tigahhh
Well-known member
we’ve done more than avoid a spoon…. if you can’t see the improvement that’s on you
Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion
- Thread starter MacDougall
- Start date
think it's a wise move from the club to sign a 1/2 of Maddens caliber .But that's totally putting aside the waste that Bud Sullivan seems to be
watersider
Well-known member
Yeah, I get the hope from everyone but as much progress as we've had, we're still a long way from good. It's just not good enough playing competitive losses and it's a long way to convert that to winning. So many say, 'if only we'd won a few of those narrow games', but we're losing them because we lack mental strength and we play soft defensively when we need to do the opposite. We're a long way from it.
You start being positive when you start getting wins. Maybe the wins aren't flashy, there's bad spells in games, too many errors...but the team wins more than they lose.
Even our good run at the back end was 2 good wins and then leading at Leichhardt against a lower rank team and we find a way to lose. And now we've lost two in a row. Will we win at the gold coast or finish with three losses on the trot?
All that said, our best efforts by far was yesterday against Canberra. We bashed them, we had three in the tackle, we put them on their backs and we laughed at them. We've done that in spells against recent opponents, but it was really good yesterday. If we can be that team that other teams hate and that you know you're going gets bashed by, then we have a footy team.
We've all had this sort of hope before. I agree with tucker that there's still a lot to prove. I'll finish by saying that I was wrong about Benji as coach. Whether he succeeds next year or not, he's brought a transformative recruitment drive and energy that has made our club better. For the first time since Sheens we have a coach that has improved our squad and is appealing to players. I wanted Des Hasler and I think I was wrong about all that. I hope Benji can now do the impossible and make us good.
crazycat
Well-known member
If Desi is a Dinosaur hiding in the Victorian forests...
Who is Wayne Bennett?
Seriously Des will reappear, somewhere. I do liken him to Ricky, honestly there are about 3-4 original coaches in the game with everyone else copying Melbourne. Ricky, Des and Benji who is copying Sheen's playbook. All that is not saying Des will be successful, he will be at his best at Manly and he will get fired from manly. The dogs he overspent his cap, and he can win again with Dodgy accounting... the NRL may let him get away with it too.
crazycat
Well-known member
Boom, you said it Merlot and you are on the money.
Bud Sullivan is the looser in all this, we have closed that door. Maybe we are the real looser as we are subsidising his wage. It really looks like this:
Adam Doueihi > Bud Sullivan > Jock
Look Jock has something too him, but he isn't a regular first grader. The only issues with AD is his breakability and his agent Mr Moses.
We could have Bud for few grand cheaper then Jock... Kinda respect though that bridge has been burned and we did the burning.
weststigerman
Well-known member
I don’t agree on the necessity for another half.
We have AD who has done a great job holding the spot before injury, and Latu has developed his kicking game massively since the start of the year, granted it’s not top shelf NRL quality yet.
Might be a crazy thought but why don’t we actually develop the players we do have?
We have AD who has done a great job holding the spot before injury, and Latu has developed his kicking game massively since the start of the year, granted it’s not top shelf NRL quality yet.
Might be a crazy thought but why don’t we actually develop the players we do have?
crazycat i 100% believe Benji was the right person at a tumultuous time. Bud was the 1st he chased ,damn strange move but Benji was all in , then Latu n Galvin popped up and Bud was cast aside like trash.
To waste money to subsidize souths so coach need not look at him anymore is a reflection on Benji ,
Coach at the minimum should have educated him in Reggies to get the club a better deal to trade him , to just cast him aside into the to hard basket is piz poor
Rock Hopper Steve
Well-known member
Bennett is a smarter beast who changes with time, Des will probably pick up an assistant position somewhere if he's lucky.
The head coaching roles are starting to go to the younger applicants now, the old school 60 plus coaches are a dying breed.
BirchgroveTigers
Well-known member
Missed the raiders game so a bit hard to comment, but personally think we’ve seen enough from both Latu and Douiehi to suggest either of them could be our 7 and we could still make tue 8 next year.
Extremely torn on who should get the role tbh.
Important to remember that neither Latu or Douiehi would have spent much time in the off-season in the halves and Latu is still only 20. Neither Cooper Cronk or Jonathan Thurston were starting halves at that age - they turned out alright.
Extremely torn on who should get the role tbh.
Important to remember that neither Latu or Douiehi would have spent much time in the off-season in the halves and Latu is still only 20. Neither Cooper Cronk or Jonathan Thurston were starting halves at that age - they turned out alright.
supercoach
Well-known member
I look at Latu and think he could develop into a great no9!! Great defender in the middle, passing and kicking skills and football IQ. Okay I hope he kills it at 7, but if he is forced into the 14 role we need someone who can give API a decent break
weststigers
Well-known member
Not certain Bud was cheaper than Jock. I understood Bud is on around 550/600k and ajock 350k, but happy to be corrected.
your a very naughty boy Brian ,that's you corrected.. Money wise it basically works out the same for same with us tipping in for Bud , why did Benji just not work with /fix Bud is my point
weststigers
Well-known member
Because Bud is weaker than Mason in defence.
I'm ok with Madden because at least one of Luai, Douiehi or Latu will be on the field if he plays, but more likely 2...he doesn't need to be an attacking weapon. He's like our Sexton...not flashy...just does his job competently.
LiamFulton
Member
fair dinkum he's only visiting with us for this year and then going back to Canberra for 2026?
Canadian Club
Well-known member
I saw it on Code sports and its not in a format that i can copy and paste easily. However the number of players by club is below:
Rabbitohs - 10 players
Panthers - 8
Cowboys - 7
Dragons - 7
Broncos - 7
Dolphins - 7
Bulldogs - 6
Storm - 6
Titans - 6
Sea Eagles - 6
Knights - 6
Warriors - 6
Roosters - 5
Eels - 5
Sharks - 4
Raiders - 4
Tigers - 4
Tigerwould
Well-known member
Thanks CC !
I noticed a podcast for code has dropped as well.
See link below
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/code-nrl/id1500396428?i=1000724209545
clontarfkid
Well-known member
No0ne ever stated we havent improved..read it properly and dont rewrite what I said!
....but were still at the bottom end of the table and cant rest on our laurels and simply hope that more of the same will get better results
Some things need to change to go to the next step of actually contesting the 8
That's 💯.
Sorry I can't accept paying Madden that money and subsidising bud especially after the belief benji had in bud. Great kid who was happy to play for whatever club wanted him especially us as he has always good things to say abt his relationship with the boys. I think bud with the proper coaching has a much higher ceiling than Jock. ....I think I've banged this drum long enough but it would be nice to not be paying players ti play at other club's
I believe Broncos are paying some of Madden salary in 2026 so swings in roundabouts.
For me Bud is a better 6 and we have enough of them, so Madden is a perfect back up 7 we need IMO.
I trust Richo and Benji as they have done an excellent job so far without overpaying like past management
tigahhh
Well-known member
the type of list we actually want to be last at 🤠
