Dragons v Dogs Round 1

[Dragons Chris]

I reckon they’ll start playing Loko in the top 19 and give him some decent minutes at some point to sway him in negotiations. Similar to LKT last year

I think there’s a bit of a stigma about the halves spots at our club at the moment with all the nepotism narratives and what not

That’s what I heard about 3/4 months ago from someone who’s close with Jasais Ah Khee’s management or maybe former management now.

“Is there really a genuine chance for him to progress, is there really a path to first grade?”

Whether he (LKT) deserves a starting role is one thing but the Flanagan at 6 over a talented young genuine five eight has raised some eyebrows

I dont have the energy to get into any Flanagan bashing, If it were up to me I’d be playing a halves combo of LKT/Atkinson which has significant upside and who knows, maybe LKT has a breakout year and becomes one of the better young halves in the comp ala Dylan Brown in 2022

I just think it’s so drab and jarring playing a makeshift sub par NRL half who’s 27 and isn’t going to move the needle for us for an entire season

I want a half that bothers the opposition and his own teammates think this guy is going to create points for us one way or another

Rant/thinkpiece over

Why does it have to be "bashing" when it comes to the situation?

Back in 2018 or so, I said Lawrie wasn't first grade standard, not even bench standard and have stuck by that statement ever since. It took a while for some people to come around to that way of thinking, but it looks like most of them have by now. We have been trying to offload him for at least 2 years, but no one has taken him off our hands. lol It would be funnier if it was another NRL club instead of us.

I bet that Pasifiki Tonga has numerous clubs interested in taking him off our hands.

I also don't care how hard Lawrie has trained in the off season or how much weight he lost.

I think other clubs are happy when they see his name in our 17.

Back in 2018? 8 years ago. You think there is any possibility his game has gone downhill since then? Or his ability to evolve with the game has gone downhill. So he was first grade standard but isn't now.

I never really rated him either but for the money he was reported to be on, he consistently ran for a good number of metres and got through a good number of tackles.

 

[redv4life]

Shouldve shipped him to SL and be done with it

 

[GCRV]

Shouldve shipped him to SL and be done with it

Not sure but I think they've been trying to offload him and Sloan but no takers. Which makes taking them over LPT and Nick T even stranger.

 

[RedVictory]

Not sure but I think they've been trying to offload him and Sloan but no takers. Which makes taking them over LPT and Nick T even stranger.

I can see why we’re taking Sloan over. I think the new bench rules makes him a bit more valuable. Chasing points with 15 minutes or so to go he’d be a good player to activate off the bench.

 

[GCRV]

I can see why we’re taking Sloan over. I think the new bench rules makes him a bit more valuable. Chasing points with 15 minutes or so to go he’d be a good player to activate off the bench.

True in principle but I not sure they can keep Sloan on the bench just in case we are chasing points with 15 minutes to go. Because even though 6 are now on the bench, they can still only use 4. Plus on the smaller field more chance of Nick busting through a couple of tackles than Sloan running around a couple. I can't make any sense of it.

 

[No Surrender]

Lack of quality wingers, Tuipolotu is too slow. TU is error prone. Doesn’t leave us with much.

Buchanan and Heidtke need to add some muscle. Fale/Fegai are the back up centres.

Halves that have not gelled yet.

The forwards are solid without being inspiring yet.

We can only hope the combinations improve by kick off.

 

[No Surrender]

Dogs taking 24 players

Saints taking 22 players

See no reason we didn’t follow suit

Some things never change

 

[redv13]

Dogs taking 24 players

Saints taking 22 players

See no reason we didn’t follow suit

Some things never change

I see they’re taking Egan along which is great, keeping him involved. Probably could have done the same thing for Nick and Loko, all 3 could have been involved in the whole experience. I think management have dropped the ball big time here

 

[jodragon40]

Dogs taking 24 players

Saints taking 22 players

See no reason we didn’t follow suit

Some things never change

I know that the Dogs paid for those extras to get on the plane but unless we are counting pennies we probably should have followed suit

 

[GCRV]

I know that the Dogs paid for those extras to get on the plane but unless we are counting pennies we probably should have followed suit

It's a no-brainer!!

Even if they have both informed the club they want out, set an example for the future.

 

[redv13]

I know that the Dogs paid for those extras to get on the plane but unless we are counting pennies we probably should have followed suit

For a multi million dollar organisation, another 15k to take them both is chicken feed. An absolute piss take of a decision. Management should hang their heads in shame if it was a “financial” call

 

[dragonheart]

I decided to watch the CS again, i never watch after a loss. Toby was everywhere and very good overall along with Hamish and Luciano

Loko was on for about 20mins near the end and was pretty pedestrian, his leg braced up quite a bit as well, seemed to remember last year it was as well.

We really let ourselves down with poor handling at times gifting them easy tries. Also giving Souths confidence and momentum.

Hutchinson and Reed could find their way in to the 1st team this year sometime.

This was a trial and I guess it showed, roll on vegas.

 

[redv13]

I decided to watch the CS again, i never watch after a loss. Toby was everywhere and very good overall along with Hamish and Luciano

Loko was on for about 20mins near the end and was pretty pedestrian, his leg braced up quite a bit as well, seemed to remember last year it was as well.

We really let ourselves down with poor handling at times gifting them easy tries. Also giving Souths confidence and momentum.

Hutchinson and Reed could find their way in to the 1st team this year sometime.

This was a trial and I guess it showed, roll on vegas.

Hamish is in for a massive 2026. Has beast written all him. Huge future ahead

 

[jodragon40]

For a multi million dollar organisation, another 15k to take them both is chicken feed. An absolute piss take of a decision. Management should hang their heads in shame if it was a “financial” call

And that is the unknown was it only as a result of financial considerations or something more that we are not privy too

 

[jodragon40]

Hamish is in for a massive 2026. Has beast written all him. Huge future ahead

I said in another post he was probably the only shining lights out of that loss to the Rabbits ressies

 

[jodragon40]

I decided to watch the CS again, i never watch after a loss. Toby was everywhere and very good overall along with Hamish and Luciano

Loko was on for about 20mins near the end and was pretty pedestrian, his leg braced up quite a bit as well, seemed to remember last year it was as well.

We really let ourselves down with poor handling at times gifting them easy tries. Also giving Souths confidence and momentum.

Hutchinson and Reed could find their way in to the 1st team this year sometime.

This was a trial and I guess it showed, roll on vegas.

Its hard to watch loses but you can't really give a genuine analysis if you dont. I agree with your comments. Alarm bells are ringing for me in relation to defence

 

[The Word]

Understand the calls to take younger players who won't see game time however in my view getting serious Cup minutes in the first round may be more important for their development and match fitness particularly if they are likely to see first team action at some point soon. Egan it doesn't matter because he can't train so makes sense to take him for the experience. But for the others, having a disruptive jolly over to the US instead of training and a competitive Cup match against the Dogs doesn't make sense to me.

 

[redv13]

Understand the calls to take younger players who won't see game time however in my view getting serious Cup minutes in the first round may be more important for their development and match fitness particularly if they are likely to see first team action at some point soon. Egan it doesn't matter because he can't train so makes sense to take him for the experience. But for the others, having a disruptive jolly over to the US instead of training and a competitive Cup match against the Dogs doesn't make sense to me.

Fair call

 

[jodragon40]

Understand the calls to take younger players who won't see game time however in my view getting serious Cup minutes in the first round may be more important for their development and match fitness particularly if they are likely to see first team action at some point soon. Egan it doesn't matter because he can't train so makes sense to take him for the experience. But for the others, having a disruptive jolly over to the US instead of training and a competitive Cup match against the Dogs doesn't make sense to me.

Your most probably talking sense. We all have our favourite young players on here and when they miss out under unknown circumstances sometimes we can go on a bit like pork chops including me

 

[The Word]

Your most probably talking sense. We all have our favourite young players on here and when they miss out under unknown circumstances sometimes we can go on a bit like pork chops including me

Yeah you're right we're all a bit on edge about big Loko after what happened with Latu it feels like another potential kick in the guts.