The Rumours Thread

[Macedonian Dragon]

Sonnie Luke just signed for the Caws from Penrith. He would have been a great pickup for the Saints at hooker. With the Cheese now at Souths, maybe Saints can snare Mamouzelos. He looks pretty good. They signed Bronson Garlick from Storm so Peter may be on the outer. Cookie would know him quite well and can maybe tempt him over. Titans have a few so maybe tempt Sam Verrills to come back to Sydney. Hopefully all his injuries are done as he is a solid player to have as backup. Maybe one of these will fall on Saints lap in the next few weeks or so.

We won't sign a hooker. We've got Cook, Liddle and Flanagan. Once Cook retires the plan is Liddle at hooker and Flanagan at 14. Mason Phillips and Asher Chapman are good young hookers coming through as well

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

Would not be surprised either if O’Neil became a future no14 more so 2027 onwards given his roles at the Dogs

 

[blacksafake]

I think it's always a terrible idea to swap your halves mid-game. It pretty much never works, and it's a sign of a team all over the place. Disrupts continuity, and as a half coming on 60 mins into a contest it is extremely difficult to just impose yourself on the game as soon as you get out there, with no prior feel for the contest. It is not sustainable even in the short term.

The way the bulldogs used Galvin off the bench this way last season only strengthens your point. They soon realised it doesn’t work.

 

[Murfy]

Anyone know how we went against manly in the behind close doors trial?

 

[Dragsters]

Anyone know how we went against manly in the behind close doors trial?

Dragons host Manly in annual pre-season scrimmage

Jubilee Stadium today hosted the Dragons’ annual pre-season scrimmage against the Sea Eagles as Shane Flanagan’s men continue on the road towards Las Vegas.

www.dragons.com.au

 

[possm]

Moving around the spine players mid game will create instability, especially with a new halfback. I think either back LKT to replace Cook as hooker or play him for the full game at 5/8th & have Kyle/Cook rotating as hookers and Kyle or cook as a potential small lock.

Moving around the 5/8th on top of changing the hooker mid game is fraught with danger. Why cause ourselves more instability? If you're not confident with LKT defence then don't pick him for 1st grade. Liddle was a big attacking weapon for us, I think LKT can somewhat help cover that loss.

I'd say that Saints shoulld play:

LKT at 6
Atkinson at 7
Cook at 9
Flanagan at 14

See how that goes. If no good thaten:
Atkinson at 6
O'Niel at 7
Cook at 9
Flanagan at 14

I feel sorry for Liddle, but this situation gives the coaching staff a good reason to put Kyle in his best position while testing a new halves combination.

 

[possm]

Hooker is a specialist role in terms of the defensive side of the job, with most hookers making more tackles than anyone else in the team. And quite often they're tackling middles and their technique needs to be faultless. Kyle can do this. I don't think LKT can.

Wouldn't it have been great if we beat the Roostes to the punch and recruited Robson back home where he belongs.

 

[TheRev]

I did find this photo intriguing, assumably just a training jersey, doubt some miracle fullback signing is arriving in the next month.. that said we better get out there and sign some blokes soon, NRL requires us to have 29 locked in:

 

[Desperate Dragon]

I did find this photo intriguing, assumably just a training jersey, doubt some miracle fullback signing is arriving in the next month.. that said we better get out there and sign some blokes soon, NRL requires us to have 29 locked in:
View attachment 109158

So how many roster spots do we have to fill prior to round 1 to be compliant??

 

[TheRev]

So how many roster spots do we have to fill prior to round 1 to be compliant??

We have somewhere between 25 to 27 signed.. depends if Nick/Connor are Top30 which noone has officially confirmed.. so absolute minimum of 2 still to be confirmed in the next five weeks just to get to 29... maybe its just a promotion of a young one or two... and maybe liddles injury influences things..

I was feeling pretty confident there would be atleast 1 gun signed for 2026.. but its late january already.. trials not far away.. cutting it fine..

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

There was 32 players in th club team photo this eeek

Nick T was there

no connor

no one outside the 6 Supp players

appears we have 4 spots to fill in the top30