Sharks game

[Gareth67]

I don’t have any disagreement with any comments thus far.

without ‘boring the forum’ I note again that you have to have the cattle.

Yes, coaches have an influence but not as much as put forward in m opinion. Cameron Ciraldo is a good coach. His win loss ratio is 50%. That will improve because Phil Gould is buying up players Burton, Kickau, Chricton etc. Now has the new best thing Galvin. Bellamy has the greatest win/loss at around 68 % from memory and has never left Melbourne with the big 3rd party dollars and signing and keeping top players.

IMO had Gareth Widdop and Tariq Simms not have been injured in our late finals run in 2018 we would have won the comp. Lost both when thrashing Broncos in semi. We had a very good team. The maligned Mary would have been a premiership coach.

My point, no matter who is coach you need top class players and we haven’t been able to recruit them for quite a while.

Your last paragraph is the problem in the proverbial ‘ nutshell ‘ . The Dragons simply do not have the quality players necessary to match the top sides .

Our roster most unfortunately is rather bare on the big name players that constantly steer clear of the club . We are unable to attract them to St.George Illawarra , the reasons are many and varied , however without the big name players the Dragons will continue to struggle against the more elite clubs of the competition - sad , but true .

As to last nights dismal performance , there are really no excuses as each member of the team is a professional rugby league player who have been playing the game for many years . They are fully aware of just what is expected of them - they are not school boys , their training facilities are on par with other clubs as is the attacking and defensive disciplines .

Many are receiving good money , but most regrettably are not performing . It would seem that our hopes now rest with the younger crop of players that are coming through , at least they have the capacity to learn and therefore gain experience unlike the staid , set - in -their ways of some of the older players .

Rant over .

 

[matPORTS]

I can't disagree with the majority of the commentary going on these forums right now.

Three of the biggest issues in recent weeks that have hampered us and caused things to unravel:

Egan injury - he was going great guns and the biggest disappointment of all will be that he is losing crucial game time & the miles in the legs during these early stages of his development.

Su'a injury - given the turnover we've had in the pack alongside the juniors coming up + having to carry a bunch of plodders he's our forward leader and luckily we will get him back after the bye fingers crossed.

Tuipolotu injury/re-injury - we seriously lack size & grunt out wide. He is definitely a starting winger and as long as they're fit I'd be bringing Allan or Finau in on the other wing before Sloan, Feagai or Lawson... hell could we make Tuipolotu & Tsougranis our right side and Suli w/ Holmes pushing to the wing on the left? Sloan & Lawson especially aren't going to cut the mustard looking at our draw to the end of the season. What about Ben Rumble potentially? I know it will be difficult for Cody Ramsey to get a shot for all the reasons we know but it's very hard to continue ignoring the elephant in the room here. Surely there are more sizeable options than Sloan & Lawson for our wing spots?

Other observations:

Toby Couchman needs to go back into the front row rotation as soon as possible.

Surely, and despite our injuries, there is a better back-row starting option than Leilua in the club?

Kyle Flanagan - long kicking game non-existent. Ilias needs to come back in purely on this aspect alone, not to mention to see how he would combine with LKT (and he has some good off the ball things about him as well in particular his defence). Unfortunately the coach ain't dropping his son.

Assistant Coaches, Backroom Staff, Recruitment & Retention - I stick by Flanno as the man for the job, but he needs to go in a different direction in terms of his assistants for 2026 and beyond. We need a change of mindset in both our attacking & defensive structures. Likewise he needs to be clear with the board & CEO about what's needed from a recruitment standpoint, so that we land the players we need to fill gaps (I feel we have done a good job with retention and wrapping up our juniors for the next few years). Finally, he needs to move his son on.

Our juniors - we are really at a crucial point now as a club. We've wrapped up what we hope are the best guys to lead the pack in the coming years (Couchman x 2, Egan, LPT, Stewart, Halangahu, Liu, etc). There isn't a lot of "top quality" forwards on the market right now (Payne Haas ain't leaving Brisbane), and at best we might be able to attract a solid first grader or two from outside. So we're relying heavily on our juniors to develop and lead the way. I really hope these guys succeed, otherwise we are well & truly screwed !

 

[Gomarchin]

"You can watch it": Flanagan blasts Atkins over baffling call

Were the Dragons robbed by this call?

www.zerotackle.com

Excuses.

 

[CronullaSaint]

Excuses.

Agree it is an excuse. It went against us, but that happens all the time to all teams. We were just rolled over. Completely smashed in the second half. It was like the sharks were back 5 m when defending and we were back 15m.

 

[JubileeJeffro]

Out of last night it would be fair to say Lawson, Sloan and Kyle are not first grade standard. Luc I think also is a bench impact not a starter. Agree Couchman also seems better suited to the front row than out wide. We desperately need metre making front rowers, and a half with a kicking game..but can’t see that likely until 2026.

 

[RedV11]

Excuses.

He's gone with the McGregor path saying they scored a try from a kick

 

[I'm Hornby]

Agree it is an excuse. It went against us, but that happens all the time to all teams. We were just rolled over. Completely smashed in the second half. It was like the sharks were back 5 m when defending and we were back 15m.

If we get the ball back off the kick we probably just do some more one up runs and Kyle gets tackled with the ball on the last tackle, definitely didn't cost us the game in the same way the poor coaching and playing group did.

 

[Sloan Ranger]

I hate to be negative but we are f*cked. The whole thing is going to die. And when it does I'll never watch rugby league again. And, seeing as it's a grossly commercialised parody of the game I grew up with maybe it's for the best.

First off, Beath was one of my favourite players as a kid.

You wrote what I was thinking but I tried to make it sound a little less dire.

 

[slippery5]

Is it just me, or does anyone else notice that JDB is the only one that runs into the defencive line with leg speed? Unlike that useless, ill effective, lunge at the defenceive line, that Klemmers possesses. It allows the defence to hold him up, allowing them to reset their defenceive line. All this is happening while he "appears" to be gaining some post meters, instead of just hitting the ground & getting a quick play the ball so we can attack them on the back foot.
PS.
I'm pretty sure this is what has been said about him when he was at the Knights.

 

[Ruby Roundhouse]

we suck

 

[Illusion]

we suck

And our season is over and out ....... Like I have said before , Coach has no answers ........ Lucky the Sharks played like Shit or it would have been another 50 ...........

 

[jeffdragon]

well if it comes down to recruitment then blame the f**king board and out non existent recruitment manager .. We swang and missed!! Not for the lack of trying!

Lack of depth??
Mate we’ve lost 5 forwards who were in our 17 last year .
- R couchman
-BMM
- Eisenhuth
- Molo
-Sele (until last night )

On the wing 2 players who were in out 17 last year

- CT
- Feagai (who is f**king better than Sloan which is soooo bad to say)

Add that to Toby. Sua Egan being injured at times

How much f**king depth do you want

Faegai makes mistakes also.
BMM was used sparingly last year.
Eisenhuth was a worker but not flashy
Signed Klemmer because shown the door at Tigers.
Sele has been very injury prone and not wanted by Souths.
The others fair enough.
When was the last time we won the race to a prize signature.
All knew we would struggle in the halves and forwards.

Lost our two players to other clubs.
Signed 3 but so far only Gutho has been very good.

Just craved for success with the club.
It's been too long.

 

[jeffdragon]

And our season is over and out ....... Like I have said before , Coach has no answers ........ Lucky the Sharks played like Shit or it would have been another 50 ...........

As fans our season lasts only half as we are done by this time which I hate.
Last year we stuffed it up.
Felt good to be in contention.
Seriously it seems impossible to make the 8 for us.

Raiders and Wahs have similar teams to last year and look at them.
We are going backwards..

 

[InFlannoWeTrust]

Faegai makes mistakes also.
BMM was used sparingly last year.
Eisenhuth was a worker but not flashy
Signed Klemmer because shown the door at Tigers.
Sele has been very injury prone and not wanted by Souths.
The others fair enough.
When was the last time we won the race to a prize signature.
All knew we would struggle in the halves and forwards.

Lost our two players to other clubs.
Signed 3 but so far only Gutho has been very good.

Just craved for success with the club.
It's been too long.

Totally agree regarding not landing a big blow. But I think this all comes not wanting to come to a club which hasn’t seen success in 10 years. But can’t bag current staff for past mistake. We’re definitely swinging! Just hope one hits

 

[jeffdragon]

J

Totally agree regarding not landing a big blow. But I think this all comes not wanting to come to a club which hasn’t seen success in 10 years. But can’t bag current staff for past mistake. We’re definitely swinging! Just hope one hits

Just the same board.

Tigers managed to sign some good players

Cheers.

 

[Gareth67]

I hate to be negative but we are f*cked. The whole thing is going to die. And when it does I'll never watch rugby league again. And, seeing as it's a grossly commercialised parody of the game I grew up with maybe it's for the best.

There is an upside though Big Bad Barry - it will add years to your life !

However you are correct when you say that it - the game is indeed grossly over commercialised . NRL matches , both men and womens matches, pre - season , First Nation v Māori and don’t forget Las Vegas , followed by the regular season and of course the S.O.O. Series .

Wow , big , big revenue dollars pouring into the governing body coffers .

Every hour of the day of every week one will see NRL commercials appearing on the tele and the bastards are too dam lousy to replay the G.Final the day after - we must buy the bloody ‘ product ‘ on DVD !

However I am off track slightly here , blaming the NRL for the Dragon’s dismal display , the boys have a hell of a lot of soul searching to do and the coach needs to discover an antidote so as to rectify their lack lustre performances so as to save the teams season .

 

[Dragon David]

There is an upside though Big Bad Barry - it will add years to your life !

However you are correct when you say that it - the game is indeed grossly over commercialised . NRL matches , both men and womens matches, pre - season , First Nation v Māori and don’t forget Las Vegas , followed by the regular season and of course the S.O.O. Series .

Wow , big , big revenue dollars pouring into the governing body coffers .

Every hour of the day of every week one will see NRL commercials appearing on the tele and the bastards are too dam lousy to replay the G.Final the day after - we must buy the bloody ‘ product ‘ on DVD !

However I am off track slightly here , blaming the NRL on the Dragon’s dismal display , the boys have a hell of a lot of soul searching to do and the coach needs to discover an antidote so as to rectify their lack lustre performances so as to save the teams season .

.....and when the Bears and PNG start playing in the NRL, whoopee doo more commercialisation and more TV coverage and more moolah for the TV Stations and of course the NRL and ARL. They could have a game on each week day and two games on Saturday and Sunday, a full weeks worth of NRL, then of course there is the women's comp and several KOE Cup games so if you are a deadset fan of league, you are gonna luv it!! Ethel not only will have to mow the grass for you Gareth but also do the dusting and vacuuming and cooking and laundering. She's gonna be a busy woman is Ethel!!

 

[denis preston]

I hate to be negative but we are f*cked. The whole thing is going to die. And when it does I'll never watch rugby league again. And, seeing as it's a grossly commercialised parody of the game I grew up with maybe it's for the best.

For a bloke that doesn’t like to be negative, you are doing an excellent job !!

 

[maestro1]

Your last paragraph is the problem in the proverbial ‘ nutshell ‘ . The Dragons simply do not have the quality players necessary to match the top sides .

Our roster most unfortunately is rather bare on the big name players that constantly steer clear of the club . We are unable to attract them to St.George Illawarra , the reasons are many and varied , however without the big name players the Dragons will continue to struggle against the more elite clubs of the competition - sad , but true .

As to last nights dismal performance , there are really no excuses as each member of the team is a professional rugby league player who have been playing the game for many years . They are fully aware of just what is expected of them - they are not school boys , their training facilities are on par with other clubs as is the attacking and defensive disciplines .

Many are receiving good money , but most regrettably are not performing . It would seem that our hopes now rest with the younger crop of players that are coming through , at least they have the capacity to learn and therefore gain experience unlike the staid , set - in -their ways of some of the older players .

Rant over .

Anybody who thinks that our squad is better than 14 other squads has no fxcking idea. It is a bottom 3 squad on paper at best, if not last. There is a reason we were chosen by nearly every expert to run last.......add in the loss of RCouch, FMolo, Eisenhuth, Sele, CT, Sua, Egan, Feargai, BMM, for prolonged periods and the fact that we have had to debut Egan, Stewart, LPT, Lawson, Tsougranis all before mid season. Plus, expect a young and inexperienced TCouch to be one of our main middles for all season thus far is a huge ask. I'm sure Flanno wishes he didnt have to expect so much, so early from TCouch, Hamish Stewart, Egan and LokoPT. We were already struggling for wingers and Feargai and CT who started on the wings, gave hardly played and Sloan really hasn't developed as a winger as hoped. Allan is coming back from a season out, plays well and then gets injured again. Lawson is still in his embryonic stage of Rugby League and NRL. Our halves by necessity have been Ilias, KFlann and LKT.....Ilias has surprisingly struggled, KFlann has tried his guts out but just isn't suited to being the main playmaker and he is hardly a kicker. LKT is showing exciting promise, but is in the embryonic stage of his career. So to summarise.....
+ we started with a roster that is probably 17th
+ lost FMolo, Eisenhuth, Sele and BMM from our middles rotation before a ball had been kicked. And then lost their replacement in Guler for a long suspension.
+ Lost RCouch in round 1 for the season
+ Lost ChristianT, Feargai and Allan from our wing stocks
+ Forced to debut 5 kids, 3 of them in the engine rooms.
+ Had to rely on kids TCouch, Egan, HamishS, LokoPT to become hardened NRL forwards, seconds after debuting.
+ Lost Egan for the season.
+ Required Suli and Sua to play busted for most of the early parts of the season.
+ had to be Steered around by an extremely inexperienced halves trio in KFlann, LKT and Ilias.
NOTE: It is hardly ideal to debut 5 kids in 15 rounds. It usually benefits you in coming season, but I can't remember any team ever having a successful season when they were forced to debut 5 players and there is talk of a couple more. I dont think there is a coach anywhere that could take this roster, deal with the lengthy losses of so many in that squad, debut 5 kids and succeed. I'm not one for excuses, but these are facts not excuses. Yet a fortnight ago, we sat in the 8, lost 3 games by a point (3 that we scored the same or more tries than the opposition). Had a positive for and against. We turned up for season 2025 in a mustard coloured Datsun 180B whilst our opposition arrived in silver Porsches, red Ferraris and black Lamborghini's. But before we arrived at the starting grid, our mustard Datsun 180B lost wheel and blew a head gasket.
All this and I haven't even mentioned the clangers from the officials that regularly fxck us. The short kick-offs clanger being the latest and the reaming we cop for 6 agains. They were 3 nil against the sharks and most games we get reamed by the 6 agains.

 

[saintmar]

Anybody who thinks that our squad is better than 14 other squads has no fxcking idea. It is a bottom 3 squad on paper at best, if not last. There is a reason we were chosen by nearly every expert to run last.......add in the loss of RCouch, FMolo, Eisenhuth, Sele, CT, Sua, Egan, Feargai, BMM, for prolonged periods and the fact that we have had to debut Egan, Stewart, LPT, Lawson, Tsougranis all before mid season. Plus, expect a young and inexperienced TCouch to be one of our main middles for all season thus far is a huge ask. I'm sure Flanno wishes he didnt have to expect so much, so early from TCouch, Hamish Stewart, Egan and LokoPT. We were already struggling for wingers and Feargai and CT who started on the wings, gave hardly played and Sloan really hasn't developed as a winger as hoped. Allan is coming back from a season out, plays well and then gets injured again. Lawson is still in his embryonic stage of Rugby League and NRL. Our halves by necessity have been Ilias, KFlann and LKT.....Ilias has surprisingly struggled, KFlann has tried his guts out but just isn't suited to being the main playmaker and he is hardly a kicker. LKT is showing exciting promise, but is in the embryonic stage of his career. So to summarise.....
+ we started with a roster that is probably 17th
+ lost FMolo, Eisenhuth, Sele and BMM from our middles rotation before a ball had been kicked. And then lost their replacement in Guler for a long suspension.
+ Lost RCouch in round 1 for the season
+ Lost ChristianT, Feargai and Allan from our wing stocks
+ Forced to debut 5 kids, 3 of them in the engine rooms.
+ Had to rely on kids TCouch, Egan, HamishS, LokoPT to become hardened NRL forwards, seconds after debuting.
+ Lost Egan for the season.
+ Required Suli and Sua to play busted for most of the early parts of the season.
+ had to be Steered around by an extremely inexperienced halves trio in KFlann, LKT and Ilias.
NOTE: It is hardly ideal to debut 5 kids in 15 rounds. It usually benefits you in coming season, but I can't remember any team ever having a successful season when they were forced to debut 5 players and there is talk of a couple more. I dont think there is a coach anywhere that could take this roster, deal with the lengthy losses of so many in that squad, debut 5 kids and succeed. I'm not one for excuses, but these are facts not excuses. Yet a fortnight ago, we sat in the 8, lost 3 games by a point (3 that we scored the same or more tries than the opposition). Had a positive for and against. We turned up for season 2025 in a mustard coloured Datsun 180B whilst our opposition arrived in silver Porsches, red Ferraris and black Lamborghini's. But before we arrived at the starting grid, our mustard Datsun 180B lost wheel and blew a head gasket.
All this and I haven't even mentioned the clangers from the officials that regularly fxck us. The short kick-offs clanger being the latest and the reaming we cop for 6 agains. They were 3 nil against the sharks and most games we get reamed by the 6 agains.

Wow every Excuse in the book except for the obvious one
It won’t be long now