Round 5 v Eels - 3pm

[Dave03]

After that inspirational defensive performance & gritty win against the Storm, can the Dragons do it against the Eels? Last time around we blew it & costs ourselves a finals spot. We're expected to win this one, will complacency creep in again? I think not. I think we've found our identity & with our experienced players providing good leadership they'll ensure we're up for a fight.

I wouldn't expect any changes unless there's injuries. Could we see another debut? A few of the younger forwards were strong in the NSW cup loss. I think some consideration would be made for swapping Sloan if similar conditions are forecast for an extra yardage player. I think the smarter move would be to encourage Sloan to seek the ball more, especially runs from dummy half.

Dragons Team

1. Clinton Gutherson
2. Tyrell Sloan
3. Moses Suli
4. Valentine Holmes
5. Christian Tuipulotu
6. Kyle Flanagan
7. Lachlan Ilias
8. Toby Couchman
9. Damien Cook
10. David Klemmer
11. Luciano Leilua
12. Jaydn Su’A
13. Jack de Belin
14. Jacob Liddle
15. Blake Lawrie
16. Hamish Stewart
17. Dylan Egan
18. Mathew Feagai

 

[Mailroomsgi]

Couple parra players suspended or injured for next week would be ideal. Hopefully it’s a rough game against manly for them

 

[jodragon40]

Should be a beauty. In my own experiences everytime a player returned to his previous club for the 1st time its full of emotion . Lomax v Dragons, Gutho v Eels. Eels at home if they lose today will be desperate for a win, this game is a danger game for us. Consistency is the key moving forwards from our 1st win of the season.

 

[Ryan]

Getting Eels at the right time. No Moses = a rabble. I'm so happy I'm not a Newcastle supporter. I mean, in relation to Dylan's Browns deal.

 

[jodragon40]

Getting Eels at the right time. No Moses = a rabble. I'm so happy I'm not a Newcastle supporter. I mean, in relation to Dylan's Browns deal.

It would appear on face value young Dylan is ensuring no serious injury befalls him prior to next season. Any team in this competition missing their game manager is vulnerable as we saw yesterday

 

[Mailroomsgi]

We’ll start around the same price favorites as we did against south’s but Parramatta are sneakily getting better each week, we’d be foolish to think they’re easy beats. Forward pack is on par with ours and the backs are good.

I do think liddle needs to get more minutes on the field, he’s been one of our most impactful players this year despite playing 20 mins a game

 

[Ryan]

We’ll start around the same price favorites as we did against south’s but Parramatta are sneakily getting better each week, we’d be foolish to think they’re easy beats. Forward pack is on par with ours and the backs are good.

I do think liddle needs to get more minutes on the field, he’s been one of our most impactful players this year despite playing 20 mins a game

2 issues I have with Flanno.

• Kyle in first grade.
• Liddle not getting more minutes.

 

[jodragon40]

We’ll start around the same price favorites as we did against south’s but Parramatta are sneakily getting better each week, we’d be foolish to think they’re easy beats. Forward pack is on par with ours and the backs are good.

I do think liddle needs to get more minutes on the field, he’s been one of our most impactful players this year despite playing 20 mins a game

As I mentioned in another post this will be an emotional game for players on both sides, Lomax, Gutho. It will be intense. The only difference is that emotions aside we go into the game with a much needed confidence boost whereas Parra need to find something. They will be desperate and I always as a coach worried about playing such teams especially on their home turf. This is going to be one hell of a tough game and I'm betting that the Eels will want to bash our pack and roll through our middle just to make a point. Time will tell if I'm right.

 

[jodragon40]

Trust me when I say this. This is a dangerous game which we can lose. I base that on my own experiences when previous players return for the 1st time to play against their previous club and mates. It is always been highly emotional. Lomax v Dragons, Gutho v Eels . Let us hope that the difference is a team now playing with the renewed confidence that they can actually match it with the best against a club that will be down on confidence but desperate to get their 1st win of the season in front of their home crowd. This is an each way bet and not a $1.56 hot favourites game that we are currently paying. Danger danger danger.

 

[Dave03]

Flanno has said Liddle had multiple hand surgeries & limited pre-season. His minutes will slowly go up as his match fitness increases. Ideally would like to see Liddle enter around the 25min mark & play for as much of the game as possible.

 

[Dave03]

These are the types of games we usually underperform. Hopefully we've learnt from last season, no doubt both Gutho & Lomax will be fired up. We need to follow our skippers lead once again. Compete on everything. Su'a carrying an injury, hope he'll be okay.

 

[GCRV]

Flanno has said Liddle had multiple hand surgeries & limited pre-season. His minutes will slowly go up as his match fitness increases. Ideally would like to see Liddle enter around the 25min mark & play for as much of the game as possible.

I thought it was strange Liddle has been playing so few minutes.

 

[TheRev]

Ive been thinking a lot about how to involve Liddle more (assuming there are no injuries to cover)..either way 1 hooker ends up playing 30mins, 1 plays 50mins.. the only solution is if Cook is legit going to be playing long periods at lock.. then we bring Liddle on @ the 30min mark and Cook moves to lock from there.

 

[Mailroomsgi]

I think the cook hooker and then after 20-25 mins liddle comes on and plays the rest of the game at 9. Cook moves to a ball running lock role and maybe comes off for another forward midway through the 2nd half.
I just think at this point in their careers Liddle’s a better player and should play more minutes

 

[Dave03]

Ive been thinking a lot about how to involve Liddle more (assuming there are no injuries to cover)..either way 1 hooker ends up playing 30mins, 1 plays 50mins.. the only solution is if Cook is legit going to be playing long periods at lock.. then we bring Liddle on @ the 30min mark and Cook moves to lock from there.

I don't mind if Cook plays 30mins for blocks of the season, keep them fresh for the run home. I'm sure either could play lock for 10-15mins, especially if we have 2 big frf on at the same time like Klemmer/Guler.

 

[Dave03]

Heaps of talk in the media that refs will crack down on head high contact through sin binning players this weekend. Get ready, could be high scoring games coming up. Utilising Sloan's speed will be important if the Eels go to 12 men.

 

[Chris M]

Fox sports really wants the Dragons to pick Blake Lawrie. Latu and Tonga were much better than Blake. RFM was good but he's always been good playing on an edge. Never good playing in the middle.

---

Shane Flanagan wanted to get some minutes into two of his senior players over the weekend and made the call to drop BlakeLawrie and Raymond Faitala-Mariner to NSW Cup.

Faitala-Mariner played the full 80 minutes and his efforts were rewarded with a try, while Lawrie proved he’s too good to be in Cup with 136 running metres and a game-high of 39 tackles with just one miss in his 70-minute effort.

Flanagan revealed on Triple M on Sunday that Lawrie battled a couple of hamstring injuries during the pre-season and he’s hoping the stint in reserve grade will get the 28-year-old back to his best.

“He needed to play some big minutes in reserve grade to get some footy under his belt and to get back to the Blake Lawrie we know he can be,” he said.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Something from last weeks game that I noted was the work done by Ilias in this try. Shows his play making ability. More of this son.

 

[Chris M]

Something from last weeks game that I noted was the work done by Ilias in this try.

Dug right into the line rather than stopping, pivoting, passing a couple a metres before the line.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

136 running metres and a game-high of 39 tackles with just one miss in his 70-minute effort.

Was impressive by Blocka, but he is still carrying his trademark belly flab. PCMs low still, just cant bend the line anymore. Rest of his career lies in England.