Soward fires back on rumours

[TruSaint]

Cleary dumped Jennings and it paid dividends...

Kearney dumped Sandow (for mixed results)

Many coaches have sat a high paid player down and said your form isnt good enough and it generally works.

Soward will run against the nevilles and get some confidence.

He'll be back for finals!

Dubai, cant agree brother. Yes Sandow was dropped but that was after half a year of bludging. Jennings according to all reports was an attitude problem. I have yet to see Sowie bludge or shirt his workload. Not too many clubs would dump their marque player leading into the semis. Inglis spent much of early last year overwieght and a liability, Storm have lost 5 on the trot.. etc etc . Its a mistake and i feel for Jamie. Fein is great but not far off retirement, Jamie has a good 4-5 years left in him. As a final note, we all remember Hornby's form earlier? Was he dropped? BTW i like Benny .

 

[Happy Old Dragon]

I'm a big fan of Jamie.
he has been a HUGE part of our success overt the past 4 years.


Hope he can recover from the back injury (or whatever..?) and return next week.

Just watched the interview with Price on the Dragons site.
It was good to see Price say something positive about Jamie.

Up till now, his (price's) comments have been more veiled criticism than positive.

But to be fair, only Jamie and the coach really know what is going on.
Wish i knew.


Friday night - SFS.
Weekend - perhaps time to go see the cutters.

 

[Joey_dragons]

I think it's good for the dragons to come out and say Jamie is dumped as he's struggling with injuries and form. I'm sure he will recover from it and come back the great player he is and even a better player.

 

[TruSaint]

Happy, hope you are right.
Too much inuendo and BS floating around.
Anyone that forgets Jamies contribution to our success has a short memory.
Price as coach needs to show unity.

 

[TruSaint]

Joey is it injury or form. Big difference.

 

[Saint Angelo]

Ang, did he say "dumped" or "dropped" ? Missed the interview.

The ten news presenter started the segment saying that Jamie has been named to play for the cutters.
He said that the news came from the club just 15 mins earlier.

 

[PeterMudgee]

Whether Jamie Soward playing for the cutters proves to be right or wrong at least Steve Price is making the hard decisions, which is a great sign of a coach coming of age.
Look at Ivan Cleary with Luke Lewis, Bennett with Wally Lewis years ago.
Great coaches make tough decisions...... lets hope this was the right one.

 

[TheRev]

Too little too late in terms of making hard decisions, this stuff had to be sorted back in the 1st half of the season, it was mid july before Price started to get the team make-up right, and there is still speculation over what halves combination we would even run with if we did make finals..

Add to that if the rumours are true and Soward did walk out of training, then it wasnt even a hard decision, it was forced.

 

[TruSaint]

Cheers bro.

 

[TruSaint]

Pete, thats great in concept. To do it NOW when we are at such a delicate stage with our no 1 strike player, is BS. Sorry mate. If, my friend, you are correct and its a show of strength, our captain (love him) should have been dropped six weeks ago. Lets get serious... Sowie hasnt been at his best, but is still our X factor. As i mentioned on a different post, did Souths dump Inglis last year when he was nothing more than a passenger? No.

 

[Willow]

- What a bizarre news day, Mickey was spot on.. he has been dropped.

Mickey also named Soward on the bench.

Read too much into it, fooled once. Start backing Mickey, fool you both.

 

[TruSaint]

Rev............ I thought i was the only one. How can they dump Sowie after perserviring with Benny for long.

 

[hardbaby]

I would have preferred Fien to start in the halves with Soward on the bench. Fien deserves his spot. You can't ignore form. Especially when it is in the area that has f**ked us all season. Then you could bring on Sowie and use Fien as the interchange hooker.

I think Tru Saint is right. The real problem is Hornby but Price won't and probably can't drop his captain so he has chosen a five eight that better suits the style he needs.

It probably wasn't the best decision but given the circumstances, it is not a bad decision.

 

[SaintArsenal]

Don't think I am for or against the decision but rather confused. I really haven't seen much difference between the halves in regards to form over the season. I fact, I would say that Soward's kicking game was quite important when we were relying on makeshift backlines with forwards filling positions.

If Soward has in fact been dropped then I think that also says a lot about the coaching teams opinion of the rest of the team i.e. most others are performing to acceptable level. The timing throws me as well. King not played much 1sts, Stanley out. So late in the season.

Good luck to Fien on Friday though. I'm not going to hold him accountable for the teams performance if it comes unstuck.

 

[USDragon]

I think it's a cop out from Price.
It looks more and more like the rumors are true that Price and Soward don't get along very well. If this is true, it's not a though decision for Price to drop Soward...it actually looks like he was waiting for it.

Dropping Hornby would have been the tough decision that could have made him as a coach....dropping Soward and putting Fien in there (who he has praised all season even when Fien was playing worse than Soward ever did) is a cop out..but may define Price as a coach.

Lately, Price has shown that he is not the smartest when under pressure (the last few press conferences are an example of that), he needs to learn quickly to deal with the pressure of a first-grade coach.

I have been on record supporting Price and wanted to give him every chance possible, but those chances are running out.

 

[TheRev]

Doesnt sound like a decision at all, if Soward walked out (whatever the reason) he had to be disciplined.

 

[Willow]

No one knows. Even in the USA.

 

[Ronnie Dobbs]

I just posted this in response to Massouds piece in the DT -

Josh, whats this got to do with his relationship with his coach? Muckraking rubbish as usual.

How's your relationship with your boss? I'd assume that if you tried to write something in a straight forward, non-sensationalist way, that didn't assist you to sell a rag that your boss would sideline you too.

Did you always aspire to grow up to be a gossip columist or did you just sell your soul for a job at the tabloids? Which part of the syllabus contains "Writing junk to entice raised emotions"? Can you name the Dragons "insider", or is it like the trash "a source close to the couple..." line that is fabricated for the ladies mags?

Anyone with half an idea of the game can see that Soward can't take the team forward. He hasn't been poor by any means - its simply a balance of the side equation that Price has to work out.

Why is it impossible for News hacks to just provide analysis on the great game?

Fair dinkum mate. You're not a bad writer. Take the Steve Mascord road and walk away from the joint with some dignity.

This won't get published of course. You mob are a joke.

And yes,I'm happy to give your employer a hit on their website to say it.

 

[Happy Old Dragon]

I think it's a cop out from Price.
It looks more and more like the rumors are true that Price and Soward don't get along very well. If this is true, it's not a though decision for Price to drop Soward...it actually looks like he was waiting for it.

Dropping Hornby would have been the tough decision that could have made him as a coach....dropping Soward and putting Fien in there (who he has praised all season even when Fien was playing worse than Soward ever did) is a cop out..but may define Price as a coach.

Lately, Price has shown that he is not the smartest when under pressure (the last few press conferences are an example of that), he needs to learn quickly to deal with the pressure of a first-grade coach.

I have been on record supporting Price and wanted to give him every chance possible, but those chances are running out.

Agreed with pretty well all of this.

I have been a supporter of Price as well, but this (situation) is very odd.

Bennet got the most out of Soward and he (Sowie) was instrumental to the team's consistent form and eventual GF victory.

But now... it seems Price can't properly manage Soward.

Well shape up SP.
Learn to manage the people.
Or move out!

Even his press conferences are annoying me.
Especially the Canberra game, when he said the RIGHT EDGE defence cost Saints the game (with that last minute Canberra try).
And who was on that edge?
Chase, Jamie and Daniel V.

Maybe I am letting it get to me...
the rumours. the innuendo. the recent actions (by the coach).

Put Jamie on the bench Friday night and I'll be happy!

Then again... if this turns out to be a master stroke by the coach, I'll have to come on board.

 

[TheRev]

ok the latest tele article helps a lot, though the personal feud will always be a mystery, but looks like Jamie was the one who asked to play reserves, for a chance to reclaim his position (link):

DRAGONS star Jamie Soward has demanded to play reserve grade for the Illawarra Cutters.

The shock move came after Dragons coach Steve Price refused to grant him an NRL recall for tonight's crucial clash against the Roosters.

A starter in all three games for NSW last year, Soward's 2012 fall from grace continued last night when he trained with NSW Cup feeder team Illawarra Cutters in Wollongong.

Instead of helping the Dragons keep their season alive at Allianz Stadium tonight, the 27-year-old will face Canberra's second-tier side, Mounties at WIN Stadium tomorrow.

He won't be the only big name to taste NSW Cup action, with Rabbitohs co-captain Roy Asotasi also confirmed to make his return from a pectoral tear with North Sydney.

Soward's return to the second tier, however, is the major talking point after a week of intense speculation over his relationship with Price.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal Soward approached Price on Wednesday about returning from back spasms that have sidelined him for two of the past three games.

Soward felt confident he would be fit enough to play, only to be told there was no place for him in the halves after last Friday night's comprehensive win over Melbourne.

With new combination Nathan Fien and Ben Hornby guiding St George Illawarra to one of their slickest attacking displays of the year, Price was reluctant to change a successful combination for tonight's must-win game.

But Soward did not want to sit out and demanded to play NSW Cup instead.

"Jamie did not want to make it look like he was hiding behind the back injury," a Dragons insider said.

"If Pricey wasn't going to put him in first grade, then he wanted to play reserve grade and just cop being dropped and get on with it."

Last week's omission saw speculation that Soward's back injury was being used to cover up the fact he'd been dropped. But on Wednesday the playmaker dismissed the claims.

"I'm not the kind of guy to fake it," Soward said. "If I'm not good enough to be in the team then I won't be in the team."



Price last night dismissed any suggestions of personal conflict that could lead to the former Rooster playing elsewhere in 2013.

"All the speculation and innuendo of what's been said concerning Jamie Soward has been total lies," Price told the club website.

"I can honestly say that I have a great working relationship with Jamie and I've been honest and upfront with him from the outset.

"We still have big plans with Jamie for our club going forward, but I made the decision with the best interests of the team that I stick with Ben Hornby and Nathan Fien this week."