The Rumours Thread

[Old Timer]

Am assuming everyone has been put on notice
That's why we are big hopes against the Tiges and Manly , both at home, following the Bye
Pressure for positions and to save your skin , is wonderful motivation to succeed and survive

Well lets see how that goes for us if Hunt is back on the field.

If he is I expect him to be either lifeless and barely involved thus leaving us a disorganised rabble
or
Hog all the ball and run cross field throwing flat passes to flat footed players whilst he looks for individual opportunities for himself.

 

[SEAT 1A]

Am assuming everyone has been put on notice
That's why we are big hopes against the Tiges and Manly , both at home, following the Bye
Pressure for positions and to save your skin , is wonderful motivation to succeed and survive

Flanno can't go to hard.

The players have been under Hook for two years and let's face it, it hasn't gone well. They are playing better footy with the some changes but you can't flog a dead horse and it's near the end of the season.

The only game they should win is the Tigers with anything else a bonus however, next year is a different story.

 

[dungay dragon]

Well lets see how that goes for us if Hunt is back on the field.

If he is I expect him to be either lifeless and barely involved thus leaving us a disorganised rabble
or
Hog all the ball and run cross field throwing flat passes to flat footed players whilst he looks for individual opportunities for himself.

Wasnt referring to Hunt
He is past tense
Personally wouldnt have him in the side
There appears more energy , esp Amone , without him

 

[Kilkenny]

The Ben Hunt fall from grace seems rather sad really.

From an outsider perspective he always seem to give his all and tried his guts out For the cause.

Obviously circumstances have changed, but he doesn’t strike me as the sort of person to turn his toes up and not put in.

I sort of understand the fan rejection so to speak when player asks for a release and everything around that but it is a rather sad end for a guy who for the most part was your best and most committed player. Shame really. But yes time to move on and hopefully use the cap space freed up wisely albeit quality halves are as rare as hens teeth.

 

[TheRev]

Hunt has to be our 7 now anyway.. so thats simplified things with Buds injury.. hopefully he does try atleast a little..

The other positive is Origin will be over, and we have the bye.. so hopefully we can sort out all the Tino/Fifita/Hunt stuff in the next 2 weeks.. or atleast get it to a point that its going to be an end of season thing and Hunt can stop focussing on it.

Also praying for Manly to miss the 8 (which I think is almost a sure thing), get Flanno a coupla weeks early.

 

[sammymills]

If what they saying on NRL 360 is true and we are letting Sullivan go this club is dumber than I thought. Sullivan in a swap for Flanagan are they serious? If we didn’t want Sullivan could’ve just released him and signed Toby sexton. We are going to release Sullivan and rekease hunt and have what, Flanagan and amone (who could still be going to jail) in the halves next year?

 

[Phantom V]

We know.

The Ben Hunt fall from grace seems rather sad really.

From an outsider perspective he always seem to give his all and tried his guts out For the cause.

Obviously circumstances have changed, but he doesn’t strike me as the sort of person to turn his toes up and not put in.

I sort of understand the fan rejection so to speak when player asks for a release and everything around that but it is a rather sad end for a guy who for the most part was your best and most committed player. Shame really. But yes time to move on and hopefully use the cap space freed up wisely albeit quality halves are as rare as hens teeth.

We know. The last quality half we had was a guy by the name of Gareth Widdop.

 

[thebigredv]

The Ben Hunt fall from grace seems rather sad really.

From an outsider perspective he always seem to give his all and tried his guts out For the cause.

Obviously circumstances have changed, but he doesn’t strike me as the sort of person to turn his toes up and not put in.

I sort of understand the fan rejection so to speak when player asks for a release and everything around that but it is a rather sad end for a guy who for the most part was your best and most committed player. Shame really. But yes time to move on and hopefully use the cap space freed up wisely albeit quality halves are as rare as hens teeth.

All I know is the Dragons fans are the big losers in all this. Many of us feel the frustration of not being able to abandon this rabble and hence our anger at Hunt.

Ben Hunt is a complex player in that he competes, puts his body on the line but he is quite particular about who he plays under and this dictates whether he really delivers his best on the field. He grew a leg when Hook came to the club but also clearly got other players not in his circle (Hook, McCullough, McGuire etc) offside and the disunity that has played out on the field has been upsetting and now has become a marker of our team and club. I watch each game through the gaps in my fingers, ashamed to see the jersey become cheapened. He is the best player, yes, but that's hardly much of a compliment when you look at the others around him.

The best thing, if there is a positive, is Hunt has shone the brightest light on how our club operates. The board are in charge of a club which clearly does not want to be the best. Fair enough to Ben for wanting to leave. Unfortunately though, whoever wants him can pay a hefty price for him because he is just about the only bargaining chip we have left.

Yes, the whole thing is very sad. 10 or 20 years ago I could have not imagined the club I love crumbling into the absolute slum it has become. Two captains in a row want to run away desperately in the name of having some association with success. As much has I have disgust for how Hunt has gone about this, just dumping all over the club he robbed blind; I do hope the legacy he leaves is the catalyst for major change at our currently dysfunctional and failing club.

 

[BLM01]

I doubt that too.

Our halves have been shit for a long time and delivered precious little decent let alone early ball to either our centres or our edge forwards thus we sit where we sit on the ladder.

Hook gone, Hunt out, fresh approach and Amone has his best attacking game in over 12 months and guess what our right side looked highly effective and Lomax excels.

All to easy for people to say the media article had some positive effect and far too difficult for some to admit how poor our halves have been and how exceedingly bad Hunt is at coordinating "team" play.

Hunt is a very stifling influence on our attack.

It was well reported that Flanno gave Lomax a nudge saying he was free to look elsewhere if he wanted out or come on his bus. This was about Lomax not the halves

 

[Dea]

Next NSW coach emerges as Flanno opens up on disgruntled Dragons duo — Extra Time

Next NSW coach emerges as Flanno opens up on disgruntled Dragons duo — Extra Time

www.foxsports.com.au

Flanagan being reported as wanting to work with Lomax and get more out of him, with fullback an option. Also taking the hard line with Hunt playing out his contract.

 

[baggygreen man]

Why would Tino come to Dragons for 800K?

He may consider it closely if we use our noggin and sign his little brother Isaac with him then offer him a DC or even Top 30. Tino is on record as saying he'd give anything to be playing together with his brother. Tino says Isaac has always been a better player than him, just needs the chance in the top grade to prove it.

 

[baggygreen man]

Next NSW coach emerges as Flanno opens up on disgruntled Dragons duo — Extra Time

Next NSW coach emerges as Flanno opens up on disgruntled Dragons duo — Extra Time

www.foxsports.com.au

Flanagan being reported as wanting to work with Lomax and get more out of him, with fullback an option. Also taking the hard line with Hunt playing out his contract.

So why did they not stick with Zac at fullback back then. Hats off Flanno for seeing that Zac has never been able to show his best in the centre, obvious reason being that since Widdop left the club has lacked a good organizer to give the man clean and early ball. While I rate Sloan, I rate Zac more as he is yet to fulfill his enormous potential, playing him at the back may just do that.

 

[BLM01]

So why did they not stick with Zac at fullback back then. Hats off Flanno for seeing that Zac has never been able to show his best in the centre, obvious reason being that since Widdop left the club has lacked a good organizer to give the man clean and early ball. While I rate Sloan, I rate Zac more as he is yet to fulfill his enormous potential, playing him at the back may just do that.

I disagree
if Zac gets early ball with space and time which good halves do I still believe he an prove he can be a class centre as he attracts 2 all the time snd can offload if he is smart about it
Sloan can be our star st fullback with good coaching in fact both could shine
There reason we did not leave him at fullback i because he is not a fullback and I would not rely on Mary’s judgement
He does not have the speed to burst through a gap nor the evasion but has a good step at the line but also needs to nix that up a bit as too predictable . Just look at at Cooper or Gasnier how they did it

 

[Slippery Morris]

After watching last Friday I cannot wait to see the back of Hunt as he appears to be holding the players back. Lomax was outstanding and Amone came to life. Amone has hit his 50 or so games and Sullivan will excel when he hits his 50 as well. Saints have some good talent coming through and Hunt will only make it a slower process or possibly lose the good talent as he demands control. They said that Hook coached the footy out of the Panthers boys, well he has surely done it at Saints as well and it will take time to get back to their natural game. Next year the boys will be far better.

As for Flanno's comments, he mentioned he is after a couple of outside backs and 2 forwards and a hooker no halves. Flanno also said that the roster is good. Well you would hope so as he was in charge of it for a couple of years. Gould is adamant that media has an agenda against him and the Dogs and bringing out the Sullivan story may be a dig at them after signing Sexton to destabilise him more than Sullivan. Poor Sullivan is being used as a pawn in Buzz's stupid game.

Saints hold the key to getting Tino as he is on a 1mil and Hunt will be on close to 1mil if he goes there so they probably cannot have both and Saints should use that to their advantage. Dogs bashed poor Tino last season in Belmore for his Origin bust up with Burton. Hopefully he is turned off by that. The fans were booing the crap out of him.

The hooker in the ESL that Flanno is after looks to be an absolute weapon and is killing it in the comp. The team is coming 2nd and he has played a huge role in their season.

 

[Old Timer]

It was well reported that Flanno gave Lomax a nudge saying he was free to look elsewhere if he wanted out or come on his bus. This was about Lomax not the halves

My understanding is that report was later denied by Flanno

 

[baggygreen man]

Hog all the ball and run cross field throwing flat passes to flat footed players whilst he looks for individual opportunities for himself.

So the big head scratcher is why is Flanno determined to keep Hunt. Has lost the dressing room, fans. He is a pariah, everywhere except in FO.

 

[baggygreen man]

Flanno Jnr can cover halves

Is he any sort of play maker as well as that is what we need above all, tho Amone is starting to show some ball skills now.

This minor charge Amone is now facing, what sort of sentence if found guilty, then again he may be let off as a first offense.

 

[justadragon]

So the big head scratcher is why is Flanno determined to keep Hunt. His own son is probably a better play maker than the sook would ever be.

Maybe he is just playing hardball to see what other clubs will offer up. I can’t see Hunt being there next year let alone be our captain for the rest of this year.

 

[Old Timer]

So the big head scratcher is why is Flanno determined to keep Hunt. His own son is probably a better play maker than the sook would ever be.

In reality I'm not sure that the "I want to keep Hunt" tag attached to Flanagan is anything more than for show.

New coach coming in needs to look tough and act tougher if only for media purposes otherwise he will cop too much attention whilst he goes about the business he wants to conduct out of the eye of the media.

If Flanagan was overtly in the "let Hunt go" camp he would be seen to be capitulating and not able to secure the support of our highest paid player and that would not be seen as helpful in respect of luring other high profile players to the club.

In the end I don't think Hunt will be at the club in 2024 and in fact I think that is already agreed to by all and sundry but for now it is all about perception.

"After a lengthy period of negotiation the coach and Ben believe it will be Ben's best interest to return home for the family support he longs for and we wish him well.
As we do that we are pleased to advise that our new coach has been successful in finding a suitable replacement for Ben and it will be great to again see another father and son combination in the Big Rev as we welcome Kyle to the club and of course it is fantastic that Dean and Craig are also reunited in the Big Red V family."

 

[justadragon]

Is he any sort of play maker as well as that is what we need above all, tho Amone is starting to show some ball skills now.

This minor charge he is now facing, what sort of sentence if found guilty, then again he may be let off as a first offense.

Amone is facing upto 5 years jail. I don’t think he will just get a slap on the wrist.