The Big Questions

[imported_youngie]

I'd just like to canvass opinions on some big questions for next year, state what you think and why please.

1) If Brett Kimmorley becomes available should we sign him after recent events?

2) Will Shaun Timmins be anything like the player he was before his injury?

3) Where do you<u> honestly</u> think we will finish next year?

4) Who will be our best player, most improved and new star of the year, next year?

5) What can we do to address our problems with the judiciary?

That'll do for now I guess, big questions I know, they deserve some big opinions.

 

[imported_Saint_Benny1]

1. if he is seeking legal action against us and the NRL my understanding would be if he salary cap exempt we would sign him though i don't want him as i think we have enough players to cover half
2. only god knows that answer- i hope so but he'll probley lose abit of speed and agility and have to move into forwards
3. have the team to be in top 4, will probley finish lower half of top 8 and then anything is possible
4. best player will be Luke Bailey
most improved player will be Amos roberts after his eye surgery
and new start will either be Ben Ross or reece simmonds depending on who is given a shot
5. not do anything wrong, we've got rid of smith and barto and only thing i guess is to also get rid of jim hal

 

[Willow]

1) If Brett Kimmorley becomes available should we sign him after recent events?
No. Sorry, but he had his chance. Costs too much and has shown himself not to be interested in the team.

2) Will Shaun Timmins be anything like the player he was before his injury?
Too hard to say. I rate him very highlybut expect that he'll have a slow start. He'll ceeratinly be keen.

3) Where do you<u> honestly</u> think we will finish next year?
1st

4) Who will be our best player, most improved and new star of the year, next year?
Best: Luke Bailey and Jason Ryles; Most improved: Amos Roberts (if he gets his eyes done, gets a start and plays on the wing); New Star(s): Aaron Gorrell and Reece Simmonds.

5) What can we do to address our problems with the judiciary?
Should be better next year (I hope). Team discipline is important and that will have to addressed....but it seems that Jim Hall lost more than a bit of support towards the end of the season.

 

[imported_youngie]

I've got to answer these.........didn't think of that before

1) I think that we should definately not sign Kimmorley. I thought we probably shouldn't have signed him before, but now that he has started legal action partially against the club he should never play for us. I hope he can't pick up a club in Australia.

2) Sadly I don't think that Timmins will be the player he was, I just hope he can still be a consistent first grader. My feeling is that after such huge problems with his knee then his rep football career is over. I hope he proves me wrong.

3) Barring injury and suspension I honestly think that we will finish in the top 4. We have the team to do it, and anything less will be bitterly dissapointing.

4) Best: Trent Barrett. He had a fairly quite season this year I feel, as he tried to do too much. With a more stable line up and strong forward leadership by Ryles and Bailey I think we will see the best football Barrett has ever played.
Most Improved: Willie Peters, he'll prove a few doubters wrong in 2002.
Rising Star: After the 1st Division grand final I'd think Aaron Gorrell or Reece Simmonds, depending on how much of a run they get in thefirst grade team.

5) I think that if we show more discipline overall throughout our team then our dismal judiciary record should improve. No more hot-headed Bartrim and Treacy incidents should help this, along with the removal of our biggest target in Smith. IF we are going to win the comp then ourdiscipline is one of the most important things we need to improve, along with our defence and kicking game.
If this doesn't work then we'll have to get Jim Hall fired.....

 

[imported_youngie]

Exactly how bad are Amos Roberts eyes? they must be fairly bad if the surgery will make such a huge improvement. Maybe that's why he let Sailor run right by him in the semi, didn't see him.....

I don't have the world's best eyes, but I wear contact lenses when I'm playing. I've had a few knocked out in games but overall very few problems. Does anybody know why Amos doesn't just wear contacts??

An improved Amos in attack would be devestating, an improved amos in defence would get him up to average haha. He goes alright, and I think he'd be better on the wing with Simmonds playing fullback. That's as long as Simmonds can make the grade, but I think he probably can.

 

[Willow]

I don't know youngie except that I heard it needs to be corrected by surgery.
I'm guessing but I always assumed that it wasn't something which wasn't simply solved by wearing contacts..
Amos Roberts has shown enough to suggest that he a much better player than he was over the last season. I agree that he has the potential to be quite devastating in attack. IMO, he really must be on the wing and given free rein (with Simmonds at fullback). Can you imagine both Blacklock and Roberts coming infield at different times?

 

[imported_Saint_Benny1]

all i know is that it had something to do with lighting and he could hardly see at night so thats why he stuffed up so much at the back considering we played 18 night games to my recall
so if its fixed all he needs to do is work on defence and positional p[lay
though i want him on wing or at half and simmonds at fullback
some ppl can't put in contacts!

 

[imported_SaintDoc]

1) If Brett Kimmorley becomes available should we sign him after recent events?

Only if our contribution to his ridiculous pay-packet is $300,000 a year or less. I won't say NO because if you can find me a better half at our club I'll....do something wacky!

2) Will Shaun Timmins be anything like the player he was before his injury?

Yes. I believe he will play centre in every game that he starts. He will come back well.
3) Where do you honestly think we will finish next year?

5th after regular season, make it at least to the grand final qualifier - but we might have to wait another year for the big one.
4) Who will be our best player, most improved and new star of the year, next year?

Best player: Trent Barrett
Most improved: Matt Cooper
New star of the year: Aaron Gorrell

5) What can we do to address our problems with the judiciary?
Our problems are over. Smith and Barto (whether it was their fault or not) were the big trouble makers (Along with Barrett - who stupid!). I also saw Hart as a hot head and he's gone. Our only major problems could be Ryles or Jim Hall vendetta

 

[imported_youngie]

Benny and Willow, fair enough it could lead to a big improvement then. Amos and Blacklock on the wings would be devestating, I'd also be interested to have a look at Amos playing at Half.
Did Roberts play any junior football at either of these positions or has he always been a fullback?

Saint Doc: I understand that Kimmorley is a decent player, but how can we use a player who has sued the club and created media furore?? I just can't see how a player who started legal action against the club can play for us.
Also, do you think there is a genuine possibility of him signing for that amount??

Hope the hsc is going well mate.

 

[imported_SaintDoc]

Youngie - I understand what you're saying. But I'm still not convinced that Peter Doust wasn't the brains behind the industrial action.
Let's look at this objectively. We want Kimmorley. He wants to play for us. Gaz and Ryles play Test football and suddenly there's no money in the till.
The only possible way we could sign him is for significantly less - so much less that Kimmorley wouldn't consider that amount as his worth (thats where $300,000 came from).
So we put the idea into his head that he should try and get the rest of the money made up from payments by the NRL and Eagles. It's a definate possibility.
Sam Ayoub (his manager) has said on a number of occasions "He will DEFINATELY be playing in the NRL next year." He has categorically ruled out England as a possibility....
How can this be so? Not a single club is interested in him. Some deals are going on behind closed doors somewhere!!!

Hope the exams are going well for you too. English wasn't too bad I didnt think. Supposed to be studying for PDHPE now - but I figure this message board is related to Physical Activity...kind of! So its all good

 

[imported_youngie]

Well put St Doc that does make some sense. A scenario such as that could very well be occurring.

But do you really feel good about our club being involved in back door dealings that could result in the salary cap being removed? a move that could very well destroy our game.

I am normally very proud of the way Saint George handles itself in terms of helping the game be the best it can be. If we really are in league with Kimmorley here we are basically stuffing up the game, that would be terrible.

I would lose a lot of respect for Saint George in that instance.

 

[dasher]

1) If Brett Kimmorley becomes available should we sign him after recent events? i really dont think that we should, he is not good for the game, being a money-hungry (more so than most) fringe rep player. He would also want to change the way that the dragons play to suit his game, which shouldnt be our choice

2) Will Shaun Timmins be anything like the player he was before his injury?
i really hope he is, i read in an article that he said he was goin to be playing centres next year, and noone has approached him about playing in the forwards. If he can get most of his skill back i reckon he will 'surprise' a few ppl...

3) Where do you<u> honestly</u> think we will finish next year?
in regular season i reckon we can finish atleast top5, hopefully top3. finals will depend on how our team is fairing at the time, with a fully fit team we are able to beat any side on our day, but whether we do it or not is another thing...

4) Who will be our best player, most improved and new star of the year, next year?
-best player will most likely be barrett, who will be looking to consolidate an avg season this year, with a top form one next year, anyone have any idea on who is going to be captain at this stage?
-most improved will be whoever we decide to put in permanently at halfback, for us to have a good season, this has to be the place where we have most improvement
-best new star will be gorrell, who will make a great pairing for riddell in the hooking role, he is a real talent, and is also a goal kicker (isnt he??) so wil be a great asset.

5) What can we do to address our problems with the judiciary?
our problems should be over now that our chief morons (although i really liked him as a player, he had a lot of brain explosions and gave away a lot of penalties...) bartrim and treacy. without smiththere to be targeted, it will be interesting to see if hall picks on another innocent dragons player...

 

[imported_youngie]

Dasher: Aaron Gorrell is a goal kicker. It was him who landed the difficult penalty goal in the First Division Grand Final Qualifier that put the game into extra time, paving the way for our win through to the Grand Final.
In regards to the captaincy I don't think anything is set in stone yet, but it should be either Barrett or Thompson. I think it should be Barrett as he will gain valuable experience on his way to possibly captaining the Blues and the Kangaroos.

Something I just though of: Everyone has been talking about our loss of playing experience but we have also lost considerable coaching experience. I am not sure on the level of coaching experience Michael Potter hasbut it will be Nathan Browns' first coaching role when he takes the reins in our Flegg team next year. Our new coaches have a wealth of playing experience but will it translate to them being good coaches?? I'm not too worried, they both seem bright blokes that know their footy. But we have lost a wealth of experience at all levels this year.

 

[imported_Noodles]

1) If Brett Kimmorley becomes available should we sign him after recent events? Before all the legal action, i thought he'd be exactly what the club needs. As a player he'd be good for the team, but as a person I'm not too sure. We need a top class half if we are to go anywhere

2) Will Shaun Timmins be anything like the player he was before his injury?
It would be great if he was, him and Gasnier would be a great centres pair, but I think he will more likely become a lock forward.

3) Where do you<u> honestly</u> think we will finish next year?
I'm not sure that we will have a better team next season. I reckon a top 8 but not really a contender - mind you I though the same about the Knights this year so don't listen to me !

4) Who will be our best player, most improved and new star of the year, next year?
Ryles will go on to bigger things next year. I reckon he'll beome our main man - with Barrett not too far behind.
I'd love to see how Amos would go at half, he could become a big improver playing there, and Reece Simmonds at Fullback will be our new star.

5) What can we do to address our problems with the judiciary?
The style of game we play will mean that we will occaisionally have troubles. But trouble with the judiciary is all part of the fun of being a Dragons supporter I reckon.