack de Belin, Jacob Host, Blake Lawrie, Reece Robson, Luciano Leilua and Tyson Frizell re-signing with the Dragons in recent months.

They will be joined by Tariq Sims, Hame Sele, Josh Kerr, Leeson Ah Mau, Cameron McInnes and Joel Thompson at the Dragons beyond the 2017 season.

"We were definitely keen to keep Russell, he is having a great season and is a great contributor to our club," Millward said.

"We believe that we made him a good three year offer but respect and understand his decision to take up an offer elsewhere, and know that he'll give his best for the remainder of the season."

 

[possm]

Great news. Who is replacing Packer?

 

[st.phil]

Great news. Who is replacing Packer?

Sims next in line I'd say. They won't recruit another top-liner withe the talent coming through and other posi's solid in the pack. I'm sure packer was on Millwards whiteboard pre clearly / woods / tigers development. Hindsight is great but they should have targeted his re-signing much earlier in the the year

 

[possm]

Sims next in line I'd say. They won't recruit another top-liner withe the talent coming through and other posi's solid in the pack. I'm sure packer was on Millwards whiteboard pre clearly / woods / tigers development. Hindsight is great but they should have targeted his re-signing much earlier in the the year

Yes I am really disappointed however, I think that we do not have a substitute of equal ability in-house at the moment. If we want to continue with our power game next year, I feel we need to recruit a hard nosed prop.

 

[BringTheNoise]

Disappointing. Packer is probably my favourite player.

However he has played well and earned a big contract. Glad he can give his family some security after a tough couple of years while he was locked up.

 

[Dorothy the Winowhore]

Vaughan's decision to remain follows the likes of Jack de Belin, Jacob Host, Blake Lawrie, Reece Robson, Luciano Leilua and Tyson Frizell re-signing with the Dragons in recent months.

They will be joined by Tariq Sims, Hame Sele, Josh Kerr, Leeson Ah Mau, Cameron McInnes and Joel Thompson at the Dragons beyond the 2017 season."

Yep, what a mess

 

[Gareth67]

Gm5 , I also thought that this had been announced quite sometime ago .

I saw the Fox Sports on tele and was wondering if they had meant Packer , but that is not the case . I do know for a fact that they had extended Vaughan's contract once already , so I am now somewhat confused as to exactly what is happening at the Dragons .

For the life of me , why would they ( Fox ) repeat old news ? Or are they still using the old bush telegram system ?
Then again whatever those fookers said would not surprise me .

 

[The Charlatan]

I do feel for Saints fans, we've seen our fair share of redemption stories go elsewhere (generally due to our boards incompetence more than anything,) so I know how much it sucks when you invest in a player only to have him let go or walk away.

Hopefully he continues his good form for us, your pack has been integral to the change in Dragon's fortunes this year.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

An overlooked part of the problem is that players want extra renumeration to be coached by McGregor.

Morris, Merrin, Marshall, Hunt, Widdop, and now Packer, just to name a few.

Good players will accept less PROVIDED they are coached well, It also doesn't help that the club's 'retention' team is utterly hopeless.

 

[borat]

Like most on here, I use my very best judgement.

Your judgement is flawed.

A Player agents' job is to get maximum contract value for their clients. As long as the Tigers big 4 contract saga continued any competing player or agent would be stupid to sign a deal that costs them money.

So long as Woods was on the market it was extremely unlikely that Packer was signing anywhere.

 

[Dragons4me]

What! The difference was one extra year and an extra 100k on the offer we tabled. The extra year, I don't see as a problem and the extra 100k is the loss of one fringe first grader - replaced by a junior.

Millward got played by Packer's manager because he does not have the skills to perform the tasks set for the job. What a mess, a Millward mess.

Whilst I usually respect your opinion and hold it in high regard, how do you know the specifics for sure?

 

[Dorothy the Winowhore]

I miss the days of possm repeating word for word what was said in the boardroom, or during negotiations.

 

[borat]

f**k Dugan and his manager for screwing this up for us.

It has nothing to do with Dugan other than coincidence.

Tigers have a huge war chest to sign players and they targeted Packer and offered overs to get him.

Dugan on the other hand has no other offers, bar the sharks deal if it eventuates

 

[possm]

An overlooked part of the problem is that players want extra renumeration to be coached by McGregor.

Morris, Merrin, Marshall, Hunt, Widdop, and now Packer, just to name a few.

Good players will accept less PROVIDED they are coached well, It also doesn't help that the club's 'retention' team is utterly hopeless.

Yes, what a mess. I hope we get a new coach and that the recruitment / pathways team reports to the new coach who then reports to the football committee who has the final say. It would be very hard for any coach to operate competently when the recruitment people are dictating selection decisions.

What a mess, players don't like a mess.

 

[possm]

I miss the days of possm repeating word for word what was said in the boardroom, or during negotiations.

Me too!

 

[SaintElroy]

Whilst I usually respect your opinion and hold it in high regard, how do you know the specifics for sure?

Possms whiteboard

 

[Dragons4me]

...And it blows me away at some of the comments on here concerning Packer. Been really great for us and along with Vaughan, laid the platform for what's been achieved so far. He's looking after himself and I don't blame him one bit. Also I'm not critical of Millward either. He's balancing a salary cap. There's going to be a lot of good players looking for a contract across all clubs once this silly salary season finishes. Not every player can land a million dollar contract. I also remember some less than complementary comments on here about McInness and Vaughan and others when they signed with us. Where are they now?

 

[Gm5]

• The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (the club breached the NRL cap by $81,965 in 2016).

Given the breach was self-reported by the club, which has subsequently upgraded its governance structure, the NRL has imposed a fine of 75 per cent of the breach amount ($61,474).



We should have offered packer the extra 100k then reported it later on

 

[BankstownDragon]

Ive said this a few times before and ill say it again:
Millward is a idiot.

If you ever meet him, ask a question other than "how was your weekend ?" Then youll know what I mean.

His role entails more than crunching numbers and keeping our cap compliant, it needs personality similar to a Business Development Mangager role in any firm.
You need to be able to sell a vision and capture the hearts and minds of the players IMHO.
Unfortunately he cant F***kn tie his own shoes.

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

Ok, so the message is loud and clear.
Next time someone is on the outer and is crying out for a second chance, we should kick them when they are down and tell them to f--k off.

Packers new nickname now come into play.

Ok, Moving on .....