Super Sub Flo

[RufusRex]

Any leadership that Flo brings is not making a difference above and beyond what is already there with the likes of JDB, Graham etc .. It is an epic straw clutch to justify the non-justifiable.

The starting lineup on the weekend had pretty close to 1500 NRL games experience with another 300 in AhMau/Latimore and another 200+ superleague games from Graham. So that is 2000 odd games of top flight rugby league. With just one player in our starting lineup with under 50 games, experience and leadership is not something we are lacking.

There is plenty to admire in what Flo has achieved but plenty to despise in his continual selection (this is on Mary not Flo).

 

[Rob Dragon]

TT, are you Mary's father; or are you in fact Mary in disguise? Come on mate give it up; because you're the only person outside of Mary who thought sending on a small old winger as a middle forward against a monster pack was a good idea.

 

[Gareth67]

It was in Tuesday's Telegraph sports about how Mary has been speaking to Nightingale about the change and how valuable a commodity he is . So apparently this bench position has been in the works for some time . Therefore it can only mean that we shall be seeing Nighty doing the same thing in future games .

As to the rest of the younger forwards , well who knows ? The only logic to this that at least would make some sense , would to have a much younger player who truly possessed speed and with that speed cut a tiring defence to pieces .

 

[Crush]

I don't mind nighty on the bench.
I'm glad to see Mann starting, I think he deserves a starting spot and hope he can find some consistency with more minutes, atm he's a bit all over the shop.
I like that Mary is trying new things, is Nighty to bench a masterstroke? Not sure, maybe it is.

 

[TRUE TRAGIC]

TT, are you Mary's father; or are you in fact Mary in disguise? Come on mate give it up; because you're the only person outside of Mary who thought sending on a small old winger as a middle forward against a monster pack was a good idea.

 

[Gareth67]

Crush , agree it is indeed a good thing to see that he is experimenting and hopefully these changes will bear fruit - if given the time . I realise that I have been critical of the man , but as they say - ' the proof of the pudding is in the eating ' .

He has the Dragons winning their matches and in 1 st place at the half-way point of the season - who would had thought ? In fact how many of us did say - " let's see how we are travelling after 15 rounds " well it shall be this weekend and by the looks of it he is going to steer the Dragons to another 2 competition points - as I said , who would had thought !

 

[TRUE TRAGIC]

I am not the only one who thinks Flo could be good coming on from the bench. Read other posts.
Once again your answer is sarcastic and insulting because some one has a different opinion to yours.
I was very critical of Mary in his first 2 years. However, i am starting to see he does in fact have a plan. Pundits are starting to say the Dragons model is a good model in terms of salary cap, purchase of players Contracts, culture and player management. Mary is a part of this.
I now think Mary deserves to be given a little leeway in regards to criticism.
Once again i say, we are on top of the comp, we are among the fittest teams in the comp, a few weeks back we were the benchmark team, Mary in his own way has given ISP players a taste of first grade. At the half way mark we are in good shape. There are 17teams who would love to be where we are at thisstage of the season

 

[Crush]

Crush , agree it is indeed a good thing to see that he is experimenting and hopefully these changes will bear fruit - if given the time . I realise that I have been critical of the man , but as they say - ' the proof of the pudding is in the eating ' .

He has the Dragons winning their matches and in 1 st place at the half-way point of the season - who would had thought ? In fact how many of us did say - " let's see how we are travelling after 15 rounds " well it shall be this weekend and by the looks of it he is going to steer the Dragons to another 2 competition points - as I said , who would had thought !

Yes so far so good.
You know what will be interesting is how we will go against Parra without Widdop, Graham and our origin boys backing up from Origin 2.
I think that will be fun to watch.
If all the boys back up it shouldn't be too bad. Maybe Mann into 5/8.
Who will be kicking goals? Lafai?

 

[Drag Queen]

I am not the only one who thinks Flo could be good coming on from the bench. Read other posts.
Once again your answer is sarcastic and insulting because some one has a different opinion to yours.
I was very critical of Mary in his first 2 years. However, i am starting to see he does in fact have a plan. Pundits are starting to say the Dragons model is a good model in terms of salary cap, purchase of players Contracts, culture and player management. Mary is a part of this.
I now think Mary deserves to be given a little leeway in regards to criticism.
Once again i say, we are on top of the comp, we are among the fittest teams in the comp, a few weeks back we were the benchmark team, Mary in his own way has given ISP players a taste of first grade. At the half way mark we are in good shape. There are 17teams who would love to be where we are at thisstage of the season

Mary has given the ISP a taste? You lost me right there!

 

[Crush]

I am not the only one who thinks Flo could be good coming on from the bench. Read other posts.
Once again your answer is sarcastic and insulting because some one has a different opinion to yours.
I was very critical of Mary in his first 2 years. However, i am starting to see he does in fact have a plan. Pundits are starting to say the Dragons model is a good model in terms of salary cap, purchase of players Contracts, culture and player management. Mary is a part of this.
I now think Mary deserves to be given a little leeway in regards to criticism.
Once again i say, we are on top of the comp, we are among the fittest teams in the comp, a few weeks back we were the benchmark team, Mary in his own way has given ISP players a taste of first grade. At the half way mark we are in good shape. There are 17teams who would love to be where we are at thisstage of the season

Nice post TT.
Just one thing though, when you say 17 teams would love to be in our position did you get your maths wrong? 15?

 

[Gareth67]

Yes so far so good.
You know what will be interesting is how we will go against Parra without Widdop, Graham and our origin boys backing up from Origin 2.
I think that will be fun to watch.
If all the boys back up it shouldn't be too bad. Maybe Mann into 5/8.
Who will be kicking goals? Lafai?

Yes it shall be , I am not expecting the best result , purely as there may be too hurdles to jump with this particular match - for the reasons that you have pointed out . Still the good thing about this shall be that the ISP bench players will certainly get a run and who knows , should they perform well then the Dragons may still be good enough to win .

 

[TRUE TRAGIC]

Nice post TT.
Just one thing though, when you say 17 teams would love to be in our position did you get your maths wrong? 15?

Sorry, my mistake - thanks.

 

[RufusRex]

Nah .. the bears and the crushers would also love to be in our position … Glebe too maybe.

 

[dragonssamy61]

Yes so far so good.
You know what will be interesting is how we will go against Parra without Widdop, Graham and our origin boys backing up from Origin 2.
I think that will be fun to watch.
If all the boys back up it shouldn't be too bad. Maybe Mann into 5/8.
Who will be kicking goals? Lafai?

Crush.
Re kicking.
If widdop and hunt are both rested.
I would say Nicholls will be at 7 kurt at 6.
If so nicholls will be the main kicker.
Borh lafai and mann practice kicking at training so maybe lafai as he has done it before at nrl level

 

[ouryears]

There have been many players who have had their roles changed by coaches over the years which have either extended their careers or have been a major benefit to the team.
Slippery Morris was a good example of this - half back to wing by Roy Masters, Steve rogers from fullback/centre to lock forward was another. James Graham told Mary this week he was a"team first " player when asked about the upcoming game against the dogs. So too is Flo. Jason Nightingale is a "Team first" player and will do what the coach asks and what is best for the team. Flo did a fantastic job when he came on against the Dogs. He will do this every time he comes on from the bench. Flo has been charging up the middle for several years giving the forwards a breather - that is the modern game. Just look at all the outside backs in other teams. They all do it. So, to think it was sad to see Flo do it is off the mark - he has been doing it for years and does it well. If the coach now thinks his best contribution to the team is from the bench in whatever position is required at the time I have no doubt Flo will give it his absolute best every time.
On the game against the Dogs - we won a tough game. If you look at the other games played over the weekend most were only won by small margins. This is a post Origin legacy. The Dogs have a big powerful pack. It was a forward battle which we won with players backing up from SOS.
We are leading the competition- life is not that bad. In fact, it is very good.
On another note, why do people on this forum feel the need to be personally insulting when someone has a different opinion. Rob the Dragon, I didn't have any beers, I also don't "need to go to bed now". I have been following the Dragons since1965. I have learnt over the years, in my roles as mentor and advisor ,you get the best out of people by encouraging, rewarding and praising openly. The best way to destroy an individual is to criticise them in front of their peers or in public.

Sending Nighty out to battle his way in the forward pack is stupidity and is further evidence of Marys lack of coaching IQ.

Of course Nighty is a guy who will give anything a go, great loyal club man.

But taking the occassional hit up as a winger is totally different to being in the middle with 120kg forwards hunting for you run after run and then getting the ball to run at them.

Come on, stop apologising for Mary's bullshit.

We needed an impact forward, not a wonderful club man out there to be potentially crippled.

Mary HAS TO GO.

 

[ouryears]

I am not the only one who thinks Flo could be good coming on from the bench. Read other posts.
Once again your answer is sarcastic and insulting because some one has a different opinion to yours.
I was very critical of Mary in his first 2 years. However, i am starting to see he does in fact have a plan. Pundits are starting to say the Dragons model is a good model in terms of salary cap, purchase of players Contracts, culture and player management. Mary is a part of this.
I now think Mary deserves to be given a little leeway in regards to criticism.
Once again i say, we are on top of the comp, we are among the fittest teams in the comp, a few weeks back we were the benchmark team, Mary in his own way has given ISP players a taste of first grade. At the half way mark we are in good shape. There are 17teams who would love to be where we are at thisstage of the season

So what's Mary's plan?

To have only 16 players to depend on?

No junior nurturing?

To put Nighty into the forward pack? Lol. Unbelievable.

He has been coach for 5 years, we should have 25 players we can trust for first grade.

He trusts 16.

Both top teams in Souths and Penrith put the sword through us.

He has achieved nothing.

If I am wrong you can blast me in September, till then, saying Mary is a success is laughable.

It's June, the past 3.5 years have been terrible. Nothing this year is gteed.

The fact our junior development is screwed and our bench is screwed tells me we are about to see the real truth.

 

[Datramp]

Those bagging Mann, remember he has not played that position since last year!

 

[Rob Dragon]

Hey TT, I hear that Steve Slippery Morris is coming out of retirement to play for us next year. He fits your and Mary's idea of a super-sub down to the tee. Old, slow and lightweight. Should be awesome. I understand the Burgess brothers at Souths are shitting themselves at the prospect. Jesse Bromwich has said he will retire rather than take on Nightingale and Morris in the middle of the park. No-one can find the Panther's forwards after they got the news and the young Bronco forwards are hiding in the shed as we speak.

Talk about a master-stroke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TRUE TRAGIC]

Hey TT, I hear that Steve Slippery Morris is coming out of retirement to play for us next year. He fits your and Mary's idea of a super-sub down to the tee. Old, slow and lightweight. Should be awesome. I understand the Burgess brothers at Souths are shitting themselves at the prospect. Jesse Bromwich has said he will retire rather than take on Nightingale and Morris in the middle of the park. No-one can find the Panther's forwards after they got the news and the young Bronco forwards are hiding in the shed as we speak.

Talk about a master-stroke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the Dragons lose every week by record scores. Mary is sacked. You are over the moon because we had a massive fail and you have earned massive bragging rights - YOU PREDICTED WE WOULD FAIL AND YOU WERE RIGHT. Doust ends up on the dole. The support team go into therapy. The stars are back in alignment as the once great Dragons are on the brink of being thrown out of the NRL.

 

[The Damo]

Sending Nighty out to battle his way in the forward pack is stupidity and is further evidence of Marys lack of coaching IQ.

Of course Nighty is a guy who will give anything a go, great loyal club man.

But taking the occassional hit up as a winger is totally different to being in the middle with 120kg forwards hunting for you run after run and then getting the ball to run at them.

Come on, stop apologising for Mary's bullshit.

We needed an impact forward, not a wonderful club man out there to be potentially crippled.

Mary HAS TO GO.

Potentially crippled? OH MY GOD, HE’S TRYING TO KILL NIGHTY! HE MUST BE STOPPED!!!

Nighty made 9 tackles at 100% efficiency
4 runs, 10 post contact metres, broke 1 tackle and averaged 3 seconds to play the ball - faster than anyone else in the middle of the field, plus Mann and Widdop.
I don’t think it’s a great idea either, but I think he’ll survive.