Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[mikey]

Melbourne flyer Josh Addo-Carr remains a recruitment priority but it’s understood Canberra’s Jordan Rapana is now also on the club’s radar.

I hope we are not going to target Rapana if we miss out on JAC.

Upgrading our pack should be our priority. Targeting JAC makes sense because he is quality and players of his class don't come on the market very often. But if we miss out on him we should be chasing forwards.

Disagree strongly. Pace us our no 1 priority. We've got Tamou now we need JAC and Staines. Besides Kepaoa and Brooks, our backs are slugs.

I don't agree Paws. We have had no problems scoring points. But we are monstered by most other packs. We just can't contain their momentum and we have trouble getting out of our own half. We need better forwards.

I'd also like to see one more experienced, no going backwards forward if Garner is leaving. We need to ensure we have good role models in the forwards to lay a platform to provide opps for the backs.
Having said that, we also need some more pace and we have lost Benji's attack (thankfully his defence as well); however, I will be happy for next year if it is:
JAC
Nofo
AJ/ Momo
Mbye/ Talau
AD
Brookes
After the forwards a well-paced back would be a bonus.

 

[Snake]

IMO to many want meter eater forwards .. I think less meter eaters but a few more axes in defence this is the area the team is being exposed !

 

[Needaname]

Tolman is certainly worth considering. It’s all about value I guess. But I’d probably only pick up Tolman if we manage to move on / retire Packer.
He along with Tamou would be the right kind of experience our young forwards pack needs. His defence never wanes his been involved in good teams. (Prior to the collapse of the dogs).
It won’t be long before another club gets him.
Depends where he wants to live but can see teams with young aggressive forwards being interested.
Broncos most definitely.
Sharks likely.
Manly possibly.
Newcastle possibly.

 

[Tigerlily]

that kid from NQ

Are you talking about Simpkins ? Have we got him.

Tamou is a good start, but Blore and Stefano are rookies. I hope they live up to our expectations.

Apparently it was close last time I heard about it. We also have a couple of edge backrowers in lower grades. I honestly think Blore and Leilua , is a formidable second row combo , with McIntyre at 13. Blore and McIntyre make really good contact In defence. It’s rare , they are passive. Mikalele and Twal , really have to work on this , as too many of thier first contacts are Aaron woods level pillow . And it just kills any chance in winning the attrition .

Right, so that would be a no we haven’t signed Simpkins?

 

[JC99]

IMO to many want meter eater forwards .. I think less meter eaters but a few more axes in defence this is the area the team is being exposed !

We get dominated in run metres every week. Most of our guys average less than 100 metres a game. Our defence definitely needs work but we struggle to move down the field, partly because our pack isn’t good enough and party because our halves never built any pressure at all this seaso.

 

[Needaname]

IMO to many want meter eater forwards .. I think less meter eaters but a few more axes in defence this is the area the team is being exposed !

We get dominated in run metres every week. Most of our guys average less than 100 metres a game. Our defence definitely needs work but we struggle to move down the field, partly because our pack isn’t good enough and party because our halves never built any pressure at all this seaso.

I’ll agree with Snake, it’s disheartening watching our halfback put the biggest hits on the forwards. A lot of our forwards tackle like Hindy. Which is ok, you need a player or two that sweep the defensive line and do ‘clean up work’ but I cry every time an opportunity presents for the second man in to bend the attacker back and instead they just grab. McIntrye and Blore should be the blueprint. The two others that meet this standard are Clark and Seyfarth. Not one of our other forwards has any intention to hit hard in first contact.

 

[weststigerman]

Tolman is certainly worth considering. It’s all about value I guess. But I’d probably only pick up Tolman if we manage to move on / retire Packer.
He along with Tamou would be the right kind of experience our young forwards pack needs. His defence never wanes his been involved in good teams. (Prior to the collapse of the dogs).
It won’t be long before another club gets him.
Depends where he wants to live but can see teams with young aggressive forwards being interested.
Broncos most definitely.
Sharks likely.
Manly possibly.
Newcastle possibly.

I'd be okay with a 1 year contract at a 300k or so. He's much maligned but gives his all and makes metres. He's currently better than all of our props bar Tamou and Aloiai, would be a good replacement for Eiso for a year.

 

[Needaname]

Tolman is certainly worth considering. It’s all about value I guess. But I’d probably only pick up Tolman if we manage to move on / retire Packer.
He along with Tamou would be the right kind of experience our young forwards pack needs. His defence never wanes his been involved in good teams. (Prior to the collapse of the dogs).
It won’t be long before another club gets him.
Depends where he wants to live but can see teams with young aggressive forwards being interested.
Broncos most definitely.
Sharks likely.
Manly possibly.
Newcastle possibly.

I think the signing of Tamou takes a lot of pressure off Packer to be the forwards leader. Maybe, just maybe, it could bring out a more consistent and impactful Packer in 2021? Maybe .......?

Tolman is certainly worth considering. It’s all about value I guess. But I’d probably only pick up Tolman if we manage to move on / retire Packer.
He along with Tamou would be the right kind of experience our young forwards pack needs. His defence never wanes his been involved in good teams. (Prior to the collapse of the dogs).
It won’t be long before another club gets him.
Depends where he wants to live but can see teams with young aggressive forwards being interested.
Broncos most definitely.
Sharks likely.
Manly possibly.
Newcastle possibly.

I think the signing of Tamou takes a lot of pressure off Packer to be the forwards leader. Maybe, just maybe, it could bring out a more consistent and impactful Packer in 2021? Maybe .......?

I’ll agree with that. Packer aside from his supposedly leadership qualities, appeared to work best alongside a forward leader in Matolino.
We as fans have greatly failed to recognise the influence that Matolino had in our side these past few years. Thankfully the coaching staff hasn’t.

 

[The-moP]

Melbourne flyer Josh Addo-Carr remains a recruitment priority but it’s understood Canberra’s Jordan Rapana is now also on the club’s radar.

I hope we are not going to target Rapana if we miss out on JAC.

Upgrading our pack should be our priority. Targeting JAC makes sense because he is quality and players of his class don't come on the market very often. But if we miss out on him we should be chasing forwards.

We have upgraded the pack . We have stefano , Blore , Tamou , that kid from NQ, multiple elite juniors recruited this year.

That kid from the NQ .. Tukimihia Simpkins .. ?? pretty sure the Cows wont let him go .. they had a battle to get him released from NZ Union in the first place .. !!

 

[JC99]

IMO to many want meter eater forwards .. I think less meter eaters but a few more axes in defence this is the area the team is being exposed !

We get dominated in run metres every week. Most of our guys average less than 100 metres a game. Our defence definitely needs work but we struggle to move down the field, partly because our pack isn’t good enough and party because our halves never built any pressure at all this seaso.

I’ll agree with Snake, it’s disheartening watching our halfback put the biggest hits on the forwards. A lot of our forwards tackle like Hindy. Which is ok, you need a player or two that sweep the defensive line and do ‘clean up work’ but I cry every time an opportunity presents for the second man in to bend the attacker back and instead they just grab. McIntrye and Blore should be the blueprint. The two others that meet this standard are Clark and Seyfarth. Not one of our other forwards has any intention to hit hard in first contact.

Modern game you don’t need to hit hard all the time. Of course it’s nice to see us rattle the opposition but what’s more important is putting the opposition on their back and slowing them down. Too often we let the other team find their front and jump up for a quick play the ball, defence definitely needs work I agree on that regard but we need all the metres up the middle we can get

 

[Magpieger]

Melbourne flyer Josh Addo-Carr remains a recruitment priority but it’s understood Canberra’s Jordan Rapana is now also on the club’s radar.

I hope we are not going to target Rapana if we miss out on JAC.

Upgrading our pack should be our priority. Targeting JAC makes sense because he is quality and players of his class don't come on the market very often. But if we miss out on him we should be chasing forwards.

Disagree strongly. Pace us our no 1 priority. We've got Tamou now we need JAC and Staines. Besides Kepaoa and Brooks, our backs are slugs.

I don't agree Paws. We have had no problems scoring points. But we are monstered by most other packs. We just can't contain their momentum and we have trouble getting out of our own half. We need better forwards.

I know we have an issue in the forwards. I have no objection to more forwards so long as existing forwards go so we are not impacting our capacity to recruit fast backs. Perhaps we need to expect more from those we have? You cannot coach pace and as we've witnessed with JAC, pace is critical in shutting down opposition attacks.

unlike some other clubs, apparently, the WT play according to the NRL rules. Ideally, we would buy at least: Papalii, JWH, Taumalolo, Heinrington, Staines, Drinkwater and JAC !
But a limited salary cap says the WT can not, the question then is how to distribute the limited resources.
IMHO the answer is obvious, like many games, year after year, show us - we are too frequently rolled through the middle, and allow too many easy breaks. Also, in the attack, because of the lack of go forward, our 'offensive' kicks are from 40m at best. These issues will not be sold by JAC, we had speedsters Tedesco, Simona, JAC but still suffered from the same issues. IMHO, we need at least one aggressive experienced prop and 2nd rower (e.g. A Paasi, Heinrington), and then think of JAC, Staines, Drinkwater etc.

I think Hetherington would be a great signing and I still can't believe there's been no news about us chasing him. Not sure about Heinrington though, haven't seen enough of him...

 

[Magpieger]

I wonder if Blore could make a transition to front-row, he's very young and already a pretty big rig. Might end up like Fisher-Harris?

 

[Elderslie_Tiger]

The Dragons have confirmed that three players won’t be offered new contracts beyond this season.

The club announced yesterday that Tristan Sailor, Jacob Host and Joe Lovodua would depart

 

[Needaname]

IMO to many want meter eater forwards .. I think less meter eaters but a few more axes in defence this is the area the team is being exposed !

We get dominated in run metres every week. Most of our guys average less than 100 metres a game. Our defence definitely needs work but we struggle to move down the field, partly because our pack isn’t good enough and party because our halves never built any pressure at all this seaso.

I’ll agree with Snake, it’s disheartening watching our halfback put the biggest hits on the forwards. A lot of our forwards tackle like Hindy. Which is ok, you need a player or two that sweep the defensive line and do ‘clean up work’ but I cry every time an opportunity presents for the second man in to bend the attacker back and instead they just grab. McIntrye and Blore should be the blueprint. The two others that meet this standard are Clark and Seyfarth. Not one of our other forwards has any intention to hit hard in first contact.

Modern game you don’t need to hit hard all the time. Of course it’s nice to see us rattle the opposition but what’s more important is putting the opposition on their back and slowing them down. Too often we let the other team find their front and jump up for a quick play the ball, defence definitely needs work I agree on that regard but we need all the metres up the middle we can get

The modern game you have mentioned has evolved again this year.
The final 8 teams are littered with Aggressive hard hitting forwards. Add the Titans and Warriors and Manly to that list and then there is us. Yes the ruck speed and putting them on their backs is important. But intimidation was more important than anything.
Any wrestling had to occur above the ground. So the biggest key to that is contact. Hit hard and stick.

 

[JC99]

IMO to many want meter eater forwards .. I think less meter eaters but a few more axes in defence this is the area the team is being exposed !

We get dominated in run metres every week. Most of our guys average less than 100 metres a game. Our defence definitely needs work but we struggle to move down the field, partly because our pack isn’t good enough and party because our halves never built any pressure at all this seaso.

I’ll agree with Snake, it’s disheartening watching our halfback put the biggest hits on the forwards. A lot of our forwards tackle like Hindy. Which is ok, you need a player or two that sweep the defensive line and do ‘clean up work’ but I cry every time an opportunity presents for the second man in to bend the attacker back and instead they just grab. McIntrye and Blore should be the blueprint. The two others that meet this standard are Clark and Seyfarth. Not one of our other forwards has any intention to hit hard in first contact.

Modern game you don’t need to hit hard all the time. Of course it’s nice to see us rattle the opposition but what’s more important is putting the opposition on their back and slowing them down. Too often we let the other team find their front and jump up for a quick play the ball, defence definitely needs work I agree on that regard but we need all the metres up the middle we can get

The modern game you have mentioned has evolved again this year.
The final 8 teams are littered with Aggressive hard hitting forwards. Add the Titans and Warriors and Manly to that list and then there is us. Yes the ruck speed and putting them on their backs is important. But intimidation was more important than anything.
Any wrestling had to occur above the ground. So the biggest key to that is contact. Hit hard and stick.

Gotta work on line speed and they need to hit together more. Too often we sit back and let them run into us never gonna win the ruck like that. As long as they can do that I don’t care how hard they hit

 

[JC99]

The Dragons have confirmed that three players won’t be offered new contracts beyond this season.

The club announced yesterday that Tristan Sailor, Jacob Host and Joe Lovodua would depart

I would take Jacob Host as bench second rower if Garner leaves. I thought he had some good games this year. Sailor is a decent little player as well, Lovadua has good wraps on him too but never really watched him play.

 

[Guest]

Anyone considering Tolman obviously has no interest in seeing the WT make the 8. Just another plodder who is exactly the type of player we don't need. I'm still hopeful we can snag Hetherington.

 

[JC99]

I wonder if Blore could make a transition to front-row, he's very young and already a pretty big rig. Might end up like Fisher-Harris?

Maybe eventually but I’m pretty sure they want to start him on the edge. Gus Gould said his best attribute is his hole running and he looked good there in the limited minutes he played there vs eels

 

[Needaname]

IMO to many want meter eater forwards .. I think less meter eaters but a few more axes in defence this is the area the team is being exposed !

We get dominated in run metres every week. Most of our guys average less than 100 metres a game. Our defence definitely needs work but we struggle to move down the field, partly because our pack isn’t good enough and party because our halves never built any pressure at all this seaso.

I’ll agree with Snake, it’s disheartening watching our halfback put the biggest hits on the forwards. A lot of our forwards tackle like Hindy. Which is ok, you need a player or two that sweep the defensive line and do ‘clean up work’ but I cry every time an opportunity presents for the second man in to bend the attacker back and instead they just grab. McIntrye and Blore should be the blueprint. The two others that meet this standard are Clark and Seyfarth. Not one of our other forwards has any intention to hit hard in first contact.

Modern game you don’t need to hit hard all the time. Of course it’s nice to see us rattle the opposition but what’s more important is putting the opposition on their back and slowing them down. Too often we let the other team find their front and jump up for a quick play the ball, defence definitely needs work I agree on that regard but we need all the metres up the middle we can get

The modern game you have mentioned has evolved again this year.
The final 8 teams are littered with Aggressive hard hitting forwards. Add the Titans and Warriors and Manly to that list and then there is us. Yes the ruck speed and putting them on their backs is important. But intimidation was more important than anything.
Any wrestling had to occur above the ground. So the biggest key to that is contact. Hit hard and stick.

Gotta work on line speed and they need to hit together more. Too often we sit back and let them run into us never gonna win the ruck like that. As long as they can do that I don’t care how hard they hit

Hmmm. I understand what your saying however it’s a chain of events really. And the top of the chain is most important. You start off a match with good line speed and make all your tackles but fail to make it uncomfortable for the opposition it might work for the first 20mins or so. But the defence ends up having to keep that effort up all game and the attack slowly get more and more confidence that ‘prehaps they may not be getting the rub of the ruck but their energy is still high and they still have a lot of enthusiasm on every run knowing that they are running into pillows.
What I agree with is we should not sacrifice the right contact for aggressive contact (ie a forward turns his head to use more shoulder and the runner keeps going forwards) tackling technique is very important and the best defenders have the best technique. Hence why Garner is probably on the outer.