The Rumours Thread

[kit66]

So, in 2024, the year after we won just 5 games, our crowds were down. Go figure.

Last year we defied the odds, despite numerous setbacks, to finish 11th and as Lancaster says in the article - " the Dragons 2024 TV viewing was up 12.8% on the previous year and our home crowds at WIN and Kogarah were up 26% on 2022".
The fans are still there, we just need more success to get those fans out of their loungerooms and down to the game.
A lot of fans were probably also put off by the antics of Hunt and Lomax and maybe even a few were concerned about Flanno's baggage, understandable. There's lots of factors.
Add the disappointing finish to 2024, those last 3 games were infuriating. We need a good start to 2025 with some solid wins, show the fans we're heading in the right direction at least with Flanno and his new siginings paying off and the fans will come back.
Buzz is a troll. I hope we finish over the top of Brisbane again just to piss him off.

 

[True_Believer]

So, in 2024, the year after we won just 5 games, our crowds were down. Go figure.

Last year we defied the odds, despite numerous setbacks, to finish 11th and as Lancaster says in the article - " the Dragons 2024 TV viewing was up 12.8% on the previous year and our home crowds at WIN and Kogarah were up 26% on 2022".
The fans are still there, we just need more success to get those fans out of their loungerooms and down to the game.
A lot of fans were probably also put off by the antics of Hunt and Lomax and maybe even a few were concerned about Flanno's baggage, understandable. There's lots of factors.
Add the disappointing finish to 2024, those last 3 games were infuriating. We need a good start to 2025 with some solid wins, show the fans we're heading in the right direction at least with Flanno and his new siginings paying off and the fans will come back.
Buzz is a troll. I hope we finish over the top of Brisbane again just to piss him off.

I can only speak for myself kit but I got to a point where I stopped watching the games live. I'd record them and if we won I'd watch it. The reason for this was because we were still very difficult to watch. So up and down that my old heart couldn't take it. And towards the end of the season it did start to feel a bit like the same ol' same ol'. Although I thought we did make progress last year, we fell away yet again when it mattered.

Much like everyone else, I'm tired and frustrated by the results over the last 10 or more years. I can understand why some supporters might be falling away. We just can't seem to get our shit together and I'm over seeing the same teams in the finals year after year when we just can't seem to pull ourselves out of the shit.

As for going to the games, I'd love to but I just can't get to many without it costing an arm and a leg. Maybe when I retire I'll make a commitment to making an annual pilgrimage south to Jubilee or WIN.

 

[Old Timer]

Crowd figures are arbitrary numbers as the draw is not the same for all teams and some opponents travel to you better than others.

Unless the heads are checked off to each individual club then they don't count for a lot.

 

[stretch neilsen]

For the record, and to save anyone else the trouble of looking it up, here are the games at Jubilee last year:

Saturday March 23, 5:30 pm, vs Cowboys - 9,252
Saturday May 11, 5:30 pm, vs Souths - 7,517
Sunday June 30, 2 pm, vs Dolphins - 8,252
Saturday August 10, 7:35 pm, vs Dogs - 18,416
Saturday September 7, 3 pm, vs Canberra - 11,189

So no Thursday or Friday 6 pm slots. We should be getting better crowds than that. No idea why the Souths game was so poorly attended unless it was pissing down rain or something.

Anyway, and just so it's not all doom and gloom. our average home game crowd last year was 15,036. Sharkies average home crowd last year was 11,712.

Data from here: https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/seasons/nrl-2024/st-george-illawarra/summary.html

Although Shark Park had significantly reduced capacity last year.

Personally, I would love to see some blockbusters played at Allianz, say 4 matches, then have 4 at Kogarah and 4 at WIN.

 

[saints4ever]

Although Shark Park had significantly reduced capacity last year.

Personally, I would love to see some blockbusters played at Allianz, say 4 matches, then have 4 at Kogarah and 4 at WIN.

We did that with the right game, right venue policy

it was a disaster

Its really simple, if we are a good team who are at LEAST entertaining to watch, fans will go. If we actually have semi decent time slots for home games with a schedule that makes sense (ie Kogarah opponents are Dogs, Rabbits, Sharks, Parra, Tigers) the rest go to the Gong.

Its not hard

Our social media is the thing that needs the most amount of work. We need more of the Titans rnd 1 game, behind the scenes stuff, that was great, And they only did it once

 

[Inisai Toga]

The disappointing thing is that when we do get the big crowd; be it Win, Kogarah or Anzac Day (last year), we just haven’t performed well.. Fans don’t mind a close loss, but gotta be in the contest. The good crowds are a result of building momentum and new belief in the team and then we have fallen ‘flat as a tack’ on the big stage. Gotta do better in these big ones for the fans to continue to come to the game and their belief in the squad/team/Club!

 

[True_Believer]

So someone made a comment about drinking and Molo has "taken it to heart" due to to his drinking and DV history.

 

[Slippery Morris]

A staffer at the Dogs made the player wrestle 35 guys and the poor fella suffered mental illness so it is a very difficult issue now all teams must face especially if this kid takes the club to court and wins a significant payment. I thought Francis may have copped the same treatment when they mentioned a fall out with a staffer. But seriously to act like this over words that were said is way overboard. Surely this can be sorted out behind closed doors. What the staffer said may have hurt the guy but if the staffer apologises for what was done and takes accountability you would think that is enough to fix things and not destabilise a club and create all this terrible press. If the staffer cannot apologise and smooth things with Molo then maybe the press should be naming and shaming him rather than Molo. Dragons should also stand the staffer down for what he has caused if he cannot sort it out. That should also put Molo at ease that they don;t except their staff to behave that way and put them in line.

The Management at Saints is really poor to have something like this boil over. It should have been dealt with asap.

 

[Victoire]

The Management at Saints is really poor to have something like this boil over. It should have been dealt with asap.

Probably right. But... Molo could've addressed it like a mature adult at the time too. Make the grievance and deal with it like a professional.

Instead he went off on the tour with Samoa, enjoys a Christmas break and then - with a new manager on board, co-incidentally - decides not to show up for work in the new year and demands a release.

 

[Jubilee]

Banter. Now a full-grown man can - months later - get PTSD from banter? Couldn't he have just said he wanted to move back closer to family? Or he wanted to box?

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

working anew deal
longer and more $ no doub with new agent

Flano not falling for it

 

[True_Believer]

Yeah all seems a bit fishy. Given other comments in JA sounds like the RLPA is on the clubs side here. Really does sound like something else is driving this rather than the alleged "drinking" comments.

 

[Old Timer]

If F M had of punched said jibber in the mouth for his errant words then how would it have played out then?

All well and good for all the tough guys in here but you don’t know what was said, how it was said and what the inference was.

For all you know Molo might have brought it to the clubs attention earlier and nothing has happened other than it being swept under the carpet which wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

Inquisition needed and truth to be found out and told with no fear or favour.

Hook didn’t know how to talk to young guys and copped plenty of criticism for it well this is no different.

 

[BlackDuckSaint]

Banter. Now a full-grown man can - months later - get PTSD from banter? Couldn't he have just said he wanted to move back closer to family? Or he wanted to box?

PTSD gets thrown around way too much now, almost at the drop of a hat.

Actual diagnosable PTSD is such a serious illness that when people cry wolf over getting talked sternly too it just grinds my gears.

 

[getsmarty]

Molo’s anger at booze comment​

A supposed lighthearted comment from a member of the Dragons’ coaching staff is believed to be behind Francis Molo’s decision to want out of the club. SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=DTWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailytelegraph.com.au%2Fsport%2Fnrl%2Fteams%2Fdragons%2Fsaint-sinner-shoosh-nathan-hindmarsh-replaces-ryan-girdler-on-triple-m-radio-show%2Fnews-story%2F606279a6c2c351a961ddc135b0da5f7a&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=GROUPA-Segment-1-NOSCORE