Sack Griffin

[BBTB]

Good post!
Prime example is our club prided itself on giving a 29 year old journeyman winger his NRL debut.
Other teams throw a 19 year old kid on the wing with speed to burn and take the risk with confidence.

Would rather see Sloane get a start on the wing.

 

[Draginzaaar]

Totally agree mate, you cant put your finger on anyone and say he would suite the Dragons or he can change the Dragons. You know I look at Cleary and think are you really a good coach or are you now in a place where there is a vast amount of talent and you cant go wrong, because he wasnt much chop at the Tigers, now he's a world beater. Certainly a dilemma we are in and it wont change in a hurry.

So good teams don't need a coach?

 

[justadragon]

Zac Woolford goes alright too and is off contract next year. Maybe we can get him over as a rookie rather than waiting to sign him when he is a has been like we did with his old man.

I agree that we get an experienced rake, but we must put young Muhliesen in the team as a 14. That is a future must or we will suffer the same way we did with Robson.

 

[Draginzaaar]

The game against the Cowboys was a genuine test case. Both teams were crap when the current coaches took up their positions - effectively at the same point in time. This year the Cowboys are clearly cohesive, committed, fit and focused. Their coach has laser-like intensity and it is very obvious that performance standards are firmly established. Saints are the exact opposite. If Hook doesn’t wield the ax and absolutely galvanise this squad following this debacle performance, which followed a full fortnight to train and prepare, then he will have proven himself to be not up to the task.

The Dragons board may have put 'must be picked each week' clauses in these old blokes' contracts?

 

[justadragon]

So good teams don't need a coach?

Absolutely they do but it certainly helps with the vast amount of talent coming out of penrith. Surely you can see the difference between Cleary at the Tigers and Cleary at the panthers

 

[True_Believer]

Hahahahahaha how are those positive changes turning out for you? We fielded the oldest, dumbest team in NRL history last night. All at the behest of one Anthony Griffin.

I mean that just says it all about the trajectory of this club. It was perfect game for Sullivan in the 13 and Sloan to the wing.

Coach couldn't find room for young Sullivan but brought old AM on when the game was already gone. How's your forward movement going? The experienced players were among the worst offenders in a winnable game in which we completely had a string of brain explosions so what does the experience equate to.

Base your judgements in some fact rather than getting on your high horse and telling others to give him time. The Cowboys have given Payten the exact same time. Look at what is possible from a equally weak starting point.

You clearly are blinded by an unintelligible belief in the process of a dud coach. Just because he is not Mary doesn't make him decent. You get your kicks at refuting the obvious and calling me out as an impatient and critical supporter. Give it a couple months you will start changing your tune and this time next year you will be ruing another lost season.

My god. You just can't let it go can you? You have to feel like you're right and return with a childish "I told you so" post. Can't accept that someone has a different opinion to you. I still haven't changed my mind and no amount of ranting from you is going to change that.

I see a bigger picture. You can't. That's fine. Grow up and move on.

 

[BBTB]

I agree that we get an experienced rake, but we must put young Muhliesen in the team as a 14. That is a future must or we will suffer the same way we did with Robson.

Bring Muhleisen in now.Been watching him since the trials.
Deserves his chance.
Muhleisen 9
Bud 7
Hunt 6
Ramsey 1
Sloane 5

 

[Illusion]

Bring Muhleisen in now.Been watching him since the trials.
Deserves his chance.
Muhleisen 9
Bud 7
Hunt 6
Ramsey 1
Sloane 5

Try anything its obvious that its not working .....

 

[BBTB]

Bring Muhleisen in now.Been watching him since the trials.
Deserves his chance.
Muhleisen 9
Bud 7
Hunt 6
Ramsey 1
Sloane 5

Who and the f.ck is picking our team? Week in & week out. Because who ever it is,they don't have a clue.
Last weeks bench was a disgrace. McCullough, Woods. Two broken down,hacks.

 

[Dragon David]

I agree that we get an experienced rake, but we must put young Muhliesen in the team as a 14. That is a future must or we will suffer the same way we did with Robson.

My thoughts exactly justa.

 

[Jeremy Dragon]

Dragons are run by dinosaurs, such a pity to watch your own junior ripping it against you Reece Robson was never afforded opportunity playing second fiddle and the same wil happen with Sloan with Sullivan and many others til the dinosaurs are removed from power

Robson is a sharks junior.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

How do we remove these dinosaurs?

I believe a large meteorite is the accepted method.

 

[justadragon]

Robson is a sharks junior.

Unfortunately we had Cam McInness who eventually nailed us but it was too late because Robson was picked up by the Cows and we got left holding the bag. Another recruitment and retention fiasco.

 

[Mojo]

I believe a large meteorite is the accepted method.

a nuclear winter

 

[BLM01]

My god. You just can't let it go can you? You have to feel like you're right and return with a childish "I told you so" post. Can't accept that someone has a different opinion to you. I still haven't changed my mind and no amount of ranting from you is going to change that.

I see a bigger picture. You can't. That's fine. Grow up and move on.

Yes a few on here (admittedly we were sloppy in defence and attack on Friday night) are not giving enough credit to the Cowboys defence which i think is close to the best in the comp ATM
You would think we are the worst side ever to set foot on a football field in 1st grade..fed dinkum
Yes we need improvement and some are out of form and maybe should be dropped but I still saw a lot of trying out there but tired players with execution down

 

[True_Believer]

I'm not a part of the Lynch mob quite yet but I agree that any coach, be it Hook or anyone that has been named to replace him will struggle with our team until we get one who is going to set clear standards with the playing group and start holding players accountable for their shit performances on field.

Our only coach since the turn of the century who set standards for our players to live up to and engrained this in to our team's culture was Bennett. All the others have been too scared to challenge the playing group for whatever reason. This has impacted our overall performance and success as our players think they can coast and pick up their big dollars every week with no repercussions. This spreads like a cancer to our new signings as well. Bird tried his guts out when he came back to the club for example and this year he looks and plays like he couldn't give two shits.

We're verging on the need for a clean out of the playing group that coaches like Brian Smith and Ricky Stuart have done in the past with different teams, in my view that is what is needed now.

Yes we all know the problems that stem from management but in my view, having 17 players understanding the privilege of playing this sport professionally and wanting to win and be successful is something that the coaching staff and players themselves can fix.

I was excited when Hook was appointed as he was the old school disciplinarian from outside our system that we all hoped would have the qualities needed in our next coach, as I eluded to in the gameday thread today it now remains to be seen whether he will live up to these expectations or not.

So I live in hope that the day is now for Hook to apply a giant boot up the ass of the playing group.

I think this all stems from a couple of key issues:

1. You need players in the lower grades putting pressure on the first grade for the players to feel like their positions are under threat. I don't think we have that happening as much as we would like. We are still trying to foster competition between positions. Some are there, but others still need work. Kody and Tyrell I think is an example of where it's working. The forwards is a massive gap at the moment. I see us as actively working on this.

2. We haven't had the KOE for a full 2 years prior to this year. Many of the younger players really haven't had exposure to that step up in intensity or consistent game time in the lower grades. This gap in lower grades highlights the lack of coordination we've had in previous years. If we had been doing a good job of this prior to the 2020 cancellation of the KOE cup, we may not have seen ourselves in the current predicament where we are still trying to develop players that potentially should have already been capable of the transition. This not only works for the KOE cup but all grades. There is A LOT of work to do here and unfortunately is going to take time.

3. I think the old brigade is a stop gap to buy time to work on the first 2 points. If you look at the roster, you'll see there are a fair few of the experienced signings only signed for this year and will be leaving at the end of the year. There will still be a handful remaining but unless we can sign some good quality players in the meantime, we'll need to keep them on to ensure we're building in the lower grades. AM cops it deluxe on here and I agree that he isn't the long term future. But, we do have a significant hole in our hooker stocks at the moment. Conner will hopefully get his chance but given the position, spending some time going through rigours of week in week out game time in KOE will put him in good stead for the step up. But that then leaves a hole in our KOE and further down - hence the pathways and lower grade structures playing a role.

As I've said elsewhere, this isn't just about the first grade team. It's about building that structure all the way down which we've failed to do previously. We've bought well in a few positions this year but there is still work to do to build competition for those positions going forward. It's alright to say "throw this player in here now" but unless you have those structures in place you are potentially throwing players in too early without adequate preparation, breeding indifference or hoping for short term success. None of which makes us an attractive club to play for or ensures we are entrenched in the top 8 every year.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Flanagan is at the Saints, appoint him as interim. Too easy. There should be no big financial loss with this change seeing Flanno is at the club in some capacity and I am sure he would jump at the opportunity to resurrect his career. Give him till the end of the season to see if there is any improvement. Nothing to lose at all.

Just like Hooks reluctance to drop out of form players from Qld like he did Mr Corey Norman, he is doing the same with this old brigade. Sad to say this but Mary would be doing a far better job than Hook with this squad. With a fully fit squad Mary did have Saints playing some decent footy. Losing JDB was a huge turning point for him. This footy is back to the Steve Price days. There is nothing in attack just bash and barge and hope for the best. They are dreadful to watch. How many times are Saints going to get tackled on the last because they have no attack. That is scary and the discipline? wow, nothing has changed, still making dumb errors and that is from senior experienced players. I would rather see that from a junior as you know they may learn from it where as a senior player? They are just plain ignorant.

 

[Number of the Beath]

I think this all stems from a couple of key issues:

Post of the year! A really succinct analysis of the situation.
I just hope that you are right and that this kind of thinking is operating behind the scenes at the club rather than the way it appears - that we buy plodders and journeymen cos we can't attract better players to the club or sit on our hands while people like Nicho Hynes come onto the open market.

 

[True_Believer]

Post of the year! A really succinct analysis of the situation.
I just hope that you are right and that this kind of thinking is operating behind the scenes at the club rather than the way it appears - that we buy plodders and journeymen cos we can't attract better players to the club or sit on our hands while people like Nicho Hynes come onto the open market.

I think there's still an element of buying plodders because that's all we can get. But the fact we've signed the Molo brothers, Sua and Suli shows that we are capable of enticing quality players to the club and can turn that around. There is also the issue with player availability. Sometimes that's all that's available. Additionally we're not as attractive as other clubs at the moment so unless we want to pay overs, sometimes we are going to miss out.

And the whole "money ball" thing that has been spoken about tells me that even if we are signing players at the end of their career, we're getting them at discount rates and not warping the cap. And we're only signing them for short contracts. We don't see them as long term prospects, we're filling gaps while we work on the rest of the structures and in the meantime we get some experience to help out the younger blokes.

Unfortunately I feel we will continue to see some of this occurring going forward until we can position ourselves better in the market and have that junior pathways humming. I think Flanno will be a huge influence in that position. My concern is that we won't be able to keep him in there if he gets offered a coaching role elsewhere.

 

[possm]

My god. You just can't let it go can you? You have to feel like you're right and return with a childish "I told you so" post. Can't accept that someone has a different opinion to you. I still haven't changed my mind and no amount of ranting from you is going to change that.

I see a bigger picture. You can't. That's fine. Grow up and move on.

I worry about the Boards big picture:
Leave Griffin as the coach through till the end of 2023, and then hire Dean Young on a five-year deal.