The Rumours Thread

[Wittenberg]

Unfortunately guys one of the issues I have with talking about the glory years is that that very history, as great as it was, created a culture whereby the club became complacent and where our Board has traded on the reputation and history of our club for years....a reputation as a league powerhouse which we no longer deserve. The ‘Boy's Club’ mentality has been built on the belief that only those who have been part of our club and it’s rich history can lead it. The run of premierships has brought us glory but we need to have our leaders move on from the past. It is the only way to get success in the future.

 

[Dragon Revival]

Wittenberg I think that we look at the past to find out what works and what does not work. If I look at the Dragons Joint Venture Board today the only person that I have any time for is Brian Johnston and he is leaving. The only other personnel that I have any time for are Millward and Head. However, Flanagan and Shepherd should make a positive impact in the coaching stakes.
Despite injuries and incompetence, I believe that the Dragons have a squad that can make the Top 8. However, success depends on competence at all levels as typified by the Storm, Roosters and 1956-1966 Dragons and other winners.

 

[2010]

It is apples and oranges in comparing then and now. The rules have changed, the referees have changed and the players have changed.
I did see quite a few games back in the olden days and if that was still around the game would die a slow death.
It’s all about money and non binding contracts and the brown bags
We must accept that history is history. McIdiots power game could fall into way back when it was physical and slower.
I am guilty confident that we can make the 8 this year if the two assistants can change our game plans

 

[Dragonsteve2]

Unfortunately guys one of the issues I have with talking about the glory years is that that very history, as great as it was, created a culture whereby the club became complacent and where our Board has traded on the reputation and history of our club for years....a reputation as a league powerhouse which we no longer deserve. The ‘Boy's Club’ mentality has been built on the belief that only those who have been part of our club and it’s rich history can lead it. The run of premierships has brought us glory but we need to have our leaders move on from the past. It is the only way to get success in the future.

Wittenberg, a thought-provoking perspective that helps to explain our long run of impotence. But when I see any reference to our "glory years" I think it needs to be pointed out that St. George's great success came in a 10 team, all Sydney competition. Our run ended for a variety of reasons but coincided with the expansion to a 12 team comp. In retrospect we had ceased to be "a league powerhouse" by the 80s. Four decades is an extraordinary period of time to be hanging onto past glories from a totally different era.

You are spot on to claim we need "our leaders move on from the past". It is clearly time to appoint a CEO and a coach unconnected to the past who can assess without emotion where the Dragons are at as a club and as a team and concentrate on the improvement needed where shortcomings are perceived. Premierships can be very elusive in a 16 team comp but putting the best team you can muster onto the park each year and providing that team with everything required to produce its best consistently should not be as difficult as the Dragons have shown in the post-Bennett era.

 

[Old Timer]

Wittenberg, a thought-provoking perspective that helps to explain our long run of impotence. But when I see any reference to our "glory years" I think it needs to be pointed out that St. George's great success came in a 10 team, all Sydney competition. Our run ended for a variety of reasons but coincided with the expansion to a 12 team comp. In retrospect we had ceased to be "a league powerhouse" by the 80s. Four decades is an extraordinary period of time to be hanging onto past glories from a totally different era.

You are spot on to claim we need "our leaders move on from the past". It is clearly time to appoint a CEO and a coach unconnected to the past who can assess without emotion where the Dragons are at as a club and as a team and concentrate on the improvement needed where shortcomings are perceived. Premierships can be very elusive in a 16 team comp but putting the best team you can muster onto the park each year and providing that team with everything required to produce its best consistently should not be as difficult as the Dragons have shown in the post-Bennett era.

Interesting points you make re the 4 decades and the history from a bygone era yet it was these very things that Bennett has at the forefront with the playing group and fan base when he said the fans and players of this great club had waited long enough for a premiership and that was only going back to 79.
Gould has also made reference to the lack of culture which is again calling upon past triumph and glory to be at the forefront of our club.
If they can see it and call upon it to make us a better club then imo it is only fair for the fans to believe it as well especially for those of us old enough to have seen it 1st hand.
Indeed the comp has expanded and winning consistently is very difficult but you cannot diminish the fact that winning a 10 team comp with always at least 4 really top sides in a top 4 semi final system was truly a Herculean effort and worthy of calling upon when our club slumps to inadequate and low levels.

 

[Dragonsteve2]

Interesting points you make re the 4 decades and the history from a bygone era yet it was these very things that Bennett has at the forefront with the playing group and fan base when he said the fans and players of this great club had waited long enough for a premiership and that was only going back to 79.
Gould has also made reference to the lack of culture which is again calling upon past triumph and glory to be at the forefront of our club.
If they can see it and call upon it to make us a better club then imo it is only fair for the fans to believe it as well especially for those of us old enough to have seen it 1st hand.
Indeed the comp has expanded and winning consistently is very difficult but you cannot diminish the fact that winning a 10 team comp with always at least 4 really top sides in a top 4 semi final system was truly a Herculean effort and worthy of calling upon when our club slumps to inadequate and low levels.

OT, my intention was never to underrate the achievements of 1956-1966 teams. I am sorry if I created that impression. It was more to support Wittenberg's perspective that we developed "a culture whereby the club became complacent and where our Board has traded on the reputation and history of our club for years". I would contend that what made St.George great then would be very hard to repeat in the modern era given circumstances like the salary cap and the fact that players were prepared to play for less than their open market value to be a part of such a dominant team. It was an extraordinary achievement at the time but we need to look rationally at what directions the club should now be taking to lift its long drift into the doldrums. Improving the club to the point when leading players again want to join us is vital.

Certainly the club could draw on the character of St.George players of that era, like putting the club above all else. But first the club needs to get its own house in order. It was Bennett the outsider who was able to do this for a brief period. Doust almost disappeared from view for three years.

To me this is a crucial time for the club. The CEO's position is being vacated and we have a Head Coaching position that should have been vacated at the end of 2016. The best possible appointments need to be made to these positions to address the shortcomings we are all well aware of. If it is again a case of 'jobs for the boys" then our best years will continue to disappear into an ever more distant past.

 

[Dragon David]

OT, my intention was never to underrate the achievements of 1956-1966 teams. I am sorry if I created that impression. It was more to support Wittenberg's perspective that we developed "a culture whereby the club became complacent and where our Board has traded on the reputation and history of our club for years". I would contend that what made St.George great then would be very hard to repeat in the modern era given circumstances like the salary cap and the fact that players were prepared to play for less than their open market value to be a part of such a dominant team. It was an extraordinary achievement at the time but we need to look rationally at what directions the club should now be taking to lift its long drift into the doldrums. Improving the club to the point when leading players again want to join us is vital.

Certainly the club could draw on the character of St.George players of that era, like putting the club above all else. But first the club needs to get its own house in order. It was Bennett the outsider who was able to do this for a brief period. Doust almost disappeared from view for three years.

To me this is a crucial time for the club. The CEO's position is being vacated and we have a Head Coaching position that should have been vacated at the end of 2016. The best possible appointments need to be made to these positions to address the shortcomings we are all well aware of. If it is again a case of 'jobs for the boys" then our best years will continue to disappear into an ever more distant past.

You said it Dragonsteve2, "the club needs to get its own house in order" and putting the club above anything else and that is to focus on us being a powerhouse rugby league club again.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

Unfortunately guys one of the issues I have with talking about the glory years is that that very history, as great as it was, created a culture whereby the club became complacent and where our Board has traded on the reputation and history of our club for years....a reputation as a league powerhouse which we no longer deserve. The ‘Boy's Club’ mentality has been built on the belief that only those who have been part of our club and it’s rich history can lead it. The run of premierships has brought us glory but we need to have our leaders move on from the past. It is the only way to get success in the future.

Yes- years ago when he was having a contractual dispute with St George and ended up sitting out the 1996 season before joining the Broncos, Gorden Tallis, a person of underestimated intelligence, referred to the St George powerbrokers as 'dinosaurs" . Pretty accurate and not much has changed.

 

[2010]

Maybe off topic but the mole is somewhat active butt I have not seen anything from the lurker. Is he gone

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Maybe off topic but the mole is somewhat active butt I have not seen anything from the lurker. Is he gone

I haven’t seen him for ages either.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Yes- years ago when he was having a contractual dispute with St George and ended up sitting out the 1996 season before joining the Broncos, Gorden Tallis, a person of underestimated intelligence, referred to the St George powerbrokers as 'dinosaurs" . Pretty accurate and not much has changed.

I don’t know the situation but maybe he wanted to return to Qld and they wanted him to honour his contract? There are always two sides to every story.

 

[41yearsaint]

I don’t know the situation but maybe he wanted to return to Qld and they wanted him to honour his contract? There are always two sides to every story.

Everyone knows who won that war.

 

[Gareth67]

Maybe off topic but the mole is somewhat active butt I have not seen anything from the lurker. Is he gone

He usually does not become active until the start of the premiership proper for some unknown reason. - I heard that he does a bit of part time work as a painter’s assistant down Wollongong way .

 

[Dr Fruitbasket Returns]

Unfortunately guys one of the issues I have with talking about the glory years is that that very history, as great as it was, created a culture whereby the club became complacent and where our Board has traded on the reputation and history of our club for years....a reputation as a league powerhouse which we no longer deserve. The ‘Boy's Club’ mentality has been built on the belief that only those who have been part of our club and it’s rich history can lead it. The run of premierships has brought us glory but we need to have our leaders move on from the past. It is the only way to get success in the future.

Wittenberg, I get what you're saying, but genuinely great clubs allow themselves the best of both worlds. Madrid's culture is built on, and values the European Cups won in the 50s, 60s and 70s, as well as the three under Zidane. The circumstances have changed across those eras, but they expect their greatness to not only adapt to change, but transcend it. I don't disagree with your well made points (and we clearly have the same expectations of St George, as well as the same frustrations), but we should be the Madrid of the NRL. I'd remind all of us, in terms of our history, that after the triumphs of the 50s and 60s, we made four more Grand Finals in the seventies and won two of those. We were an elite club in the early eighties, overshadowed only by great C****rbury and Parramatta sides. We made four Grand Finals in the nineties. The rot set in with the JV, punctuated by the three great years with Bennett, who ignored the JV.
In the next great readjustment of the comp they'll send us to Adelaide to sink or swim. We will be the only ones to miss us.

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

No rumours or hot tips ?

This thread is going off like a tuna milkshake

 

[Eatons Hill Dragon]

No rumours or hot tips ?

This thread is going off like a tuna milkshake

There is nothing.

Looking into it if we let go some average players and top quality like Frizz do decide to leave us yes we should have plenty of cash for next year.
My concern is looking at what players come off contract end of this year there isn’t a lot of marquee type players out there to sign.
We might need to spend up on our youth and play the patient game.

 

[Dragonslayer]

No news just a feeling (and I'm probably way off), but usually no news straight up means we are going to make a big announcement and the additions to the top 30 will be added on to that. I'm hoping the announcement may have something to do with Friz, but as I said, I maybe way off and they're just being lazy and think we don't care.

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

No rumours or hot tips ?

This thread is going off like a tuna milkshake

As EHD said, there is nothing floating around.

Possibly because our CEO refuses point blank to advise the club fans about anything at all, happening within the club.

So, even IF something was to happen, you’d only hear about it in the papers or alike.

Sad times indeed.

 

[Dragonsamy]

No news just a feeling (and I'm probably way off), but usually no news straight up means we are going to make a big announcement and the additions to the top 30 will be added on to that. I'm hoping the announcement may have something to do with Friz, but as I said, I maybe way off and they're just being lazy and think we don't care.

I think it will be done in the next week or so

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Millward also outlined his hopes to fill the final spot in the Dragons' Top 30 roster with an outside back.

"We have been in negotiations with a winger. We're hoping to get some clarity on that in the coming weeks," Millward said.

"That's the area we have identified as needing one more player following Jonus Pearson's departure to the Gold Coast Titans. We have some great young talent below, especially in Mat and Max Feagai but that will come with time."

Anyone got anything on this?

https://www.dragons.com.au/news/2020/03/03/dragons-trio-earn-contract-promotions/