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possm

Coach
Messages
15,592
I reckon Millward has been very good at his job.
I trust his judgement.
CC
Even though we often differ on many subjects concern our Club, I always repect the direct way you present your opinion. On this occasion I have the opposite view.

It seems that these days, if an official is an average performer at our Club, then he is a super hero.

In my view if Millward was up the recruitment and pathways performances of his counter parts at the Roosters, Storm, Cowboys and other top sides, your opinion may in my mind be justified.

Instead of losing Packer, we need to keep him and add Graham to improve our prop rotation.

On losing Dugan, we should have at least bid for Tedesco and really tried to win that signature.

Yes we signed Hunt but not at a special below market price like some of the top sides do.

Now we have an imbalance in our forwards where we have great depth in the backrow but are lacking one first grade prop to round off our prop rotation. We need an additional FIRST GRADE prop if we are serious about competing for a top 4 spot in 2018.

We have plenty of 'potential' in our young up-coming outside backs however, as it stands the likely round one backline will lack speed and has already been found wanting over the past two seasons. Surely when all seemed lost last year, when Dugan was out, when Aitken was out and when Lafai's form dropped, we should have been throwing our young 'potentials' into our backline to give them a taste of first grade and gage their suitability for 2018. Mary has to share blame for this part of the problem but this just highlights the ridicules policy and structure of having recruitment/pathways operation separately and apart from the coaching staff.

I'm sure if Bennett, Hasler or Madge was in charge:

  1. There would be no Millward acting outside of the coaching staff.
  2. Aitken and either Dufty or Field would not have been extended.
  3. Macdonald and McCrone would have spent most of the year in the Cutters.
  4. Mann would have been at 6 with Widdop at 7.
  5. We would have most probably had 4 forwards on the bench.
  6. Our potential players would have been tested.
.
 

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
DRAGONS

Off contract: None

2018 Gains: James Graham (Bulldogs), Ben Hunt (Broncos), Jeremy Latimore (Sharks), Darren Nicholls (Panthers), Mitchell Allgood (Wakefield), Ash Nisbet (Tigers)

2018 Losses: Josh Dugan (Sharks), Will Matthews (Titans), Josh McCrone (Toronto), Taane Milne (Tigers), Russell Packer (Tigers), Levi Dodd (Townsville), Kalifa Faifai Loa (Townsville), Jacob Hind (Sunshine Coast until 2018), Drew Hutchison (Leigh), Yaw Kiti Glymin (not re-signed), Jake Marketo (rugby), Siliva Havili (Raiders)

Re-Signed: Euan Aitken (2020), Jack de Belin (2020), Jacob Host (2020), Tim Lafai (2020), Blake Lawrie (2019), Kurt Mann (2019), Jason Nightingale (2018), Tristan Sailor (2019), Paul Vaughan (2021), Gareth Widdop (2021), Jackson Ford (2020), Cameron McInnes (2021)

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...i/news-story/c25ae4bdf8b84e9bfb4d2909b8158784
 

possm

Coach
Messages
15,592
Millward is doing a great job.
He is the least of our worries.
Our main problems are management and coaching.
Not recruitment

Ian Millward occupying a job for the boys outside of the normal coaching structure would be a major road block for the Club when trying to attract a decent coach. I'm sure those power brokers who don't want change at the Club are aware of this and happy with this however, until a change to this and many other problems are made, we will never progress.

In my opinion Millward has done nothing more than a professional recruitment officer would do. At the Dragons we have little empires built for and by old boy factions..
 

dragonssamy61

First Grade
Messages
5,549
Ian Millward occupying a job for the boys outside of the normal coaching structure would be a major road block for the Club when trying to attract a decent coach. I'm sure those power brokers who don't want change at the Club are aware of this and happy with this however, until a change to this and many other problems are made, we will never progress.

In my opinion Millward has done nothing more than a professional recruitment officer would do. At the Dragons we have little empires built for and by old boy factions..

Millward and the recruitment team are not the problem.
I do not agree with you.
Our roster is good and getting stronger.
I do agree that doust and mary are problems.
Management is the problem not recruitment.
Imo.
 
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Dragon Revival

Juniors
Messages
1,603
I am okay with the roster as long as the backline gets sorted out. Surely McGregor, Hornby, Coyne and Head can sort this out as it is an embarrassment especially the defence.
 

Dragonslayer

First Grade
Messages
7,703
Millward and the recruitment team are not the problem.
I do not agree with you.
Our roster is good and geting stronger.
I do agree that doust and mary are problems.
Management is the problem not recruitment.
Imo.

This is correct dragonssamy.
It has to be remembered too thaf Millward was originally an assistant coach under McGregor and the fact was that McGregor wanted a say in ALL recruitement. As he couldn't handle the responsibility of coach and recruitement it was taken off him.
And yes he is doing the role of a professional recruiter and has made some tough calls (Dugan and Packer come to mind), got pen to paper on securing the majority of our spine (Hunt, Widdop and McInnes), secured contracts for our most promising juniors and kept us under the cap with probably some room to move if we need to in 2018.
Just because we aren't after Walmsley or a few other "high profile" players doesn't mean he isnt doing his job.
The pathways for juniors is clear and peogression for a young Dragon to become a lifetime Dragon is laid out plain and simple.
Constantly signing "outside" players only blocks career paths, to which they will leave to seek opportunities elsewhere, then, of course, people would complain that he isnt doing his job retaining our youth.
Its like not seeing the forest for the trees.
 

jak

Bench
Messages
3,068
This is correct dragonssamy.
It has to be remembered too thaf Millward was originally an assistant coach under McGregor and the fact was that McGregor wanted a say in ALL recruitement. As he couldn't handle the responsibility of coach and recruitement it was taken off him.
And yes he is doing the role of a professional recruiter and has made some tough calls (Dugan and Packer come to mind), got pen to paper on securing the majority of our spine (Hunt, Widdop and McInnes), secured contracts for our most promising juniors and kept us under the cap with probably some room to move if we need to in 2018.
Just because we aren't after Walmsley or a few other "high profile" players doesn't mean he isnt doing his job.
The pathways for juniors is clear and peogression for a young Dragon to become a lifetime Dragon is laid out plain and simple.
Constantly signing "outside" players only blocks career paths, to which they will leave to seek opportunities elsewhere, then, of course, people would complain that he isnt doing his job retaining our youth.
Its like not seeing the forest for the trees.
well said.
 

Como Connection

First Grade
Messages
5,935
This is correct dragonssamy.
It has to be remembered too thaf Millward was originally an assistant coach under McGregor and the fact was that McGregor wanted a say in ALL recruitement. As he couldn't handle the responsibility of coach and recruitement it was taken off him.
And yes he is doing the role of a professional recruiter and has made some tough calls (Dugan and Packer come to mind), got pen to paper on securing the majority of our spine (Hunt, Widdop and McInnes), secured contracts for our most promising juniors and kept us under the cap with probably some room to move if we need to in 2018.
Just because we aren't after Walmsley or a few other "high profile" players doesn't mean he isnt doing his job.
The pathways for juniors is clear and peogression for a young Dragon to become a lifetime Dragon is laid out plain and simple.
Constantly signing "outside" players only blocks career paths, to which they will leave to seek opportunities elsewhere, then, of course, people would complain that he isnt doing his job retaining our youth.
Its like not seeing the forest for the trees.
Agree, he's going fine.
The least of our problems.
CC
 

2010

Bench
Messages
3,490
2018 is going to be the year that will determine our roster for the years after that.
Saints future is bound tightly with our Juniors. They will be the building block for our team.
Of course there needs to be a plan to transition those Juniors to first grade. Our coaches need to make this happen. If not we will never be a contender for a top 4 side.
Just wish we had JD as our coach. He has the runs on the board. I just hope our club handles this transustion, its a worry that our coaches don't screw things up
 
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