Dragons Lair General Information

jodragon40

jodragon40

Staff
Just a Mug Fan said:
Just looking at the ladder we have the 3rd best defence.
One game less then some teams, average adjusted probably 5th best.
We are averaging 20 points a game compared to last years 26 and 28 the year before.
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If you look at the previous statistics in relation to the teams that make the top 8, it avg out at approximately 20 points a game over the season.

Based on what you have mentioned we are on track defensively this early in the season to making the top 8.

Now compare that with what is required in your attacking avg to make the top 8 you need to avg 26 points per game. We are avg 23 points a game .

Shows you how important it is to have a good goal kicker that can not only convert tries but kick penalty goals. It also helps to have a player or players who can kick 1/2 point field goals.

So we are not far off but still a long way to go. But better than we have been in the last few years. I still believe we will finish at the bottom end of the top 8 and play semi finals football this season.
 
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Mailroomsgi

Mailroomsgi

SGI Jersey Flegg
Theirs only a few teams I have as almost certainties to make the 8 at this point

Bulldogs/Storm/Sharks/Raiders are the 4 I’m comfortable saying will make the top 8, the rest depending on injury/form could miss or make it

If we have a good run of luck without injuries or suspensions for the rest of the season we can make it
 
GCRV

GCRV

SGI NSW Cup
Mailroomsgi said:
Theirs only a few teams I have as almost certainties to make the 8 at this point

Bulldogs/Storm/Sharks/Raiders are the 4 I’m comfortable saying will make the top 8, the rest depending on injury/form could miss or make it

If we have a good run of luck without injuries or suspensions for the rest of the season we can make it
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I think Bulldogs are going to come crashing back down. Will probably still make the 8 but not top 4.
 
Mailroomsgi

Mailroomsgi

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That’s just delusion or bias against them, they’re a fantastic defensive side and will win games off the back of that alone. They win the minor premiership in all likelihood. 2nd place finish at worst
 
GCRV

GCRV

SGI NSW Cup
Mailroomsgi said:
That’s just delusion or bias against them, they’re a fantastic defensive side and will win games off the back of that alone. They win the minor premiership in all likelihood. 2nd place finish at worst
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We will see. Their spine is rubbish.
 
TheRev

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
Every year we declare the premiers at this exact time.. and the spooners... it never works out the way people expect.. but nobody remembers more than the last few weeks.... ... and in theory any team that starts the year peaking like this.. usually fades out over well before the 8 month season finishes.

But although the dogs are going to lose plenty of games yet.. part of me is nervous that their formula that seems to work whoever is playing.. and with the quality of junior gus is bringing through.. and the way their for & against is night and day better than the entire competition... its very frightening.. but in sudden death footy who knows.. id say they are as good a chance as anyone though... only penrith or the storm could challenge them... and that may come back to injuries.. there could be half a dozen key injuries for any of these sides yet.
 
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TheRev

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
Mailroomsgi said:
Bulldogs/Storm/Sharks/Raiders are the 4 I’m comfortable saying will make the top 8
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Thats fair, the Broncos are still a maybe though, been well below their best and still around the top4 (dogs/penrith coming up however).. Sharks havent been amazing but never seem to drop below a 7.5/10, with their depth that should put them around the top4 also.. consistency.

The side im in disbelief about is the Raiders, genuinely thought they were a spoon contendor.. even when they had Tapane out they played well.. cant believe how hard they are to beat so far.. plenty of holes I thought in their roster.. esp without Rapana gone their x-factor.. but Tamale seems so much faster and more agile than when he left us.. he was more like a tank who couldnt accelerate for us, but hes come on so well.... Savage is everything we wanted Sloan to be.. I thought Papalii was too old.. How have they managed to keep Chevy Stewart out of 1st grade all this time, any kid we had with promise is demanding first grade 12mths ago..... but havent even heard whispers of him wanting out....... but they are proving me wrong.. but the other key for them is Fogarty, big kicking experienced 7 that we would die for.. if they let him go I think it would be a huge folly for them.. anyway im frustrated how well they r playing, similar to us in the sense of their improvement from 2024, but they have the pack, the kicking game, the young legs and energy to springboard from that.. we are kind of treading water until we get better players in.. I dont think the nucleus of our new era is actually here yet.. other than some of the forwards who should be here for 10yrs...
 
Mailroomsgi

Mailroomsgi

SGI Jersey Flegg
The raiders are such a well run organisation from head to toe, their junior recruitment and pathways focus the last 5-6 years has been 2nd to none. They are the model for regional/smaller third party teams to follow

I think the raiders pay their young guys decently to get them down there in the first place tbf. I’d love to know what Tamale is paid/promised for him to leave us to go there

The only reason I didn’t say broncos to make the 8 for sure is because I feel like their systems are so dependent on 2-3 players like Walsh/Reynolds
 
TheRev

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
it would have been a huge call for us to put down 400k on someone whos 4th or 5th or worse in the winger queue (and someone we considered a 2nd grader who didnt really work at fullback or ctr).. raiders really backed him as their first choice first grade winger.. and gotta commend them for that.. A lot of his faults from 2024 were ironed out by 2025, and he is definitely leaner and faster after 1 preseason.

One of our problems is we have a metric tonne of very average wingers, but if Sione doesnt stay I would like to chase a proper athletic/finishing winger (500k+) ideally who can cover ctr or maybe fullback... but even without Allan in 2026, we still have probably Ravalawa, Lawson, CT, Feagai, Sloan on the books as wingers.. and I dont love any of them but we extended CT/Sloan so that kind of seals our fate I suspect.

Edit: Must say though that I think identifying and backing the right juniors is something maybe were not getting right if other clubs are willing to pay more to take them off us.. but... it doesnt always work out either.. and we did pay a price for backing Amone/Sullivan/Sloan on ~500k (equivalent of more like 700k in todays cap) which maybe has us gun shy now... it did mean we ended up having to play 2 of them in first grade far before they were ready however in Sloan and Amone.. and they were not up for it for many years.. nothing like the Tamale experience Canberra is having.
 
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Dragons Chris

Dragons Chris

SGI NSW Cup
TheRev said:
it would have been a huge call for us to put down 400k on someone whos 4th or 5th or worse in the winger queue (and someone we considered a 2nd grader who didnt really work at fullback or ctr).. raiders really backed him as their first choice first grade winger.. and gotta commend them for that.. A lot of his faults from 2024 were ironed out by 2025, and he is definitely leaner and faster after 1 preseason.

One of our problems is we have a metric tonne of very average wingers, but if Sione doesnt stay I would like to chase a proper athletic/finishing winger (500k+) ideally who can cover ctr or maybe fullback... but even without Allan in 2026, we still have probably Ravalawa, Lawson, CT, Feagai, Sloan on the books as wingers.. and I dont love any of them but we extended CT/Sloan so that kind of seals our fate I suspect.

Edit: Must say though that I think identifying and backing the right juniors is something maybe were not getting right if other clubs are willing to pay more to take them off us.. but... it doesnt always work out either.. and we did pay a price for backing Amone/Sullivan/Sloan on ~500k (equivalent of more like 700k in todays cap) which maybe has us gun shy now... it did mean we ended up having to play 2 of them in first grade far before they were ready however in Sloan and Amone.. and they were not up for it for many years.. nothing like the Tamale experience Canberra is having.
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Last year Bostock won rookie of the year and this year they are talking about Tamale being an early leader for it.
 
TheRev

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
Bostock is still the one that hurts me, I didnt see any risk in an upgrade for him, he seemed to cover several backline positions.. i cant remember who we had in front of him at the time, I dont think we were thinking of him as a winger though tbf.. like i think he was playing ctr or fullback, and it was for NSW U19s they put him at wing.. but by that point he had signed with the dolphins.. something like that. This was a while ago now though.. I think were much better at managing junior contracts.

You have to also remember how alluring Wayne Bennett is.. we almost lost Hamish Stewart after 1 dinner.. his dad warned him before hand that Wayne is persuasive.. ur gonna want to go but dont commit tonight... and Hamish is a kid who grew up inside the 4 walls of the club with his dad.. hanging out with all the dragons players.. hes as red and white as they come.. and he almost signed elsewhere.. these big name coaches are very persuasive.
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

Staff
Mailroomsgi said:
Theirs only a few teams I have as almost certainties to make the 8 at this point

Bulldogs/Storm/Sharks/Raiders are the 4 I’m comfortable saying will make the top 8, the rest depending on injury/form could miss or make it

If we have a good run of luck without injuries or suspensions for the rest of the season we can make it
Click to expand...
The Bulldogs are off to a flyer. I believe I selected them to finish in the top 4, could be wrong but definitely making the semis. I would say they and Storm are the only 2 certainties for me at this stage of the competition.
 
Dragons Chris

Dragons Chris

SGI NSW Cup
TheRev said:
Bostock is still the one that hurts me, I didnt see any risk in an upgrade for him, he seemed to cover several backline positions.. i cant remember who we had in front of him at the time, I dont think we were thinking of him as a winger though tbf.. like i think he was playing ctr or fullback, and it was for NSW U19s they put him at wing.. but by that point he had signed with the dolphins.. something like that. This was a while ago now though.. I think were much better at managing junior contracts.

You have to also remember how alluring Wayne Bennett is.. we almost lost Hamish Stewart after 1 dinner.. his dad warned him before hand that Wayne is persuasive.. ur gonna want to go but dont commit tonight... and Hamish is a kid who grew up inside the 4 walls of the club with his dad.. hanging out with all the dragons players.. hes as red and white as they come.. and he almost signed elsewhere.. these big name coaches are very persuasive.
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Flanno is supposed to be a big name coach as well. But yeah, obviously not compared to Bennett.
 
George Sancti

George Sancti

SGI Jersey Flegg
Being a junior development club, like Penrith, Parramatta and Newcastle, we will always loose junior players to other clubs. I believe Coach Flanno has improved our systems of identifying junior talent and bringing them through to first grade. In relation to Sloan, I am glad the club is continuing to work with him to develop his game. He appears to me to be willing to learn, does not winge to the media when dropped or played in a positon which is not his preference, and is improving his defence and reliability under the high ball.
 
Mailroomsgi

Mailroomsgi

SGI Jersey Flegg
I agree, wish flanno was here when bostock was around. We might have kept him despite dolphins offering more money.

We do over rely on our junior nursery in the Illawarra. It’s not as big as the Newcastle and western Sydney pathways, even the macarthur region where I’m from has a HUGE number of players there and more than the illawarra

Kyle Stanley had the right idea to recruit largely out of west Sydney for the St George SG ball team that had so much success last year

And guess what? Probably our 3 most talented young players in the club atm are Latu/Halangahu/Ah Kee who are all from Mt Druitt or Rooty Hill in the Penrith district

Illawarra in 20+ years will be like what those regions are now but the western Sydney region is the largest growth area in Australia and gives those clubs a massive advantage.
 
GCRV

GCRV

SGI NSW Cup
George Sancti said:
Being a junior development club, like Penrith, Parramatta and Newcastle, we will always loose junior players to other clubs. I believe Coach Flanno has improved our systems of identifying junior talent and bringing them through to first grade. In relation to Sloan, I am glad the club is continuing to work with him to develop his game. He appears to me to be willing to learn, does not winge to the media when dropped or played in a positon which is not his preference, and is improving his defence and reliability under the high ball.
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I know he's not very popular for obvious reasons but I think Anthony Griffin had a lot to do with the system which is in place for the juniors now. I think he did the same thing at Penrith. He's good at building a roster from the ground up but no good at getting the best out of them once they reach first grade.
 
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