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We had better be very careful now - there's a danger hiding in plain sight!

R

Rob-Dragon

Juniors
Messages
59
If we are not very careful, our "much vaunted" juniors are going to head out the door with great haste. Imagine if you were a young junior being in and around this mess at the moment. You don't think all of your support folks (parents, mates, managers etc) would be cautioning you about staying at the Dragons? We could suffer a real exodus if we are not careful. Having followed the Dragons since the mid 70's; this is as low as I can recall us getting. It's bloody grim. With two new teams coming into the competition, young juniors could get decent contract offers to move (all subsidised by the NRL to ensure these teams work). The danger is hiding in plain sight. If your son was a junior at the club at the minute would you be thrilled? I wouldn't be. This mismanagement has been going on for quarter of a century, bar for the Bennet years. When you look at how impressively the Dolphins have built their roster and established their identity, it highlights the mismanagement disaster that has unfolded since 1999.
 
M

matPORTS

Juniors
Messages
752
Right now - the very best juniors in the game (not just us) have the opportunity of a lifetime in front of them.

The opportunity to go on a virtual 2-3 year camp to PNG with mates, get paid at least the minimum NRL wage tax free, and make their mark.

Provided they are indeed good enough during this apprenticeship period - what will happen next will be the usual big clubs (Broncos, Storm, Roosters, Rabbitohs) lining up to give them 10 x year multi-million dollar deals - as with expansion this is what it will take for these big clubs to lock in the best players given expansion.

Make no bones about it - someone like Kade Reed come about 2030 could demand a 10 x year $2m per season deal ... and the big clubs will take the risk and go all in on it.

This is all based on potential we see now - no guarantee he will make it. But, in saying this, I feel this has also been the short sighted attitude of our club. They have let juniors walk in recent times because they refused to back them on their potential and went with the notion of no guarantee they would make it.
 
R

Rob-Dragon

Juniors
Messages
59
hewi said:
You nailed it, either the board gets this right or the club is finished
Click to expand...
Hewi, I don't want to be overtly alarmist here, but I said the exact same thing you've just posted to my youngest son yesterday. Don't think for a minute that Vlandys and co won't cut our throats if we don't pull our socks up. Alternatively with overseas expansion plans afoot, we would be prime candidates for relocation. It's grim.
 
Dragons4me

Dragons4me

Juniors
Messages
1,707
Rob-Dragon said:
If we are not very careful, our "much vaunted" juniors are going to head out the door with great haste. Imagine if you were a young junior being in and around this mess at the moment. You don't think all of your support folks (parents, mates, managers etc) would be cautioning you about staying at the Dragons? We could suffer a real exodus if we are not careful. Having followed the Dragons since the mid 70's; this is as low as I can recall us getting. It's bloody grim. With two new teams coming into the competition, young juniors could get decent contract offers to move (all subsidised by the NRL to ensure these teams work). The danger is hiding in plain sight. If your son was a junior at the club at the minute would you be thrilled? I wouldn't be. This mismanagement has been going on for quarter of a century, bar for the Bennet years. When you look at how impressively the Dolphins have built their roster and established their identity, it highlights the mismanagement disaster that has unfolded since 1999.
Click to expand...

Sadly this is a good post. Add the Bears, Papua New Guinea and now talk of a possible 4th Queensland team into the player mix and suddenly the player pool gets emptier and emptier. Our BOD don't exactly inspire me with confidence in their ability to attract quality players. Grim times indeed.
 
R

Rob-Dragon

Juniors
Messages
59
UDGE said:
Imagine if you were a young junior and read half the s#$t on some of these threads on this forum .
Click to expand...
"S#$t". Sorry it's not that mate. It's the cold stark reality of 27 years of utter incompetence from those entrusted with guiding the Club. The Dolphins are in there 4th year and they are miles ahead of us in almost every aspect. The Club is a debacle. If you were a junior with any ability, why would you stay? Imagine being young Kade Reed for a moment. You have been lauded for your ability, but you look around and see that Hunt, Glover, Illias and Ward have all come and gone, whilst Kyle Flanagan remains; you consider that he's only 27 and IF his father stays as coach your path is blocked for years to come. Couple that with a quarter of a century of stupidity and then you look at the style and momentum all other clubs have or are seeking and you think to yourself??? The JV has simply not worked and probably for a variety of reasons. Just hasn't worked. If there is one single ray of light, please scream it at me, because I can't see any.
 
S

Saints supporter

Juniors
Messages
111
Obviously our club is on the nose, continual failure to sign quality players can't be a coincidence. The tigers, raiders, dogs and knights have all built up their rosters. Meanwhile we can only attract players moving to the end of their playing careers. Our juniors are leaving the club and having success at other clubs. Meanwhile we keep many juniors which produce underwhelming performances. The whole thing smacks of poor management.
 
N

Not Myself

Juniors
Messages
51
Number of clubs to have won a premiership since St George Illawarra Dragons’ last one in 2010: 8.
Number of years that St George went without winning a premiership between their last one and the start of the NRL: 19. If you want to count 2010, and I am unsure if many St George fans do, it’s 31.
I don’t love a lot of things about the club at the moment, but titles are hard to win. I have heard us compared unfavourably to the Bulldogs so many times, but a Dogs fan who was born in the last year they won a premiership now drives to the pub to watch games.
If we don’t have Illawarra, we aren’t in the league, it’s that simple. We watch our team play the Jets at Henson Park (quite a nice day out) in the NSW Cup and hope that a benefactor starts us up in Adelaide in about 30 years.
 
T

Tomrum2

Juniors
Messages
30
I think it's easy for fans to forget how hard these kids work to get to first grade and try to make a career out in league. They need time to develop and they need the people around them to achieve their dream not crush it. We want them to stay not look elsewhere.
 
Lovemedragons

Lovemedragons

Juniors
Messages
1,751
Why have I seen a couple of stories in the media this week about renaming our team from St George Illawarra Dragons to just being named the Dragons, as if our name is the issue.
My little secret is I fell In love with the club when they were the Saints but I guess that’s a bit too Christian for modern Australia. But I will never accept dropping the St George name from my team.

how do other forum members feel about it?
 
U

UDGE

Juniors
Messages
120
Rob-Dragon said:
"S#$t". Sorry it's not that mate. It's the cold stark reality of 27 years of utter incompetence from those entrusted with guiding the Club. The Dolphins are in there 4th year and they are miles ahead of us in almost every aspect. The Club is a debacle. If you were a junior with any ability, why would you stay? Imagine being young Kade Reed for a moment. You have been lauded for your ability, but you look around and see that Hunt, Glover, Illias and Ward have all come and gone, whilst Kyle Flanagan remains; you consider that he's only 27 and IF his father stays as coach your path is blocked for years to come. Couple that with a quarter of a century of stupidity and then you look at the style and momentum all other clubs have or are seeking and you think to yourself??? The JV has simply not worked and probably for a variety of reasons. Just hasn't worked. If there is one single ray of light, please scream it at me, because I can't see any.
Click to expand...
I meant this whole forum in general not just this thread . Kade Reed one single ray of light . Stewarts kick chase abilities , i could type another dozen all based around our future players .
 
gorilla

gorilla

First Grade
Messages
5,418
Rob-Dragon said:
Hewi, I don't want to be overtly alarmist here, but I said the exact same thing you've just posted to my youngest son yesterday. Don't think for a minute that Vlandys and co won't cut our throats if we don't pull our socks up. Alternatively with overseas expansion plans afoot, we would be prime candidates for relocation. It's grim.
Click to expand...
They're already, with Murdoch and broadcasters, working to forge a single entity, not a JV.
 
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