The wheels fell off after the Warriors game when video ref blatantly intervened for them.
I hear you , but its always the same ending , they get you excited and think yep this may be the year then it all goes to crap ....... As I have said before if the coach doesn't get the balance right next year can see us not playing finals footy again ....... Well I hope you are right , Yes we did have issues through the season , but again its excuses for another and even worse season than the last one ......... The close game loses with Gutho , Cook , Holmes playing you would of thought they would have got us home in at least a couple of games ........ Anyway lets hope you are right and I am wrong , but without a real 7 and a couple of signings I cant see much change ........ Over to you Coach .........
Good points all around. Various problems beyond Flanno's control made life difficult but one can also argue should've been better than this.
www.foxsports.com.au
I don't pay any attention to what Anasta says but would be wrong in dismissing what Crawley says and the way Webster nods in agreement.What happened to Holmes with his season ending injury also affected our potential to be higher on the ladder.
What I am not happy about is us losing a couple of wingers to the Raiders - Tamale and Finau who are close friends and we have lost Rava and possibly Sloan if a club picks him up. So that's 3 wingers already gone plus Sloan down the line. Who are the "great" replacements for these guys? I really and truly do hope that we don't just get another couple who are just as good or bad as the ones who have gone/will go. The reason to let go players is to enable the club to get better not worse or equal to but BETTER.
....and this really pisses me off too!!
‘Wouldn’t go there’: Recruits issued Dragons warning as big Flanno ‘rumblings’ revealed
‘Wouldn’t go there’: Recruits issued Dragons warning as big Flanno ‘rumblings’ revealed
Bad publicity for the Dragons that is for sure. Driven by a player manager wanting retribution for the lack of playing time of Ilias in first grade.
Anasta being on NRL360 as a player manager can make things tough for clubs if his stable of players get the wrong end of the stick in his eyes. But he can really get effed and he should not show any bias on the program. But, here we are Crawley gets into the act to make things worse for us.
Anasta has an obvious agenda. So too Crawley after his brother got the arse a few years back at Saints. I take both of their “opinions” with a grain of salt and both love to slip the boot in at the first opportunity
Maybe. Or maybe he is thankful the club gave his brother a job at all. Needless to say, the thing they have been banging on about for a while now is a real issue. I believe it's affectIng the club with recruitment.
A huge positive is the appointment of Daniel Anderson. No more of the ridiculous contracts that made Luicno one of if not the highest paid backrower in the game and Tariq Sims before that.
I agree Dragons Chris. Whether there is something to the story regarding player unrest or just a media beat up, it is not going to make DA's job any easier.
No matter what the excuses are, I could never forgive a side that has had the defense we have in the last 2 games with possibly a 3rd to come. It shows a lack of mental toughness, lack of courage and most of all a lack of pride. Its obvious they have checked out, how demeaning is it when another club will probably use the once mighty Dragons as no more than a speed hump to fine tune their game before final, utterly embarrassing. There is no excuse for that.
You could see in that video Dave, Anasta sitting there seething when Illias was mentioned. It has been very quiet on the recruiting front, Flanno better hope there is a lot of work being done behind the scenes. I do agree on one thing though Flanno will be a dead man walking as of Rd 1 IMOWhat happened to Holmes with his season ending injury also affected our potential to be higher on the ladder.
What I am not happy about is us losing a couple of wingers to the Raiders - Tamale and Finau who are close friends and we have lost Rava and possibly Sloan if a club picks him up. So that's 3 wingers already gone plus Sloan down the line. Who are the "great" replacements for these guys? I really and truly do hope that we don't just get another couple who are just as good or bad as the ones who have gone/will go. The reason to let go players is to enable the club to get better not worse or equal to but BETTER.
....and this really pisses me off too!!
‘Wouldn’t go there’: Recruits issued Dragons warning as big Flanno ‘rumblings’ revealed
‘Wouldn’t go there’: Recruits issued Dragons warning as big Flanno ‘rumblings’ revealed
Bad publicity for the Dragons that is for sure. Driven by a player manager wanting retribution for the lack of playing time of Ilias in first grade.
Anasta being on NRL360 as a player manager can make things tough for clubs if his stable of players get the wrong end of the stick in his eyes. But he can really get effed and he should not show any bias on the program. But, here we are Crawley gets into the act to make things worse for us.
2025 was a year I was hoping to be a good one. It didn't end well and we finished in 15th spot. Just terrible. It is obvious that we lost many more games than winning. So I would give a big FAIL to the players and coaches on their report cards for this year. Just no bloody good.
David if we don't get some game breakers and speed in the team nothing will change .......
Exactly Illusion.
Pretty tough season on the injury front. Plus Flanno's recruitment could have hardly been worse. It's obviously not something he's good at. Tom Eisenhuth and RFM and now Josh Kerr. Why does he sign these type of players? Now recruitment has largely been taken out of his hands, I'd bet he's going to be much better next year.
Yeah I reckon that the injuries did play a big part in the overall poor results, Unfortunately the replacements that we had were not as good as those who were out injured and that reflected in the results.
I noticed Ponga is a name that keeps coming up. Apparently there was talk the Bulldogs were after him but have given up. Almost certainly due to lack of salary cap space. Newcastles salary cap is going to be a disaster with Ponga and Brown both on over a mil a year. When Ponga is fit he's the best player in the comp. Having said all that, I guess Newcastle will want to see if they can make having Ponga and Brown work for next year at least.
Unlike Ben Hunt, Ponga really is a marquee player but there is no indication he wants out of Newcastle or they want him out. Clubs can afford 2, million $ a season players in the squad. Manly and Broncos both have it. I think Harry Grant and Munster are both on over a mil as well.