The Rumours Thread

[Dragon David]

Agree completely that some decent players at the top clubs are going to be squeezed out soon. I have to say I'm shocked that Souths have been able to re-sign Campbell Graham and Keon given the arrival of Wighton. Turuva would be a great pickup, but I believe the plan was to move him to centre to replace Crichton. I think him or Taylan May could be squeezed out though to accomodate Luai, Edwards and Martin getting upgrades. Penrith would definitely have a more than capable junior to fill wing or centre. May would be a great pickup on the left wing, and free to negotiate come November. Hethrington and Riki would be decent pickups from the Broncs. You also have Cobbo off contract in 25. Nick Meaney will be hard pressed to stay at Melbourne, he'd be a great pick up. Warriors could struggle to keep Curran given their player values will skyrocket. Then there's Crichton and Tupou at the Chooks. Plenty of quality to go for. The positive is Flanno is being proactive. The Dragons have over recent years constantly missed the boat, which is not happening now.

Good research Parko. Would be great if we could land a couple or three of those players to add to our younger guys coming through. What Flanno has to do is make sure that every position from 1-13 is covered by a player who has a high proficiency rate and is the proper person for that position and not just to fill in a spot.

 

[Parko1310]

Good research Parko. Would be great if we could land a couple or three of those players to add to our younger guys coming through. What Flanno has to do is make sure that every position from 1-13 is covered by a player who has a high proficiency rate and is the proper person for that position and not just to fill in a spot.

Agreed. He has mentioned he won't rush things. There isn't a whole heap of opportunity to overturn the roster for 2024. 2025 is a bigger opportunity. The club has to back Flanno and go hard for the players he wants. But I'm concerned Haran is not the man to compete with other clubs as has been shown in the past.

Noticed Billy Smith is still without a club for next year too, he'd be a decent pickup for Flanagan, especially if Lomax plays fullback. If Zac does go to the back that honestly probably leaves you with Feagai to centre which I'm not completely opposed to, but then who fills that wing spot? Sloan? I'm not sure he can be effective coming out of our own end. So Billy would be great, especially if we could land Taylan or Turuva for example the following year. That left edge looks a lot more solid with that line up.

 

[BLM01]

b

Agree completely that some decent players at the top clubs are going to be squeezed out soon. I have to say I'm shocked that Souths have been able to re-sign Campbell Graham and Keon given the arrival of Wighton. Turuva would be a great pickup, but I believe the plan was to move him to centre to replace Crichton. I think him or Taylan May could be squeezed out though to accomodate Luai, Edwards and Martin getting upgrades. Penrith would definitely have a more than capable junior to fill wing or centre. May would be a great pickup on the left wing, and free to negotiate come November. Hethrington and Riki would be decent pickups from the Broncs. You also have Cobbo off contract in 25. Nick Meaney will be hard pressed to stay at Melbourne, he'd be a great pick up. Warriors could struggle to keep Curran given their player values will skyrocket. Then there's Crichton and Tupou at the Chooks. Plenty of quality to go for. The positive is Flanno is being proactive. The Dragons have over recent years constantly missed the boat, which is not happening now.

Believe it or not Turuva's preferred position is fullback and he aint going to dislodge Edwards
Something to ponder.
May is a fast winger and young
The rest you mention are good but Tupou wont leave the Roosters and by the time he is available it will be rover for him
Crichton is a mystery I know he played up a bit in the off season and it bit him hard
Not sure where he is at playing league at the highest level anymore, cant seem to get back in to the Roosters pack?

 

[BLM01]

We are missing big powerful guys in the forwards....Couchmans, Russel, JDB, Su'a etc are very good players but will continue to get smashed by the bigger powerful sides ie. Panthers, Broncos even Titans and over the course of 27 rounds that will wear them down

I would not put Sua and JDB in that category. They can hold their own edge or middle
Couchmans agree but are still young but promising and need more game time
Agree re Russell as appears to not be a WIWO 1st grader, tries hard and a toiler like BB but back up depth at best.

 

[BLM01]

We’re grabbing at straws if we think he’s anything other than big average

Oh Ok so you are judging him of his first couple of games in 1st grade at 19 in 2019?
That is how old and all the vision was
Yeh of course he is just average
fast forward to 2023 and injury yes has held him back but he is a goer with big potential

 

[Parko1310]

b

Believe it or not Turuva's preferred position is fullback and he aint going to dislodge Edwards
Something to ponder.
May is a fast winger and young
The rest you mention are good but Tupou wont leave the Roosters and by the time he is available it will be rover for him
Crichton is a mystery I know he played up a bit in the off season and it bit him hard
Not sure where he is at playing league at the highest level anymore, cant seem to get back in to the Roosters pack?

Something to think about yes, but I wouldn't take that punt with Turuva. He's a shorter player and may get out leapt often at the back in situations similar to what we saw in the BS Walker try on the weekend. Very good player, but for mine I'm looking at May before Turuva. I think if Sloan and/or Lomax don't work out next year at the back we should be turning our attention to Meaney.

 

[BLM01]

Something to think about yes, but I wouldn't take that punt with Turuva. He's a shorter player and may get out leapt often at the back in situations similar to what we saw in the BS Walker try on the weekend. Very good player, but for mine I'm looking at May before Turuva. I think if Sloan and/or Lomax don't work out next year at the back we should be turning our attention to Meaney.

Hammer and Walsh goes alright. So does Edwards as are relatively small to some others
And they do kick to wingers too and he handles it OK
What those clubs do better than us is get in position to protect their fullback / winger so called legally when defending the bomb
I think he would be a good fullback but happy to perservere with Sloany ATM

 

[Dorothy the Winowhore]

If I could target a good oustide back it is Taruva from the Panthers. When Taylan May is back, he may get dropped or could fill in for Crichton but you never know, money talks and Penrith may offer much less than what Saints can.

The Bronco's may be vulnerable with Haas taking a chunk and Reece Walsh to be kept in the future on a much higher contract. I would look at getting Kobe Hetherington, Capewell and Palasai. These upgrades will squeeze some good players out so Saints need to be patient.

Can cross out Palasia, mate.....he signed with Titans last year for 2024

 

[Parko1310]

Hammer and Walsh goes alright. So does Edwards as are relatively small to some others
And they do kick to wingers too and he handles it OK
What those clubs do better than us is get in position to protect their fullback / winger so called legally when defending the bomb
I think he would be a good fullback but happy to perservere with Sloany ATM

Some hard-working forwards wouldn't go astray to pressure the kickers either

 

[blacksafake]

Some hard-working forwards wouldn't go astray to pressure the kickers either

Not allowed to pressure the kicker these days with their new interpretations.

 

[Illusion]

Not allowed to pressure the kicker these days with their new interpretations.

Its getting to a stage that you can't do anything .......

 

[SAP58]

Its getting to a stage that you can't do anything .......

Well certain teams can't thats for sure !

 

[Slippery Morris]

Well certain teams can't thats for sure !

Who are you referring to? Surely not teams that wear the red V? lol.

 

[Murfy]

Ben Haran was on the Dragons Den podcast and spoke that we’ve had opportunities to sign players but Flanagan is being patient. Not wanting to sign players for the sake of it. He said that potentially some good news in a couple of weeks. Sounds like Flanagan has his eyes on a few guys that might not be off contract. See what happens when the season ends.

Also mentioned that the club is still on the lookout for a recruitment manager and head of pathways. Think once Manlys season ends Flanagan will finalise these hires

 

[Dragon David]

Ben Haran was on the Dragons Den podcast and spoke that we’ve had opportunities to sign players but Flanagan is being patient. Not wanting to sign players for the sake of it. He said that potentially some good news in a couple of weeks. Sounds like Flanagan has his eyes on a few guys that might not be off contract. See what happens when the season ends.

Also mentioned that the club is still on the lookout for a recruitment manager and head of pathways. Think once Manlys season ends Flanagan will finalise these hires

Well I guess we can all look forward to some news (I'll take anything at the moment - good or bad). Definitely waiting for Flanagan to finish or curtail his commitments to the Sea Eagles and the Nov. 1 deadline for announcements of any kind.

 

[denis preston]

It sure looks that way.

 

[Parko1310]

Sullivan officially announced as gone. It reads like the Tigers were holding off on the announcement to glorify Benji being their coach next season

 

[TheRev]

Ben Haran was on the Dragons Den podcast and spoke that we’ve had opportunities to sign players but Flanagan is being patient. Not wanting to sign players for the sake of it. He said that potentially some good news in a couple of weeks. Sounds like Flanagan has his eyes on a few guys that might not be off contract. See what happens when the season ends.

Also mentioned that the club is still on the lookout for a recruitment manager and head of pathways. Think once Manlys season ends Flanagan will finalise these hires

appreciate this post, I literally couldn't bring myself to listen another episode featuring Benny Haran.

 

[Dragon David]

Sullivan officially announced as gone. It reads like the Tigers were holding off on the announcement to glorify Benji being their coach next season

Livewire half joins Wests Tigers on long-term deal

Wests Tigers is delighted to announce the signing of exciting young halfback Jayden Sullivan to a long-term deal.

www.weststigers.com.au

All the best Bud.

 

[Lennyb]

Ben Haran was on the Dragons Den podcast and spoke that we’ve had opportunities to sign players but Flanagan is being patient. Not wanting to sign players for the sake of it. He said that potentially some good news in a couple of weeks. Sounds like Flanagan has his eyes on a few guys that might not be off contract. See what happens when the season ends.

Also mentioned that the club is still on the lookout for a recruitment manager and head of pathways. Think once Manlys season ends Flanagan will finalise these hires

Also mentioned Sele recruitment and if any former Dragons players want to resign, the door is open. The bloke can talk, but that was refreshing.