Ryan Webb

[randomdragon]

Great to see him respond to your email in constructive way. After this week I have massive concerns about Ryan and the appointment of Griffin as a coach.

A good CEO would have known that attempting to sign Folou was going to create a massive controversy. That would damage the Dragons brand and potentially cost members and sponsors. The club was already dealing with enough issues (Jack and Cam). For the club to pull out of the chase so quickly shows the backlash was clearly a surprise to them. What an utter PR disaster.

Griffin has a history of liking racist tweets and now trying to sign a guy with homophobic views. I'm not sure he is the dinosaur we need leading the club.

would you of preferred Brian Johnston or doust? I think not

 

[Forster Dragon]

He is having a go and is commended for his attitude and acknowledging the fact we have a long way to go in order to be a blue ribbon club.
Always going to be hard with our disfunctional board.

 

[be55]

Great to see him respond to your email in constructive way. After this week I have massive concerns about Ryan and the appointment of Griffin as a coach.

A good CEO would have known that attempting to sign Folou was going to create a massive controversy. That would damage the Dragons brand and potentially cost members and sponsors. The club was already dealing with enough issues (Jack and Cam). For the club to pull out of the chase so quickly shows the backlash was clearly a surprise to them. What an utter PR disaster.

Griffin has a history of liking racist tweets and now trying to sign a guy with homophobic views. I'm not sure he is the dinosaur we need leading the club.

Hard to dispute any of what you say...

Personally i have been amazed as to the lack of criticism from Dragon supporters towards Griffin...Surely the decision not to make McInnes a priority signing and the idea to pursue Folau have come from Griffin himself...

I think a lot of people have the blinkers on when it comes to Griffin and see him as some sought of messiah and won't hear of any sought of criticism of him at all...

Decisions like recruiting a busted Bird and the other fringe first-graders he has, and the debacle of the last week, in my opinion are on Griffin, and i too am starting to feel that maybe the club should have gone in a different direction...

I'm sure that if McGregor has presided over any of these decisions then forum members would be going apeshit and with good reason...

I guess time will tell if this guy is the man to take us forward or if his appointment is just another misstep by a club that has a long history of bad decisions by management.

 

[FlameThrower]

The guy is going to improve the club as long as the board supports him.

We have a much better coaching staff.

Now we need a couple of top line experienced forwards to give the squad a hard edge.

We will struggle to avoid the spoon this year without better recruitment.

The club is asking a lot from a very young and inexperienced backline.

If ever there was a year where Benny Hunt had to turn up, this is the year.

Re Hunt, sorry to say he has never shown that so far, so I would not be too confident in that happening this year. If our other hope is Norman then we are doomed...

 

[Nich]

would you of preferred Brian Johnston or doust? I think not

No, just a capable CEO. I don't think that's to much to ask.

 

[Walpole]

Hard to dispute any of what you say...

Personally i have been amazed as to the lack of criticism from Dragon supporters towards Griffin...Surely the decision not to make McInnes a priority signing and the idea to pursue Folau have come from Griffin himself...

I think a lot of people have the blinkers on when it comes to Griffin and see him as some sought of messiah and won't hear of any sought of criticism of him at all...

Decisions like recruiting a busted Bird and the other fringe first-graders he has, and the debacle of the last week, in my opinion are on Griffin, and i too am starting to feel that maybe the club should have gone in a different direction...

I'm sure that if McGregor has presided over any of these decisions then forum members would be going apeshit and with good reason...

I guess time will tell if this guy is the man to take us forward or if his appointment is just another misstep by a club that has a long history of bad decisions by management.

Excellent points. We've all been hoping that Griffin was going to be a huge step up from McGregor but all evidence so far is that he's a lunatic as well.

 

[Crush]

I emailed Ryan today RE how I’m pleased with how the club is on an upwards trajectory and that I am happy with his overall decisions so far and added that we would love to get more content much like what knights/panthers do and he replied with this

Thanks for the note. It's nice to receive after what has been a hectic few days.
I do try to answer most emails I receive but this week has been overwhelming and I had to 'let many go through to the keeper'.
For me, I think as a club we need to keep pushing if we're going to be better. Whether it be coach, staff, Folau, Centre of Excellence or whatever, I want to make sure we plan well, execute at our best and then gradually the improvement will come. We won't win them all (eg. Folau) but we will keep trying. Right now I see us sitting behind the good clubs and that gap won't close (on field or off) unless we challenge ourselves.
Your comment on the social media engagement is very well timed as it is a focus for me. You'll see that the club is currently advertising for a videographer as I felt we needed a talented resource in this area. I'd expect them to start in March so hopefully once the season rolls around you'll start to see an improvement in our content.
Always appreciate feedback and suggestions, good or bad, as I'm only 10 months into this role and know there is plenty I need to learn.
Have a great weekend.
Ryan

What a disappointment.
He says chasing Folou was about trying to be better.
Oh dear.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Webb is has been great in his short time compared to what we have had in the past. Going for Falou shows some ambition for the club to get better by signing a class player (on his day this guy is second to none) unfortunately one with a lot of baggage. Previous CEO would not do such a thing. All they cared about was having a good image which got Saints nowhere really. I still have faith that they have something up their sleeve in regards to letting McInness go and that is Brandon Smith. Or it may be wishful thinking.

Doust cops plenty but he did bring in Bennett which has been the best move in 20+ years. Other clubs tried to bring him in and somehow Doust managed to do it. Unfortunately he did not keep him long enough.

 

[possm]

Hard to dispute any of what you say...

Personally i have been amazed as to the lack of criticism from Dragon supporters towards Griffin...Surely the decision not to make McInnes a priority signing and the idea to pursue Folau have come from Griffin himself...

I think a lot of people have the blinkers on when it comes to Griffin and see him as some sought of messiah and won't hear of any sought of criticism of him at all...

Decisions like recruiting a busted Bird and the other fringe first-graders he has, and the debacle of the last week, in my opinion are on Griffin, and i too am starting to feel that maybe the club should have gone in a different direction...

I'm sure that if McGregor has presided over any of these decisions then forum members would be going apeshit and with good reason...

I guess time will tell if this guy is the man to take us forward or if his appointment is just another misstep by a club that has a long history of bad decisions by management.

Griffin has a good CEO but second rate GM and recruitment officer. All our problems over the last week have been a recruitment/retention problem. I imagine the ground work done by Horan and Millward.

Behind closed doors both our CEO and Head Coach would be seething.

 

[ALSGI]

What a disappointment.
He says chasing Folou was about trying to be better.
Oh dear.

Yeah with hindsight he’s probably regretting that now and as a supporter I wont mind seeing some mistakes if the result is a better club.
Still willing to see how we go with the new guys (CEO, Coaches and Players) before I bag them.
We’ll know by August that’s only 6m away.

 

[be55]

Griffin has a good CEO but second rate GM and recruitment officer. All our problems over the last week have been a recruitment/retention problem. I imagine the ground work done by Horan and Millward.

Behind closed doors both our CEO and Head Coach would be seething.

Mate i'll ask you this question

Does Griffin strike you as the type of the bloke that would be dictated to by others when it comes to the direction of the team he is coaching or does he seem like the type that would demand full control over these things so he can shape his team into a side that can take him in the direction he wants to go in ?

By your comments you seem to think Griffin has no control over recruitment like Mary did at the end, and that Griffin would have been as shocked as all of us as to the events of the past week...

To say that I'm sceptical of that would be a MASSIVE understatement to say the least...

 

[possm]

Mate i'll ask you this question

Does Griffin strike you as the type of the bloke that would be dictated to by others when it comes to the direction of the team he is coaching or does he seem like the type that would demand full control over these things so he can shape his team into a side that can take him in the direction he wants to go in ?

By your comments you seem to think Griffin has no control over recruitment like Mary did at the end, and that Griffin would have been as shocked as all of us as to the events of the past week...

To say that I'm sceptical of that would be a MASSIVE understatement to say the least...

Griffin can't do it all on his own and I don't see him as a dictator either. He is the leader, will deliver to his staff his aims and strategies to get there and will take some good ideas from them along the way.

Now and again, especially at the beginning of the journey, Griffin will check that things are on track but he most definately won't be doing it all himself/

The situation we are in now is mainly due to poor recruitment and retention and yes the coaching of our current players would have much to do with their poor performance over the years.

But just as I am sure Norman won't be with us in 2022, I am also sure that if Hunt's contract was up he would also be gone. All Griffin can do is fire these two costly players up to play at the full potential. I am abosutely sure that he won't take any crap off any of our players during the season. If they don't perform or don't follow instructions, you can be sure they will be dropped to CC, no matter who they are.

 

[George Dragon]

Webb on Win

 

[denis preston]

Comes across like a bloke with no agender' s and very professional. Cant be easy dealing with 'the brain dead board.

 

[mickeylane]

This should clear things up a bit about the Folau handling by the CEO and board as reported by the clubs major sponsor.. the NRL has a lot to answer for https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nr...-folau-says-club-sponsor-20210213-p5728z.html

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

This should clear things up a bit about the Folau handling by the CEO and board as reported by the clubs major sponsor.. the NRL has a lot to answer for https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nr...-folau-says-club-sponsor-20210213-p5728z.html

No matter your opinion on Folau we need more sponsors like Norm Black that’s what I want to see, people in the trenches with us. We are going to be hammered by the media all year and how sweet it would be if we can punch above our weight.

 

[Dragons4me]

Yeah with hindsight he’s probably regretting that now and as a supporter I wont mind seeing some mistakes if the result is a better club.
Still willing to see how we go with the new guys (CEO, Coaches and Players) before I bag them.
We’ll know by August that’s only 6m away.

I think we're in for a bit of a tough year on the footy field. We're a couple of years off being a force once again but I'm looking forward to the positives that will happen. A Sullivan chip and chase to a try. A Lomax scoring a dynamic leap and regathered try and his fabulous goal kicking. A slip pass to a flying Dufty who baffles just about everyone on his way to the tryline. And so on......I'm looking forward to the ride!!

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Yes the NRL have a lot to answer for in the Folau matter. Abdo in particular comes across as vague and wishy washy. I still think Webb and the board were naive to think they could hire Folau without any backlash from the fans. Good on Norm Black for sticking up for the club.

 

[Dragon David]

This should clear things up a bit about the Folau handling by the CEO and board as reported by the clubs major sponsor.. the NRL has a lot to answer for https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nr...-folau-says-club-sponsor-20210213-p5728z.html

I am sure that the NRL has an agenda against the Dragons. For so long, I'm sure that others on the forum would agree, that there have been many issues whereby we appear to cop more negativity and less help from the NRL.

Just because we won 11 premierships in a row should not have them thinking that we have had our time and let us become minnows and put other clubs up on pedestals.

In my opinion we have not been fairly treated.

 

[Dragon David]

I think we're in for a bit of a tough year on the footy field. We're a couple of years off being a force once again but I'm looking forward to the positives that will happen. A Sullivan chip and chase to a try. A Lomax scoring a dynamic leap and regathered try and his fabulous goal kicking. A slip pass to a flying Dufty who baffles just about everyone on his way to the tryline. And so on......I'm looking forward to the ride!!

Yes I agree that it will take a year or so for us to be fully in our stride, however, I'm looking forward to seeing some exciting tries this year from our guys. Several exciting wins against top wins will make me happy.