Recruitment and Retention for 2026

Well I know that it is history and we cannot change the stripes on zebras and so on, but I just want to say that the Dragons could very well be in a much better situation had we actually secured Jason Ryles instead of Flanagan. Maybe plenty of you might disagree with me which would be fair enough. While Ryles would have been a rookie coach, if he joined us, having only been assistant coach for the Storm and the Roosters, those clubs have been the envy of most, even though they have been seen as the scum to us, they represented success in a big way for most of the past decade or so, Ryles has shown to me to be tough and no nonsense and has had some good drawing power with signings. Ryles also helped Eddie Jones with coaching the Aussie Union side in a defensive capacity so he has had associations with some top line head coaches.

The Dragons were extremely keen to sign Ryles up as the guys in charge knew that he had the potential to help the Dragons transition from poor results to better results. Ryles wanted autonomy on matters as the coach and quite possibly he could have been granted this, but in the last minute before signing the contract someone got into his ear and warned him off. Was that Gus Gould?

Dragons Chris said:

Not saying it would stop the Dogs but it is illegal for any other club to approach LPT without the Dragons permission. Though I'd like Flanno to explain why he left LPT off the plane.

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I'm pretty sure, that a club can approach the manager of a contracted player as long as they don't mention/offer money etc and all conversations between parties has to be documented, so in theory Gus could approach LPT manager and say we would be keen to talk to LPT when he is legally able to talk to clubs, keep us in the loop with any new information, that would need to be documented BUT if Gus said Off the record we are willing to give him a 4 year deal at $600k and a pathway straight into 1st grade and doesn't get documented know one is any wiser..
There are ways around all the rules in the NRL..

Dragon David said:

Well I know that it is history and we cannot change the stripes on zebras and so on, but I just want to say that the Dragons could very well be in a much better situation had we actually secured Jason Ryles instead of Flanagan. Maybe plenty of you might disagree with me which would be fair enough. While Ryles would have been a rookie coach, if he joined us, having only been assistant coach for the Storm and the Roosters, those clubs have been the envy of most, even though they have been seen as the scum to us, they represented success in a big way for most of the past decade or so, Ryles has shown to me to be tough and no nonsense and has had some good drawing power with signings. Ryles also helped Eddie Jones with coaching the Aussie Union side in a defensive capacity so he has had associations with some top line head coaches.

The Dragons were extremely keen to sign Ryles up as the guys in charge knew that he had the potential to help the Dragons transition from poor results to better results. Ryles wanted autonomy on matters as the coach and quite possibly he could have been granted this, but in the last minute before signing the contract someone got into his ear and warned him off. Was that Gus Gould?

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I think at the 11th hour the Storm contacted him and told him Bellamy was probably going to retire and he was next in line. That along with the Dragons refusing his demands for money to the football department were rejected. My understanding of what went down. Though at the time I was happy about it. I thought Flanno was a better choice. Unfortunately he's taken the team backwards and his recruitment and retention has been disastrous. Now Dan Anderson is in charge of that it should be better but after the Charity Shield and first round, it looks like Flanno is struggling badly.

redv4life said:

He said he took Lawrie over LPT because he was going for experience
Then Lawrie sat on the bench the entire game
He didn’t say anything about anyone’s attitude

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I think either of them would have just sat on the pine, but we did lose 2 (almost 3 if you include Val) outside backs, so that took the decision out of flannos hands.

It wasnt about Loko playing though, it was all about team bonding.. that was a one-off opportunity... which is why I think it very telling to leave him behind.. especially when Lawrie is out of the club in 6 months time (we assume) and Loko was in theory our longterm middle.

Dragons Chris said:

I think at the 11th hour the Storm contacted him and told him Bellamy was probably going to retire and he was next in line. That along with the Dragons refusing his demands for money to the football department were rejected. My understanding of what went down. Though at the time I was happy about it. I thought Flanno was a better choice. Unfortunately he's taken the team backwards and his recruitment and retention has been disastrous. Now Dan Anderson is in charge of that it should be better but after the Charity Shield and first round, it looks like Flanno is struggling badly.

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Thanks Chris. I can recall that now. And yes, Flanno is struggling. We do need an injection of excitement from a couple of players which we don't appear to have so I hope Daniel Anderson can sign these players if any are available which I don't think there are at the moment. I have not felt that adrenalin pumping from week to week saying - I'm looking forward to seeing such and such carving up the opposition, making breaks with speed and setting up tries for his team mates besides himself. Not one of our players I could say has that excitement that makes me can't wait to see him play.

TheRev said:

I think either of them would have just sat on the pine, but we did lose 2 (almost 3 if you include Val) outside backs, so that took the decision out of flannos hands.

It wasnt about Loko playing though, it was all about team bonding.. that was a one-off opportunity... which is why I think it very telling to leave him behind.. especially when Lawrie is out of the club in 6 months time (we assume) and Loko was in theory our longterm middle.

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I am not sure but I don't think anyone from the media has quizzed Flanno on why LPT did not go to Vegas. Anyone know any different? As fans we need to know why, don't you think? It is hard to make any further comment until we know the reason(s) as we can only surmise which makes it all frustrating.

For a sustainable future we need
1. A fullback in the 23-24 year old age bracket
2. A targeted hooker to come into the team in the next few years
3. No contract extensions for Cook/Gutho.

Dragon David said:

I am not sure but I don't think anyone from the media has quizzed Flanno on why LPT did not go to Vegas. Anyone know any different? As fans we need to know why, don't you think? It is hard to make any further comment until we know the reason(s) as we can only surmise which makes it all frustrating.

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Hes been asked a few times, he just throws that there are only 22 seats on the plane and someone has to miss out.. hasnt been any followup questions or anything.

RufusRex said:

For a sustainable future we need
1. A fullback in the 23-24 year old age bracket
2. A targeted hooker to come into the team in the next few years
3. No contract extensions for Cook/Gutho.

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Watching Iongi and Faalago last night, again 2 young fast energetic fullbacks.. seems like more and more of the NRL fullbacks are smaller now.. not sure if thats coincidence or the shorter/lighter blokes are less prone to injury when doing marathons of kilometres including acceleration over and over again.

All these young fullbacks, well most of them.. did their ~2yrs in reserve grade.. thats rly hard to keep them patient... thats why I feel like we would want to land someone who has been doing it in reserves for a while (assuming we cant land an actual established fullback), but afaik they r all locked up so we would need a release even if we could convince one.

When I look @ Burton and Walker, those r potentially 2 young fullbacks in U17's.. I dunno how they will grow from here, but Burton imo looks solid compared to his teammates.. makes me wonder if he ends up a little too big and perhaps goes to ctr or wing.. I dont think anyonw knows.. just making the point that he might not be in the same spot in 5yrs time. Walker looks average height and pretty skinny.. maybe comparable to a Teddy or a Bula.. I think skill wise hes the closest match to Fletcher Sharpe.. i.e. playing 6 but ultimately probably 1-5 is his spot, but they have Ponga.. in any case if we do keep them both ill be curious to see where they end up.. but neither of them fixes any of our first grade problems in the next 4yrs or so.

TheRev said:

Watching Iongi and Faalago last night, again 2 young fast energetic fullbacks.. seems like more and more of the NRL fullbacks are smaller now.. not sure if thats coincidence or the shorter/lighter blokes are less prone to injury when doing marathons of kilometres including acceleration over and over again.

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Never thought of that until now. IMO the best fullback when fit is Ponga but he's injured all the time which seems to back up this hypothesis. Though Tedesco has been very durable for a long time.

Dragon David said:

Well I know that it is history and we cannot change the stripes on zebras and so on, but I just want to say that the Dragons could very well be in a much better situation had we actually secured Jason Ryles instead of Flanagan. Maybe plenty of you might disagree with me which would be fair enough. While Ryles would have been a rookie coach, if he joined us, having only been assistant coach for the Storm and the Roosters, those clubs have been the envy of most, even though they have been seen as the scum to us, they represented success in a big way for most of the past decade or so, Ryles has shown to me to be tough and no nonsense and has had some good drawing power with signings. Ryles also helped Eddie Jones with coaching the Aussie Union side in a defensive capacity so he has had associations with some top line head coaches.

The Dragons were extremely keen to sign Ryles up as the guys in charge knew that he had the potential to help the Dragons transition from poor results to better results. Ryles wanted autonomy on matters as the coach and quite possibly he could have been granted this, but in the last minute before signing the contract someone got into his ear and warned him off. Was that Gus Gould?

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Ha! Egg in my face would be welcomed. Ryles has recruited poorly - JDB, Pezet, Kelly. JDB to strengthen the pack - in a way Flanno not resigning him might now be vindicated/justified; Pezet - well in my view after leaving the storm after spending considerable time in reserves waiting in the wings - he has shown so far that he is nowhere near a good replacement for Brown - lucky its only for one year and the the Broncos have him for several years - oh dear; Kelly to replace Lomax - nup.

Parra can have Ryles - hahahaha!

Dragon David said:

Ha! Egg in my face would be welcomed. Ryles has recruited poorly - JDB, Pezet, Kelly. JDB to strengthen the pack - in a way Flanno not resigning him might now be vindicated/justified; Pezet - well in my view after leaving the storm after spending considerable time in reserves waiting in the wings - he has shown so far that he is nowhere near a good replacement for Brown - lucky its only for one year and the the Broncos have him for several years - oh dear; Kelly to replace Lomax - nup.

Parra can have Ryles - hahahaha!

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We let go of JDB at the right time. Though for the life of me, I still can't understand why Kerr was recruited.

Yep, I’ll put my hand up and admit that when we let JDB go I blew a head gasket big time. But after a bit of time and common sense moving forward, I could see that we have more than enough young blokes chomping at the bit to get into the game day squad.

Hamish will go to another level this year, absolute beast in the making. JDB looked very ordinary last night and Parra have him locked up for 2027 too. Loved Jack in the red V but geez 2026 and 2027 could be pushing shit up hill

Eric said:

We let go of JDB at the right time. Though for the life of me, I still can't understand why Kerr was recruited.

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For reasons that are there but yet to be seen ... he is a forward who excels in the attacking quarter of the field and we played the dogs in the defensive half ...
Kerr's strengths were not on display - i am hoping in games more evenly officiated we will see why he was bought.

Eric said:

We let go of JDB at the right time. Though for the life of me, I still can't understand why Kerr was recruited.

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Kerr is an enigma. It is puzzling why the Dragons did bring Kerr back from the Dolphins but here is what Anderson said -
“With a strong crop of emerging forwards at the club, Josh is at the right stage of his career to help add some experience and size to our pack,” said Dragons Head of Recruitment and Pathways Daniel Anderson.

Kerr looked ok when at the Dolphins - better than when he had his first stint with us. He is more of an attacking prop rather than a defensive one so maybe use him to help us score points but then against the Storm next week, we most probably need a good defensive prop especially tackling that ex Tigers forward Utoikamanu who is hard to stop when he reaches top gear.

Yep, Kerr's signing is puzzling.

Eric said:

We let go of JDB at the right time. Though for the life of me, I still can't understand why Kerr was recruited.

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probably the best we could get to replace Klemmer.

Justadragon said:

probably the best we could get to replace Klemmer.

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I'd have promoted from within even if it was a bit early. Or left the spot open until the season was underway.

Dragon David said:

Kerr is an enigma. It is puzzling why the Dragons did bring Kerr back from the Dolphins but here is what Anderson said -
“With a strong crop of emerging forwards at the club, Josh is at the right stage of his career to help add some experience and size to our pack,” said Dragons Head of Recruitment and Pathways Daniel Anderson.

Kerr looked ok when at the Dolphins - better than when he had his first stint with us. He is more of an attacking prop rather than a defensive one so maybe use him to help us score points but then against the Storm next week, we most probably need a good defensive prop especially tackling that ex Tigers forward Utoikamanu who is hard to stop when he reaches top gear.

Yep, Kerr's signing is puzzling.

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He looks incredibly easy to tackle. When did you see him break a tackle in his first stint with us?

I still think Jack could have been very useful for 1 more year.. maybe limited minutes and maybe bench impact only though.. but do feel a bit better after last night.. especially if Ryan Couchman goes on to have a big year.. noting that Ryan did miss an entire 12mths of development..

TheRev said:

I still think Jack could have been very useful for 1 more year.. maybe limited minutes and maybe bench impact only though.. but do feel a bit better after last night.. especially if Ryan Couchman goes on to have a big year.. noting that Ryan did miss an entire 12mths of development..

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Yep agree Rev, last night he gave away a couple of 6 agains early and in one of the storms trys, he really failed to cover on the inside. Look I was a JDB fan but it was time. Compare the Couchies or Hamish efforts to his in RD 1, yep it was certainly time.

TheRev said:

I still think Jack could have been very useful for 1 more year.. maybe limited minutes and maybe bench impact only though.. but do feel a bit better after last night.. especially if Ryan Couchman goes on to have a big year.. noting that Ryan did miss an entire 12mths of development..

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I still rate JDB but Couchmans and Stewart are JDB mark II, II and IV. Also Hutchison also plays like JDB. Similar size, similar game.