What makes a Dragon player

[Veteran Dragon]

With precious little media coverage these days about the Dragons by the media. I thought to ask what MMM who were talking about what makes a Bulldogs and Broncos player.
I thought It would be good to ask on here what makes a Dragon player and name a player who you would give that title to.

I would nominate Jack De Belin. He desperately wanted to stay a Dragon and signed a 1 year contract to remain a Dragon when he had offers for longer contracts from other clubs. He never gives up in on the field and he leads the team song with such passion. He is a true Dragon.

 

[Dragon David]

With precious little media coverage these days about the Dragons by the media. I thought to ask what MMM who were talking about what makes a Bulldogs and Broncos player.
I thought It would be good to ask on here what makes a Dragon player and name a player who you would give that title to.

I would nominate Jack De Belin. He desperately wanted to stay a Dragon and signed a 1 year contract to remain a Dragon when he had offers for longer contracts from other clubs. He never gives up in on the field and he leads the team song with such passion. He is a true Dragon.

I agree with your selection VD. JDB, as far as his tenure with the club goes which is from his debut year of 2011, is the longest serving player we have in our top 30. He has stuck by the club as much as we have stuck by him and always has given his best shot in the games he has played. He belts out really loud in the team song in a very proud way.

A Dragons player is one who wants to be at the club and dedicated to it under any circumstances and to play the game in the right spirit and to uphold his contractual arrangements and have great camaraderie with his teammates.

There looks to be several other guys that are currently in the squad that will one day have the same commitment, goals and endeavours as JDB to the club.

A special mention to Cody Ramsey who has shown his commitment to the Dragons and hopefully he will be successful in either playing in the NRL again and/or having a job at the Dragons mentoring the youth in the years to come.

 

[Slippery Morris]

What made a Dragons player in the past - up until 2010 and what makes them now is totally chalk and cheese. They had guys that bled for the jersey and put fear in the opposition. When they played the Saints they knew about it.

Now look at Saints as no threat at all and can easily sniff a try when needed. Just attack Suli and Sloan's side and they get a try. Can you honestly see these 2 in a Dragons team of the past? No way at all, especially Suli. Beattie, Johnstone, Coyne, Coops, Gasnier those are the type of guys they had, now they have a powder puff like him. Funny thing is Suli is so much bigger in size than the guys mentioned and plays with so much less power and aggression. He should be so much better if only he had their mentality. Coyne was tougher to tackle than Suli and he is probably half the size. How many line breaks did Coyne do? Defence was solid out wide, hardly many line breaks.

The forwards are starting to get there in Couchy, Egan, JDB as these guys make the old Saints teams but the rest I am not so sure, especially Lawrie.

Lets no touch the halves of 2025 as they probably are lucky to make the old reserve grade sides in the old days and are now considered the best of the lot. Atkinson could be one that fits into the old teams. He looks the goods.

Flanno is starting to get these old school Dragons back but under Price, Mary and Griffin the standard dropped significantly and that is the clubs fault for allowing these clowns to stay in the role longer than they should have but again they stayed because of the low expectations that the BOD have set.

 

[hewi]

Flanno is starting to get these old school Dragons back but under Price, Mary and Griffin the standard dropped significantly and that is the clubs fault for allowing these clowns to stay in the role longer than they should have but again they stayed because of the low expectations that the BOD have set.

That sums it up to a T, however don’t forget there are those on here who think you can turn a pigs ear into a silk purse in a day and want Flanagan punted also.

 

[redVinme]

Dropping the ball mostly.

 

[since77]

Let’s be real. No one after the 2009-11 era could really be regarded as “legends” and really represent what a Dragons player should be.
A guy who sings the team song with “gusto” and can count his finals appearances on one hand doesn’t even come close to qualifying IMO.
We haven’t had a player made of the same stuff as guys like Cooper, Hornby, Young, Creagh etc since they retired.
The young crop coming through give me real hope. There seems to be some real good ones there. The Couchmans, Egan, Stewart, Loko could be some of the ones we talk about in 10 years time as the kind of players that typify a Dragons player.

 

[Dragsters]

I think you could put JDB into any of the great Dragons teams and he would not look out of place...

 

[Slippery Morris]

I think Tariq Sims and McInness were pretty good out of the players post 2010 that had the Dragons DNA but they got punted. Maybe Widdop another.

JDB would easily fit into the old teams. He carries the team and the only one that plays with heart.

 

[muzby]

To me, the epitome of a “dragons player” is the bloke who the coach would pick first every week. The number one selection before anyone else.

The bloke who when the chips are down and no matter how bad the team around him is performing, the coach would never drag from the field.

The bloke that you would go out of your way to make a priority signing for the club, to allow the recruitment team to build a squad around him.

Kyle Flanagan. A true dragons player.