The Rumours Thread

[justadragon]

So true
Just a fine balancing act with $$ and cap
Can't have everyone!
Just think priority in Front rower first, but would be ecstatic if we could achieve both

Yes agree, I do feel sorry that none of our lower grade big boppers have not come on, covid and our neglect did us no good. We have some really good kids coming through but at least a few years away

 

[TheRev]

In terms of Top30.. we do not have really any spots to be throwing at Props or 2nd Rowers... unless of course we are going to lose JDB or Su'a (or we can offload Lawrie).

I am really curious whether JDB has an offer on the table (if so, its probably half the $ of his last offer) or whether Flanno is playing hardball and trying to sign someone better instead.... JDB is unlikely to be wisked away while hes looking... but hes one of our best forwards every week.. so its possible he goes to the UK or something.

We did get FMolo done which is important.. I suspect we had to sign MMolo to close that deal.. thats another spot gone too..

 

[Dragons4me]

I think Brown is going to stay 14 o r 9 if Liddle is out. I think Marschke comes straight in for Hunt, and Kyle would become main game manager.

Yeah this will be our test. Who replaces Hunt if he's picked for SOO???

 

[qld redvee]

Yep, Sloane is doing fine, cant ask anymore of the kid, still improving, but having another speed demon in the side with Sloane, i like it.

Lets hope we can fast track jesse Williams then

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

got the impression Jesse would be lucky to be 180cm and maybe 85kg at most?

His background was wing fullback

He is a goer and quick

I wonder if he could have a crack at FB in 2025 JF ?

 

[Dragon the chain]

Teams that "thrashed" us - Cowboys and Knights, thrashed themselves by Sharks and Bulldogs. Fitzgibbon is the coach that we wanted but rejected us so in Flanno I trust.

Knights didn't really thrash us. The soreboard looks bad, but we should have won that game.

Cowboys thrashed us because we were woeful. But they were pretty poor themselves that day.

Neither of these sides have looked convincing this year.

Sharks were very good yesterday.

Dogs were by far the worst team in the comp lasy year. They are much tougher this year.

 

[Dragon the chain]

We sort of needed that sales pitch 9 months ago when we were trying to land the big fish for 2025, but there are a couple left in the ocean.. so any early wins help our cause immensely.. we dont actually need that many.. but 2-3 real quality first graders would make a huge difference.

In terms of Brown, Flanno said they tried to get him prior to him leaving for the UK (i.e. last year), so its a player he was chasing... he does love his ex-sharkies.

To win the comp, we need 2-3 real quality players. There is no rush for this.

To make the 8, the current squad is good enough if the players just do their jobs most weeks. We didn't lose the 3 games we lost due to a lack of firepower. We lost because some players were sub par.

On the other hand, 2-3 real quality players will not make you a top 8 team. Look at Souths!

 

[maestro1]

Sua;'s management are holding out as are Dragons with their offer which as reported is good value for what and where he is ATM. If he makes origin again we have to put our offer up and I am sure we will.
Crichton is also good value for money at the right price as his origin days are probably long gone.

Chrichton is still a tremendous player as is Su'a. The thing with Chrichton is his head space and some off field stuff.

 

[maestro1]

To win the comp, we need 2-3 real quality players. There is no rush for this.

To make the 8, the current squad is good enough if the players just do their jobs most weeks. We didn't lose the 3 games we lost due to a lack of firepower. We lost because some players were sub par.

On the other hand, 2-3 real quality players will not make you a top 8 team. Look at Souths!

I have absolutely no doubt that if RFM scores against the Cowboys, we would have put a huge score on them. We had the foot on their throat and didn't kill them off. Our Flanno mentality evolvement was still an embryo and is improving with each game. We weren't up to mentally overcoming the mishap of bombing a sure try.
Against the Knights.....we would have won this game if we employed a wet weather kicking game. Keeping the ball in the puddles and waiting for the Knights to fumble and bumble. We led early and looked like we were going to smash them. Their wet weather kicking game jagged them three of tries which we were mentally unable to bounce back from. I like to think that in the subsequent games against the Tigers and Warriors our mental strength has hardened up. I think Flanno and coaching team have been doing a lot of work in this area. I think we will carry that mentality and resilience into the Anzac day game. The test will be the following game against the Sharks, especially if we win or perform well in the Anzac day game.

 

[justadragon]

I have absolutely no doubt that if RFM scores against the Cowboys, we would have put a huge score on them. We had the foot on their throat and didn't kill them off. Our Flanno mentality evolvement was still an embryo and is improving with each game. We weren't up to mentally overcoming the mishap of bombing a sure try.
Against the Knights.....we would have won this game if we employed a wet weather kicking game. Keeping the ball in the puddles and waiting for the Knights to fumble and bumble. We led early and looked like we were going to smash them. Their wet weather kicking game jagged them three of tries which we were mentally unable to bounce back from. I like to think that in the subsequent games against the Tigers and Warriors our mental strength has hardened up. I think Flanno and coaching team have been doing a lot of work in this area. I think we will carry that mentality and resilience into the Anzac day game. The test will be the following game against the Sharks, especially if we win or perform well in the Anzac day game.

Totally agree Maestro1, it was hard to judge how good the sharks were because the cows were so poor, couldnt do a thing right and when they did they bombed it.

 

[Dragon the chain]

Totally agree Maestro1, it was hard to judge how good the sharks were because the cows were so poor, couldnt do a thing right and when they did they bombed it.

Cowboys were bad. But Sharks were good in that game. Their defence was unusually good for them. It's about the best I've seen that Sharks team play.

 

[Dragon the chain]

I have absolutely no doubt that if RFM scores against the Cowboys, we would have put a huge score on them. We had the foot on their throat and didn't kill them off. Our Flanno mentality evolvement was still an embryo and is improving with each game. We weren't up to mentally overcoming the mishap of bombing a sure try.
Against the Knights.....we would have won this game if we employed a wet weather kicking game. Keeping the ball in the puddles and waiting for the Knights to fumble and bumble. We led early and looked like we were going to smash them. Their wet weather kicking game jagged them three of tries which we were mentally unable to bounce back from. I like to think that in the subsequent games against the Tigers and Warriors our mental strength has hardened up. I think Flanno and coaching team have been doing a lot of work in this area. I think we will carry that mentality and resilience into the Anzac day game. The test will be the following game against the Sharks, especially if we win or perform well in the Anzac day game.

The RFM no try wasn't that big a deal. We had a head start on the scoreboard because we'd scored 3 tries, but we couldn't control the ruck that game. The only way we were going to win was if the game finished early! It was our worst game of the season. The Dolphins, for example, played very well and flogged us because we were poor. The Cowboys played badly and flogged us because we were horrible.

 

[Dragon David]

Knights didn't really thrash us. The soreboard looks bad, but we should have won that game.

Cowboys thrashed us because we were woeful. But they were pretty poor themselves that day.

Neither of these sides have looked convincing this year.

Sharks were very good yesterday.

Dogs were by far the worst team in the comp lasy year. They are much tougher this year.

Agree. Sharks in the top 4 at the end of the year and maybe grand finalists? Dogs looking much better - why not when they have nearly signed all of the players in the NRL haha! I reckon next year the Dogs will be in the top end of the finals.

 

[BLM01]

Chrichton is still a tremendous player as is Su'a. The thing with Chrichton is his head space and some off field stuff.

Crichton is fine he just went a bit overboard as they say in the Netherlands on hols
Roosters are wanting to maybe offload as is on origin money were involved with the clean up and rug stuff and he let them down there
Fair enough as his management would want good coin and they have a star studded squad to fit under cap

 

[BLM01]

Agree. Sharks in the top 4 at the end of the year and maybe grand finalists? Dogs looking much better - why not when they have nearly signed all of the players in the NRL haha! I reckon next year the Dogs will be in the top end of the finals.

Don’t agree re Sharks.. certainly not yet
They start strong every year
They have Improved on beating 1x Top 8 side thus far this year, actually Warriors are out of the 8 and Cowboys.. geez what is doing there
They need DY back
however this time of year no one should be in all cylinders yet
they still lost the tigers, Souths pushed them and Canberra losing from 18-0 up could of showed them in a different light

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

I have to say I have been very impressed with Kyle Flano and his game management

his defence super solid

I think he will continue his role of left side and working with our forwards in attack in the early hit ups

he and Ben Hunt seemed to really compliment each other against the wahs

maybe we are seeing enough with Kyle and Hunt for 2025 and 2026 also
I mean they play like on the weekend every week then we will have nothing to talk about lol

there was two plays that didn’t come off by flano but he was almost straight thru and or cut out pass next time

 

[Dragon David]

Don’t agree re Sharks.. certainly not yet
They start strong every year
They have Improved on beating 1x Top 8 side thus far this year, actually Warriors are out of the 8 and Cowboys.. geez what is doing there
They need DY back
however this time of year no one should be in all cylinders yet
they still lost the tigers, Souths pushed them and Canberra losing from 18-0 up could of showed them in a different light

Yes I agree that the Sharks start strong nearly every year. I think they were going gung ho in the comp last year until they had to play the top 8 sides. Whether or not Fitzgibbon has learnt anything with some of those losses, we have to wait and see if he has worked out a solution to win those games this year.

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

'Sky's the limit for the Dragons': Brown

Fa'amanu Brown talks to the media leading into his first ANZAC clash.

www.dragons.com.au

Nu to play minutes at no9 and ball playing lock has been the conversation with Flano

 

[shiloh dc]

In terms of Top30.. we do not have really any spots to be throwing at Props or 2nd Rowers... unless of course we are going to lose JDB or Su'a (or we can offload Lawrie).

I am really curious whether JDB has an offer on the table (if so, its probably half the $ of his last offer) or whether Flanno is playing hardball and trying to sign someone better instead.... JDB is unlikely to be wisked away while hes looking... but hes one of our best forwards every week.. so its possible he goes to the UK or something.

We did get FMolo done which is important.. I suspect we had to sign MMolo to close that deal.. thats another spot gone too..

JDB is easily our best forward - undervaluing or not retaining him would be a bad mistake.

 

[Mojo]

'Sky's the limit for the Dragons': Brown

Fa'amanu Brown talks to the media leading into his first ANZAC clash.

www.dragons.com.au

Nu to play minutes at no9 and ball playing lock has been the conversation with Flano

Great stuff!