Round 17 vs Eels

[Justadragon]

Excatly the notion that Cup are winning now Ilias is playing is ridiculous.

They were 4 2 and 1 before he dropped back.

The big question should be does Ilias fix our attack and it's a no.

I'm not happy with Kyle but unfortunately we have nothing better.

Understand what you are saying Jo. But we haven’t tried Glover or Illias with LKT. If it’s no good then so be it but why stick with something that clearly is not working and we never find out what does. Who gets dropped when Atkinson gets here. please don’t tell me it will be LKT.

 

[Dragons Chris]

Didn’t Flanno call up Robinson and abuse him when Kyle was sacked by the Rooster ?

Correct me if I am wrong.

I do not think Flanno has the right perspective on Kyle.

Kyle would be good in the Super League which is where he was heading before Flanno intervened.

Surely we will beat the Eels at home !

But is that a band aid solution ?

We need three in a row to get back on track….

Yes. It's no surprise Roosters have targeted Kyle massively and it's massively paid off for them.

 

[blacksafake]

It is refreshing to converse with someone who has actual 1st hand knowledge of the game.

The majority of armchair coaches and critics, not particularly on this forum but others seem to forget the 4 or 5 previous plays that are structured to reach a certain point on the field.

It's very easy and convenient to lay blame on the last player with ball in hand at the end of the set and so they do.

Now if I were to tell those willing to listen that our kick return metres are the worst in the competition would they now be calling for Gutho to be removed or the 2 wingers? I doubt it.

We have played 13 games this season and we have won this particular statistic 1 out of the 13.

Now any knowledable coach will tell you that it is extremely important where we actually start our sets in possession on the field from.

If you are starting from inside your own red zone and avg 40m a set which we are this season we end up kicking from inside our half and then the majority of those kicks are metreage kicks with no pressure on the oppositions back 3.

Get the basics right then start looking for scapegoats that are failing to do their jobs on the field and are not playing up to the desired 1st grade standard.

 

[Red T]

What about a few mor offloads then ?

 

[jodragon40]

What about a few mor offloads then ?

What about a few mor offloads then ?

There is a very fine art to being able to successfully offload, it is a skill not many forwards especially bookends have. JDB had the ability to offload but not much recently.

Who had the most offloads last week? It was Guler, and every man and his dog wants him dropped next week.

 

[Red T]

For some reason the offloads stopped in the second half, even though they still had a player in the bin, and looked what happened…

 

[redv13]

There is a very fine art to being able to successfully offload, it is a skill not many forwards especially bookends have. JDB had the ability to offload but not much recently.

Who had the most offloads last week? It was Guler, and every man and his dog wants him dropped next week.

Guler is a big body who can create 2nd phase play and defends well at 93%. Perfectly fine to come off the bench and punch out 35-40 mins a game

 

[Ryan]

I disagree

I know you know what you are talking about regarding events on the field but this is off the field and nepotism for your life! It's blatant. I think everyone has seen the stats regarding Ilias. Team had 3 wins with him but only 2 without him. Maybe that does just prove the gulf between first and reserve grade but we don't know how well Ilias will go with a decent 5/8 in first grade because Flanno won't under any circumstances allow it just in case they play much better than Kyle and LKT do together.

It's shocking it's taken the press until now to talk about this.

 

[Illusion]

Lachlan Ilias. He is ignoring the fact that since he dumped him Cup has not lost a game. That is six on the trot. His stats are reasonably impressive. Media noise too says Ilias needs to be reinstated.

Have to give him another crack at it ......

 

[Eric]

Have to give him another crack at it ......

I'm wondering which prop is dropped out of Klemmer, Sele and Gular. If Su'A is back and Couchman goes back to prop. I'd have thought Gular. Watching the game, I thought he was the worst of the 3, at least at full-time, but stats suggest otherwise.

 

[jodragon40]

I'm wondering which prop is dropped out of Klemmer, Sele and Gular. If Su'A is back and Couchman goes back to prop. I'd have thought Gular. Watching the game, I thought he was the worst of the 3, at least at full-time, but stats suggest otherwise.

I thought he went well and at least bent their line and produced 3 offloads.

 

[jodragon40]

I know you know what you are talking about regarding events on the field but this is off the field and nepotism for your life! It's blatant. I think everyone has seen the stats regarding Ilias. Team had 3 wins with him but only 2 without him. Maybe that does just prove the gulf between first and reserve grade but we don't know how well Ilias will go with a decent 5/8 in first grade because Flanno won't under any circumstances allow it just in case they play much better than Kyle and LKT do together.

It's shocking it's taken the press until now to talk about this.

We have different versions of what nepotism actually is. So beit

 

[Dave03]

I thought he went well and at least bent their line and produced 3 offloads.

I think Sele should stay for his defence. If it's out of Guler & Klemmer then I'd lean towards Guler, as he produced offloads which helped us get field position & lead to a try.

 

[Edward]

I think Sele should stay for his defence. If it's out of Guler & Klemmer then I'd lean towards Guler, as he produced offloads which helped us get field position & lead to a try.

Though Klemmer seems to run a bit harder in the opening few minutes. Just seems like that.

Have to say, watching Josh Kerr against us and last game, why couldn't any of our coaching staff get him to play even remotely as well as he is playing now?

 

[Dragon David]

Though Klemmer seems to run a bit harder in the opening few minutes. Just seems like that.

Have to say, watching Josh Kerr against us and last game, why couldn't any of our coaching staff get him to play even remotely as well as he is playing now?

It appears to me that quite a lot of players that were once part of the Dragons leagues teams from juniors to seniors have been quite reformed and much better at their new clubs than when they played at the Dragons. One of them is big Josh Kerr. Off the bench is his best "position" and when he comes on runs harder than I have seen him do before and hits hard, and has a better offload. He looks so much happier moving to the Dolphins and being initially coached there by Bennett and now the likely finalist coach Kris Woolf.

Same goes for Jackson Ford at the Warriors, Jack Bostock at the Dolphins, Tamale at the Raiders, Lomax continues to improve at the Eels, Reece Robson at the Cowboys, not Ben Hunt though haha, Bud Sullivan is getting more first grade playing time at Souths, Rava injured mainly haha, Saab at Manly, Wishart at the Storm, etc.

And the opposite seems to happen when some, but not all, good players come to the Dragons and go a bit backwards.

Answer, if the question is asked, our coaches have not, except for Bennett, and are not the greatest including Flanno who has had returned coaching stints as an assistant at the Dragons and Sea Eagles and now head coach with our Dragons - nearly a year and a half with the Dragons, not able to lure marquee players and first grade having very inconsistent results and I cannot see any positivity coming to the Dragons in 2026 either, sorry!

 

[Eric]

It appears to me that quite a lot of players that were once part of the Dragons leagues teams from juniors to seniors have been quite reformed and much better at their new clubs than when they played at the Dragons. One of them is big Josh Kerr. Off the bench is his best "position" and when he comes on runs harder than I have seen him do before and hits hard, and has a better offload. He looks so much happier moving to the Dolphins and being initially coached there by Bennett and now the likely finalist coach Kris Woolf.

Same goes for Jackson Ford at the Warriors, Jack Bostock at the Dolphins, Tamale at the Raiders, Lomax continues to improve at the Eels, Reece Robson at the Cowboys, not Ben Hunt though haha, Bud Sullivan is getting more first grade playing time at Souths, Rava injured mainly haha, Saab at Manly, Wishart at the Storm, etc.

And the opposite seems to happen when some, but not all, good players come to the Dragons and go a bit backwards.

Answer, if the question is asked, our coaches have not, except for Bennett, and are not the greatest including Flanno who has had returned coaching stints as an assistant at the Dragons and Sea Eagles and now head coach with our Dragons - nearly a year and a half with the Dragons, not able to lure marquee players and first grade having very inconsistent results and I cannot see any positivity coming to the Dragons in 2026 either, sorry!

I agree with all of that except the last sentence. I see a wave of positivity on the way. Already established NRL players like Couchman's Stewart, Egan, LPT and LKT should all be getting better then throw in Nick T, Halangahu, CST. In the backs Buchanan has been in NSW Cup all year despite I think still being eligible for SG Ball. Then if Flanno wants to be a bit less cautious Kade Reed and Charlie Heidke might get a chance and Mug Fan reported a week or so ago Jesse Williams and Ryan Hutchinson are pencilled in for train and trial deals next year. I think both those 2 have a huge amount of talent.

 

[Dragon David]

I agree with all of that except the last sentence. I see a wave of positivity on the way. Already established NRL players like Couchman's Stewart, Egan, LPT and LKT should all be getting better then throw in Nick T, Halangahu, CST. In the backs Buchanan has been in NSW Cup all year despite I think still being eligible for SG Ball. Then if Flanno wants to be a bit less cautious Kade Reed and Charlie Heidke might get a chance and Mug Fan reported a week or so ago Jesse Williams and Ryan Hutchinson are pencilled in for train and trial deals next year. I think both those 2 have a huge amount of talent.

Well I hope there will be some positivity coming to us in 2026 in the form of all the young guys who do show plenty of promise Eric. I will be able to cast away my negative thoughts definitely if we do sign a couple of key brute forwards and a half that can take control of most games we play who will have the Hughes/Cleary/Metcalfe like skills to shine.

 

[Wild383]

We have different versions of what nepotism actually is. So beit

Just the one that's correct though, the other being media driven dribble. Your on the money Jo.

I think Sele should stay for his defence. If it's out of Guler & Klemmer then I'd lean towards Guler, as he produced offloads which helped us get field position & lead to a try.

Thought Sele was great with his line speed and impact defensively, hope he gets a few more games and minutes.

 

[Ryan]

Just the one that's correct though, the other being media driven dribble. Your on the money Jo.

I'm just going to leave this here:

Nepotism: favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship

Definition of NEPOTISM

favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

Sorry Jo, textbook nepotism going on at the Dragons.

 

[jodragon40]

I'm just going to leave this here:

Nepotism: favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship

Definition of NEPOTISM

favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

Sorry Jo, textbook nepotism going on at the Dragons.

Ok ill give you my personal experiences in Nepotism.

Work profession I was applying for a promotion. I was the best applicant on paper having served in that position for 12 months previously. However I did not get the job. Later I discovered 1 of the 3 panel members was related to the successful applicant.

Coaching I applied for the coaching position. Once again I had served my time in the lower grades. Once again I missed out on the job. I was later told that the successful applicant was related to the club president.

So how is Flanagan in his current position stopping a better applicant for the 7 jersey from obtaining that jersey? Who is better credentialled to wear the 7 jersey? In my view nobody. So it simply cannot be Nepotism because nobody who is better qualified is being stopped.

I rest my case your honour