The Rumours Thread

[getsmarty]

https://archive.md/roNar

Thanks

 

[BIG RIG]

We need to go after a fullback with the Ramsey money, I would go after Charlie Staines. Solid body, tons of speed and not getting a go at the tigers. He can also cover the wing spot. Good to punt on him as he has strong upside

Currently out with a major stomach injury

 

[dungay dragon]

Currently out with a major stomach injury

Blake Taffe ....

 

[Lethal25]

Blake Taffe ....

Blake plays reasonably well but this club needs much more than than someone of his calibre. They need to be thinking bigger and start making calls to get rid of some of the current squad even if under contract.

Personally I'd start with moving Jack Bird on. He gets caught out in defence most games and has brain explosions giving away dumb penalties.

Francis Molo, happy for him to find a new club. Been underwhelming to say the least. Billy Burns, no thanks. Does Murdoch Masila play first grade at the majority of clubs, I doubt it. Move him on. Obvious one, Mbye goodbye. Lomax is getting involvements and yes he scored a try from a kick last night, but at the money he's earning he is delivering nowhere near enough. Tass from Souths at maybe half the money playing around the same level if not better. Fuimaono with his injury is a massive risk and only a fringe first grader regardless, can't keep. The Feagai twins, I'm not sure with these guys. Moments from Mat have been good but overall I'm not sold.

You have to wonder how we've managed to even spend the cap, we are bargain bin hunters but paying some of these guys as if they're top tier. Holding onto some of these players in my opinion makes a rebuild almost impossible

 

[Centralcoastdragon2]

Sadly we have to be very careful who we move on because nobody is knocking down our door to join us. Those that do will be chasing the $. This is regardless of who the coach ends up being.

 

[Victoire]

Tass from Souths at maybe half the money playing around the same level if not better.

This would be a great pick up. Put him at left centre and Moses Suli in the left edge backrower.

As far as fullback goes... Taaffe is a no from me and Charlie Staines is a hell no. Either go for Jack Welsby or stick with Sloan. No point scrounging for scraps - leave that in the Anthony Griffin era. Same with Kyle Flanagan btw... it's not Moneyball, it's buying the fish John West rejects

 

[RedVee_8]

This would be a great pick up. Put him at left centre and Moses Suli in the left edge backrower.

As far as fullback goes... Taaffe is a no from me and Charlie Staines is a hell no. Either go for Jack Welsby or stick with Sloan. No point scrounging for scraps - leave that in the Anthony Griffin era. Same with Kyle Flanagan btw... it's not Moneyball, it's buying the fish John West rejects

Can’t replace a bloke with ulcerative colitis (?) with another with a perforated bowel. Asking for trouble there.
Also I think Staines is more a winger than a fullback. At first grade lever at least.

 

[Lethal25]

Sadly we have to be very careful who we move on because nobody is knocking down our door to join us. Those that do will be chasing the $. This is regardless of who the coach ends up being.

It's not like we can drop any further down the ladder. You will get players and hopefully ones who are looking to make the most of an opportunity. Current players with well known names are getting paid way too much on what they deliver. Bird, Lomax & Molo in particular

If the club can get some more support around Hunt, De Belin, Sua, Liddle & Suli things can get better. In my opinion these guys are consistent with effort and earn their dollars

 

[Parko1310]

Lachie Miller is a fullback on the outer. You've got to feel a little hard done by if you're him. Started the season pretty well and gets dropped because Ponga isn't a 5/8th like everyone on the planet bar himself and Adam O'Brien were aware of. He was brought there to play fullback in first grade because of the Ponga positional change, now he doesn't have that chance. He's nothing special, but has speed, doesn't get rag dolled and is pretty safe under the high ball. Can kick goals too. His level of play also provides competition with Sloan for a position, rather than just shutting him right out. Make Sloan work for it again.

On players like Bird, they desperately need to be moved on. If Flanno is the coach though, well he's more likely to get an upgrade than a release. He's obsessed with Jack Bird. Bird will become the new Norman with Flanno, so that's something you've got to be prepared for.

In terms of forwards, wasn't it heavily rumoured on here before the start of the season Flanno had landed Taniela Paseka? He's been great for Manly this year, and with Flanno leaving as Manly's assistant (possibly), maybe the Paseka deal ends up coming through a year later.

 

[possm]

Blake plays reasonably well but this club needs much more than than someone of his calibre. They need to be thinking bigger and start making calls to get rid of some of the current squad even if under contract.

Personally I'd start with moving Jack Bird on. He gets caught out in defence most games and has brain explosions giving away dumb penalties.

Francis Molo, happy for him to find a new club. Been underwhelming to say the least. Billy Burns, no thanks. Does Murdoch Masila play first grade at the majority of clubs, I doubt it. Move him on. Obvious one, Mbye goodbye. Lomax is getting involvements and yes he scored a try from a kick last night, but at the money he's earning he is delivering nowhere near enough. Tass from Souths at maybe half the money playing around the same level if not better. Fuimaono with his injury is a massive risk and only a fringe first grader regardless, can't keep. The Feagai twins, I'm not sure with these guys. Moments from Mat have been good but overall I'm not sold.

You have to wonder how we've managed to even spend the cap, we are bargain bin hunters but paying some of these guys as if they're top tier. Holding onto some of these players in my opinion makes a rebuild almost impossible

If players like Hunt and Bird want to move on, let them go but do not subsidize their current contract. It needs to be a clean break with no penalty to the Dragons.

Short term we should be looking to bolster our pack with a top level hoker and a couple of top-level props.

We also need to pay attention to the quality of our spine, 1, 6, 7, 9. Sloan is not the answer at fullback and if Hunt stays, he should play hooker. I hope our new coach will test some of our young guns in the remaining rounds of the competition. Herring at 6, Sullivan at 7, with Hunt at 9. If we landed Hasler, then maybe Tom Turbo might be a possibility at the back.

We could give one of our young wingers a crack and rest Matt feagai. Lobb comes to mind as a young junior who may fill the bill.

If possible, we should hold on to:
2. Ravalawa
4. Suli
3. Lomax
6. Sloan
7. Sullivan
13. De Belin
12. Su'A
9. Hunt

Two marquee players and two cheapies in the spine would be cost-effective. "Sloan and Sullivan have good speed, passing games, and kicking games so, the new coach would concentrate on arranging for these two players to improve their defensive skills.

And if Hunt stays as a hooker, we really only need to sign a marquee fullback to complete our spine (Tom Turbo). However, if Hunt moves on we neet to offer top dollars for an SOO-level hooker.

The recruitment of two top-grade props and a top-grade edge forward should complete our top 17 sides of the roster.

 

[dungay dragon]

Lachie Miller is a fullback on the outer. You've got to feel a little hard done by if you're him. Started the season pretty well and gets dropped because Ponga isn't a 5/8th like everyone on the planet bar himself and Adam O'Brien were aware of. He was brought there to play fullback in first grade because of the Ponga positional change, now he doesn't have that chance. He's nothing special, but has speed, doesn't get rag dolled and is pretty safe under the high ball. Can kick goals too. His level of play also provides competition with Sloan for a position, rather than just shutting him right out. Make Sloan work for it again.

On players like Bird, they desperately need to be moved on. If Flanno is the coach though, well he's more likely to get an upgrade than a release. He's obsessed with Jack Bird. Bird will become the new Norman with Flanno, so that's something you've got to be prepared for.

In terms of forwards, wasn't it heavily rumoured on here before the start of the season Flanno had landed Taniela Paseka? He's been great for Manly this year, and with Flanno leaving as Manly's assistant (possibly), maybe the Paseka deal ends up coming through a year later.

Parko
Another McCain footballer,,,'Nothing Special "
Was going ok with Knights , then had absolute shocker last game
Paseka..Big Yes
Sloan..May need a break OR put him on the wing and introduce an out of form Feagai to the 2s Coach

 

[possm]

It's not like we can drop any further down the ladder. You will get players and hopefully ones who are looking to make the most of an opportunity. Current players with well known names are getting paid way too much on what they deliver. Bird, Lomax & Molo in particular

If the club can get some more support around Hunt, De Belin, Sua, Liddle & Suli things can get better. In my opinion these guys are consistent with effort and earn their dollars

For Lomax, a new coach, a better game plan, and a return to his former style of goal-kicking would be all he needs.

I could easily live without Bird and Molo in our 17.

 

[Parko1310]

Parko
Another McCain footballer,,,'Nothing Special "
Was going ok with Knights , then had absolute shocker last game
Paseka..Big Yes
Sloan..May need a break OR put him on the wing and introduce an out of form Feagai to the 2s Coach

By nothing special I just mean he's no out and out star. He's not going to play origin or anything like that. And with Sloan there, do we really want to waste money on an out and out star fullback and shut him out completely? When the main problems are in the forwards as well? That's where we need to spend money in my opinion.

I agree on Feagai, he's no where near his form of last year. Used to catch every ball that came to him and be a solid defender. Now he's seemed to unlearn catching and learnt racing in and out of the line for some reason. He needs a stint, but I won't give up on him by any means because of what I saw last year. Just needs to get back to killing the fundamentals of the game again.

The others in the forwards I'd be after are Shawn Blore and D. Saifiti. Both rumoured that their clubs are willing to let them go, plus Knights will probably be paying a chunk of Saifiti's wage.

 

[JubileeJeffro]

Starting to think Lomax is a backrower, never breaks the line, not quick, can jump.
He would be better on an edge running hard lines with the offload imo. We just look so slow across the park!!
After yesterday’s performance only Hunt and SuA would be of interest to other clubs starting 17

 

[TheRev]

We cant sign anyone until we sort the coach out unfortunately, but its a real shame because the season will be mostly over by the time we get Codys 2023 replacement. The positive maybe is that we can frontload that contract due to the short time left.. but then who knows, the NRL have put a lot of restrictions already.. they dont want to be seen giving us any 'advantage'.

 

[Dragonslayer]

We cant sign anyone until we sort the coach out unfortunately, but its a real shame because the season will be mostly over by the time we get Codys 2023 replacement. The positive maybe is that we can frontload that contract due to the short time left.. but then who knows, the NRL have put a lot of restrictions already.. they dont want to be seen giving us any 'advantage'.

Correct. Until the new coach has been sorted, there's no point saying who should or will or who should go.

Even those speculated by the media are probably as frustrated as us fans at the lack of results, but truth be known, who would pick them up on their current salary?

 

[CronullaSaint]

Can’t replace a bloke with ulcerative colitis (?) with another with a perforated bowel. Asking for trouble there.
Also I think Staines is more a winger than a fullback. At first grade lever at least.

Tristan Sailor would make a good full back.

 

[Old Timer]

Tristan Sailor would make a good full back.

Surely you are taking the piss here?

 

[BLM01]

Lachie Miller is a fullback on the outer. You've got to feel a little hard done by if you're him. Started the season pretty well and gets dropped because Ponga isn't a 5/8th like everyone on the planet bar himself and Adam O'Brien were aware of. He was brought there to play fullback in first grade because of the Ponga positional change, now he doesn't have that chance. He's nothing special, but has speed, doesn't get rag dolled and is pretty safe under the high ball. Can kick goals too. His level of play also provides competition with Sloan for a position, rather than just shutting him right out. Make Sloan work for it again.

On players like Bird, they desperately need to be moved on. If Flanno is the coach though, well he's more likely to get an upgrade than a release. He's obsessed with Jack Bird. Bird will become the new Norman with Flanno, so that's something you've got to be prepared for.

In terms of forwards, wasn't it heavily rumoured on here before the start of the season Flanno had landed Taniela Paseka? He's been great for Manly this year, and with Flanno leaving as Manly's assistant (possibly), maybe the Paseka deal ends up coming through a year later.

If Miller can kick goals he will do
We have the worst kicker out of 17 teams ATM
He can hardly land one from anywhere within 10 metres of the side line anymore
It puts us under more pressure than we already are scoring points and trying to get away from teams when we rarely do hit the lead
It is frustrating the hell out of me more than our one out attack

 

[dragon thomo]

Averillo Bulldogs is worth having a crack at. In the forwards there is Sorenson Penrith, Curran Warriors.
Just hope they hurry up with a coach so that club can look at players